01 / Reading Guide
Reading Guide
Choose a calculus text and connect rates to accumulation
Compare two free calculus texts with Thomas, follow six concrete study tasks, and audit a worked rate-and-accumulation problem.
Study route and exercise: University Reading List editorial project.
Who this book is for
For students in the first two semesters of university calculus who can participate actively in the learning process. The book deliberately offers relatively few fully worked examples. It is best used with an instructor or study group that can discuss attempted solutions, provide feedback and resolve disagreements about meaning.
Prerequisites
Algebra, functions, trigonometry and graph reading are prerequisites. Review manipulating expressions and interpreting rates; no prior university calculus course is required for the beginning chapters.
What it covers
Eight chapters develop the central ideas of single-variable differentiation and integration, their applications and later calculus topics. Preview activities introduce a question before class; in-class activities and interactive exercises then develop the idea. The separate activity workbooks support the same curriculum rather than representing additional independent textbooks.
How to use it
Complete the preview task before reading ahead, and write both a numerical prediction and a verbal reason. Discuss a disagreement with a partner by comparing graphs, formulas and units. After feedback, revise the explanation rather than simply changing the answer. Use the interactive problems to practise fluency, then attempt a longer exercise requiring written reasoning. Keep a record of how an initial intuition changed, especially when distinguishing average behavior from an instantaneous rate or accumulation.
Edition and sources
The complete second edition was published by GVSU Libraries on August 1, 2025 and credits four authors, including Safranski. It offers full PDF and online reading under CC BY-SA 4.0. The edition should not be confused with separate multivariable books or companion workbooks.
Using the current second-edition web text
The official second-edition HTML provides direct chapter navigation. Its displayed production date is August 13, 2026; the GVSU bibliographic record still identifies the second edition published in August 2025. These are a web-build date and an edition-publication date, not evidence of a third edition. For a focused first route, use chapters 1–3 for derivatives and 4–5 for accumulation and antiderivatives before choosing later topics.
