001: Mathematics and Plausible Reasoning, Volume 1: Induction and Analogy in Mathematics Reprint Edition

by G. Polya (Author)

14 customer reviews

ISBN-13: 978-0691025094

ISBN-10: 0691025096

Why is ISBN important?

Have one to sell? Sell on Amazon

Added to

Unable to add item to List. Please try again.

Due Date: May 29, 2018 Rental Details

FREE return shipping at the end of the semester.
Access codes and supplements are not guaranteed with rentals.

In Stock. Rented from Amazon Warehouse Deals , Fulfilled by Amazon

List Price: $52.50 Save: $39.82 (76%)

Free Shipping

Add to Rental Cart

Condition: Used - Good

In Stock. Sold by Hawaii Vintage Finds, Fulfilled by Amazon

Access codes and supplements are not guaranteed with used items.

In Stock.

Ships from and sold by Amazon.com. Gift-wrap available.

This item ships to France. Want it Thursday, Dec. 14? Order within and choose AmazonGlobal Priority Shipping at checkout. Learn more

34 New from $18.99

Turn on 1-Click ordering

Ship to:

France

More Buying Choices

34 New from $18.99 49 Used from $4.91 1 Rentals from $12.68 1 Collectible from $22.00

85 offers from $4.91

See All Buying Options

Free%20Two-Day%20Shipping%20for%20College%20Students%20with%20Amazon%20Student

A guide to the practical art of plausible reasoning, this book has relevance in every field of intellectual activity. Professor Polya, a world-famous mathematician from Stanford University, uses mathematics to show how hunches and guesses play an important part in even the most rigorously deductive science. He explains how solutions to problems can be guessed at; good guessing is often more important than rigorous deduction in finding correct solutions. Vol. I, on Induction and Analogy in Mathematics, covers a wide variety of mathematical problems, revealing the trains of thought that lead to solutions, pointing out false bypaths, discussing techniques of searching for proofs. Problems and examples challenge curiosity, judgment, and power of invention.

001: Mathematics and Plausible Reasoning, Volume 1: Induction and Analogy in Mathematics

$52.50 In Stock. Ships from and sold by Amazon.com. Gift-wrap available.

Frequently bought together

Total price: $108.17

Buy the selected items together

This item:001: Mathematics and Plausible Reasoning, Volume 1: Induction and Analogy in Mathematics by G. Polya Paperback $52.50
In Stock.
Ships from and sold by Amazon.com.
FREE Shipping. Details
Mathematics and Plausible Reasoning: Volume II Patterns of Plausible Inference by G. Polya Paperback $39.95
In Stock.
Ships from and sold by Amazon.com.
FREE Shipping. Details
How to Solve It: A New Aspect of Mathematical Method (Princeton Science Library) by G. Polya Paperback $15.72
In Stock.
Ships from and sold by Amazon.com.
FREE Shipping on orders over $25. Details

Customers who bought this item also bought

Page 1 of 1 Start overPage 1 of 1

This shopping feature will continue to load items. In order to navigate out of this carousel please use your heading shortcut key to navigate to the next or previous heading.

G. Polya

14

Paperback
$39.95
G. Polya

118

Paperback
$15.72
G. Polya

38

Paperback
$8.93
Tim Roughgarden

9

Paperback
$16.19
Lara Alcock

22

Paperback
$23.23
Lara Alcock

18

Paperback
$18.83

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Polya . . . does a masterful job of showing just how plausible reasoning is used in mathematics. . . . The material in both volumes is fresh and highly original; the presentation is stimulating, informal, and occasionally humorous; examples from science, legal reasoning, and daily life make the arguments clear even to a nonspecialist. Polya's book is a rare event."--Morris Kline, Scientific American

"Professor Polya's beautifully written hook has become a classic."---A. 0. L. Atkin, The Mathematical Gazette

"Professor Polya . . . is interested in problem solving and the psychological aspects of mathematical discovery. . . . [These books] should provide many entertaining hours for anyone who cares to pick up the challenge."--Carl Hammer, Journal of the Franklin Institute

"Professor Polya presents a forceful argument for the teaching of intelligent guessing as well as proving. . . . There are also very readable and enjoyable discussions of such concepts as the isoperimetric problem and 'chance, the ever-present rival of conjecture.' "--Bruce E. Meserve, The Mathematics Teacher

From the Back Cover

This two volume work explores techniques of guessing, inductive reasoning, and reasoning by analogy, and the role they play in the most rigorous of deductive disciplines.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product details

Paperback: 296 pages
Publisher: Princeton University Press; Reprint edition (August 3, 1990)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0691025096
ISBN-13: 978-0691025094
Product Dimensions: 6 x 0.8 x 9 inches
Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
Average Customer Review: 14 customer reviews
Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #982,582 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #391 in Books > Humor & Entertainment > Puzzles & Games > Math Games
- #821 in Books > Science & Math > Mathematics > History
- #6322 in Books > Textbooks > Science & Mathematics > Mathematics

Would you like to tell us about a lower price?
If you are a seller for this product, would you like to suggest updates through seller support?

NO_CONTENT_IN_FEATURE

Customer reviews

4.9 out of 5 stars

5 star

4 star

3 star (0%)

2 star (0%)

1 star (0%)

Write a customer review

See all 14 customer reviews

Rated by customers interested in

What's this?

