Calculus for Everyone
Understanding Physics and the Mathematics of Change
By Dr. Mitch Stokes · Illustrated by Summer Stokes
This book is for only two kinds of people: those who are interested in math and those who are not. Dr. Mitch Stokes presents the mathematics of change in an extremely effective way for anyone with a first-year course in algebra, without dumbing calculus down. It is for students who would never have dreamt of taking calculus, for those who have already taken a standard course, and for those who will go on to take one.
Beautifully designed with over 600 hand-drawn illustrations, the text sets out to mend the broken relationship between the liberal arts and STEM, between science and the humanities.
Look inside
The full table of contents26 chapters, 490 pages
Front matter · Acknowledgments · How to Use This Book · Preface: Mathematics and a Classical Christian Education, Calculus Isn’t a Luxury, The Right Kind of Less
Playful pages. Serious math.
A teacher’s notebook set in a fine book: every equation is hand-lettered, every idea is drawn, and the margins carry the teacher’s red pen. Over 600 illustrations by Summer Stokes, who also designed the book’s layout.
Majors on the majors
- Three ideas, taught whole. The limit, the derivative and the integral, and the Fundamental Theorem that unites them. Everything else waits until these are understood.
- Only power functions. So the student sees the calculus part of calculus, not a hodgepodge of tricks for every kind of function.
- The long way first. The Method of Increments and the Method of Summation before the Power Rule and the shortcuts, so the shortcuts mean something.
- Every idea three ways. Numerically, geometrically and physically, with the free fall of a cannonball, a cat or a bowling ball as the running example.
- The story around the math. Thales, Pythagoras, Plato, Zeno, Galileo and Newton: why calculus was needed, and why it was needed so badly.
- Study questions as grammar. The questions at the end of each chapter are the vocabulary of the subject; the exercises are the practice. Safety first: write out every step.
“The problem isn’t that the fundamentals of calculus are too difficult for the average student. Rather, the problem is that we make it difficult.”
Preface
Three pieces, bought together or apart
The textbook is the course. The answer key is for whoever grades it, and the video course is Dr. Stokes teaching it, lesson by lesson.
Exercise Solutions & Answer Key
Answers to every study question, worked exercises, the four exams, the 32-week and 16-week schedules.
The video course
32 lessons with Dr. Stokes, 21 hours, one for every chapter. Stream or download in the Roman Roads app.
All three as one order: the Calculus for Everyone bundle, $229.00.
Chosen for the Challenge IV Research strand, from 2025–26
Challenge IV families need the textbook; the Exercise Solutions are the tutor’s answer key.
At a glance
- Title
- Calculus for Everyone: Understanding Physics and the Mathematics of Change
- Author
- Dr. Mitch Stokes; illustrations and interior design by Summer Stokes
- Format
- Casebound hardback, full colour, over 600 hand-drawn illustrations
- Pages
- 490, in 26 chapters
- Size
- Crown Quarto, 7.44 × 9.68 in.
- ISBN
- 978-1-944482-54-1
- Published
- Roman Roads Press, 2020; current printing v1.2.1, 2025
- Term
- A semester or a year
- Credit
- One high-school math credit, or one high-school introduction to physics credit
- Grades
- 9–12 and college
- Prerequisite
- Algebra 1
Dr. Mitch Stokes
An engineer turned philosopher: Senior Fellow of Philosophy and head of math, science and music at New Saint Andrews College, with a PhD from Notre Dame, a master’s in mechanical engineering and five patents in gas-turbine technology. He taught real calculus to liberal-arts students for fifteen years before writing it down.
Questions
Does my student need the video course?
No. The textbook is the whole course, written to be read. The video course is Dr. Stokes teaching each chapter, which many families use as the lesson and then read the chapter again; it is the difference between a textbook and a teacher.
Do we need the Exercise Solutions and Answer Key?
If someone is grading, yes: it has the answers to every study question, worked solutions to every exercise, and the answer keys for the four exams, with the two schedules. A student working alone can do without it, but will have nothing to check against.
What math does my student need first?
Algebra 1. The book sticks to power functions on purpose, so the calculus shows without a thicket of algebra in the way.
How much credit is it, and how long does it take?
One high-school math credit, or one high-school introduction to physics credit. The 32-week schedule takes a year at a chapter a week; the 16-week schedule covers it in a semester.
We are in Classical Conversations. Is this the book?
Yes. Calculus for Everyone is the resource for the Challenge IV Research strand from the 2025–26 year, and the Exercise Solutions are the answer key.
Can a school or co-op use it?
Yes. Ask us about group licensing for the video course, and Kepler Education teaches a live class with the book.
I found a mistake.
Thank you. The errata sheet on the Calculus for Everyone page lists the corrections to the current printing, and the error form there sends new ones to us.
Calculus is for everyone.
Newton 1; Zeno 0. · Epilogue