What This Site Is About
Disclaimer
17Calculus owners and contributors are not responsible for how the material, videos, practice problems, exams, links or anything on this site are used or how they affect the grades of any individual. We have worked, to the best of our ability, to ensure accurate and correct information and solutions to practice problems and exams. However, we do not guarantee 100% accuracy. It is each individual's responsibility to verify correctness and to determine what different instructors expect. How each person chooses to use the material on this site is up to that person as well as the responsibility for how it impacts grades and understanding of calculus. In short, use this site wisely by questioning and verifying everything. If you see something that is incorrect, contact us right away so that we can correct it.
Academic Integrity
17calculus is intended to help you learn calculus so that you can work problems on your own, do well in your course on your own and, later on, use calculus in your discipline on your own. Please do not use this site to cheat or to avoid doing your own work. What you do in private eventually comes to light and determines what kind of person you are in public. Choose now to be a person of integrity and discipline.
This site is intended to supplement your calculus learning by explaining concepts, giving examples and providing practice problems to help you better understand calculus concepts. Calculus is not easy. But you CAN ace calculus with the right tools and persistence.
There are two main types of calculus taught at the college level based on a student's major or emphasis. Business calculus is usually geared toward business, life sciences and other majors that do not use calculus a lot but need some exposure to the subject. Math and engineering calculus is for students in mathematics, engineering, physics, chemistry and other majors where calculus is a critical part of their subject. This site is geared toward students in this category who need to know, understand and use calculus. Business calculus students can get a lot out of this site too but we emphasize understanding concepts and how the math works at a deep level, not just how to use the equations.
Videos
There are a lot and I mean a LOT of calculus videos out there, both on individual sites and on YouTube. However, many of them show bad or downright incorrect techniques. Some teach you how to work problems by getting around what you need to learn rather than helping you understand and learn the concepts correctly. We have chosen the best videos to post on this site that follow these standards:
1. show good accurate techniques
2. use mostly correct notation
3. help you understand and use calculus (the most important criterion)
4. the presenter must speak clearly without a heavy accent
5. the presenter writes out his work rather than using all prepared slides (like PowerPoint)
The videos are usually listed so that the most helpful are at the top, i.e. the videos that meet criterion 3 above as closely as possible. Of course, there are exceptions to these rules (except for #3) but they are rare.
We want to make it clear that we don't necessarily agree with everything in all the videos on this site. But for now they are the best we've seen. Here are the instructors in the videos that we especially recommend, called our featured instructors.
Featured Instructors
Here at 17calculus.com, we have combed through lots of videos on youtube and found the best instructors who use the best notation, are easy to listen to and who communicate calculus clearly and correctly. There are three that we think will help you the most. [ We do not record many of our own videos, since we don't think we could do any better than these instructors. ]
Note - - These rankings and comments are our opinions only. It is okay to disagree with us as long as you learn calculus.
Dr Chris Tisdell |
PatrickJMT |
IntegralCALC |
|---|---|---|
Rank 1 - Always watch these videos on every topic |
Rank 2 - Watch as many of these as you have time for |
Rank 3 - Watch these if you need more examples |
Notation: Excellent | Notation: Very Good | Notation: Fair |
Accuracy: Excellent | Accuracy: Very Good | Accuracy: Good |
Theory: Some but only enough to make the topic clear without distracting from how to use the information |
Theory: Little to none; mostly before working practice problems |
Theory: Little to none; mostly within the context of practice problems |
Examples: Very good, ranging from moderate to challenging with a few easy ones here and there |
Examples: Very good ranging from easy to moderate |
Examples: Good, mostly easy ones with a few moderate ones |
Level: Upper level topics including differential equations |
Level: Most single variable and multi-variable calculus topics with some differential equations |
Level: Mostly single variable with some multi-variable calculus and differential equations |
This guy is fun to listen to and I wish I had taken calculus and differential equations from him. He has a good sense of humor and a neat accent but it is still very easy to understand him. He is an instructor at a school in Australia. He communicates very well and this theory supports his calculus without being too heavy. He communicates well and is an excellent teacher. |
This guy is very good at explaining topics and he is thorough and meticulous. He doesn't give as much theory as Dr Tisdell but he shows good examples and is easy to listen to. He teaches ( or has taught ) at several schools, so he has experience in the classroom which is important in anticipating problems you might have with certain techniques. He has some neat ways of looking at problems and has lots of suggestions on how to work problems. |
This gal is easy to listen to and she explains things well. She also has some good examples, mostly easy ones to get you started. She seems to have a good grasp on what problems students have with certain topics. We think she has most of her experience from being a student and tutoring, which is good, since she knows what you are going through right now. In general, she is very good and we highly recommend that you watch her videos. She has some tables and materials on her website that you can use. |
Additional Comments
Make sure you watch all videos with a critical eye. As with any instructor, there are errors and notation mistakes. We try to include comments with the videos when we catch a mistake but we do not mention all of them. You need to be able to see when they make mistakes. Do this in class too. Your instructor is not perfect, no one is. If you can pick up mistakes, that is an indication that you are starting to understand calculus.
