Calculus Volume 1

Reviewed by Pat Miceli, Associate Professor, City Colleges of Chicago on 4/10/23

Comprehensiveness rating: 5 see less

The text covers all topics I was expecting except for a discussion about normal lines. This isn't required but is nice to get exposure to in Calculus 1. I would also say that about the midpoint rule for finding area under a curve, not necessary but gives the alternative to an upper sum and lower sum. It provides greater accuracy but uncertainty about if it's an upper or lower sum.

Content Accuracy rating: 5

I did not find any errors. The writing was clear. I appreciate the informal proofs about limits at infinity along with the formal proofs.

Relevance/Longevity rating: 5

I agree that the content is relevant. Many chapter openers and student projects involve situations that would interest students.

Clarity rating: 5

I thought the writing was very accessible. It was formal when necessary but otherwise friendly or not stuffy.

Consistency rating: 4

Generally the text is consistent. There were some bold terms that I would have like to see get a boxed definition. This would include many of the functions mentioned in chapter 1 (they could be included in the Precalculus review), the existence of a limit, the compound formula and continuous compound formula. The limit rule for sinx/x as x approaches 0 is explained in 2.3, but I would like this to have it's Theorem or Rule box. It could include the (1-cos x) /x rule.

Modularity rating: 5

Yes, the text is nicely broken into manageable sections that could be rearranged if necessary.

Organization/Structure/Flow rating: 5

Topics are in a logical order. I was curious why delta x(sub i) was not included in the definition of a Riemann sum but this was later explained in 5.2.

Interface rating: 5

No distortion issues. I did have trouble with some media links but I'm attributing that to the work computers and blocking access to some sites.

Grammatical Errors rating: 5

I found no grammatical errors.

Cultural Relevance rating: 5

I didn't find any instances of culturally insensitive or offensive text. Most references to individuals seems neutral.

Comments

The media links I was able to open I thought were very good. Images for some of the properties of definite integrals could be helpful. The explanation of the average value function was very good. A visual or applet for the Fundamental Theorem of Calculus would be great.

Reviewed by Mikheil Elashvili, Part-time Faculty, Bridgewater State University on 12/9/22

Comprehensiveness rating: 4 see less

Textbook represents a well-thought compromise of comprehensive mathematical material, providing the full amount of knowledge on the given subject, but sometimes omitting the details which might be overburdening for the students, especially for those of non-math major. So I would say the Textbook is comprehensive but not ideal, which does not reduce its value. I found it much more comfortable for students to work with. The index is accurate and easy to navigate, though slight changes in the sequence of chapters might be introduced.

Content Accuracy rating: 5

The content is accurate, I never found any factual errors in the Textbook, and provided information was accurate. The text is clear and well formulated, It does not cause any bias or misinterpretation.

Relevance/Longevity rating: 4

Math as a subject is quite pre-defined in terms of factual content and there is really nothing to update. But, the way the math subjects are explained in the Textbook is modern and well up-to-date. Though a bit more connection to modern/practical applications would be beneficial.

Clarity rating: 5

Text is written with simple and understandable language, which is not an easy task for Math textbooks. Adequate terminology is used.

Consistency rating: 5

The textbook is consistent with its goal. The framework and the structure of the textbook is well architected.

Modularity rating: 4

Modularity is not a strong side of Math textbooks, since the sequence of sections matters, topics being built one on another. Nevertheless textbook provides some flexibility, to "jump" between the chapters in accordance with the instructor's requirement (syllabus content).

Organization/Structure/Flow rating: 5

The topics in the text are presented in a logical, clear fashion. I have nothing to comment on it.

Interface rating: 5

The text is free of any interface issues, no navigation problems, drawings are clear and high quality.

Grammatical Errors rating: 5

So far, no grammatical errors were noticed.

Cultural Relevance rating: 5

Because of the Math content, the text involves basically no culturally sensitive material.

Comments

I would recommend with no hesitation this textbook as a Calculus Teaching material for any Science and Engineering majors, though it might not be entirely suitable for Math or Physics majors.

Reviewed by Nicholas Wong, Director of Introductory Mathematics, Virginia Commonwealth University on 8/18/22

Comprehensiveness rating: 4 see less

The textbook covers a full first semester of college calculus and with enough material to also be useful in an AP Calculus AB course for high school calculus teachers.

Content Accuracy rating: 5

The content is accurate and presented in a relatively student friendly manner. Making more connections between concepts would make it relevant and valued for both students and instructors.

Relevance/Longevity rating: 4

The calculus content doesn't really change, so this textbook, along with any other, will be relevant for quite a time. The order may not be be how all instructors teach, but instructors should be able to make the professional judgement to utilize the book "out of order" if it suits their teaching pedagogy.

Clarity rating: 4

The text is written at an appropriate level. Some more student-friendly language would be appreciated as many students avoid the textbook in this day and age. Providing a "layman's speak" for the mathematical text and language would make this more approachable for students.

Consistency rating: 5

The text is very consistent in terms of its use of terminology and the framework which they develop the key concepts for students.

Modularity rating: 5

The text is broken up into reasonable sections for instructors to break up if they feel the order of material should be different to suit their students. A "guide" for students would be beneficial as they don't necessarily understand why an instructor would teach material "out of order".

Organization/Structure/Flow rating: 4

The text is organized in a way for instructors to teach this course with early transcendentals or not although it will take some work on their part. Similarly to the note above, a "guide" for students would be beneficial as they are the ones who should be interacting, reading, and synthesizing the materials in the text. I believe many calculus textbooks, this one included, are written to favor faculty to choose the textbook rather than written in a manner that is approachable for students.

