Calculus: Concepts and Methods

A gentle, thorough and beautifully illustrated introduction to calculus for students from a range of disciplines.

Takes readers gently from single to multivariate calculus and simple differential and difference equations. Unusually the book offers a wide range of applications in business and economics, as well as more conventional scientific examples. Full colour Mathematica diagrams have been used to give accurate and attractive diagrams to help students visualise the complex mathematical objects.The pebbles used in ancient abacuses gave their name to the calculus, which today is a fundamental tool in business, economics, engineering and the sciences. This introductory book takes readers gently from single to multivariate calculus and simple differential and difference equations. Unusually the book offers a wide range of applications in business and economics, as well as more conventional scientific examples. Ideas from univariate calculus and linear algebra are covered as needed, often from a new perspective. They are reinforced in the two-dimensional case, which is studied in detail before generalisation to higher dimensions. Although there are no theorems or formal proofs, this is a serious book in which conceptual issues are explained carefully using numerous geometric devices and a wealth of worked examples, diagrams and exercises. Mathematica has been used to generate many beautiful and accurate, full-colour illustrations to help students visualise complex mathematical objects. This adds to the accessibility of the text, which will appeal to a wide audience among students of mathematics, economics and science.