OpenStax Calculus

Gilbert Strang and Edwin Herman, lead authors

Digital versions PDF and HTML
XML source Yes
Exercises Yes
Answers Yes for odd numbered problems
License Creative Commons Attribution 4.0
  • Three volumes for single and multi-variable calculus
  • Print and ePub versions not yet available
  • Answers to even numbered problems in separate student guides
  • Volume 1: Chapters 1-6, 876 pp
  • Volume 2: Chapters 5-11, 830 pp
  • Volume 3: Chapters 11-17, 1032 pp
  • For more information and to download

This is a textbook for mainstream calculus typically taught over three semesters. The production qualities are high and the books look like commercially published books. There are overlapping chapters in each volume to provide some flexibility in scheduling and to minimize the chance that more than one volume will be required for each semester. The student guide consists of a separate Word document for each section. Each section has “Checkpoint Problems” within the text and answers to these at the end of each volume.

The preface states that the material can be customized and remixed, but the OpenStax website does not show the way to do that, and the XML source, although available, is impractical to edit by hand. There are a large number of Java applets to illustrate various concepts, but they were created many years ago, and contemporary browsers make it difficult or impossible to use them because of security concerns.

Table of Contents

  1. Functions and Graphs
  2. Limits
  3. Derivatives
  4. Applications of Derivatives
  5. Integration
  6. Applications of Integration
  7. Techniques of Integration
  8. Introduction to Differential Equations
  9. Sequences and Series
  10. Power Series
  11. Parametric Equations and Polar Coordinates
  12. Vectors in Space
  13. Vector-Valued Functions
  14. Differentiation of Functions of Several Variables
  15. Multiple Integration
  16. Vector Calculus
  17. Second-Order Differential Equations