Calculus made easy : being a very-simplest introduction to those beautiful methods of reckoning which are generally called by the terrifying names of the differential calculus and the integral calculus / Silvanus Thompson

Reprint 2022.

Includes bibliographical references.

I. To deliver you from the Preliminary Terrors -- II. On Different Degrees of Smallness -- III. On Relative Growing's -- IV. Simplest Cases -- V. Next Stage. What to do with Constants -- VI. Sums, Differences, Products and Quotients -- VII. Successive Differentiation -- VIII. When Time Varies -- IX. Introducing a Useful Dodge -- X. Geometrical Meaning of Differentiation -- XI. Maxima and Minima -- XII. Curvature of Curves -- XIII. Other Useful Dodges -- XIV. On true Compound Interest and the Law of Organic Growth -- XV. How to deal with Sines and Cosines -- XVI. Partial Differentiation -- XVII. Integration -- XVIII. Integrating as the Reverse of Differentiating -- XIX. On Finding Areas by Integrating -- XX. Dodges, Pitfalls, and Triumphs -- XXI. Finding some Solutions Table of Standard Forms Answers to Exercises.

Considering how many fools can calculate, it is surprising that it should be thought either a difficult or a tedious task for any other fool to learn how to master the same tricks. Some calculus-tricks are quite easy. Some are enormously difficult. The fools who write the textbooks of advanced mathematics and they are mostly clever fools seldom take the trouble to show you how easy the easy calculations are. On the contrary, they seem to desire to impress you with their tremendous cleverness by going about it in the most difficult way. Being myself a remarkably stupid fellow, I have had to unteach myself the difficulties, and now beg to present to my fellow fools the parts that are not hard.