This book collects nine related mathematical essays which will intrigue and inform. From the reviews: "The authors put their writing where their talents are, and students get to see just how alive mathematics is...there is much to commend the book. It contains plenty of interesting mathematics, often going in unusual directions. I like the diagrams; the authors have chosen mathematics that involves especially pretty ones." --THE MATHEMATICAL ASSOCIATION OF AMERICA

A relaxed and informal presentation conveying the joy of mathematical discovery and insight. Frequent questions lead readers to see mathematics as an accessible world of thought, where understanding can turn opaque formulae into beautiful and meaningful ideas. The text presents eight topics that illustrate the unity of mathematical thought as well as the diversity of mathematical ideas. Drawn from both "pure" and "applied" mathematics, they include: spirals in nature and in mathematics; the modern topic of fractals and the ancient topic of Fibonacci numbers; Pascals Triangle and paper folding; modular arithmetic and the arithmetic of the infinite. The final chapter presents some ideas about how mathematics should be done, and hence, how it should be taught. Presenting many recent discoveries that lead to interesting open questions, the book can serve as the main text in courses dealing with contemporary mathematical topics or as enrichment for other courses. It can also be read with pleasure by anyone interested in the intellectually intriguing aspects of mathematics.

In this broad introduction to topology, the author searches for topological invariants of spaces, together with techniques for their calculating. Students with knowledge of real analysis, elementary group theory, and linear algebra will quickly become familiar with a wide variety of techniques and applications involving point-set, geometric, and algebraic topology. Over 139 illustrations and more than 350 problems of various difficulties help students gain a thorough understanding of the subject.

This challenging book argues that a new way of speaking of mathematics and describing it emerged at the end of the 16th century. Leading mathematicians began referring to their field in terms drawn from the exploration accounts of Columbus and Magellan. Many of those who promoted the vision of mathematics as heroic exploration also played central roles in developing the most important mathematical innovation of the period?the infinitesimal methods, which the author shows was no coincidence.

Designed for students having no previous experience with rigorous proofs, this text can be used immediately after standard calculus courses. It is highly recommended for anyone planning to study advanced analysis, as well as for future secondary school teachers. A limited number of concepts involving the real line and functions on the real line are studied, while many abstract ideas, such as metric spaces and ordered systems, are avoided completely. A thorough treatment of sequences of numbers is used as a basis for studying standard calculus topics, and optional sections invite students to study such topics as metric spaces and Riemann-Stieltjes integrals.

This text covers the parts of contemporary set theory relevant to other areas of pure mathematics. After a review of "naïve" set theory, it develops the Zermelo-Fraenkel axioms of the theory before discussing the ordinal and cardinal numbers. It then delves into contemporary set theory, covering such topics as the Borel hierarchy and Lebesgue measure. A final chapter presents an alternative conception of set theory useful in computer science.

This book is unique in that it looks at geometry from 4 different viewpoints - Euclid-style axioms, linear algebra, projective geometry, and groups and their invariants Approach makes the subject accessible to readers of all mathematical tastes, from the visual to the algebraic Abundantly supplemented with figures and exercises