A Course of Pure Mathematics (Cambridge Mathematical Library) [Paperback]

G.H. Hardy (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

There can be few textbooks of mathematics as well-known as Hardy's Pure Mathematics. Since its publication in 1908, it has been a classic work to which successive generations of budding mathematicians have turned at the beginning of their undergraduate courses. In its pages, Hardy combines the enthusiasm of a missionary with the rigor of a purist in his exposition of the fundamental ideas of the differential and integral calculus, of the properties of infinite series and of other topics involving the notion of limit.

Book Description

Since its publication in 1908, this textbook has become a classic work for successive generations of student mathematicians to refer to for the fundamental ideas of differential and integral calculus, the properties of infinite series, as well as other topics involving the notion of limit.

Product Details

• Paperback: 522 pages
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press; 10 edition (June 25, 1993)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0521092272
• ISBN-13: 978-0521092272
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (18 customer reviews)
• Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #756,033 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

86 of 88 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Best introduction to mathematical analysis, June 13, 2004

By	paramanands (India) - See all my reviews

This review is from: A Course of Pure Mathematics (Cambridge Mathematical Library) (Paperback)

This book is simply beyond any rating whatsoever. Giving 5 stars is to undermine the value of this classic.
The first time I got this book, I was neither aware of it not of its author. I just picked it up randomly from school library. From the contents I figured it was a book on calculus. I immediately searched for the proof that "every continuous function is integrable." This was the first book I encountered which had a rigorous proof of this.
Then I began reading the chapters sequentially thinking that this seems to be a good book on calculus. The book went much beyond my expectation and it satisfied all my mathematical curiousities. All the mysteries of calculus were revelaed. Hardy demystified calculus in the first chapter itself by creating reals out ot rationals.
The Dedekind's construction of reals as presented in this book is the best I have seen. The properties of reals were not stated as axioms (common approach in books on analysis) but rather deduced from those of rationals.
The concepts of functions, limits, continuity, derivative etc. were explained in a prosaic style which has no parallel. This was also my first book on maths which had far more english words than mathematical symbols.
After finishing the entire book I was wondering who was this guy G. H. Hardy who has written such a masterpiece.
Only a few months later I came to know that he was one of the greatest British mathematicians of the century and was responsible for making our Indian Ramanujan famous. After that I read most of his books including "A Mathematician's Apology" and "An Introduction to Theory of Numbers"
Any persons who thinks maths is dull should just read few pages from this book and I bet his old beliefs would be shattered.

60 of 63 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A truly elegant work, February 18, 2000

By	Hans U. Widmaier "Uli" (Elmhurst, IL USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: A Course of Pure Mathematics (Cambridge Mathematical Library) (Paperback)

This book is a classic, and deservedly so. It is comprehensive but not overloaded (like so many modern textbooks), crystal clear, well organized, rigorous. A wonderful text for teaching yourself higher math, which is how I am using it. But there is something beyond its didactic effectiveness that makes Hardy's work a must-have for anyone interested in math: This is a truly beautiful book, and working through it, while by no means easy, is an intellectual and aesthetic delight of the first order. Hardy is a genuinely elegant, subtle, incisive thinker, and his unbounded enthusiasm for his subject, duly controlled by British understatement, shines through every page. He conveys the irresistible, almost addictive quality of math.

35 of 35 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Classic for Decades and For Decades to Come, July 1, 2000

By	James M. Cargal (Montgomery, AL USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: A Course of Pure Mathematics (Cambridge Mathematical Library) (Paperback)

This book may be a little quaint. The terminology is a little out of date, e.g. "sequences" are "functions of a positive integral variable." It is marked by great organization and copious examples. What I appreciate most is the clarity and simplicity of the proofs. This is a great book for any serious student of real analysis prior to the Lebesque integral.