I've tried a couple of calculus courses on Coursera. The others i've tried, assumed too much pre-calculus knowledge and did not provide adequate quiz's and problems. Also, they did not ease into new topics as much as i liked.

This course has not only been the best i've seen on Coursera, its the best mathematics course i've done fullstop. Everything is explained right down, right down to the simplest explanations. Many things are referred again to previous videos in the course if something is covered by another video.

I'd really like to shake the professors hand on this course. Magnificent work.

18 years ago, I failed grade 9 math with a 23%. Today, I passed Introduction to Calculus on Coursera, which is offered through the University of Sydney and taught by Professor David Easdown.

I wish I could say that I actually enjoyed the course, but I feel like that would be doing a disservice to the version of myself that has been pulling his hair out for the past 5 weeks. Indeed, if I’ve learned anything during this process, I’ve learned that Calculus is hard. Very hard.

I will say, though, that this is in no way meant as a slight against Professor Easdown and the style of the course. Quite the contrary; Professor Easdown is an incredibly engaging teacher and manages to make this very difficult subject digestible. And while I wouldn’t say at this point that I can ‘do calculus’, I would say that the course was very, very rewarding and that it certainly provided a cohesive overview of the pertinent topics in the field, as well equipping the learner with a thorough understanding of the symbols, language, and relevance. The notes that accompanied the lectures were very valuable and helped fill in the gaps, and the structure of the course was very smooth as you transitioned from one topic to the next.

I took this course because I have been rolling through some courses in Artificial Intelligence and simply found that I was out of my depth and simply coding along without any idea of what I was actually doing. And while memorizing algorithms and formulas has its benefits, I decided that I want to fully understand this field – and I don’t think that one can do this properly without a fundamental understanding of Calculus. This course provides just that.

The practice quizzes were more than a little challenging (with the last couple of questions usually very, very challenging). I found that I often had to supplement the course with alternative resources, such as Youtube, Khan Academy, Symbolab, and so on. I had to re-watch lectures and thoroughly dissect the reading notes. As I mentioned, it was a very difficult process that had me pulling my hair out and I’m a bit ashamed to say that I nearly threw my laptop on several occasions. However, as it is with learning any new skill, you just have to keep pushing through knowing that it will be worth it in the end.

Then you get to a module exam, and at this point you realize how you’ve learned so very much in such a small amount of time. It’s honestly incredible. And by the time you get to the very end of the course, which I did today, you realize that you somehow have all the prerequisite knowledge to step by step make sense of equations that might as well have been written in a different language just a month ago. I don’t feel like I can describe that particular feeling.

In all, this course was one of the more rewarding things that I’ve done in recent memory, and I’m so very grateful to Professor Easdown for putting it out there and making such a thorough overview of the topic so accessible to anyone with the interest to pursue it. I coupled this with 1blue3brown’s series The Essence of Calculus on Youtube, and between these two I feel like for the first time in my life I have a true appreciation for the art of mathematics and I’m very eager and inspired to carry on with my studies in this field. Thank you so very much.

Jack

Excellent introduction to calculus. Clearly explained, great to have some history in there (I'd like more!).

It sets a cracking pace, so do set some time aside to really get the most out of this course. Highly recommended. Gives a great basis to delve into higher mathematics beyond high school.

This is one of the greatest course that I had the pleasure to attend. I would recommend it to anyone, whatever their field of study or level; just to open their minds about the beauty of one of mankind's greatest achievements, but also to develop a more rigorous, rational and analytical way of thinking. The latter adjectives are exactly what characterize this course. The lectures are straight to the point, the additional readings are of higher quality than anything that you'll ever expect to find in the most classic textbooks on the subject (trust my words, I have an extensive collection of these). And of course, David Easdown's way of presenting along with the graphics in the videos are as clear as crystal.

This is not a full course in calculus but an introduction. So, it has the imperfections of any introductory courses and should be taken as a complement to more advanced courses tailored for your needs. Yet, this single course has achieved the phenomenal outcome of being interesting both to students working on their A level and someone like me who's currently doing a PhD in Economics. I learnt much more here than anywhere since I first started calculus 10 years ago; I came for a refresher before attacking more advanced topics, and I'm leaving with a deep understanding of how things (which I thought irrelevant) are interdependent and make full circle.

For future attendees, have an open mind: go along with the pace of the course, attempt all the exercises and don't overestimate your understanding. At the end it pays off.

Thanks to David Easdown and his team for their passion and for putting the full course free of charge. I hope that the advanced course will come soon.

This professor explained all topics covered in a year long calculus class in the span of five weeks. I highly recommend taking this course either to learn calculus or for a review.