Interface rating: 4

The interface is pretty good and relatively easy to navigate without major issues.

Grammatical Errors rating: 4

No major grammatical errors that I've noticed through the book.

Cultural Relevance rating: 4

I wouldn't say it's inclusive, but rather it's more "neutral" in its presentation of material.

Comments

With the current issue of D/F/W rates in calculus courses across the country, having a small note at the beginning of each section to remind students of required prerequisite skills and concepts would benefit students reading the text to obtain some just in time remediation if needed to make sure they can be on-level or as close to that as possible. The notes could reference other OER course books as well. It may also be beneficial pedagogically for instructors and a great marketing tool to get more faculty on board utilizing OER.

Reviewed by Josh Hallam, Assistant Professor, Loyola Marymount University on 3/20/22

Comprehensiveness rating: 5 see less

This textbook contains all the material that is typically covered in a first semester calculus course. It is written in such a way that one can do either early or late transcendentals. It also contains a review of pre-calculus material and answers to odd numbered problems.

Content Accuracy rating: 5

I have not found any errors in the text.

Relevance/Longevity rating: 5

The content is up-to-date and contains numerous examples that will still be relevant in the foreseeable future.

Clarity rating: 5

The text does an excellent job straddling the line between being conversational and being rigorous. Often times, motivation for the material is first given and then the mathematics is explained. The figures are well-suited to develop a deeper understanding of the concepts described in the text. Proofs given in the book are written in a way that a first year student may be able to follow.

Consistency rating: 5

I did not find any issues with inconsistencies.

Modularity rating: 5

Each section could be taught in one or two lessons. The division of topics in the text is essentially the same as those found in a commercial calculus textbook.

Organization/Structure/Flow rating: 5

The topics are presented in the typical fashion for a calculus text and is logical and clear. Typically, new sections are built on previous sections.

Interface rating: 5

This is a place where I think this text stands out compared to other texts. There is a pdf version (which is like a standard print textbook) and an online version. I particularly like the online version. Topics are hyperlinked and in-text examples have drop-down menus to show solutions. Both the pdf and the online version work great on the mobile devices that I have tried.

Grammatical Errors rating: 5

I haven’t found any grammatical issues.

Cultural Relevance rating: 5

I haven’t found anything that is culturally insensitive or offensive.

Comments

I would highly recommend this textbook. I think it would be hard to argue that this textbook is worse than any of the commercially available textbooks. Personally, I think that it is better than many of them. At the very least, I think it is a good resource to offer to students even if it is not the official textbook for the course.

Reviewed by Jay Daigle, Teaching Assistant Professor of Mathematics, The George Washington University on 1/30/22

Comprehensiveness rating: 5 see less

The book covers all of the topics I would expect in a first-semester "early transcendentals"-style calculus course. It contains a detailed table of contents and a thorough-seeming index.

It does set itself a difficult challenge of being usable for both "early transcendentals" and "late transcendentals" courses. While it contains all of the appropriate content for either style of course, it is much less effectivel ydesigned for a "late transcendentals" course.

Content Accuracy rating: 5

I have not noticed any errors or mistakes in the text.

Relevance/Longevity rating: 4

In general the content is up-to-date. I would love to see more applications to economics, biology, and other non-physics fields, especially in the integrals section. I also wish there were a bit more leveraging of interactive computer tools that students can use to explore some of these ideas.

Clarity rating: 5

The exposition is reasonably clear and straightforward.

Consistency rating: 5

I have not noticed any inconsistencies in the text.

Modularity rating: 4

The text is mostly divided appropriately into sections containing about a day's worth of material. These sections are described as pursuing multiple learning objectives in the section headers, but the divisions within the sections often seem inadequate to me; if I want to assign part of a section I generally have to say something like "all the material up through Checkpoint 4.13", and I wish the subheadings were better. (However, the numbering of individual examples and checkpoints is quite useful for this.)

The text attemps to be usable for "early transcendentals" and "late transcendentals" classes both, but is clearly much more strongly geared to "early transcendentals". The core "early transcendentals" material is separated out into its own sections, but later sections will include examples and exercises that rely on early transcendentals material.

Organization/Structure/Flow rating: 5

The organization of the book is overall good, though I wish there were more and clearer subsection divisions.

Interface rating: 4

The book has a useful website with a well-designed table of contents, but the interface has some odd hiccups.

Grammatical Errors rating: 5

The book's text is clean and grammatical.

Cultural Relevance rating: 4

The content of the book is relevant to everyone, but it makes no particular attempt to be inclusive or culturally relevant.

Comments

This is a very usable and easily-accessible textbook for a first course in calculus, early transcendentals. If you want to use it for a late transcendentals course you will have to do some work reordering and skipping sections and individual problems and examples.

Reviewed by Sybil Prince Nelson, Assistant, Washington & Lee University on 10/15/21

Comprehensiveness rating: 5 see less

This book covers all the topics necessary for a Calculus 1 curriculum. It even covers things that I think are optional for Calc 1 like epsilon delta definition of a limit.

Content Accuracy rating: 5

I have not found any notable mistakes in the book and I have been using it for half a semester.

Relevance/Longevity rating: 5

The examples are relevant for today with topics that students are aware of.

Clarity rating: 4

Sometimes the way the homework questions are asked is a little confusing. Just be prepared before the lesson so you can clarify for students.

