Live data from Hacker News

Calculus Made Easy (1914) [pdf]

djm.cc

131–140 of 199 posts

Re: Calculus Made Easy (1914) [pdf]

#131
post #85
post #6

That PDF is just a bunch of scanned images of the book. It's large and cumbersome in many readers. There is a much better PDF at Project Gutenberg [1]. The Gutenberg PDF is only 1.9 MB, compared to 12 MB for the scanned image PDF. The Gutenberg page for this book [2] also has a link to the LaTeX source for the PDF. [1] http://www.gutenberg.org/files/33283/33283-pdf.pdf [2] http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/33283

Is there a easy way of converting it into Kindle friendly pdf (or mobi) ?

If you on ios you just open it in kindle from the browser and the it should import it

Re: Calculus Made Easy (1914) [pdf]

#132
post #130

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't think anyone can ever fault you for taking the initiative and learning it in your own time. I feel the same way though, I've been looking back through some basic algebra on Khan Academy too because I feel maths is very much my weak point.

My mom always told me I'd need better Math grades to become a programmer. Since the 2nd program I ever wrote was a script to do my math homework for me, I laughed at her. Then I failed to pass the first year of CS bachelor. Twice. I am very glad to see this most excellent book here, and will add it to my collection.

How did that happen? The required math courses got in the way?

Re: Calculus Made Easy (1914) [pdf]

#133
post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Thanks for sharing this - watched the intro lecture and I'm hooked! This is my idea of "Netflix & chill"

Note that “Netflix and chill” is a euphemism for casual sex. http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=netflix%20and...

I learned of this euphemism one night at our family dinner table, when I suggested to our teenage kids that we all take some time after dinner to "Netflix and chill." Needless to say, they were a bit surprised by the suggestion. :)

Re: Calculus Made Easy (1914) [pdf]

#134

I'm embarassed somewhat to say this, but over the past few weeks I've been taking the courses on Khan Academy on mathematics. I'm nearly 30. and I'm not talking about brushing up on my linear algebra, that comes later, I'm talking high school level mathematics, stuff that I've largely forgotten or didn't "get" first time round. I've seen these "machine learning for hackers!" articles who try to dish out a bit of math…

I went to college late, after a few years out in the world. I had not originally intended to go into a technical field, but realized that's where some of my passions were so I went after a CS degree. Not coming from a technical place I had put almost no effort into mathematics during public school and so I found myself very very behind.

I bit the bullet and focused my first few semesters almost entirely on remedial math education, trying to fill in that gap. Because I now had a strong motivation, a little age, and focus, I managed to become a very good math student and even received the occasional award during my undergrad math education.

I've lost much of it, but I now know I can learn it, and many of the topics that had intimidated me at first turned out to be not a big deal once I got it. One day as a hobby I plan on starting over from algebra and work up again for fun.

Re: Calculus Made Easy (1914) [pdf]

#135

I'm embarassed somewhat to say this, but over the past few weeks I've been taking the courses on Khan Academy on mathematics. I'm nearly 30. and I'm not talking about brushing up on my linear algebra, that comes later, I'm talking high school level mathematics, stuff that I've largely forgotten or didn't "get" first time round. I've seen these "machine learning for hackers!" articles who try to dish out a bit of math…

You're not alone. I did the same in my mid-40's.

A great book for brushing up/re-learning pre-calc is "Precalculus Mathematics in a Nutshell"[0] by George F. Simmons (you can find it used cheap). He really boils it down to the essentials. For example here's how he opens his chapter on Trig:

"Most trigonometry textbooks have been written by people who appear to believe that the importance of the subject lies in its applications to surveying and navigation. Even though very few people become surveyors or navigators, the students who study these books are expected to undertake many lengthy calculations about the heights of flagpoles, the widths of rivers and the positions of ships at sea. The truth is that the primary importance of trigonometry lies in a completely different direction - in the mathematical description of vibrations, rotations, and periodic phenomena of all kinds, including light, sound, alternating currents and the orbits of the planets around the sun. What matters most in the subject is not making computations about triangles, but grasping the trigonometric functions as indispensable tools in science, engineering and higher mathematics. These functions and their properties are the sole subject matter of this chapter."

The entire book has that vibe. It's wonderful.

[0]https://www.amazon.com/Precalculus-Mathematics-Nutshell-Geom...

Re: Calculus Made Easy (1914) [pdf]

#136
post #6

That PDF is just a bunch of scanned images of the book. It's large and cumbersome in many readers. There is a much better PDF at Project Gutenberg [1]. The Gutenberg PDF is only 1.9 MB, compared to 12 MB for the scanned image PDF. The Gutenberg page for this book [2] also has a link to the LaTeX source for the PDF. [1] http://www.gutenberg.org/files/33283/33283-pdf.pdf [2] http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/33283

For what it's worth, a DjVu of that scan is about 1.4MB. On my phone I can't spot the difference. It's a shame that format never caught on. [1] http://any2djvu.djvu.org/djvu/170421/82.132.237.218/57676.17...

Warning: Attempting to open this file in ebook software stalled my decently-specced Android phone for about a minute until the software crashed.

Re: Calculus Made Easy (1914) [pdf]

#138
post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

1914 is pretty modern.

It's all relative. Obviously I mean that it sounds vastly more recent than 1914 to my ear. And anyway, I confess I don't know the industry at all, but I doubt anyone would talk about 1914 as representing 'modern publishing'.

A lot of the elements of what we'd call "modernity" were either introduced or became widespread in the course of the first World War so I'm not trying to just be a jerk here; I think it really is a useful dividing line.

Re: Calculus Made Easy (1914) [pdf]

#139

It's crazy the kids have to pay hundreds of dollars for the horrible books the colleges require when brilliant things like this can be had for free...

It's not rare that supports the people teaching the class. Nothing like pushing your own book to students that just have to buy it. In some cases the books don't even get used.

> Nothing like pushing your own book to students that just have to buy it.

This is a very small fraction of what goes on -

1) Many many professors have not written a/the book

2) You're not going to sell 1000000's of books through the 1 class you teach every semester. A few, yes. But lots, no.

Re: Calculus Made Easy (1914) [pdf]

#140
post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Really? What'd they call a one followed by nine zeros then?

A milliard. The word is still used by countries that use the 'long scale', which has the nice property that a billion = (1 million)^2 and a quadrillion = (1 million)^4 etc. If you can count in greek this also means that an n-illion times an m-illion equals an (n+m)-illion.

This strikes me as a vastly superior way of doing things..

Any insight as to why things went 'the wrong way'?

Post reply on HN