>>13176987Lang purposely omits a lot of rote calculating, such as factoring polynomials, because it has little use in developing mathematical thinking. Working through Basic Mathematics, it is clear that Lang expects you to recognize certain patterns within the material, and to do your own work in exploring the properties of given objects. That might not be ideal if you want to rote memorize as much material as possible. In that case Stewart might be best (going by his Calculus book).
Lang's book also contains a number of errors in the text. Finding them will help reassure you are following the material, rather than just passively taking in words and formulae.
The only thing I wish Lang included was a proper chapter on basic set theory.
