Exploring Mathematics gives students experience with doing mathematics - interrogating mathematical claims, exploring definitions, forming conjectures, attempting proofs, and presenting results - and engages them with examples, exercises, and projects that pique their interest. Written with a minimal number of pre-requisites, this text can be used by college students in their first and second years of study, and by independent readers who want an accessible introduction to theoretical mathematics. Core topics include proof techniques, sets, functions, relations, and cardinality, with selected additional topics that provide many possibilities for further exploration. With a problem-based approach to investigating the material, students develop interesting examples and theorems through numerous exercises and projects. In-text exercises, with complete solutions or robust hints included in an appendix, help students explore and master the topics being presented. The end-of-chapter
Abstract Algebra with Applications provides a friendly and concise introduction to algebra, with an emphasis on its uses in the modern world. The first part of this book covers groups, after some preliminaries on sets, functions, relations, and induction, and features applications such as public-key cryptography, Sudoku, the finite Fourier transform, and symmetry in chemistry and physics. The second part of this book covers rings and fields, and features applications such as random number generators, error correcting codes, the Google page rank algorithm, communication networks, and elliptic curve cryptography. The book's masterful use of colorful figures and images helps illustrate the applications and concepts in the text. Real-world examples and exercises will help students contextualize the information. Intended for a year-long undergraduate course in algebra for mathematics, engineering, and computer science majors, the only prerequisites are calculus and a bit of courage when ask
Mathematics is not, and never will be, an empirical science, but mathematicians are finding that the use of computers and specialized software allows the generation of mathematical insight in the form of conjectures and examples, which pave the way for theorems and their proofs. In this way, the experimental approach to pure mathematics is revolutionizing the way research mathematicians work. As the first of its kind, this book provides material for a one-semester course in experimental mathematics that will give students the tools and training needed to systematically investigate and develop mathematical theory using computer programs written in Maple. Accessible to readers without prior programming experience, and using examples of concrete mathematical problems to illustrate a wide range of techniques, the book gives a thorough introduction to the field of experimental mathematics, which will prepare students for the challenge posed by open mathematical problems.
This rigorous textbook is intended for a year-long analysis or advanced calculus course for advanced undergraduate or beginning graduate students. Starting with detailed, slow-paced proofs that allow students to acquire facility in reading and writing proofs, it clearly and concisely explains the basics of differentiation and integration of functions of one and several variables, and covers the theorems of Green, Gauss, and Stokes. Minimal prerequisites are assumed, and relevant linear algebra topics are reviewed right before they are needed, making the material accessible to students from diverse backgrounds. Abstract topics are preceded by concrete examples to facilitate understanding, for example, before introducing differential forms, the text examines low-dimensional examples. The meaning and importance of results are thoroughly discussed, and numerous exercises of varying difficulty give students ample opportunity to test and improve their knowledge of this difficult yet vital su
Set theory is a rich and beautiful subject whose fundamental concepts permeate virtually every branch of mathematics. One could say that set theory is a unifying theory for mathematics, since nearly all mathematical concepts and results can be formalized within set theory. This textbook is meant for an upper undergraduate course in set theory. In this text, the fundamentals of abstract sets, including relations, functions, the natural numbers, order, cardinality, transfinite recursion, the axiom of choice, ordinal numbers, and cardinal numbers, are developed within the framework of axiomatic set theory. The reader will need to be comfortable reading and writing mathematical proofs. The proofs in this textbook are rigorous, clear, and complete, while remaining accessible to undergraduates who are new to upper-level mathematics. Exercises are included at the end of each section in a chapter, with useful suggestions for the more challenging exercises.
