Question

What is the best way to Teach myself Calculus 1?

Answer 1

For fun? Or is it for class?

Answer 2

Fun :)

Answer 3

I want to prepare myself for next year (Ill be a freshmen in college) and I will be taking calc 1 and calc 2 so i want to prepare myself

Answer 4

Self Help books? Kahn academy, bright storm?? What is the best way?

Answer 5

I used Kahn academy to teach myself geometry and books are always good. I would not rely on any internet sources because they can be confusing.

Answer 6

do you think i should buy the calc 1 book that i will be using in class and study it?

Answer 7

Do you prefer learning through tutorials or reading information?

Answer 8

grab any calc text book and go hard

Answer 9

Tutorials are better, one sec i will look for the author

Answer 10

MIT OCW 18.01 and 18.02 are the best to my knowledge.

Answer 11

Yeah, I really think this is up to your own knowledge of your learning style. Do you learn by reading? Math can be a particularly hard subject to learn simply by reading. To most people, without an interpreter, math textbooks end up feeling like reading Chinese.

Answer 12

I like FFM's suggestion. Some really good colleges are putting lectures for free online these days. Hit up some Harvard or MIT lectures.

Answer 13

http://www.free-test-online.com/lectures/Online-College-Lectures.htm

Answer 14

See if you can find the book i will be using, Im going to the University of Arizona and will be taking Calculus 122A and 122B

Answer 15

you want us to investigate what book you will be using for you?

Answer 16

I cannot seem to find it.... Sorry!

Answer 17

I second MIT's open courseware. it has notes and homework assignments as well as the video lectures.

Answer 18

http://math.arizona.edu/academics/courseinfo/websites.html
There is Arizona's course websites... not seeing 122 though.

Answer 19

122 is the same as 124

Answer 20

Or if you prefer something a little bit more proctored, I will suggest

Calculus: Single Variable
Robert Ghrist

https://www.coursera.org/course/calcsing

Answer 21

It looks like MIT's OCW is my best bet

Answer 22

if you want something a little more slow paced try Paul's notes
http://tutorial.math.lamar.edu/Classes/CalcI/CalcI.aspx

Answer 23

MIT OCW is a good way to go. Self-studying Calculus without having seen it before is very hard. My favorite Calculus book is Spivak, but it is very difficult to get through by yourself. Not for the faint of heart. Khan has some great videos to supplement OCW, a combination of those two is probably a good idea.

Answer 24

if you do OCW make sure to do the "scholar" version of the class
that's the good one ;)

Answer 25

I did exactly what you are trying to do :) ask a maths teacher/proffesur. they are normally really keen to teach anyone maths. I got a textbook from my teacher and haven't put it down since

Answer 26

google pauls online notes there are a great resource with excellent examples

http://tutorial.math.lamar.edu/Classes/CalcI/CalcI.aspx

Answer 27

http://hbpms.blogspot.com/2008/05/stage-1-introductory-calculus.html Has a list of books, some of which are free, if you prefer learning from a book.

Answer 28

Also, come on here and post questions, there are more people here that like to solve introductory calculus questions than probably any other area of mathematics.

Answer 29

nbouscal, that is so true. I would be happy to help :)

Answer 30

Okay great! Ill be starting learning tonight :) What topic should I start with?

Answer 31

what did you last end with?
do you know limits very well?

Answer 32

I know basic limits, thats it. We just finished conics

Answer 33

then I say to get pretty well acquainted with limits first
what say the rest of you?

Answer 34

I think it is essential for anyone learning calculus to understand limits very well, and by that I don't just mean calculating them. You should know what epsilon and delta represent and how to work with them. After that, you can move on to learning about derivatives.

Answer 35

differentiaition is what i started with. its relitively simple and easy to grasp, i'd say that were a good starting point

Answer 36

Oh, you should also do at least some study of continuity and the implications of continuity as well before doing derivatives in my opinion.

Some of this really does depend on your end goal though. If you're going into engineering, it will be less important for you to understand the rigorous underpinnings of the calculus, and maybe okay for you to focus more on the applications and practice of using it. If you're going into pure maths, it becomes more important for you to understand these things at a different level.

Answer 37

Ok so i should learn everything there is to know about differentiation then learn limits and then derivitives

Answer 38

Differentiation and derivatives are the same topic. You should learn limits before you learn differentiation, in my opinion. Again, depending on your goal.

Answer 39

The reason you should learn limits first is that differentiation is defined as a limit, so it doesn't make much sense to learn differentiation before you learn limits.

Answer 40

How many things are there to learn about Derivitaives? A lot?

Answer 41

Yes, a lot. Derivatives and integrals are basically the two big ideas of calculus, and there is a lot to learn about each of them.

Answer 42

can you teach me a simple derivative?

Answer 43

Sure. The derivative of \(f(x)=x^2\) is \(f'(x)=2x\). Now, knowing that isn't really useful at all until you know what differentiation actually means. Differentiation is formally defined as a limit, specifically, the limit of the secant lines to a function at a point. That limit only exists if certain conditions hold true. If the limit exists at a given point we call the function differentiable at that point. Now, you need to know what a limit means to get anything out of that. And that's why I suggest starting with limits :)

Answer 44

If you would like more help learning, feel free to let me know, I'd be happy to teach you what I can.

Answer 45

Ok so the derivative of x^3 is F(x)=3x^2

Answer 46

The best way to learn Calc I is to find someone who knows it and has time to teach you, then partner up with them.

Answer 47

http://www.calculus-help.com/tutorials
these videos are really good as an introduction to calculus