fabrizio

About five minutes ago I glanced at the first volume of Apostol's Calculus text.

What are some major differences between calculus texts before reform and after?

devious_

What "reform"?

averagemathgeek

He is comparing the difficulty level of Apostol (a classic calculus text of the 60's) with new texts (Larson, etc.). I cannot speak intelligently about textbooks of the 60's and 70's, but I think the advent of computer graphics and the increased number of people taking calculus lead to the course becoming "easier."

haithman

Calculus is Calculus and what you learn in school hasnt changed much in the last 40 yrs. However, geek is correct in the fact that graphics etc.. has tried to make the course "easier"

devious_

Oh... The so-called "pedagogical" textbooks. They do have their advantages, but I'd rather use old texts like Apostol's, Spivak's or Widder's as my main text. Although I don't see why I won't use newer ones for supplementary reading, or when I'm stuck somewhere -- sometimes old math books tend to be too concise.

mediocretes

Aren't all textbooks pedagogical?

devious_

Some are more pedagogical than others. Much more.