# calculus textbook avoiding “nice” numbers: all numbers are decimals with 2 or 3 sig figs

Many years ago, my father had a large number of older used textbooks.

I seem to remember a calculus textbook with a somewhat unusual feature, and I am wondering if the description rings a bell with anyone here.

Basically, this was a calculus textbook that took the slightly unusual route of avoiding "nice" numbers in all examples. The reader was supposed to always have a calculator at their side, and evaluate everything as a decimal, and only use 2 or 3 significant figures.

So for instance, rather than asking for the $\int_1^{\sqrt3} \frac{1}{1+x^2}$, it might be from $x=1.2$ to $x=2.6$, say.

The author had done this as a deliberate choice, since most "real-life" math problems involve random-looking decimal numbers, and not very many significant digits.

Does this sound familiar to anybody? Any ideas what this textbook might have been?

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..why would you want this book? It would have you show results like $e^{3.14i} + 1 \approx 0$.... –  mathmath8128 Nov 21 '11 at 23:42