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Back to Calculus: Single Variable Part 1 - Functions

Learner Reviews & Feedback for Calculus: Single Variable Part 1 - Functions by University of Pennsylvania

4.7
stars
2,105 ratings

About the Course

Calculus is one of the grandest achievements of human thought, explaining everything from planetary orbits to the optimal size of a city to the periodicity of a heartbeat. This brisk course covers the core ideas of single-variable Calculus with emphases on conceptual understanding and applications. The course is ideal for students beginning in the engineering, physical, and social sciences. Distinguishing features of the course include: 1) the introduction and use of Taylor series and approximations from the beginning; 2) a novel synthesis of discrete and continuous forms of Calculus; 3) an emphasis on the conceptual over the computational; and 4) a clear, dynamic, unified approach. In this first part--part one of five--you will extend your understanding of Taylor series, review limits, learn the *why* behind l'Hopital's rule, and, most importantly, learn a new language for describing growth and decay of functions: the BIG O....

Top reviews

YG

Jul 2, 2018

Very well structured for a refresher course. Thank you Professor Ghrist for your effort in putting this course together. A little additional outside research was required but well worth the effort.

NL

Feb 9, 2021

Excellent introduction to Calculus, I wanted to review the material to tutor my child but I am very happy that I learned a whole new way of looking at Calculus.

Thank you so much Prof. Ghrist.

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26 - 50 of 561 Reviews for Calculus: Single Variable Part 1 - Functions

By Dmitry B

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Sep 27, 2021

It is an extremely well prepared course, as Prof. Ghrist selected essentials of mathematics, concisely explained it in a concise manner, and provides well-selected exercises & answers to test the understanding and direct to misunderstood bits of the theory.

By Eskinder T

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Aug 12, 2020

Challenging but worth the time and effort. One could memorize formulas and solve calculus problems. In contrast, this course helps to understand the underlying reasons and links different topics in calculus. Thank you Professor Ghrist!

By Rene G

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Jun 23, 2020

This course was intense for me, sometimes I had to view lessons more than once to get the point.

If you are not a pro but have the impression that you begin to master calculus then this course will be an eye opener, hard but doable.

By Chinmay S

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Jun 2, 2021

Excellent course! Prof. Ghrist is a great teacher. The examples in lectures and homework problems are very useful in understanding the concepts. Try to work on all the problems even if some may be challenging.

By K.S.S.UDUPA

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Jan 26, 2016

This module is fully exhaustive. You will also understand why we need series expansion of a function at a given point and its convergence and other applications. I enjoyed it thoroughly.

By Derek S

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Jul 21, 2019

Enjoyed the whole journey in this course. Beautiful graphics, choir-base-like sound, concise explanation and instrumental exercises. Thanks Prof. Ghrist.

By Joseph S L

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Jul 9, 2019

Ghrist makes math fun by putting a twist on the lessons. It may look childish/cartoonish, but Ghrist obviously understands what younger people well.

By Nikita V

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Jul 24, 2019

Great course! Material is really dense and highly practical. Thanks!

By Ng T E

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Nov 13, 2020

Very challenging course, even for a Calculus enthusiast like me

By warren t

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Feb 23, 2022

Great course! Not for beginners!

By kathleensa

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Jul 22, 2019

wonderful experince

By Robert A

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Nov 17, 2020

Good course, but definitely difficult. A couple of quiz questions that were misleading or wrong.

By Mubashir-Ul-Hassan

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Aug 6, 2019

One of the great course which helps me to Revise and also fill the missing topics

By Arthur G

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Oct 4, 2020

Much of the couse is good but the Homework test for Exponentials is attrocious.

Firstly the person setting it needs to learn English. Questions 6 & 7 say "which of the following expressions describes ..." describes is the singular form of the verb and leads one to expect only one expression applies. I did these questions twice being marked wrong because I had only included one answer It needs altering to "describe".

There are 2 correct answers listed for the first question but the marking system does not recognise one of them,

Question 8 again expects 2 answers but does not indicate there is more than one.

I did this test twice getting 50% but on realising these weaknesses i had no problem getting 100% but resdent wasting a whole morning because of your errors.

By Adam B

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May 12, 2020

It would be helpful for the instructor to include more example in the lectures. The lectures are well taught and communicated, but there needs to be more emphasis on examples and how complicated some of the problems can be.

By Emil H

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Feb 15, 2016

The lecturer wasn't very engaging. I gave up and continued with Ohio's Calculus course instead.

By fadi E

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Apr 24, 2020

The course is heavily based on personal effort and not on explanation from the instructor. The course forced me to take more searches in the internet and find wonderful sites and tools related to the taylor series.

By Deleted A

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Jul 30, 2020

What a ridiculous course?!?! Hey guys, who did just rate it 5, I don't get at all!!! If you are reading this negative comments in order to understand wether to enrol, don't this!!! A little short video and a supercomplicated homework.

Isn't it strange assumption to assume, that the student already knows almost whole Calculus?

Just the waste of two precious days in my life, I could spend much much better!

The only thing I got from this course, I have to review my precalculus and I do not have so good Calculus basics as I thought!

I'd like to ask professor, who this course is for? I will go to Krista King to udemy instead.

HEY, DON'T WASTE YOUR TIME!!!

By (Lain) L P

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Nov 29, 2021

While in this class I am having trouble actually learning much of anything. There are no example problems to work through and the Core Homework quizzes have little to nothing to do with the lecture. It would be incredibly beneficial for me to recieve some form of examples or homework.

By Krzysztof F

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Jan 20, 2021

Most horrible teacher and course! There is something wrong with this guy. Have to unenrole, unable to follow.

By Devo

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Feb 26, 2021

No explanation or training before exams. We enroll in the course to learn, not to get intimidated.

By Tone M

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May 22, 2020

15 minute cartoon then some unrelated problems?

No thanks

By Andrew P C

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Jun 4, 2020

sucks

By Raghu P

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Apr 19, 2020

This course gives a completely different perspective of calculus, which we thought we had already learnt in our colleges. Professor Robert Ghrist explains the finer aspects of analysis of mathematical series. In fact, this course starts with Taylor Series, which is usually taught at the fag end of the undergraduate courses of Calculus. The capability to expand a function into Taylor Series, and then manipulating just enough number of its items to get our results; expanding Trigonometric, Exponential and Hyperbolic functions to make them amenable to mathematical analysis we want to do, etc. have been the main focus area of this course. It is not an easy course to take if you are not fully mathematics oriented. I was not. And that's why I had to spend hours and hours trying to figure out how the homework problems can be solved. Solving those problems gave different perspectives of the beauty of mathematics, which we might have ignored while studying to acquire just a degree in mathematics. Thank you, Professor Ghrist. :)

By Luoqi W

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Aug 30, 2017

Absolutely phenomenal class. Prof. G leads the students in a tasteful exploration into the world of calculus with a curious heart and methodical mind. Lectures are grouped into weeks as mini-series and usually begin with a thought-provoking question or statement. These are immediately followed up with definitions and principles that lay the ground for further examination. But fear not if abstractions aren't your expertise, an army of concrete examples accompany you every step along the way.

Personally I completed this course on Coursera the summer before I entered college in 2013 as an electrical engineering student. To my amazement, even today in 2017 after all those years' bombardment from college level courses I am still revisiting Single Variable Calculus and find it a fresh breeze of air. Thank you Professor G and your team for creating what will be remembered as not just a great math class but a wonderful intellectual adventure.