Consistency rating: 5

I have no complaints in this area.

Modularity rating: 5

The modularity is especially beneficial with the Canvas resources that are given.

Organization/Structure/Flow rating: 4

Sometimes I do not agree with the order that topics are presented but I can just rearrange for myself.

Interface rating: 5

The layout is fine.

Grammatical Errors rating: 5

I have not noticed any glaring grammatical errors.

Cultural Relevance rating: 5

I see no examples of culture offense in my half a semester of usage.

Comments

This open textbook covers all the subjects needed for an entry level calculus 1 course. Though at times I don’t agree with the order of the topics, every thing is there and can be adjusted based on your teaching style. The graphs, displays, and general graphics are a bit no frills but they are suitable and free of any major errors or inaccuracies. I really enjoy this textbook because of its ease of use and all of the extra features available. Students can access it at any time, there is a Canvas course shell provided which makes course planning super simple, and there are even powerpoints and a solutions manual available. I highly recommend this textbook for college courses especially considering the escalating prices of textbooks.

Reviewed by Cristina Villalobos, Professor, University of Texas Rio Grande Valley on 11/13/20

Comprehensiveness rating: 5 see less

The textbook covers topics covered by commercial textbooks.

Content Accuracy rating: 4

I mentioned to an OpenStax representative that the book still has (many) errors. I've been using the book for 2-3 years now and I still find errors. Given that the book is not a commercial textbook, I would think that it would be quicker to make edits. This is the only disappointing part. I am trying to get my colleagues on board to adopt the book but they keep pointed out the errors in the book.

Relevance/Longevity rating: 5

Content is good; good examples and good student projects.

Clarity rating: 5

I like how the textbook is written --not terse--but simple wording. The mathematical notation is also good and not terse.

Consistency rating: 5

Yes, internally consistent

Modularity rating: 5

The sections are divided well and one can easily reference information through titles/subtitles and the table of contents.

Organization/Structure/Flow rating: 5

In general, organization is good. We move Section 4.6 after Section 2.4 so that everything dealing with limits is covered together. Of course L'Hopital's section stays where it is since it deals with derivatives.

Interface rating: 5

Agree.

Grammatical Errors rating: 5

I have not seen any grammatical errors.

Cultural Relevance rating: 4

I don't recall seeing any examples that are inclusive of races, ethnicities, and backgrounds. Examples tend to be neutral and not dealing with names of individuals.

Comments

Again just the issue that the book still has errors and these errors need to be worked on rightaway. It should not take longer than a year to correct ALL errors in the book, just have someone go through each line of the book.

Reviewed by Igor Baryakhtar, Instructor, Massachusetts Bay Community College on 6/30/20

Comprehensiveness rating: 5 see less

This book covers the standard Calculus 1 course: traditional topics of differential calculus and the basic concepts of integral calculus. The compact review of functions helps to make a good start with calculus. The text is vivid and lucid and not overcomplicated, exercises are reasonably difficult.
Learning objectives, at the beginning of each section, key terms, key concepts, and key equations at the end of each sections are very helpful.
Therefore the text is very comprehensive.

Content Accuracy rating: 5

Notations and explanations are accurate.

Relevance/Longevity rating: 5

The text is relevant to the subject as it is supposed to to be taught these days. Derivatives and the Shape of a Graph are explained very well among other topics.

Clarity rating: 5

The text very clearly explains the concepts and examples and relations between them. Illustrations, mostly graphs, are excellent, with great attention to the most important information.

Consistency rating: 5

The text is consistent in both terminology and style.

Modularity rating: 5

Modularity is logically reasonable, text is well organized (see the Table of Contents) and is a natural part of the Calculus 1,2,3 sequence.

Organization/Structure/Flow rating: 5

Logically reasonable and convenient. Organization of the book can be understood very well from the Preface.

Interface rating: 5

Easy to navigate. This textbook is available in online, downloadable pdf, and print version. Interactive examples with hints and/or answers make the online version really valuable.

Grammatical Errors rating: 5

The grammar is good. I have not found any grammatical errors.

Cultural Relevance rating: 5

The text is relevant to all people and all cultures.

Comments

I taught the Calculus 1 course at two community colleges for many years and found that Calculus 1 from OpenStax is the best choice for both students and teachers.

Reviewed by Ashley Fuller, Associate Professor, Richard Bland College on 10/9/19

Comprehensiveness rating: 5 see less

The text is well laid out and has topics broken down into appropriate subtopics within each larger chapter. There are extensive examples to go with each learning objective followed by practice problems to allow the student significant practice.

Content Accuracy rating: 5

The text has content that is accurate and does not have errors nor is it biased. There are a variety of topics used in examples.

Relevance/Longevity rating: 5

The text has relevant problems that relate directly to the topic at hand, but they are classic enough that the book will be able to be used for many semesters and will not quickly be obsolete.

Clarity rating: 5

The text is written in an easy to read manner that a mathematics student can use to follow-up on material taught in class or as a stand alone in an online format. Terms are defined in easy to read highlighted sections followed by examples that can be easily targeted based on topic.

Consistency rating: 5

Each chapter is laid out in a similar fashion in order to facilitate ease of learning and comfort as more topics are introduced and more complex concepts examined.

Modularity rating: 5

Within each section topics are broken down in even greater detail and then examples are given to coincide with those topics. THis allows the student and or instructor alike to readily assign and or discover new topics as they approach.

