This compact, well-written history covers major mathematical ideas and techniques from the ancient Near East to 20th-century computer theory, surveying the works of Archimedes, Pascal, Gauss, Hilbert, and many others. "The author's ability as a first-class historian as well as an able mathematician has enabled him to produce a work which is unquestionably one of the best." — Nature.
The subject of real analytic functions is one of the oldest in mathe matical analysis. Today it is encountered early in ones mathematical training: the first taste usually comes in calculus. While most work ing mathematicians use real analytic functions from time to time in their work, the vast lore of real analytic functions remains obscure and buried in the literature. It is remarkable that the most accessible treatment of Puiseux's theorem is in Lefschetz's quite old Algebraic Geometry, that the clearest discussion of resolution of singularities for real analytic manifolds is in a book review by Michael Atiyah, that there is no comprehensive discussion in print of the embedding prob lem for real analytic manifolds. We have had occasion in our collaborative research to become ac quainted with both the history and the scope of the theory of real analytic functions. It seems both appropriate and timely for us to gather together this information in a single volume. The material presented here is of three kinds. The elementary topics, covered in Chapter 1, are presented in great detail. Even results like a real ana lytic inverse function theorem are difficult to find in the literature, and we take pains here to present such topics carefully. Topics of middling difficulty, such as separate real analyticity, Puiseux series, the FBI transform, and related ideas (Chapters 2-4), are covered thoroughly but rather more briskly.
Comprehensive but concise, this introduction to differential and integral calculus covers all the topics usually included in a first course. The straightforward development places less emphasis on mathematical rigor, and the informal manner of presentation sets students at ease. Many carefully worked-out examples illuminate the text, in addition to numerous diagrams, problems, and answers. Bearing the needs of beginners constantly in mind, the treatment covers all the basic concepts of calculus: functions, derivatives, differentiation of algebraic and transcendental functions, partial differentiation, indeterminate forms, general and special methods of integration, the definite integral, partial integration, and other fundamentals. Ample exercises permit students to test their grasp of subjects before moving forward, making this volume appropriate not only for classroom use but also for review and home study.
Mathematics of Planet Earth (MPE) was started and continues to be consolidated as a collaboration of mathematical science organisations around the world. These organisations work together to tackle global environmental, social and economic problems using mathematics.This textbook introduces the fundamental topics of MPE to advanced undergraduate and graduate students in mathematics, physics and engineering while explaining their modern usages and operational connections. In particular, it discusses the links between partial differential equations, data assimilation, dynamical systems, mathematical modelling and numerical simulations and applies them to insightful examples.The text also complements advanced courses in geophysical fluid dynamics (GFD) for meteorology, atmospheric science and oceanography. It links the fundamental scientific topics of GFD with their potential usage in applications of climate change and weather variability. The immediacy of examples provides an excellent introduction for experienced researchers interested in learning the scope and primary concepts of MPE.
The purpose of this book is to prepare the reader for coping with abstract mathematics. The intended audience is both students taking a first course in abstract algebra who feel the need to strengthen their background and those from a more applied background who need some experience in dealing with abstract ideas. Learning any area of abstract mathematics requires not only ability to write formally but also to think intuitively about what is going on and to describe that process clearly and cogently in ordinary English. Ash tries to aid intuition by keeping proofs short and as informal as possible and using concrete examples as illustration. Thus, it is an ideal textbook for an audience with limited experience in formalism and abstraction. A number of expository innovations are included, for example, an informal development of set theory which teaches students all the basic results for algebra in one chapter.
The importance of mathematics competitions has been widely recognised for three reasons: they help to develop imaginative capacity and thinking skills whose value far transcends mathematics; they constitute the most effective way of discovering and nurturing mathematical talent; and they provide a means to combat the prevalent false image of mathematics held by high school students, as either a fearsomely difficult or a dull and uncreative subject. This book provides a comprehensive training resource for competitions from local and provincial to national Olympiad level, containing hundreds of diagrams, and graced by many light-hearted cartoons. It features a large collection of what mathematicians call "beautiful" problems - non-routine, provocative, fascinating, and challenging problems, often with elegant solutions. It features careful, systematic exposition of a selection of the most important topics encountered in mathematics competitions, assuming little prior knowledge. Geometry, trigonometry, mathematical induction, inequalities, Diophantine equations, number theory, sequences and series, the binomial theorem, and combinatorics - are all developed in a gentle but lively manner, liberally illustrated with examples, and consistently motivated by attractive "appetiser" problems, whose solution appears after the relevant theory has been expounded. Each chapter is presented as a "toolchest" of instruments designed for cracking the problems collected at the end of the chapter. Other topics, such as algebra, co-ordinate geometry, functional equations and probability, are introduced and elucidated in the posing and solving of the large collection of miscellaneous problems in the final toolchest. An unusual feature of this book is the attention paid throughout to the history of mathematics - the origins of the ideas, the terminology and some of the problems, and the celebration of mathematics as a multicultural, cooperative human achievement. As a bonus the aspiring "mathlete" may encounter, in the most enjoyable way possible, many of the topics that form the core of the standard school curriculum.
The ideal primer for students and researchers across the social sciences who wish to master the necessary maths in order to pursue studies involving advanced statistical methods
A Mathematical Primer for Social Statistics, Second Edition presents mathematics central to learning and understanding statistical methods beyond the introductory level: the basic "language" of matrices and linear algebra and its visual representation, vector geometry; differential and integral calculus; probability theory; common probability distributions; statistical estimation and inference, including likelihood-based and Bayesian methods. The volume concludes by applying mathematical concepts and operations to a familiar case, linear least-squares regression. The Second Edition pays more attention to visualization, including the elliptical geometry of quadratic forms and its application to statistics. It also covers some new topics, such as an introduction to Markov-Chain Monte Carlo methods, which are important in modern Bayesian statistics. A companion website includes materials that enable readers to use the R statistical computing environment to reproduce and explore computations and visualizations presented in the text. The book is an excellent companion to a "math camp" or a course designed to provide foundational mathematics needed to understand relatively advanced statistical methods.
