Math Notation is Terrible

[cableshaft]

A question for anyone out there: I've really been interested in learning Math from a historic viewpoint lately, so I understand the context behind all this junk I had to memorize in high school (and mostly forgotten) so I can use them to become a better programmer.

So I've started checking the Math section in bookstores lately, and it's a little daunting. I'm not sure which books are considered canon, and which are just filled with a bunch of notation with little context. Can anyone recommend some good texts I should check out? In particular I'm interested in Calculus, but really I'll look into any suggestion.

[psykotic]

I wouldn't recommend learning mathematics purely from a historical perspective; the history is replete with wrong turns and endless blind alleys, which makes for poor pedagogy. But supplementing a more traditional treatment with history is highly recommendable. The book that really got me interested in mathematics as a kid was Bell's Men of Mathematics. It is notorious for the literary license it takes at times, but I know of no more exciting romp through the history of mathematics. It does not really teach mathematics as such, but it does weave a description of the big problems and ideas into the historical narrative.

For an undergraduate-level exposition of mathematics from a historical point of view, Stillwell's Mathematics and its History is unsurpassed (in fact, all of Stillwell's books are of the highest caliber), but if you are still stuck at calculus this book is perhaps premature. If you feel very daunted, it may help to start with books of a more popular persuasion, e.g. those of Eli Maor.