Organization/Structure/Flow rating: 5

Each subsequent chapter flows in a logical and concise way. Introduction of material is followed by practice, and then further developed by application. Topics build on each other based upon a clear pathway.

Interface rating: 5

The book in its PDF format is easy to read and is laid out nicely. I saw no images or features that showed issues.

Grammatical Errors rating: 5

no grammar errors were noted.

Cultural Relevance rating: 5

Examples are fairly straight forward and are universal in their application. No areas were noted as insensitive and/or offensive in any way.

Reviewed by Tai Jen Liu, Math instructor, St Cloud Tech & Community College on 6/24/19

Comprehensiveness rating: 5 see less

This text covers a standard list of topics for the 1st course of calculus. It begins with a chapter of functions review which is particularly useful for those non-STEM students taking calculus. It continues to differentiation and integration, with both theorems and application accompanying the main concepts. Abundant exercises for practice, and external resource, such as applets or interactive graph, also are occasionally included to help the visualization of ideas. Index and glossary with easy access page number are presented in the end for reference.

Content Accuracy rating: 5

The text is free of error, and the examples and exercises (the even ones I have worked on) are accurate.

Relevance/Longevity rating: 5

Calculus content text is relatively timeless. The examples within the content may need to be updated from time to time, and this textbook has done so to a satisfactory degree. Those interactive features are good examples of this work. It certainly can be more of them, comparing to some commercial calculus text, if time and resources allow.

Clarity rating: 5

The text is clearly written, and its colloquial style is a strong point of the book. Notation and symbols are used in a must-only fashion. I find this feature also is a plus for students whose algebra experience is limited, or of long past.

Consistency rating: 5

The text is consistent in the content, the level of difficulty in exercise for the content, and notation use.

Modularity rating: 5

The text is well suited for 15 weeks course. The subchapters are in logic order and easily adopted for use. I would not omit any of those sections for a complete 1st course, but it certainly can be tailored and grouped to individual instructor need.

Organization/Structure/Flow rating: 5

The organization/structure of this text is as most standard calculus text. Its flow is fluent and logical (as mentioned in previous category).

Interface rating: 5

No apparent problems in navigation, or distortion of images found during my reading. It is relatively easy access for the text.

Grammatical Errors rating: 5

No grammatical errors are found.

Cultural Relevance rating: 4

There is not much cultural reference made within this context. While generally cultural relevance is not a major issue in calculus text, it probably will be great if the text includes some historical background as the topics move in logical order, since calculus is developed with rich history and important mathematicians along the way.

Comments

This is a good book for a 1st calculus course, especially for those non-STEM majors. It is more focus on introducing the concepts with examples of application well worked out. I have also read through another older Calculus text in this open library by Strang. The older text is a traditional calculus book can be used in 2-3 semesters calculus sequence course. The older one probably requires a more rigorous algebra background. However, that older text contains very good narratives that explore/explains those ideas presented in calculus, some of them are thoughtfully placed to connect reader to the background why/how certain theorems emerge or being developed. I think these two texts can be good supplement to each other for a calculus sequence course, depending on the skill level and goal of the course. I consider this is the ultimate advantage of using OER material, instructor can put together a good curriculum material suitable for the audience without worry too much about hiking up the cost.

Reviewed by Leanne Merrill, Assistant Professor , Western Oregon University on 3/5/19

Comprehensiveness rating: 5 see less

This book contains all of the topics and material you would expect to see in a first calculus course. It starts with a review of functions, moves to limits, and then proceeds through differentiation and integration. There is a nice mix of theory and applications throughout. The index and glossary are both easy to use. There are also several interactive applets that have easy click-throughs from the pdf and the ebook.

Content Accuracy rating: 5

This book is completely accurate. I have not found errors in formulas, examples, or homework problems. They also give a precise definition of limit in the main text, which I like. The Fundamental Theorem of Calculus, often a tricky section, is handled clearly and intuitively.

Relevance/Longevity rating: 4

Most of the real-world examples are from the last 5-10 years, so will lose some relevance as time goes by, but the math would of course still be perfectly valid. This book could do a bit more integrating coding or interactivity in ways that many completely online textbooks have already done. However, for a book that must exist as a static pdf, this is perfectly fine. There are also several projects that are suggested in the book that are in line with current calculus pedagogy trends.

Clarity rating: 5

I particularly like that this book is written in a more conversational tone than most math textbooks, and includes more helpful pictures embedded in the text than most textbooks do. (Often, the pictures in commercial textbooks appear off to the side, and it's not always clear which figures go with which text.) It also has relevant examples that allow students to connect the definitions to concepts with which they already have some familiarity.

Consistency rating: 5

There were no issues with consistency. The exercise sets are of similar difficulty and length throughout. Notation is used clearly and consistently throughout the book.

Modularity rating: 5

The book is divided into sections that could easily be taught in one or two days each. It would be possible to use this book for any length of course between 10 and 15 weeks (or longer). The sections stand alone, but also fit into a coherent narrative within each chapter and the book as a whole.

Organization/Structure/Flow rating: 5

This follows the usual progression of a calculus textbook: limits, derivatives, applications, integrals, and more applications. This means it's a very easy switch. The derivative rules are presented in a logical order, with motivating examples.

Interface rating: 5

This book is great because it's available as a pdf, or in an easily navigable ebook form. From what I can tell, both work well on mobile devices. The images size and scale nicely across formats.

Grammatical Errors rating: 5

I found no grammar or syntax errors -- the level of quality matches any traditional, expensive book.

