Casual Calculus: A Friendly Student Companion – Volume 1

Yes, this is another Calculus book. However, it fits in a niche between the two predominant types of such texts. It could be used as a textbook, albeit a streamlined one – it contains exposition on each topic, with an introduction, rationale, train of thought, and solved examples with accompanying suggested exercises. It could be used as a solution guide – because it contains full written solutions to each of the hundreds of exercises posed inside. But its best position is right in between these two extremes. It is best used as a companion to a traditional text or as a refresher – with its conversational tone, its “get right to it” content structure, and its inclusion of complete solutions to many problems, it is a friendly partner for students who are learning Calculus, either in class or via self-study.

Exercises are structured in three sets to force multiple encounters with each topic. Solved examples in the text are accompanied by “You Try It” problems, which are similar to the solved examples; the students use these to see if they’re ready to move forward. Then at the end of the section, there are “Practice Problems” more problems similar to the “You Try It” problems, but given all at once. Finally, each section has Challenge Problems – these lean to being equally or a bit more difficult than the others, and they allow students to check on what they’ve mastered.

The goal is to keep the students engaged with the text, and so the writing style is very informal, with attempts at humor along the way. The target audience is STEM students including those in engineering and meteorology programs.