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Proofs from THE BOOK Hardcover – January 1, 2009

by Martin Aigner Karl H. (ILT) Hofmann Gunter M. Ziegler,Karl H. Hofmann,Gunter Ziegler (Author)

4.2 27 ratings

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Proofs from THE BOOK
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Book by Aigner, Martin, Ziegler, Günter M.

Print length

274 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Springer Verlag
Publication date

January 1, 2009
Dimensions

7.75 x 1 x 9.75 inches
ISBN-10

3642008550
ISBN-13

978-3642008559
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Martin Aigner
80
Hardcover
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Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Springer Verlag; 4th edition (January 1, 2009)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 274 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 3642008550
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-3642008559
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.9 pounds
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 7.75 x 1 x 9.75 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #3,190,474 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #34,529 in Mathematics (Books)

Customer Reviews:
4.2 27 ratings

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4.2 out of 5

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ARollingStone

Most beautiful

Reviewed in the United States on September 12, 2012

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This book has a splendid collection of arguably the most beautiful theorems in mathematics. The authors also present the most elegant proofs for these theorems. Most results and proofs are accessible to math enthusiasts with a background in elementary undergraduate syllabus. (I am a EECS graduate and I can understand most of the proofs).

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Enrique Treviño and Yuliia Glushchenko

Proofs from the Book

Reviewed in the United States on August 23, 2006

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The famous eccentric mathematician had a theory that God (who he liked to call the SF-Supreme Fascist) had a book with every mathematical theorem and that the book had the most beautiful and elegant proofs for the theorems.

This book has that philosophy and presents great proofs for many beautiful theorems.

It is a masterpiece. A book that shows why mathematicians love what they do.

14 people found this helpful

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math student

While most of the book could be read by a good undergraduate, I'm not sure I would recommend that ...

Reviewed in the United States on November 25, 2014

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As indicated in other reviews this is more a mathematicians coffee table book than a
reference book or a teaching aid.

While most of the book could be read by a good undergraduate, I'm not sure I would
recommend that - the student would see some clever and non-obvious proofs, but I'm
not convinced they would get a good idea of what research in mathematics is actually like.

2 people found this helpful

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joe

great books for the people who think math is fun

Reviewed in the United States on September 19, 2011

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Not a professional mathematician, I feel this book is challenging enough to be interesting, but not beyond what I can follow. The book is beautifully printed and bound, making it even more enjoyable to read.

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eliogabalo

excellent book

Reviewed in the United States on January 4, 2011

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I think that Proofs from the Book, is a title that every mathematicians should have on his desk.
Wonderful and very elegant proofs of some interesting Theorems in several area of Maths.

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Dr. Hoenikker

Do NOT get the Kindle edition

Reviewed in the United States on July 7, 2008

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The Kindle edition of the book is missing or misrepresenting math symbols in so many places it makes it completely unreadable.

123 people found this helpful

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Ricardo Mansilla

A wonderful book

Reviewed in the United States on July 23, 2013

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This book is a gem that holds the most beautiful proofs of well-known problems of Mathematics. A feast for any lover of Math.

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Shubhendu Trivedi

A journey into the "double life" of mathematics and the art of mathematical proof

Reviewed in the United States on February 11, 2014

The late mathematician and philosopher Gian-Carlo Rota referring to the age old (and perhaps unanswerable) question - "are mathematical ideas invented or discovered?" would say that mathematics led a double life. One of these lives dealt with facts, that mathematicians communicate and study much like taxonomists. Mathematical facts are as useful as the facts of any other Science and no matter how abstruse invariably find applications as well. Quoting Rota: "The facts of today's mathematics are the springboard for the Science of tomorrow.".The second life deals with proofs: the process of discovering those facts. A mathematical proof consists of starting with a set of axioms/definitions; well established mathematical facts, and logically deduce, by pure reason the said fact. However there is a hidden circularity here, to come up with "elegant" and "englightening" proofs one must first start with the right definitions to work with or risk end up getting lost or constructing a contraption for a proof from which almost no understandin about the problem might be salvaged. Much of the art of mathematical proof lies in the leap of imagination needed to come up with the right starting definitions. One might say that the simplest, most elegant and beautiful proofs start with just the right definition, thus also maximizing the insight that can be gained into the problem.

One can not learn this art without living with it for years. This book is one of those gems that can help you learn and appreciate this art and help develop a good nose for the "bare minimum" that fits. It is not a book to be read cover to cover. It is a book to be kept by your bedside and read time in and time again, keeping with you a certain proof for weeks till you have absorbed and appreciated its genesis completely. This book is filled with some of the most elegant proofs known and the background needed to appreciate them is minimal too. I personally bought this book on reading Furstenberg's very elegant and unusual topological proof of the infinitude of primes.

The origin of the name of this book is a part of mathematical lore. The legendary mathematician Paul Erdos, sort of as a half joke, talked about this "book" of God that contained all the beautiful and elegant proofs and that the job of mathematicians was only to try to discover proofs from the BOOK. This book was suggested by the authors as a first approximation to this BOOK, an idea that Erdos was very enthusiastic about and made many suggestions toward. Unfortunately he passed away before the book was published and could not be listed as a co-author. Nevertheless this book, by its eclectic choice of proofs and crazy ideas perhaps comes close to describing and teaching what mathematicians mean when they say that a proof is beautiful. It's hard to define, but one knows it when one sees it. This book will train your eye and you would be glad for having bought it.

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BlueShirt6

Five Stars

Reviewed in Canada on November 13, 2014

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Should be worked through by everyone who likes math

jesus m. esteban

Era un regalo para mi sobrino

Reviewed in Spain on July 4, 2014

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No se ha quejado por lo que supongo que habrá respondido a sus espectativas
Fue un regalo a petición y

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Mr. J. Youngman

Fun gift for a mathematically-inclined person

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on August 27, 2013

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Not being especially mathematical myself, I didn't get that much out of it. But fortunately I didn't buy the book for myself. I bought this as a birthday gift for a mathematician. He really likes it. If I had other mathematician friends, I'd buy it for them too.

Mengyuan Zhang

Just like the BOOK

Reviewed in Germany on March 22, 2013

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This is very amazing book and it is in amazing condition, no different from new. I am very happy to have purchased it.

Andrew Kelly

Brilliant!

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on March 19, 2014

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Anyone looking for a book of wonderfully complex yet beautiful proof could not do better than this book. I thoroughly recommend this to anyone in undergraduate maths with a love for proof.

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Proofs from THE BOOK Hardcover – January 1, 2009

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