Review

Calculus . 4th edition. Publish or Perish, Houston, TX, 2008, xiv + 680 pp., ISBN 978-0-914098-
91-1, $85.00. by Michael Spivak; Calculus Deconstructed: A Second Course in First-Year Calculus .
MAA Textbooks, Mathematical Association of America, Washington, DC, 2009, xvi + 491 pp.,
ISBN 978-0-88385-756-4, $59.95. by Zbigniew Nitecki; Approximately Calculus . American
Mathematical Society, Providence, RI, 2006, xvii + 292 p ...
Review by: David Bressoud
The American Mathematical Monthly, Vol. 120, No. 6 (June–July 2013), pp. 577-580
Published by: Mathematical Association of America
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.4169/amer.math.monthly.120.06.577 .
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 REVIEWS
Edited by Jeffrey Nunemacher
Mathematics and Computer Science, Ohio Wesleyan University, Delaware, OH 43015

Calculus. 4th edition. By Michael Spivak, Publish or Perish, Houston, TX, 2008, xiv + 680
pp., ISBN 978-0-914098-91-1, $85.00
Calculus Deconstructed: A Second Course in First-Year Calculus. By Zbigniew Nitecki, MAA
Textbooks, Mathematical Association of America, Washington, DC, 2009, xvi + 491 pp.,
ISBN 978-0-88385-756-4, $59.95
Approximately Calculus. By Shahriar Sharhriari, American Mathematical Society, Provi-
dence, RI, 2006, xvii + 292 pp., ISBN 978-0-8218-3750-4, $50.00
A Guide to Cauchy’s Calculus: A Translation and Analysis of Calcul Infinitésimal. By Dennis
M. Cates, Fairview Academic Press, Walnut Creek, CA, 2012, viii + 616 pp., ISBN 978-0-
9838837-0-8, $139.00
The Calculus Integral. By Brian S. Thomson, ClassicalRealAnalysis.com, Charleston, SC,
2010, x + 291, ISBN 978-1442180956, $14.95

