Useful for casual reviews and light references
Review written by: K. Jazayeri From San Jose, CA United States
Starts out with a high-school algebra and trigonometry refresher before covering most of the fundamental college mathematics - check out its Table of Content.
This book can be quite useful for quick reviews and _light_ references/look-ups for those with a casual interest.
I seriously doubt if this book can be used for learning any of the core areas for the first time. The descriptions are typically terse and the coverage, not too deep.
Note: if you're more than half-serious about your math, you will no doubt require separate books on Linear Algebra and Matrices, Differential Equations, and Probability and Statistics.
Negatives -- and why I don't give it 4 stars:
* There are numerous typos (I have marked probably 100+ corrections within about 80% of the text) - this is inexcusable for a book in 6-th edition!
* Its index can be longer for a book of this nature and size.
Good reference book
Review written by: Frank J. Carter From Hood River, OR USA
I found this to be a good reference for areas where I am rusty. It's explanations are too short and based on a users level of expertise that would make it too hard to learn a new area from this book, but its a great single volume reference.
Not for the undergrad and non-math majors!!!!!!
Review written by: Ronald Camp From St.Paul, Mn USA
This book is lacking for sensible sturcture. Seems to put a reader into a maze and leaves them wondering where there at. There are enough topics but their too full of proofs to really understand what the book is trying to explain. This book would even be diffucult for a graduate student that's using it for review. The author seems to be proving his mathematical talent instead of trying to explain the topics in a manor that's understandable to the average reader.
Great for review of college math
This is an excellent book that summarizes the essentials of college-level mathematics for engineers.
I use this book as a review for incoming graduate students who have been out of college for a few years. It distills several college courses into one readable volume, yet it still has enough information and rigor to be a valuable reference book.