Textbook Review: Stewart's Calculus 6th Edition

 

This is the textbook that was required for my first two semesters of calculus when I was working on my electrical engineering degree. Then, in my multivariable calculus and differential equations classes, we switched to different books. The multivariable calculus book I had to use was not worth the paper it was printed on and my differential equations textbook, while better than that, was not all that easy to follow. 

This version of the book covers all levels of calculus including multivariable calculus and differential equations (there are also versions that just cover the single variable calculus material and versions that just cover the multivariable calculus material). I got this because I still tutor from time to time and need to keep up with the material. This, of all the math books I used, was one of the better ones, but not the best. It does give a decent breakdown of the theory in the chapter text and has good chapter summaries. It does fall into the trap that many math and engineering textbooks do in that the examples in the chapter text only help with the easiest problems, but if you get assigned something from the end of the problem set, you do not have a lot of guidance. 

So, I would definitely pair this book with something like Schaum's outline of Calculus, which definitely explains some of the theory better than the book does. But, the book makes a decent presentation of the theory and provides some useful examples, which is more than some other books do. It is not perfect, but if you pair it with a study guide or two with more worked examples, you can learn from this.