Reviewed by David Bressoud

I have a confession to make: As an undergraduate, I never really understood calculus.
When, as part of my senior exam, I was asked to state and prove the mean value theo-
rem, I was totally at sea. My problem was one that has become increasingly common.
I did well in AP Calculus and placed directly into several variable calculus in col-
lege. I did not take real analysis as an undergraduate, so I did not appreciate the mean
value theorem until much later. My own experience has convinced me of the benefits
of slowing down, of choosing to strengthen one’s mathematical foundations instead of
racing ahead.
Many colleges and universities offer honors calculus precisely for these entering
students who could move directly into sophomore courses and succeed, but who would
be better prepared for higher mathematics if they revisited calculus at an advanced
level. There are dangers in taking too rigorous an approach to calculus. For most
students, the theorems of nineteenth-century analysis present a radically new way of
thinking about mathematics. When the emphasis of the course is on these theorems, es-
pecially in the first year of college, they can seem unnecessarily pedantic, overwhelm-
ing even talented students with their demands for precision and rigor. But for the right
students, this analytic approach can be the right move, and there are texts aimed at
precisely this audience. Michael Spivak’s Calculus has become the traditional choice
for honors calculus. This review will consider it against four recent entrants.
One of the great advantages of Spivak is that it has been used and refined over 45
years. Spivak suggested in his preface to the second edition that a more appropriate title
might have been “An Introduction to Analysis.” A major part of the text deals with the
structure of the real numbers, limits, continuity, and consequences of completeness,
but this really is a calculus course. Spivak follows the structure of a traditional intro-
duction to calculus, progressing through limits of functions to continuity, the definition
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of the derivative, the definition of the definite integral, the fundamental theorem of in-
tegral calculus (the historical name and my preferred designation for this theorem),
and finally sequences and series. A standard introduction to calculus does and should
make the assumption that all functions are piecewise analytic. No such assumption
is made here. This all occurs with a noticeable soft-pedaling of techniques and proce-
dures and an emphasis on the theorems and interesting examples and counterexamples.
Spivak chooses upper and lower Darboux sums to define the definite integral, leaving
Riemann sums for an appendix. One of his idiosyncrasies is to define both trigonomet-
ric and logarithmic functions in terms of definite integrals. He leaves convexity and
concavity to an appendix where they can be approached with care. And he includes
sophisticated treats: planetary motion, the irrationality of π, the transcendence of e.
The depth and richness of his exercises are unmatched.
Zbigniew Nitecki’s Calculus Deconstructed: A Second Course in First-Year Calcu-
lus is similar in flavor, but makes different choices. Rather than the ε-δ definition of the
limit of a function, he devotes considerable effort to develop limits based on sequences,
an approach that I prefer because I find it more intuitive and historically appropriate.
His definitions of the trigonometric and exponential functions, as well as his treat-
ment of differentiation and integration, are more traditional, though he also defines
the definite integral via Darboux sums. He places more emphasis on the techniques
and traditional applications of calculus. Nitecki includes extended historical vignettes,
such as Leibniz’s derivation of integration by parts, and makes interesting pedagog-
ical choices, such as introducing partial fraction decomposition of rational functions
by first discussing the decomposition of ratios of integers into rational numbers with
prime power denominators, and then pointing out that linear and irreducible quadratic
polynomials play the role of primes in the ring of polynomials over the reals. The ex-
ercises are very good, separated into Practice Problems, Theory Problems, Challenge
Problems, and problems that introduce and illuminate History Notes. This is the text
for those who are using or thinking of using Spivak, but would like a book that is a
little more accessible.
The other texts under review take a less traditional approach to this second course of
first-year calculus, none more so than Shahriar Shariari’s Approximately Calculus. The
adjective in the title is intended in two senses. The focus within calculus is on lineariza-
tion and approximation. But this is also a text that frequently strays from calculus. It
begins and periodically returns to questions in number theory and the distribution of
primes. This has the dual advantage of beginning with material that is fresh, expand-
ing students’ understanding of mathematics while providing opportunities to explore
patterns and construct proofs that are more accessible than those of analysis. This is
very much a problem-based book. The exposition is kept to a minimum, studded with
questions and challenges to use Maple for investigation. The proofs are almost always
merely sketched with details to be filled in. Once again, upper and lower Darboux sums
are used to define the definite integral. Some topics get very short shrift. Techniques
of integration fill less than two pages. Integration by change of variables is nowhere to
be found, but then neither is the chain rule. On the other hand, Taylor polynomials are
a recurrent theme, and their error terms are examined in great detail. This is definitely
a course for those who do not need traditional calculus. At Macalester, we tried using
this as the textbook for a course for all students who had seen some calculus before.
We discovered that it is not the right book for that general an audience. However, I ap-
preciate what Shariari does and would like to try his book again with a more carefully
chosen class.
The fourth book is the one that I find the most intriguing. If Spivak and Nitecki are
correct that the students who have done well in high school calculus are ready for an