Awesome Class. I have much respect for the instructor. I wish he was my Professor when I was a undergraduate taking Calculus. I'm going to go back and practice, practice, and practice! This class was a awesome review! I haven't had to use any of these concepts in my job for a LONG time. I will be using calculus now in my job. Most people don't use it. I will be! This class is probably the best class I had, so far, in Coursera Platform. I desire to take another class from this Professor.

This class was well presented and well explained. I didn't have to look at a text book for this class.

The readings were highly informative.

Thank you, Sir you helped me enjoy Calculus, Finally!

I have completed quite a few courses on Coursera. This is by far the best instructor. I really hope David is going to do teach another Coursera course soon - I will sign up regardless of the content!

None of the exam or homework questions match what is being taught. He is reviewing elementary level stuff like what a number line is and what an integer is, and then the homework for that section has topics such as simplifying rational expressions. Something is seriously wrong with this. It quickly escalates into advanced proofs such as proving the theory of pythagoreous without adequate descriptors of how and why that is shown. Analytical geometry is tested after showing the proof once.

During this course, I figured out that my pre-grad included neither derivatives, nor integrals (schools in province are bad). It was not a problem during my bachelor's studies in Linguistics, but became a huge issue now, once I've begun my Master's in Data Science. Finally I feel my studies getting easier, and my skin becoming cleaner and smoother every day (not really).

Seriously though, this is one of the courses (especially comparing to those from Russian universities) that feel like they were actually being meant to be studied by human beings. Furthermore, it does not require a full payment (or financial aid, at that) to take tests, which are also by far more numerous and frequent than I am used to (a huge plus).

To sum up, one of the best courses I've had a fortune of taking (so far). It felt really beneficial, considering I have to virtually build up my base from nothing in a very limited amount of time: exams are coming, and I still have a whole "statistics" field to cover. Moreover, it gave me a solid foundation which now allows me to (for now) selectively add urgent things like Taylor series and get into multivariate calculus. Still, when the times are better and less chaotic, I am most definitely looking forward to the other courses from the University of Syndey.

P.S. Additional kudos to Mr.Easdown, you've made the course that much better. Thank you!

Honestly, this course is an extremely inconsiderate program for those who have no prior knowledge in 2 unit/advanced maths. As someone who only completed general maths, I was burdened by the difficulties of the content being taught; especially when the lecturer himself didn't explain the content in a way that would allow me to understand. In effect, keeping up with the work, ensuring that I studied for the 20-minute assessments, making my own notes to study from, and just in general, trying to get through the work all became too overbearing. I ended up seeking help from outside sources such as youtube just so I could grasp a particular topic. And the issue wasn't with one particular topic it was with all of them. And I found that the lecturer did a lot of waffling. Now I'm not saying he was bad overall, but I just wish that the content could have been taught at a slower and understandable pace.

Best instructor. Made calculus very approachable connecting topics, illustrating applications, and his enthusiasm (which is contagious). Wish he'd do follow-up courses for more advanced mathematics.

Amazing Explanations..... I love how the course is sequenced and it provides not only the mechanical solutions to calculus but also the theories behind each module and topics... Great Course

wish they did practice questions with an example of how they found the answer.

its awesome course...

Mentor is skilled and explains everything clearly.

But if anybody has little bit pre-calculus knowledge it will be more helpful.

An excellent course, especially if like me you had done some calculus in the past and wanted a refresher. David is an excellent, clear, and attentive tutor. I can't recommend him enough. Many thanks.

This is a great course and anyone interested in getting into a more detailed study of Calculus should start here. The only suggestion I have is to make the answers to the weekly exams available because it helps to know which ones were incorrect.

Exceptional course. Fantastic explaining by Professor Easdown, I wish more teachers were as clear as he is, and as kind and thoughtful towards their students. Many, many thanks in case you see this.

This course was great and very well explained; it has given me a solid understanding of calculus as well as the tools needed to differentiate, find integrals, etc. I highly recommend this course.

Well structured course, fast paced and very challenging. First three weeks were a much needed precalculus review that gave a strong foundation. Last two weeks on derivatives and integrals were gruelling but comprehensive. For the complete beginner this course makes the subject possible as long as you take each bit, one tiny piece at a time and understand it before moving on. Nearly gave up but glad I didn't. Just wish there was a next step. So many of the other maths moocs expect you to be a genius with too many leaps in explanations without explaining how you get there. This one is an exception in that it makes no dangerous assumptions about your knowledge. Calculus is a road block that keeps many out of science. This course goes a long way to removing that block. Please do more courses to build on this.

This course was perfect for me as I hadn't taken calculus since 1970 as an undergrad. I needed the algebra and trigonometry tune-up that is provided at the beginning, and thereafter the material flowed beautifully. Thanks to Professor Easdown for his relaxed yet rigorous style. He incorporates just what I wanted, an appreciation of mathematics as an art. Bravo Professor! Michael Leahy, Chicago, Illinois USA