Question

Would anyone recommend Michael Spivak's 'Calculus' over George Simmons' 'Calculus with Analytic Geometry'?

Answer 1

Or even James Stewats' 'Calculus'?

Answer 2

I would not recommend Spivak's Calculus before going through single variable calculus, the book is actually an introduction to analysis. The book focuses on rigorous proofs of theorems, and it's problems are less computational in nature, and usually ask for rigorous proofs that are sometimes very challenging. It is an excellent analysis book after having finished single variable calculus. I actually used Stewart's myself to learn single variable calculus from MIT a while back, and I found it to be a pretty good book. If you can get your hands on Stewart's calculus, it will do just fine, and there is no point in getting Simmons' calculus. I would also recommend the free online calculus book by Gilbert Strang, if you wish to see an alternative approach. Here is the Link:

http://ocw.mit.edu/resources/res-18-001-calculus-online-textbook-spring-2005/textbook/

Best of luck, and hope that helped.

Answer 3

Thanks for this :) I guess I will follow all of MIT's SVC lectures and related material before following Spivak's book.