This user-friendly textbook introduces complex analysis at the beginning graduate or advanced undergraduate level. Unlike other textbooks, it follows Weierstrass' approach, stressing the importance of power series expansions instead of starting with the Cauchy integral formula, an approach that illuminates many important concepts. This view allows readers to quickly obtain and understand many fundamental results of complex analysis, such as the maximum principle, Liouville's theorem, and Schwarz's lemma. The book covers all the essential material on complex analysis, and includes several elegant proofs that were recently discovered. It includes the zipper algorithm for computing conformal maps, as well as a constructive proof of the Riemann mapping theorem, and culminates in a complete proof of the uniformization theorem. Aimed at students with some undergraduate background in real analysis, though not Lebesgue integration, this classroom-tested textbook will teach the skills and
Through this book, upper undergraduate mathematics majors will master a challenging yet rewarding subject, and approach advanced studies in algebra, number theory and geometry with confidence. Groups, rings and fields are covered in depth with a strong emphasis on irreducible polynomials, a fresh approach to modules and linear algebra, a fresh take on Gröbner theory, and a group theoretic treatment of Rejewski's deciphering of the Enigma machine. It includes a detailed treatment of the basics on finite groups, including Sylow theory and the structure of finite abelian groups. Galois theory and its applications to polynomial equations and geometric constructions are treated in depth. Those interested in computations will appreciate the novel treatment of division algorithms. This rigorous text 'gets to the point', focusing on concisely demonstrating the concept at hand, taking a 'definitions first, examples next' approach. Exercises reinforce the main ideas of the text and encourage stu
From rings to modules to groups to fields, this undergraduate introduction to abstract algebra follows an unconventional path. The text emphasizes a modern perspective on the subject, with gentle mentions of the unifying categorical principles underlying the various constructions and the role of universal properties. A key feature is the treatment of modules, including a proof of the classification theorem for finitely generated modules over Euclidean domains. Noetherian modules and some of the language of exact complexes are introduced. In addition, standard topics - such as the Chinese Remainder Theorem, the Gauss Lemma, the Sylow Theorems, simplicity of alternating groups, standard results on field extensions, and the Fundamental Theorem of Galois Theory - are all treated in detail. Students will appreciate the text's conversational style, 400+ exercises, an appendix with complete solutions to around 150 of the main text problems, and an appendix with general background on basic log
●Introduces central topics, such as vector spaces, linear maps, linear dependence, and eigenvalues, early in the book with the aim of helping students transition from calculus to rigorous mathematics●
This undergraduate textbook is a rigorous mathematical introduction to dynamical systems and an accessible guide for students transitioning from calculus to advanced mathematics. It has many student-friendly features, such as graded exercises that range from straightforward to more difficult with hints, and includes concrete applications of real analysis and metric space theory to dynamical problems. Proofs are complete and carefully explained, and there is opportunity to practice manipulating algebraic expressions in an applied context of dynamical problems. After presenting a foundation in one-dimensional dynamical systems, the text introduces students to advanced subjects in the latter chapters, such as topological and symbolic dynamics. It includes two-dimensional dynamics, Sharkovsky's theorem, and the theory of substitutions, and takes special care in covering Newton's method. Mathematica code is available online, so that students can see implementation of many of the dynamical
This classroom-tested textbook is an introduction to probability theory, with the right balance between mathematical precision, probabilistic intuition, and concrete applications. Introduction to Probability covers the material precisely, while avoiding excessive technical details. After introducing the basic vocabulary of randomness, including events, probabilities, and random variables, the text offers the reader a first glimpse of the major theorems of the subject: the law of large numbers and the central limit theorem. The important probability distributions are introduced organically as they arise from applications. The discrete and continuous sides of probability are treated together to emphasize their similarities. Intended for students with a calculus background, the text teaches not only the nuts and bolts of probability theory and how to solve specific problems, but also why the methods of solution work.
Manifolds are abound in mathematics and physics, and increasingly in cybernetics and visualization where they often reflect properties of complex systems and their configurations. Differential topology gives us the tools to study these spaces and extract information about the underlying systems. This book offers a concise and modern introduction to the core topics of differential topology for advanced undergraduates and beginning graduate students. It covers the basics on smooth manifolds and their tangent spaces before moving on to regular values and transversality, smooth flows and differential equations on manifolds, and the theory of vector bundles and locally trivial fibrations. The final chapter gives examples of local-to-global properties, a short introduction to Morse theory and a proof of Ehresmann's fibration theorem. The treatment is hands-on, including many concrete examples and exercises woven into the text, with hints provided to guide the student.
