Second, Get one of any number of textbooks on basic calculus. They usually say "Calculus" in big friendly letters on the front. You can buy one for around $100, or better yet, repeatedly borrow one from your local library.
Spend anywhere from a month to a year working through the textbook, depending on your free time and motivation. This means reading and re-reading the material, section by section, and convincing yourself of the reasoning and proofs laid out. However, take a healthy skepticism toward each argument until you can "see" it for yourself. Even math texts contain typos and flawed reasoning from time to time.
Last, take an hour or two a day to do problems. A good technique for an armchair mathematician who is really only concerned with being acquainted with calculus (as opposed to mastering it) is to give a problem your best shot, and then check the back of the book. Since only the final answer is usually given, you can use this as a guide to correct any bad reasoning, without having someone hold your hand. Go back and rework your problems.
If you can do these steps, you will be acquainted with calculus.
Differentiation and integration are deeply related.
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Anonymous2009-01-26 17:50
cool. i find it easier with a teacher who doesn't suck
Spoken like a true faggot. One needs an actual book for these purposes.
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Anonymous2009-02-01 2:15
>>29
dont use their google search, it never returns anything, use the gigapedia search engine
>>30
no, "one" doesn't. if you want to physically turn the pages, go rent a book from the local library instead.
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Anonymous2009-02-01 14:58
>>31
>dont use their google search, it never returns anything, use the gigapedia search engine
Ah, that's better. Sweet! I can always use more links to search for ebooks on.
>no, "one" doesn't. if you want to physically turn the pages, go rent a book from the local library instead.
Reading books on a computer sucks. When I find a book online that I really want to study, I print the whole thing off and bind it into a book myself. A 500 page book would cost about $3-5 for paper, maybe $10 in ink, and an hour or two putting it together with my comb binder, but it's way better than trying to read it in a pdf file.
I taught myself Calc 1, the professor was completely useless. So i didn't go to class, read and did a ton of problems, had a friend who was good with math that i could bounce questions off of, and i aced the class.
As far as a text book goes, i will highly recommend Calculus: Early Transcendentals by Jon Rogawski. Incredible comprehensible writing and proofs.
Also it REALLY helps to have a friend who knows math and can answer your questions from time to time. I mean, it's so hard to teach yourself everything there is that basic calculus has to offer, especially assuming you're only at a pre-calculus math kind of level. You've probably never seen any lengthy proofs, theories or axioms. At least i know i didn't see any of those until i go to Calc 1