Cultural Relevance rating: 5

This is not usually a huge concern for a mathematics textbook, but I can see that the authors took particular care to find authentic application problems from a wide variety of contexts. The physics applications are explained well enough so that a student would not need a physics background to be successful. There are numerous examples from economics and biology throughout the text as well.

Reviewed by Nicole Kraft, Math Instructor, Portland Community College on 6/19/18

Comprehensiveness rating: 5 see less

From the start, this book gives a comprehensive (yet straight forward) review of the necessary function knowledge. There is even a “Review of Pre-Calculus” at the end of the text, which contains all relevant formulas and identities.

Before diving into calculus, there is a section which shows the student the basic ideas covered in differential and integral calculus. After limits, differentiation is covered (with applications contained in a following section) and then integration is covered (with applications in the subsequent section). For my institution, all relevant topics are covered.

Plenty of exercises are placed throughout the text and include solutions for about half of them, similar to what is done for the odd numbered problems in a physical textbook.

Content Accuracy rating: 5

The book is accurate, although I did not complete all exercises in order to check their solutions. In reading through the written portions, I did not find any glaring mistakes. Not only is this textbook accurate, it is concise as well.

Relevance/Longevity rating: 5

Calculus is a classic subject, so the topics here will not need to change. Since the text is thorough and organized in a clear way, instructors can easily select the topics to cover for a given course. As course topics change, the fact that the topics are presented separately here will make course changes straight forward. There won’t be too much picking and choosing of things from within a section.

Clarity rating: 5

The book is clear in its written language, definitions, and figures. There isn’t an overuse of greek letters, which I like. For the most part, functions are in x or t. The figures used throughout are clear, support learning, and are free of extraneous visual information.

Consistency rating: 5

All sections have a similar flow and the depth feels even. Exercises are place consistently throughout the written text.

Modularity rating: 5

This text is broken up nicely by topic. Each topic has a little backstory or introduction that may reference a previous section, but it does not heavily reference past sections. It feels like the sections could easily be selected and ordered at the instructor’s discretion, without too much confusion.

Organization/Structure/Flow rating: 5

The topics are structured clearly as: function background, limits, derivatives, derivative applications, integrals, integral applications. In each section has 7-10 subsections. My only complaint is that the limits at infinity is listed with applications. I wish it were listed in the limits section.

Interface rating: 4

The fact that this text has an online version is a huge plus for me. I wouldn't use a text that didn't. Also, the website is modern-looking and organized. There are enough colors used so that the user doesn't feel bored immediately or over time with the aesthetic. The images are of good quality and seem to be used at pretty much every opportunity.

My one complaint here is that the exercises don’t have numbers. It would be hard to assign specific problems without them having a label. Maybe you just assign all of them?

Grammatical Errors rating: 5

The grammar in this text is good and it is well written. Commas are used in correct places, which adds to clarity.

Cultural Relevance rating: 3

This text is a bit of a cultural void. Although the majority of the real-world objects referenced inanimate, the humans referenced are male. It seems like the text was intentionally written to be gender and culture free. The hes should be eliminated, if that is the case. Otherwise, the message is that only men are of note.

Comments

I really like this text book and would use it in the future if my college didn’t already have their own open textbook available for this course. I do find this text superior, though, and will recommend it to my students for use as supplementary study material.

Reviewed by Kira Hamman, Lecturer in Mathematics, Pennsylvania State University on 2/1/18

Comprehensiveness rating: 5 see less

The book is comprehensive. It covers the entirety of the usual Calculus I curriculum and includes sections with applications that are particularly helpful.

Content Accuracy rating: 4

Alas, there are many errors in the print version of the book, some of which are also in the PDF version. I'm not sure why these could not be fixed at least in the electronic version as they are discovered. Some of these errors are minor typos, but others significantly change the meaning of the text, e.g. f'' where f' is meant, cos instead of sin, and so on.

Relevance/Longevity rating: 5

The bulk of the material is timeless, but the examples used are modern and applicable.

Clarity rating: 5

The book is easy to understand, and most material is presented in a sensible order. To a large extent this is the traditional Calc I curriculum, in the traditional order.

Consistency rating: 5

The book is quite consistent. The terminology used, names of concepts and theorems, and so on are all standard in the discipline.

Modularity rating: 5

I have been very happy with how the text is broken up. Generally speaking, with few exceptions, it is possible to cover one section in a 50-minute class period. Sections that can be skipped are fairly evident. Of course, this is a subject which requires that prerequisite material be learned before later material, but the later sections to rely overmuch on the previous ones in terms of examples or definitions.

Organization/Structure/Flow rating: 5

Again, the book uses the traditional sequence of topics for calculus I, as follows:
1. A review of algebra concepts
2. Introduction to limits
3. Derivatives
4. Integrals

Interface rating: 4

The online version of the book and the downloadable PDF are both very easy to load, navigate, and read on-screen. However, the problems at the end of each section are not numbered in the online version of the book, and this makes it difficult for students to find the assigned problems unless they have a download (which they do not if, for example, they're working on a phone) or a hard copy.

Grammatical Errors rating: 5

I haven't noticed any English grammar errors, although as I said earlier there are some issues with mathematical errors (typos).

Cultural Relevance rating: 5

The text is about calculus, which is relevant to all cultures.

