An Accompaniment to Higher Mathematics (Undergraduate Texts in Mathematics) [Hardcover]

George R. Exner (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0387946179 | ISBN-13: 978-0387946177 | Publication Date: January 5, 1996 | Edition: Corrected

Designed for students preparing to engage in their first struggles to understand and write proofs and to read mathematics independently, this is well suited as a supplementary text in courses on introductory real analysis, advanced calculus, abstract algebra, or topology. The book teaches in detail how to construct examples and non-examples to help understand a new theorem or definition; it shows how to discover the outline of a proof in the form of the theorem and how logical structures determine the forms that proofs may take. Throughout, the text asks the reader to pause and work on an example or a problem before continuing, and encourages the student to engage the topic at hand and to learn from failed attempts at solving problems. The book may also be used as the main text for a "transitions" course bridging the gap between calculus and higher mathematics. The whole concludes with a set of "Laboratories" in which students can practice the skills learned in the earlier chapters on set theory and function theory.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Though I am neither a student nor an instructor of mathematics (although I use mathematics in my teaching and apply it in my work), I found this book extremely useful and fun to read. The language is colorful, the phrasing is simple, and the facts are not intimidating. At times, I felt that I was reading a good novel, whose characters were definitions, examples, rules, proofs, and such, and that I had a magic stick to make them behave according to my will. -- T. Rus, Computing Reviews, May 1997

Product Details

• Hardcover: 215 pages
• Publisher: Springer; Corrected edition (January 5, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0387946179
• ISBN-13: 978-0387946177
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.2 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #648,693 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

19 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Good book on proofs, September 20, 2001

By 

"giref" (quebec, Quebec Canada) - See all my reviews

This review is from: An Accompaniment to Higher Mathematics (Undergraduate Texts in Mathematics) (Hardcover)

I really appreciate "An accompaniement to higher mathematics", because it presents a great amount of stuff concerning the technique of proof. The first chapter present why examples are so importants by showing how to test definitions, how to construct good and bad examples and how to test the validity of a theorem by the mean of extreme example. The material in this chapter is basic and easy to follow. The second chapter is about the infirmal language and some technics of proof. First, it presents the logic behind the proofs. Also, this chapter presents technics such as induction, proof by case, differents forms of proof based on implication. The third chapter is about the use of quantifier in the proof. It shows how to use and when to use quantifier. Also how to find the structure of a proof. Why I find this book interresting ? First the book is full of exercises of different kind (set, function, analysis, ...and the forth chapter contain laboratories that give you again plenty of exercises), It is written clearly, the author give a lot of advice about proofs, I find the book very suitable to undergraduted, I find the style of writting of the book very motivating. This book is definitely a good one but it is not perfect. I found some of the exercises too easy (about 30 % of the exercises), I don't think that this book is suitable for graduate student but it may help in the way you work proofs and problems. Also this book give me some help in analysis course. I recommend this book for anyone who want to learn the basic and more about proofs.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Introduction, November 11, 2008

By 

Buck Hef (Pennsylvania) - See all my reviews

This review is from: An Accompaniment to Higher Mathematics (Undergraduate Texts in Mathematics) (Hardcover)

This is simply a great text for introducing undergraduate students to the basics of upper-level mathematics. Stresses the importance of examples and definitions in proof discovery. While probably inappropriate for graduate students, it makes a great primary text for any first course in proofs at the undergraduate level and is written primarily to students in this situation. Overall, the book seems to be extremely appreciated by students transitioning from calculus to upper-level mathematics.