101 of 102 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Comprehensive Guide to Analysis, June 3, 2003
This review is from: Real and Complex Analysis (International Series in Pure and Applied Mathematics) (Hardcover)
Rudin's Real and Complex Analysis is an excellent book for several reasons. Most importantly, it manages to encompass a whole range of mathematics in one reasonably-sized volume. Furthermore, its problems are not mere extensions of the proofs given in the text or trivial applications of the results- many of the results are alternate proofs to major theorems or different theorems not proved. With that in mind, this book is not appropriate for a course where the instructor wants students to merely understand the theorems well enough to develop applications- the structure of the book is far better suited for a more theoretical course.
For example, the construction of Lebesgue measure is considered one of the most important topics in graduate analysis courses. After this construction, more abstract measures are developed, and then one proves the Riesz Representation Theorem for positive functionals later.
Conversely, Rudin develops a few basic topological tools, such as Urysohn's Theorem and a finite partition of unity, to construct the Radon measure needed in a sweeping proof of Riesz's Theorem. From this, results about regularity follow clearly, and the construction of Lebesgue measure involves little more than a routine check of its invariance properties.
Another example of where Rudin takes a more theoretical approach to provide a more elegant, yet less intuitive proof, is the Lebesgue-Radon-Nikodym theorem. Other books generally introduce signed measures with several examples, and use this result, along with properties of measures to derive the proof. On the other hand, since the first half of the book contains an intermission on Hilbert Space, Rudin uses the completeless of L^2 and the Riesz Representation Theorem for a more sweeping proof.
In the real analysis section, Rudin covers advanced topics generally not covered in a first course on measure theory. The chapters on differentiation and Fourier analysis are key examples of this. Rudin uses maximal functions to develop the Lebesgue Point theorem and results from complex analysis, and provides an incredibly thorough proof of the change-of-variables theorem. The ninth chapter, on Fourier transforms, relies heavily on convolutions, which are developed as a product of Fubini's theorem. This, in turn, is used to prove Plancherel's theorem and the uniqueness of Fourier transforms as a character homomorphism.
The tenth chapter, on basic complex analysis, essentially covers an entire undergraduate course on the subject, with added results based on a solid knowledge of topology on the plane. Once a solid foundation on the topic is laid, Rudin can develop more advanced topics from Harmonic analysis using general results from real analysis like the Hahn-Banach theorem and the Lebesgue Point theorem (for Poisson integrals).
Most of the basic results from the power series perspective are covered in the text, but while the geometric view is examined, it is still done in a very analytic, formula-based way that does not allow the reader to gain too much intuition. Nonetheless, all the basic results are covered, and Rudin uses these to develop the main theorems, such as the Mittag-Leffler and Weierstrass theorems on meromorphic functions, and the Monodromy Theorem and a modular function used to prove Picard's Little Theorem.
As an introductory text, even for advanced students, Rudin should probably be accompanied by more descriptive texts to develop better intuition. In fact, I would recommend Folland's Real Analysis and Ahlfors' Complex Analysis for self-study, because the problems are easier and one can learn better through those. With a good instructor, though, Rudin's text is concise and elegant enough to be both useful and enjoyable. It is also a good test to see how well one REALLY knows the subject.
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27 of 28 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Excellent, often intriguing treatment of the subject, June 25, 1999
By A Customer
This review is from: Real and Complex Analysis (International Series in Pure and Applied Mathematics) (Hardcover)
The first part of this book is a very solid treatment of introductory graduate-level real analysis, covering measure theory, Banach and Hilbert spaces, and Fourier transforms. The second half, equally strong but often more innovative, is a detailed study of single-variable complex analysis, starting with the most basic properties of analytic functions and culminating with chapters on Hp spaces and holomorphic Fourier transforms. What makes this book unique is Rudin's use of 20th-century real analysis in his exposition of "classical" complex analysis; for example, he uses the Hahn-Banach and Riesz Representation theorems in his proof of Runge's theorem on approximation by rational functions. At times, the relationship circles back; for example, he combines work on zeroes of holomorphic functions with measure theory to prove a generalization of the Weierstrass approximation theorem which gives a simple necessary and sufficient condition for a subset S of the natural numbers to have the property that the span of {t^n:n in S} is dense in the space of continuous functions on the interval. All in all, in addition to being a very good standard textbook, Real and Complex Analysis is at times a fascinating journey through the relationships between the branches of analysis.
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30 of 32 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Best (math) book ever written, August 15, 2001
This review is from: Real and Complex Analysis (International Series in Pure and Applied Mathematics) (Hardcover)
This text is a model of mathematical style. The usual Rudin stuff: concise and elegant proofs, great chanllenging exercises and that undefinable sense of quality -mathematical taste- pervading all the book.
The book covers the standard material on 'real variable' (measure theory') in a masterful and compact way; then it goes through the standard complex analysis to a level deeper than usual and showing in a very original way its intertwining with real variable. The final third of the book is devoted to more specialized topics.
Just a warning: the construction of Lebesgue measure is based on Riesz representation theorem, whose lengthy proof is imposed to the reader in chapter 2. It is really tough, and makes this chapter much harder to read than the rest of the book.
If you want to learn REAL mathematics, this is the book for you, you'll learn not only the subject matter, but a great style as well.
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