Comments

I recommend the book. The biggest problem I have had is with the errors that change meaning, but these are easy enough to spot and do not seem to be a problem in the online version. I have not had students complain about them much. A smaller but still irritating issue is the lack of numbers on the problems in the online version, which makes it difficult for students using the book on a mobile device to locate the homework. However, beyond those two things I find the book to be of excellent quality, particularly given that it is free.

Reviewed by Caleb Moxley, Visiting Assistant Professor, Randolph College on 8/15/17

Comprehensiveness rating: 5 see less

The test covered all necessary topics for an introductory calculus course with a particularly strong eye to understanding functions. Glossaries appeared at the end of each section, and the index was useful and contained all expected references. A universal glossary would have been useful.

Content Accuracy rating: 5

I did not encounter any errors.

Relevance/Longevity rating: 4

The material is timeless, and the examples used aren't too topical.

Clarity rating: 5

The text is easy to read and is pleasantly presented.

Consistency rating: 5

There are no consistency errors which I found.

Modularity rating: 5

The material is broken into manageable chunks and foundational material is covered before advanced material.

Organization/Structure/Flow rating: 5

The text is well organized.

Interface rating: 5

There are no interface issues.

Grammatical Errors rating: 4

I found very few typos or grammatical errors.

Cultural Relevance rating: 3

The book doesn't make a particular effort to include examples that contain a breadth of cultural relevance.

Comments

This is overall a very good text for an introductory calculus course.

Reviewed by Michelle Perschbacher, Adjunct Instructor of Mathematics, Northern Virginia Community College on 6/20/17

Comprehensiveness rating: 5 see less

This book covers all major topics in a typical first calculus course. Our curriculum also includes numerical integration, which is in the corresponding Calculus II text, but that single section could be easily incorporated into our Calculus I course. Extensive further-reaching problems and Student Projects for each chapter make this text suitable for honors sections as well. A comprehensive Table of Contents and Index are easily located at the beginning and end of the text, respectively. A variety of application problems requiring the use of technology (denoted with [T]) accompany solid pure math exercises.

Content Accuracy rating: 5

No obvious errors jumped out at me.

Relevance/Longevity rating: 5

The theoretical content is fairly timeless. Broad applications in biology, engineering, business, statistics, chemistry, and computer science for calculus are included. The real-world data will eventually require updating – a regular necessity for all textbooks – but individual problems can be seamlessly modernized as needed.

Clarity rating: 5

Corresponding diagrams and figures are strong. The addition of colored definition boxes (light blue) and problem-solving strategy boxes (light orange) makes key concepts easy to find. I appreciate that the authors took the time and space in example problem solutions to include algebraic steps that other texts tend to omit. I noticed some minor spacing problems with mathematical symbols, but this was more prominent in the online version than on the pdf.

Consistency rating: 5

Formatting is clear and consistent. This text provides a wide variety of examples and problems for each section.

Modularity rating: 5

The topics in this course are easily divided into the 6 chapters offered here. Each section is divided into subsections by objective, which can be customized to any curriculum. The text is organized in such a way to accommodate both Early Transcendental and Late Transcendental approaches.

Organization/Structure/Flow rating: 5

The explanations of concepts are very readable. Section 2.1 gives a nice overview of calculus, providing scaffolding for students to see where the course is heading. Each chapter begins with an exploration of a real-world problem, which is tackled in more detail later in the chapter as the mathematical concepts for its solution develop.

Interface rating: 4

Visually, I found the pdf version more appealing and easier to follow. The examples and section exercises are not numbered online in the same way as in the pdf format, making referencing difficult. That said, I appreciate the continuous numbering of section problems in the pdf version. For instance, having only one problem #450 in the entire text eliminates confusion. Links to helpful interactive applets and demonstrations through the Wolfram Demonstrations Project, GeoGebra, Khan Academy, as well as OpenStax are embedded in the text, although two of the links I tried were broken.

Grammatical Errors rating: 5

None that I found.

Cultural Relevance rating: 3

While particular emphasis on Newton and Leibniz is appropriate, this text could benefit from a wider span of historical features from other early contributors to calculus, including non-Europeans and women.

Comments

Overall, this is a solid reference text. Out of the partner resources that I was able to access with a guest login, no particular online software stood out from the crowd. Although the surface-type questions presented are sufficient for skill-building, I was unable to find more comprehensive, multi-step problems that require students to synthesize concepts while providing immediate feedback. Using one of these resources in tandem with some sort of paper-and-pencil assignments from the text is likely the best alternative but still requires hand grading. Nevertheless, seeing several software companies embrace the OER initiative is an encouraging first step.

Reviewed by Steve Leonhardi, Professor of Mathematics and Statistics, Winona State University on 6/20/17

Comprehensiveness rating: 4 see less

The table of contents and material covered is very similar to most standard, traditional Calculus textbooks intended for the first semester of study. In that regard, this textbook is extremely comprehensive. I like the learning objectives clearly stated at the beginning of each section, and the chapter summary and review problems. The text follows the usual format of offering many instructive, detailed examples for students to mimic, but tends to emphasize computational skills over conceptual understanding. While the text does include some examples and exercises using graphical and tabular approaches, I would like to see more examples and exercises that emphasize conceptual understanding and that encourage the development of modeling skills.
Many of the exercises are straightforward and simply computational. There are a reasonable number of problems that involve applications, but in most of these, students are given the formula to use as if it were “pulled out of a hat” rather than derived by the student’s reasoning from general principles. I would like to see more interesting problems that emphasize deep conceptual understanding, or that require students to creatively bring together pieces of knowledge that come from different sections of the course. The “Student Projects” are of this type, but I would like to see more of these. I would need to supplement this textbook more than I would need to supplement other commercial options.

