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4th edition
 

Vector Calculus, Linear Algebra, and Differential Forms: A Unified Approach

John Hubbard and Barbara Burke Hubbard

book cover

818 pages, hardcover, smythe-sewn binding, 8 x 10 inches $79. Sept. 2009

ISBN 9780971576650

"Superb on all counts" - review in CHOICE (review of 1st edition)

"A real gem" - review of 2nd edition, MAA Monthly

More reviews and reader praise for first three editions

Why a new edition? 

The main impetus was that we finally hit on what we consider the right way to define orientation of manifolds. The new approach, based on direct bases, is simpler than the previous, but still covers the case of 0-dimensional manifolds (i.e., points). In addition, the new edition provides

  • a proof of Gauss's  remarkable theorem.  This theorem, also known as the  ``Theorema Egregium'',  justifies the statement (section 3.8)  that Gaussian curvature measures to what extent pieces of a surface can be made flat, without stretching or deformation.  All the other proofs we know of this theorem require advanced techniques;  the proof we added to section 5.4 uses only the techniques developed in this book.
  • a justification of the statement in section 3.8 that the mean curvature measures how far a surface is from being minimal 
  • classifying constrained critical points using the augmented Hessian matrix (section 3.7)
  • a proof of Poincare's lemma for arbitrary forms rather than just 1-forms, based on the cone operator (section 6.12)
  • a discussion of Faraday's experiments in section 6.11 on electromagnetism 
  • a trick for finding Lipschitz ratios for polynomial functions (example 2.8.12)
We have also added new examples and exercises, deleted some weaker examples and exercises, and corrected errata.

Preface (excerpt in html, with link to complete preface in pdf)

To order (for books shipped to the United States)

To order (for books shipped to other countries)

Student Solution Manual for 4th edition

Math programs used in the book

Table of contents (in html)

Look inside this book (sample pages, mostly in pdf)