Peterson didn't define the derivative as a limit formula first ($\lim_h \to 0 \fracf(x+h) - f(x)h$). He defined it as a slope. He spent chapters drawing secant lines rotating into tangent lines. He focused on the "curve sketching" aspect of calculus—the ability to look at a polynomial and know exactly the shape of its derivative without picking up a pen.
This is the best legal source for out-of-print textbooks. They often have digitized versions of Peterson’s work available for "1-hour borrow" cycles. thurman peterson calculus pdf
His work is often conflated with his contemporary, George B. Thomas Jr. (whose Calculus and Analytic Geometry became the gold standard). However, where Thomas’s famous text became increasingly rigorous and encyclopedic over subsequent editions, Peterson’s work remained stubbornly visual. Peterson didn't define the derivative as a limit
It sounds like a standard textbook hunt. But if you dig deeper, you aren’t just looking for a file; you are looking for a specific philosophy of mathematics education that has largely vanished from the modern classroom. He focused on the "curve sketching" aspect of
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