Content Accuracy rating: 5

The content is accurate and unbiased. I did not find any errors in the text.

Relevance/Longevity rating: 4

The text follows the usual format of a standard Calculus course, which tends to change little over the decades. The links to web resources and online data are in many cases helpful and enticing, but will require updates over time, not only to maintain functioning URL’s, but also to continue to refer to up-to-date data and examples. The applets at CalculusApplets.com did not open, probably because of updated browser security requirements, and other applets seemed outdated or only partly functional. I like the idea of linking to external resources, but most commercial textbooks (in e-book form) would be more likely to have stable, functioning internal links to illustrations and applets.

Clarity rating: 5

The exposition is very clear, direct, succinct, and at an appropriate level of mathematical sophistication for my Calculus I students. That is, it addresses all important issues, but broken down into comprehensible steps, without being pedantic or overly technical. In several key sections, the text succeeds in pointing out and warning against common mistakes, such as incorrectly that assuming the converse of a conditional also holds, or using a delta that depends upon x. The clarity is one of the strongest features of this text.

Consistency rating: 5

The text is internally consistent in terms of terminology, notation, and framework.

Modularity rating: 5

The sections seem well-partitioned and well-paced (again, not varying much from the standard Calculus textbook). I would want to reorder my presentation of some of them, but it appears that would not cause any major problems.

Organization/Structure/Flow rating: 5

The overall organization, structure, and flow is good. Personally, I would make the following changes: present Section 4.6: Limits at Infinity as part of Chapter 2 on limits. Present exponential derivatives earlier in Chapter 3. Present L’Hopital’s Rule earlier, when discussing using derivatives in graphing. But this is a matter of personal preference, and the modularity of the text makes all of these changes appear to be pretty easy for instructors to adapt to their preferred order of presentation.

Interface rating: 3

Navigation in the PDF version of the text could be improved. For one thing, I could not find a table of contents to navigate between different sections. Links to future examples and exercises are somewhat helpful, but it was not obvious how to return to the previous point in reading with the pdf file. The online HTML version includes the table of contents and is easier to navigate, but was somewhat slow to reload with my internet connection.

Grammatical Errors rating: 5

I did not find any grammatical or typographical errors. That said, I’m much more likely to notice errors (or have them brought to my attention by students) when actually using the text for a course.

Cultural Relevance rating: 4

The text is not culturally insensitive or offensive in any way. However, I would prefer a text that contains more historical observations or side-notes than this one.

Comments

The strong points of this text are clear, straightforward explanation and examples of the standard computational techniques of Calculus. Any instructor wanting to focus on computational skills would be completely happy with this text. There is some inclusion of the “rule of four” (graphical, tabular, and verbal approaches in addition to symbolic computations), but not as much as I personally would like to see. The text could be improved, in my opinion, by greater inclusion of conceptual examples and exercises, and more modeling.

Reviewed by Angela Simons, Mathematics Instructor, Century College on 6/20/17

Comprehensiveness rating: 4 see less

The text covers the same material that is covered in Calculus 1 textbooks that I have used in the past and that other members of the department still use. There is an index at the end of the text and there is a glossary at the end of each section. It would be helpful if there was also a comprehensive glossary, especially in the pdf of the book for when it is printed.

Content Accuracy rating: 5

I used this textbook in Calculus 1 during fall semester 2016. We did many of the problems both in class and as assigned problems and found no errors. For some of the worked examples in the text the students sometimes had a difficult time understanding what was being done but this is not uncommon regardless of the textbook.
They do make an effort to update any errors that might be found and sent to them, as is stated in the preface to the book "Since our books are web based, we can make updates periodically when deemed pedagogically necessary. If you have a correction to suggest, submit it through the link on your book page on openstax.org. Subject matter experts review all errata suggestions. OpenStax is committed to remaining transparent about all updates, so you will also find a list of past errata changes on your book page on openstax.org."

Relevance/Longevity rating: 5

The text makes attempts to give examples and problems that are current and up-to-date. Given the subject matter the text will likely stay relevance for a long time.

Clarity rating: 4

The text is written in a way that is generally easy to read although as mentioned before some of the examples students had a difficult time following. Also if using the online text, it is important that one uses the full screen view of the text as some of the diagrams become clutter and difficult to decipher because labeling is placed very close together. There are some pages where even if looking at the print version the diagrams are hard to fully understand. For example in section 3.1, Defining the Derivative the diagrams cluttered and students who are being exposed to the idea of the derivative for the first time may not understand what label goes with what.

Consistency rating: 5

Terminology is used in a consistent manner.

Modularity rating: 5

Some of the sections cover quite a lot of material, sometime too much to be covered with in a 50 minute class period which is not terribly uncommon. It was an easy task to find a suitable stopping point to fit within the allotted time.

Organization/Structure/Flow rating: 4

When using the book in class I changed the order of some of the sections. Most specifically, section 4.6 "Limits at Infinity and Asymptotes" was covered in chapter 1 and chapter 2 while talking about functions and limits. When we got to chapter 4 the class was reminded of our previous discussion and we moved on.

Interface rating: 3

The online text is easy to navigate to the start of a particular section using the table of contents. Also in the online text the sample problems have the solutions hidden so that the problems can be done without being influenced by their presence. A positive change to the online version would be if it were possible to jump to the exercises that appear at the end of the section. Some of the tables and diagrams in the sections seemed larger than necessary and not as organized as they might be.
It would have been a nice addition to the online text to have links to animations that might illustrate a particular concept, like the derivative.