Honorable Mentions
You will find videos from other instructors as well. However, we usually include them only if they will help you understand something better or if they give a different perspective other than is given by the instructors listed above.
MIT - - One of other favorite video sources is MIT OpenCourseWare. They are great videos and you will find some pages with those videos. They are longer videos with LOTS of theory. They are very good but it is better to get most of your learning from your classes and your textbook. We have included them so that you have a way to learn more theory. Watch them when you have time.
MIP4U - - This stands for Math Is Power For You. We kind of like that name. He has some good videos that we include if we don't have enough from our featured instructors. He has some good examples but he is difficult to listen to for long periods since he talks in a monotone. But he explains things well and has some good insight.
Other Videos
You may be asking why we don't include more videos from Khan Academy. Well, the main reason is that the videos by the instructors listed above are, frankly, better in our opinion than those by Khan. Khan has a huge range of topics and so he is spread thin and, consequently, he doesn't have very many calculus videos. Also in many of them, the equations are difficult to read. The instructors above do strictly math videos, they have more videos, they explain things in more detail and they know math better. In our opinion, Khans videos are meant for people who just want an exposure to calculus, not necessarily for students who are serious about actually learning calculus. We do include some Khan videos but only when we think they will add to your understanding.
Most other videos are not very good. They show you how to get around learning calculus, have poor notation or bad suggestions, the presenter has a heavy accent and, therefore, is difficult to understand or they work the problems incorrectly. ( No one is perfect, so need to watch all videos, including ones we recommend, for mistakes. )
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How To Get The Most Out Of This Site
To get the most benefit from this site, it will help for you to have an idea of the structure and where to find what you are looking for. I have designed this site so that you decide how much information you want to see using scrolling and tabbed panels. This avoids information overload, focuses your attention and saves you time.
Additionally, to get equations to show up correctly, you may need to tweak your system; details below.
Loading Equations (Slow Load?)
This site uses a system called MathJax to load fonts and display mathematical equations. If your computer is taking a long time (more than a few seconds) to correctly display math, there is something you can do to speed it up. It is very easy and quick. Basically, you just need to download a math font called STIX. Here is the page that contains the instructions and download link:
MathJax STIX Font.
If you don't do this, you can still use this site and see equations (although some may be difficult to read). However, it will take longer (more than a few seconds) to display math equations and your experience here may not be completely satisfying. Downloading these fonts is quick and painless and, as the use of MathJax spreads (which I think it will), your computer will already be set up. I believe this is the future standard for displaying math on webpages. So you will be ahead of the game by doing this now.
Main Navigation
At the top is the main navigation menu. To open a menu, just move your mouse over the menu you want to open. This navigation is on all pages and it stays at the top as you move down the page, so it is always at your fingertips.
Structure Of The Core Pages
The main pages containing the core calculus information are in two parts. First, the top part contains core discussion with additional topics in drop-down panels. Some pages contain several topics which may be separated into panels. To open a topic, click on the topic name anywhere in the panel tab. The panel will then drop down showing the information. To close the panel, click the panel tab again.
The bottom half of each page contains additional resources like tables, videos, practice problems, proofs and additional links. To more easily navigate the core pages, you will find a set of buttons in the tools menu.
We hope this format helps you find your topic more quickly and efficiently. Your time is valuable and you should not have to spend a lot of time searching through pages to find the information you need.
Having Trouble Finding Your Topic?
At the top of the Resources section on the core pages and at the bottom of most other pages, you will find a Google Site Search panel called 'Search 17calculus'. Click to open the panel and you can enter a search string to search this site.
