Customer Reviews

A First Course in Mathematical Analysis

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(0)
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This book pretty much copies the Real Analysis part of the Open University's excellent course 'Into to Pure Mathematics' which also covered Group Theory and Linear Algebra . If you're new to Analysis I cannot more highly recommend another book, though I would also recommend Spivak's Calculus which is at the same level, and pretty much covers the same material. I did the course (and have the book) and found it a breeze, all due to the excellently presented material, and the many examples, where like the SUMS books (of which I recommend most), all answers are givern in detail; which is important when you start more advanced maths (sic) and especially when you're teaching yourself! However it is only an introduction, but will prepare you for more advanced Analysis books like Rudin, Royden and my new favourite Knapp and his 2 Real Analysis books. Personally I wish they would produce more of the OU Maths courses in book format, as the material that I have read and studied has rarely been bettered in the standard books. Maybe this is a start of a new trend with the OU, I hope!

This book is a gem.

As the author states in the introduction, this is a student friendly book - the notes in the margins are really useful, the worked examples are clear and well thought out while the book has a good flow to it. A lot of thought has been put into this text and it shows. The bottom line is that I learnt a lot from this book and now feel ready to tackle more advanced texts.