In the pdf version of the book, the problems at the end of the section are numbered, it would be nice if the online version used the same numbering. It is difficult to use the online version in class and call students attention to a problem in their printed pdf copy. Also it is not possible in the pdf version of the text to jump to a section once you have navigated to a chapter. Each of the sections should be clickable so that by doing so you are taken to the start of the section. Further there should be a way to navigate to the end of the section to access the exercises without having to scroll all the way through.

Grammatical Errors rating: 5

I don't recall any grammatical errors.

Cultural Relevance rating: 3

Cultural content is slight. There's the obligatory picture of Newton and Leibniz and a nod to Archimedes but little else.

Comments

As mentioned this book was used to teach Calculus 1 in the fall of 2016. I used the book in conjunction with MyOpenMath. Used together the students found the resources helpful. This text made a suitable replacement for the text that I had used previously.

Reviewed by Elijah Bunnell, Mathematics Instructor, Rogue Community College on 4/11/17

Comprehensiveness rating: 5 see less

This text was very comprehensive. It covered every section that our current book covers for 251 and 252.

Content Accuracy rating: 5

I found no errors. Of course there are probably many considering it is a newer math book. No bias was present.

Relevance/Longevity rating: 5

Examples given covered topics that should endure for a good amount of time. Relativity, rockets, swimmers and runners, windows... this book won't feel dated in 10 years.

Clarity rating: 5

All of the author's explanations were exceedingly clear. This was one of the features I most appreciated. Diagrams were not overly cluttered, each page was free of distracting margin comments and very to the point.

Consistency rating: 5

I found no inconsistencies.

Modularity rating: 5

This book follows the traditional layout of a calculus book. The sections lined up almost exactly with our current book. In fact, we currently cover 251 in 24 sections, and Open stax covers the material in 25 sections.

Organization/Structure/Flow rating: 5

Very logical flow. Again, this book structured in a similar way to our current book. Switching to open stax would be nearly effortless.

Interface rating: 3

The images and graphs appeared to be lower budget. I should also not that the images and graphs were also free of clutter and easily understood. Many of the tables were oversized and distracting.

Grammatical Errors rating: 5

If there are grammar errors in the book, they did not distract from the content. Again this book is written in a simple clear manner.

Cultural Relevance rating: 5

The text is not culturally insensitive or offensive in any way. Examples and problems do not make reference to individuals race or ethnicity.

Comments

I found this book to be clear and logically laid out. There were nice pieces of history interjected. The layout was intuitive. Each section was well motivated with examples. I also appreciated that volume 1 only covered only differential and integral calculus.

Reviewed by Joshua Fitzgerald, Instructor, Miami University on 8/21/16

Comprehensiveness rating: 5 see less

This text covers the same material as other common Calculus I textbooks. I was unable to find any major topic that is covered in my classes currently that wasn't covered in this book. There are helpful glossaries at the end of each chapter, but no universal glossary for the entire textbook. There is an index at the back.

Content Accuracy rating: 5

I worked through a few examples and exercises and did not find any errors.

Relevance/Longevity rating: 5

The nature of the subject makes it difficult to imagine a calculus book becoming out-of-date. The non-mathematical content of some textbooks (like historical notes) can become irrelevant or outdated, but this textbook has very little non-mathematical content and so it is not in danger of becoming out-of-date quickly.

Clarity rating: 3

The text is written in an accessible way and the prose is easy to read. Most figures were well-designed, but a few were cluttered. In particular, the critical diagrams showing the construction of the derivative were difficult to decipher due to the labels being nearly on top of one another.

Consistency rating: 5

The textbook is very consistent in its visual presentation. I did not notice any inconsistencies in terminology.

Modularity rating: 5

This textbook easily divides into small sections and subsections, as most math textbooks do. The sections are often too long for an hour-long lesson but the divisibility of the book allows the instructor to shorten or lengthen a lesson to fit the time allowed.

Organization/Structure/Flow rating: 4

This book has a similar structure to that of Stewart or Briggs. The content is broken up into 6 chapters covering essentially the same topics as those popular textbooks. One major difference: Limits at Infinity are not covered until just before Optimization, after the students have already been graphing functions using the derivative. The section on Limits at Infinity does not appear to rely on derivatives at all, so it could easily be taught with the rest of the material on limits if the instructor chooses.

Interface rating: 4

The online interface is nearly identical to the static PDF file available for download. The online version hides solutions for the example problems by default, allowing the reader to attempt the problem without being influenced by a visible solution. Some of the diagrams were larger and easier to read in the online version. It is simple to navigate to a particular section using the Table of Contents in the online interface. However I could not find a way to navigate to a particular page by the page number.

Grammatical Errors rating: 5

I did not find any grammatical errors.

Cultural Relevance rating: 3

Cultural content is very thin in this book, so there isn't much to critique here. I did notice that Newton, Leibniz, and other European mathematicians are mentioned, while there is no mention of the contributions and discoveries of non-European mathematicians.

Comments

This book would make a suitable replacement for other popular calculus textbooks such as Stewart or Briggs.

As a part of this review, I was not able to use the accompanying online homework system, WeBWorK. In my experience, students spend more time interacting with the online homework system than they do the textbook. An online homework system that is easy to use for both the instructor and the student is essential.