mathclinic

* Publisher: Cambridge University Press
* Number Of Pages: 648
* Publication Date: 2003-09-29
* ISBN-10 / ASIN: 0521017076
* ISBN-13 / EAN: 9780521017077
* Binding: Paperback



Product Description:

The second edition of this highly successful textbook has been completely revised and now includes a new chapter on vectors. Mathematics is the basis of all science and engineering degrees, and a source of difficulty for some students. Jenny Olive helps resolve this problem by presenting the core mathematics needed by students starting science or engineering courses in user-friendly comprehensible terms. First Edition Hb (1998): 0-521-57306-8 First Edition Pb (1998): 0-521-57586-9



Summary: Verbose and generally not helpful.
Rating: 2

I am a mathematics teacher, at the secondary, community college, and college (undergrad and graduate) level. This book does not address the basic needs of the struggling student, namely: what is mathematics for? Further, the book is verbose so that even the successful student will get bogged down in the sheer magnitude of the book.


Summary: A truely fantastic bookl
Rating: 5

It has been many years since I studied any maths , and then only at a fairly basic level. This book takes me to places I never knew existed before,but to my amazement I could actually understand what was being taught.I especially found the step by step solutions to the problems most helpful.Unlike some texts that just give you the answers,and you are left wondering "how did they come up with that"? All in all a most user freindly book.


Summary: Precalculus the Quick Way with Vectors (i,j,k)
Rating: 5

I use this as a precalculus book. I pick it over a normal precalculus for two reasons: one I only wanted to do math that only pertain to science and engineering and second because she had a chapter on vectors which I wanted to learn.
Don't be fool by the size of this book. The book is about the size of a Webster Dictionary but it really doesn't take that long to finish it. She only make you do the average about 6 to 13 problems in each section so you will breeze though the book fairly fast.


Summary: One of the best books for self study
Rating: 5

As a finance professional, I was becoming overwhelmed with the growing complexity of financial products. Over time, my patch work math education was beginning to fray resulting in growing frustration and loss of confidence.

Jenny Olive's book is very helpful for people entering into a self study math program to bring together their fragmented college level math education and build mathematical understanding. If you were like me, the fast pace of college level courses forced you to cut corners and rush through material without the deep understanding that builds confidence. The book begins with Algebra and moves on to Trig and Calculus. The explanations are extremely lucid and the exercises are put together intelligently to move you toward greater complexity. And yes, there is no substitute for working out the problems as any good mathematician will tell you. I disagree with a previous reviewer on this score. Although, I felt (somewhat arrogantly) that I did not need to review Algebra, I found myself red faced and stuck in some of the more advanced problems. Fortunately the clear explanation and repeated problem solving gave me the insights that I was lacking. I found it helpful to work with a graphing calculator to help visualize some of the mathematics. It's also a great way to learn a graphing calculator!

I understand that Ms. Olive is adding two new chapters to her next edition, which she has kindly made available on her website for persons who own the current version. It would be nice if she would make it available in a downloadable PDF version.

I am hoping that the author will choose to follow this up with similar books on Probability and Linear Algebra. Her recommendations for further reading would also be very helpful. Great math books (and math teachers)are worth their weight in gold. Buy this book for your math library. You won't regret it.


Summary: A great review
Rating: 5

I didn't take any Math senior year, and I took 2 years off after high school, and now I'm going to be a Computer Science major, so I really needed this book! I bought it a week ago and I'm halfway done, so now I won't have to take precalculus over again. The previous reviewer is right, it could include more, but if I have time, I'll just buy a Schwab outline to cover vectors and so on. One thing about this book is that it has few exercises, which is fine, because what person self-studying is actually going to do 30 exercises . . . I would, but the few exercises gets me moving through the material faster.