Calculus on Manifolds (book)

Calculus on Manifolds: A Modern Approach to Classical Theorems of Advanced Calculus (1965) by Michael Spivak is a brief, rigorous, and modern textbook of multivariable calculus, differential forms, and integration on manifolds for advanced undergraduates.

Calculus on Manifolds

First edition
Author	Michael Spivak
Language	English
Subject	Mathematics
Publisher	Benjamin Cummings
Publication date	1965
Publication place	United States
Pages	146
ISBN	0-8053-9021-9
OCLC	607457141

Description

Calculus on Manifolds is a brief monograph on the theory of vector-valued functions of several real variables (f : Rⁿ→R^m) and differentiable manifolds in Euclidean space. In addition to extending the concepts of differentiation (including the inverse and implicit function theorems) and Riemann integration (including Fubini's theorem) to functions of several variables, the book treats the classical theorems of vector calculus, including those of Cauchy–Green, Ostrogradsky–Gauss (divergence theorem), and Kelvin–Stokes, in the language of differential forms on differentiable manifolds embedded in Euclidean space, and as corollaries of the generalized Stokes theorem on manifolds-with-boundary. The book culminates with the statement and proof of this vast and abstract modern generalization of several classical results:

Stokes' Theorem for Manifolds-With-Boundary. — If $M$ is a compact oriented $k$-dimensional manifold-with-boundary, $\partial M$ is the boundary given the induced orientation, and $\omega$ is a ($k-1$)-form on $M$, then $\int _{M}d\omega =\int _{\partial M}\omega$.

The cover of Calculus on Manifolds features snippets of a July 2, 1850 letter from Lord Kelvin to Sir George Stokes containing the first disclosure of the classical Stokes' theorem (i.e., the Kelvin–Stokes theorem).

Reception

Calculus on Manifolds aims to present the topics of multivariable and vector calculus in the manner in which they are seen by a modern working mathematician, yet simply and selectively enough to be understood by undergraduate students whose previous coursework in mathematics comprises only one-variable calculus and introductory linear algebra. While Spivak's elementary treatment of modern mathematical tools is broadly successful—and this approach has made Calculus on Manifolds a standard introduction to the rigorous theory of multivariable calculus—the text is also well known for its laconic style, lack of motivating examples, and frequent omission of non-obvious steps and arguments. For example, in order to state and prove the generalized Stokes' theorem on chains, a profusion of unfamiliar concepts and constructions (e.g., tensor products, differential forms, tangent spaces, pullbacks, exterior derivatives, cube and chains) are introduced in quick succession within the span of 25 pages. Moreover, careful readers have noted a number of nontrivial oversights throughout the text, including missing hypotheses in theorems, inaccurately stated theorems, and proofs that fail to handle all cases.

Other textbooks

A more recent textbook which also covers these topics at an undergraduate level is the text Analysis on Manifolds by James Munkres (366 pp.). At more than twice the length of Calculus on Manifolds, Munkres's work presents a more careful and detailed treatment of the subject matter at a leisurely pace. Nevertheless, Munkres acknowledges the influence of Spivak's earlier text in the preface of Analysis on Manifolds.

Spivak's five-volume textbook A Comprehensive Introduction to Differential Geometry states in its preface that Calculus on Manifolds serves as a prerequisite for a course based on this text. In fact, several of the concepts introduced in Calculus on Manifolds reappear in the first volume of this classic work in more sophisticated settings.

See also

• Differentiable manifolds
• Multilinear form

Footnotes

References

• Auslander, Louis (1967), "Review of Calculus on manifolds—a modern approach to classical theorems of advanced calculus", Quarterly of Applied Mathematics, 24 (4): 388–389
• Botts, Truman (1966), "Reviewed Work: Calculus on Manifolds by Michael Spivak", Science, 153 (3732): 164–165, doi:10.1126/science.153.3732.164-a
• Hubbard, John H.; Hubbard, Barbara Burke (2009) [1998], Vector Calculus, Linear Algebra, and Differential Forms: A Unified Approach (4th ed.), Upper Saddle River, N.J.: Prentice Hall (4th edition by Matrix Editions (Ithaca, N.Y.)), ISBN 978-0-9715766-5-0 [An elementary approach to differential forms with an emphasis on concrete examples and computations]
• Katz, Victor J. (1979), "The History of Stokes' Theorem", Mathematics Magazine, 52 (3), Mathematical Association of America: 146–156, doi:10.2307/2690275
• Loomis, Lynn Harold; Sternberg, Shlomo (2014) [1968], Advanced Calculus (Revised ed.), Reading, Mass.: Addison-Wesley (revised edition by Jones and Bartlett (Boston); reprinted by World Scientific (Hackensack, N.J.)), pp. 305–567, ISBN 978-981-4583-93-0 [A general treatment of differential forms, differentiable manifolds, and selected applications to mathematical physics for advanced undergraduates]
• Munkres, James (1968), "Review of Calculus on Manifolds", The American Mathematical Monthly, 75 (5): 567–568, doi:10.2307/2314769, JSTOR 2314769
• Munkres, James (1991), Analysis on Manifolds, Redwood City, Calif.: Addison-Wesley (reprinted by Westview Press (Boulder, Colo.)), ISBN 978-0-201-31596-7 [An undergraduate treatment of multivariable and vector calculus with coverage similar to Calculus on Manifolds, with mathematical ideas and proofs presented in greater detail]
• Nickerson, Helen K.; Spencer, Donald C.; Steenrod, Norman E. (1959), Advanced Calculus, Princeton, N.J.: Van Nostrand, ISBN 978-0-486-48090-9 [A unified treatment of linear and multilinear algebra, multivariable calculus, differential forms, and introductory algebraic topology for advanced undergraduates]
• Rudin, Walter (1976) [1953], Principles of Mathematical Analysis (3rd ed.), New York: McGraw Hill, pp. 204–299, ISBN 978-0-07-054235-8 [An unorthodox though rigorous approach to differential forms that avoids many of the usual algebraic constructions]
• Spivak, Michael (2018) [1965], Calculus on Manifolds: A Modern Approach to Classical Theorems of Advanced Calculus (Mathematics Monograph Series), New York: W. A. Benjamin, Inc. (reprinted by Addison-Wesley (Reading, Mass.) and Westview Press (Boulder, Colo.)), ISBN 978-0-8053-9021-6 [A brief, rigorous, and modern treatment of multivariable calculus, differential forms, and integration on manifolds for advanced undergraduates]
• Spivak, Michael (1999) [1970], A Comprehensive Introduction to Differential Geometry, Vol. 1 (3rd ed.), Houston, Tex.: Publish or Perish, Inc., ISBN 978-0-9140-9870-6 [A thorough account of differentiable manifolds at the graduate level; contains a more sophisticated reframing and extensions of Chapters 4 and 5 of Calculus on Manifolds]
• Tu, Loring W. (2011) [2008], An Introduction to Manifolds (2nd ed.), New York: Springer, ISBN 978-1-4419-7399-3 [A standard treatment of the theory of smooth manifolds at the 1st year graduate level]