Mathematics

5.0 out of 5 stars

Math Books

5.0 out of 5 stars

Philosophy Books

5.0 out of 5 stars

Is this feature helpful?

Thank you for your feedback.

Top customer reviews

There was a problem filtering reviews right now. Please try again later.

travel light and smiling

I bought this because I own volume 1

December 12, 2012

Format: HardcoverVerified Purchase

The author of this work has a special relationship to math. As people were trying to forcefeed me the subject over 50 years ago, what I mostly got was pure math, with no intest in how or whether math had any true real-world connections. There was a heavy emphasis on deductive, Euclidian proof.

Polanyi is a breath of fresh air, because he is the first mathematician I have read who identifies insight and intuition as very important parts of math exploration. He identifies this element as guessing. Flat out.

Math and science do not begin with formalized statements which are then studied and tested. They begin with someone's sense that there is something interesting to look at, poking around some, and THEN seeing if you can come up with a rule which might help predict, or explain an outcome.. sort of. The analytical part-- E = MC squared, for example-- comes after the intuition and the poking.

What his work is about is getting better and the inductive part-- the improvement of guessing.

0Comment 6 people found this helpful. Was this review helpful to you?

Yes

mike

Wonderful book; gave me tools to understand the process ...

August 15, 2014

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

Wonderful book; gave me tools to understand the process of critical reasoning, so necessary with the flood of today's news. (News?) So many opinions are floated on the TV and internet, it is important to sort out fact from fiction.

0Comment 3 people found this helpful. Was this review helpful to you?

Yes

henrique fleming

At the very root of mathematical discovery

August 7, 1998

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

One of the most beautiful books on scientific discovery. Read this book and then keep it at bedside for sheer amusement. Analogies are frequently the key to a discovery, but it is rare that this essential step receives credit. Here there is a collection of them: some of the most beautiful. Perhaps the most famous is Bernoulli's solution of the brachistochrone problem, based on an analogy with the path of light in the atmosphere. But there are many others, with comments and analysis by Polya, who spent a life thinking at these things. It's a pity he didn't include Riemann's "proof" of the theorem of conformal representation, based on an analogy with the physics of electrical currents on a surface. The reader can find it beautifully described in Richard Courant's "Dirichlet Principle".

0Comment 54 people found this helpful. Was this review helpful to you?

Yes

Mr. X

Five Stars

June 22, 2017

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

A classic!

0CommentWas this review helpful to you?

Yes

Nihal Mehta

Be prepared to be amazed every few pages!

January 13, 2003

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

This book shows you how simple concepts when applied properly can lead to ingenious solutions. For example, the author's proof of the Pythagorean Theorem will leave you shocked by its amazing elegance. And, there are several of these throughout the book.
Read this book. It's money more than well spent.

0Comment 23 people found this helpful. Was this review helpful to you?

Yes

Larry A. Amati

Spock primer

June 10, 2007

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

If you have ever watched a star trek movie and seen Spock in action,then this is the book for you. Its all about logicical thinking when approaching problems in math.Excellent!

0Comment 4 people found this helpful. Was this review helpful to you?

Yes

magnolia

Five Stars

December 30, 2014

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

thank you

0CommentWas this review helpful to you?

Yes

John Boyd

Five Stars

April 24, 2016

Format: HardcoverVerified Purchase

Product was accurately described and I would buy from this seller again.

0CommentWas this review helpful to you?

Yes

Customer images

See all customer images

Most recent customer reviews

Excellent book!!

Every maths lover most keep this !! It is a book which motivate us do research in a systematic way!! written in a lucid manner!! Interactive also!!

Published on May 25, 2013 by vikash tiwari

Great for aspiring Math researchers

This is a continuation of the first volume on the same topic. He talks about plausible reasoning and helps researchers very much. I was most interested in problem solving though.Read more

Published on February 17, 2013 by Abhi

Great insight into the art of "Guessing" in Math

I was looking for books to train myself for Math Olympiads. I always felt that there is more to it than "Just Practicing".Read more

Published on December 13, 2012 by Abhi

Required Reading

Though a math book, this is one of the best explanation of scientific reasoning ever written. I am amazed at the shoddy reasoning that now passes as 'scientific'.Read more

Published on February 12, 2009 by Stick-In-The-Mud

Good writing - good reading

The book delves deeply into logic and mathematical reasoning with quite a bit of intermediate math. While most of the chapters and concepts are mathematical Polya has skillfully...Read more

Published on December 14, 2005 by Dennis Mitton

More Than A Math Book

To follow the book you don't need to be a matematician but it helps to remember this and that about integrals and differentals.Read more

Published on August 8, 2001 by Philip

Set up an Amazon Giveaway

Amazon Giveaway allows you to run promotional giveaways in order to create buzz, reward your audience, and attract new followers and customers. Learn more about Amazon Giveaway

This item: 001: Mathematics and Plausible Reasoning, Volume 1: Induction and Analogy in Mathematics

Set up a giveaway

Pages with related products. See and discover other items: history. of mathematics, math counts, math logic, mathematical logic philosophy, foundations of mathematics