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introduction to nineteenth-century analysis, then why not introduce them to the text
that began it all, Cauchy’s Résumé des leçons sur le calcul infinitésimal (Summary of
lectures on the infinitesimal calculus) of 1823? This question should not be taken too
literally. Niels Henrik Abel wrote of Cauchy’s efforts to reformulate calculus, “Right
now he is the only one who knows how mathematics should be done. What he is doing
is excellent, but very confusing.” Fortunately for us, Dennis Cates has taken 22 of the
40 lectures in Cauchy’s Résumé and turned them into a very engaging exposition, A
Guide to Cauchy’s Calculus: A Translation and Analysis of Calcul Infinitésimal. For
each lecture there is a brief introduction, setting the stage by explaining what Cauchy
wants to accomplish and defining any unfamiliar notation. This is followed by an En-
glish translation of the lecture with footnotes as needed. Cauchy’s lectures usually run
three to five pages. Cates follows the translation with an extended explanation and
discussion with examples and a good collection of exercises. As an example, Cauchy
introduces continuity in Lecture Two, but his definition leaves ambiguous whether this
is continuity at a point or uniform continuity over an interval. Cates clarifies the differ-
ence and goes to some length to explain why the distinction is important. Technically,
this is not a textbook, but what fun it would be to work through this with talented stu-
dents who are interested in the history of mathematics. I believe that they would learn
as much from this as from Spivak or Nitecki.
The final book is the most challenging of all, Brian Thomson’s The Calculus Inte-
gral. The author introduces it as appropriate for an honors course in calculus, but it
would require some very special students. I could see it used for a senior seminar. Ev-
ery proof, every example, and every counterexample is left as an exercise. The proofs
are scaffolded and answers are provided in the second half of the book, but if ap-
proached as intended, working through this text would be daunting. Like Nitecki and
Spivak, Thomson focuses on the theorems of calculus. He begins with sequences, the
careful derivation of properties of continuous functions, and the definition and basic
properties of differentiation. He takes an abrupt turn when he gets to integration. Like
the other four authors, Thomson rejects Riemann’s definition of the definite integral,
but he takes it a step further. He returns to Newton’s definition of the integral as an-
tiderivative, what he calls “the calculus integral.” Thomson defines the definite integral
of f as the change in a uniformly continuous function that is an antiderivative of f
at all but at most finitely many points. A function is integrable if and only if such an
antiderivative exists. The fundamental theorem of integral calculus is now the observa-
tion, via the mean value theorem, that for any integrable function f and any partition
of the interval over which we integrate, for each i there exists a value xi in the ith
subinterval such that the definite integral is exactly the sum over i of f (xi ) times the
length of the ith subinterval. From here, he explores Riemann sums as approximations
to definite integrals. Thomson’s handling of integration has the advantage that it clar-
ifies the point of the fundamental theorem of integral calculus, which is the general
equivalence of two very different approaches to integration.
There is much more to Thomason’s book. He continues on to the monotone conver-
gence theorem, then to sets of measure zero, to absolute continuity, and on to define
the Lebesgue integral of f as the change in a function F that is an antiderivative of f
almost everywhere and is absolutely continuous in the Vitali sense. He concludes with
the Henstock–Kurzweil integral. His book is magnificent, but even if we stop before
preparing for the monotone convergence theorem, it would be supremely demanding
for an honors course in the first year.
The mean value theorem plays a prominent role in each of these books. From Cates,
we see how Cauchy elevated it to prime importance and wrestled with its proof (the
slick proof we use today is due to Ossian Bonnet and was first published by J.A. Serret

June–July 2013] REVIEWS 579

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in 1868). It is central to Shahriari’s analysis of Taylor polynomials, warranting its own
chapter. It takes its rightful place of honor in Spivak and Nitecki. For Thomson, it is a
recurrent tool, and he even references Koliha’s [1] M ONTHLY article on the “meanest”
of the mean value theorems. Had I taken a course with any of these texts, I would have
been well-prepared for my senior exam.

REFERENCE

1. J. J. Koliha, Mean, meaner and the meanest mean-value theorem, Amer. Math. Monthly 116 (2009) 356–
361, available at http://dx.doi.org/10.4169/193009709X470227.

Macalester College, Saint Paul MN 55105

bressoud@macalester.edu

Efficiency in Antidifferentiation of the Secant Function

Antiderivatives of rational functions of sin θ and cos θ are often found by means of the Weier-
strass substitution w = tan(θ/2). A different tangent half-angle substitution yields equally
good results in general, but is more efficient in the problem we want to consider.
Recall from trigonometry one of the tangent half-angle formulas:

π θ
 
x = tan + = sec θ + tan θ. (1)
4 2
Hence,

d x = (sec θ tan θ + sec2 θ) dθ = (sec θ)x dθ,

Z
dx
= sec θ dθ, log |x| + C = sec θ dθ.
x
If we were unaware of the the half-angle formula (1) and simply plodded through the
application of trigonometric identities to this substitution, we would have

x2 − 1 2x 2 dx
sin θ = , cos θ = , dθ = .
x2 + 1 x2 + 1 x2 + 1
It follows that
Z Z
dx
sec θ dθ = ,
x
whereas the usual Weierstrass substitution leads to
Z Z
2 dw
sec θ dθ = ,
1 − w2
followed by partial fractions. (The half-angle formula (1) also follows from this substitution.)
—Submitted by Michael Hardy, Department of Mathematics and Statistics,
St. Cloud State University, St. Cloud, MN 56301,
drmichaelhardy@gmail.com

http://dx.doi.org/10.4169/amer.math.monthly.120.06.580
MSC: Primary 33B10

580 c THE MATHEMATICAL ASSOCIATION OF AMERICA [Monthly 120

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