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I had assumed I'd use Foerster's calculus book with dd, but I'm not so sure now. She's currently on the two-year plan for pre-calculus (with Foerster's book)--making steady progress but the problem solving comes slowly. I'm wondering if moving to some other author for calculus might be a welcome change. Her current career plans suggest she'll need university calculus, but it's unlikely she'll go into physics, chemistry or engineering. She's a word person--the more words the better. Recommendations? I'm assuming that she'll redo calculus in university, although I'm hoping she'll take the first calculus AP exam at the end of her grade 12 year to provide an outside mark.

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I had our ds in Foerster, but we got to the point were he really needed some outside help on some of it and having those video lectures plus Dana Mosely available via email and sometimes phone was a huge help. We expect ds to probably retake the first level at the university too, but it will be nice to be more confident going into it.

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I can't comment on whether this text would work for your dd or not, but I can tell you what we used. Our ds used Chalkdust for calculus (text, solution manual, and dvds). It was a great match with him. You can purchase the text and solution manual anywhere. The text book was: Calculus of a Single Variable (Ron Larson, Bruce H. Edwards, David E. Heyd) and the solution manual was: Calculus Complete Solutions Guide Volume I (Larson, Hostetler, Edwards). The text contains what is considered both Calculus I and II. The solution manual vol. I is for Calculus I. How wonderful that you and dh can teach calculus! I couldn't even begin to ... so, it was Chalkdust to the rescue for us. Good luck!

Edited by Cynde
typo
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Larson is another commonly used Calculus text, as is one by Finney (used to be Thomas and Finney, now it is Finney, et al.)

 

If your daughter is a word person who does not need engineering Calculus, you would perhaps consider one of the wordier variations that colleges use for courses like "Calculus for Poets". Of course, since you and your husband have a background in mathematics, the watered down approach might drive you crazy.

 

Perhaps the best thing to do is visit a college library and peruse through the calculus text books on their shelves. One may resonate with your daughter.

 

It is hard to recommend a particular calculus text because each is in countless editions and variations. So I may like a particular Larson book, but the Larson book you pick up is a variation with less or more than the one in my hand. This is not a straight forward business.

 

Jane

Edited by Jane in NC
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Interesting idea--thanks! We liked "Conceptual Chemistry" and "Conceptual Physics" for science (to be followed by more intense courses later). I hadn't thought of doing "conceptual calculus." I'm assuming that's what a "Calculus for Poets" book would be. My intent is to get her past the conceptual "hump" I encountered when I started calculus--so that would meet my intention. She could then do a full-blown calculus class in university. (She may need to take some physics, so I'm assuming calculus would at least be a co-requisite.) Too bad the versions are so hard to sort out. I'll see what I can find at the library and through interlibrary loan. Of course, we still have our calculus books, but I assume the new ones take advantage of the advances in calculators and computers.

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