Reviews (23)

Perfect!
This text is perfect for advanced undergraduates and those in their first year (or two) of graduate school.The examples are based almost entirely on linear algebra and thereby combine abstract and linear algebra.
Quite simply, the best math book - Ever!
Okay so I guess this review is kind of biased - I've just completed the 2-semester algebra sequence at MIT, being taught by Prof. Artin himself. The course itself was truly fantastic, and throughout the year I have been in utter awe of Prof. Artin - he is without doubt as close to a role-model as I'm ever going to have.
Lack of Explanation and overall disappointing
Frankly, if you use this book, it will be slow going. There is so much to fill in between what Artin covers and what you need to learn to understand the material. I often find myself completely lost in this text (and so do many of the other students in my class). The text and proofs seem to have been trimmed down to the bare minimum, at the cost of the user's understanding. Unlike many texts, in this text you have to understand nearly everything before moving on because nothing is explained or discussed twice (so if you don't like the way it is explained the first time in the text, you are in trouble because that will be your only explanation). Examples are difficult to find -- they are literally within the text, often not even beginning a new paragraph when doing an example. That is, the examples are difficult to find IF there are even examples (there are often times where an example would be extremely useful, but Artin does not provide one, or if he does, glosses over it with little detail). I've leaned a lot on the internet and class notes to get me through my year-long abstract algebra course. Perhaps my mind just isn't meant for abstract algebra, but this is the only math book that I always have difficulties finding answers to my questions and rarely can follow, even after multiple readings. A remark on the problems -- the problems occasionally use terms that the book never even explains or even mentions (leaving you even more confused).
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Subjects:  1. Algebra    2. Algebra - Elementary    3. Algebra - General    4. Mathematics    5. Science/Mathematics    6. Mathematics / Algebra / General   

Reviews (1)

Worthless, worthless, worthless book!
This book is WAY overpriced and is NO good!Unless you have an amazing calculus teacher, there is no way you are going to understand this stuff.I am an honors student and trying to learn from this book and it's so frustrating.I also WASTED $40 on the solutions manual which is also a joke because it just gives you the answers.No solutions.Sorry if you have to use this book because it sucks. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Calculus    2. Mathematics    3. Science/Mathematics    4. Calculus & mathematical analysis    5. Mathematics / Calculus   

Reviews (4)

Decent book, if you can get it cheap
I strongly urge any serious math student to own a copy of both Rudin's Principles ("Baby Rudin") and his Real and Complex Analysis ("Adult Rudin").The former is absolutely essential- without completely mastering continuity and convergence on the basic metric space topology on R^n, higher math is going to be quite a pain.The second is good because it puts the major ideas of basic analysis- Radon measures, L^p spaces, rudiments of Hilbert and Banach Spaces, differentiation and integration, Fourier and Harmonic Analysis, Holomorphic and meromorphic functions, etc. all in one nice volume, although the problems may be too challenging or tangential to master the material by doing them. Modern topics in math.
"Modern analysis" used to be a popular name for the subject of this lovely book. It is as important as ever, but perhaps less "modern". The subject of functional analysis, while fundamental and central in the landscape of mathematics, really started with seminal theorems due to Banach, Hilbert, von Neumann, Herglotz, Hausdorff, Friedrichs, Steinhouse,...and many other of, the perhaps less well known, founding fathers, in Central Europe (at the time), in the period between the two World Wars. In the beginning it generated awe in its ability The Bible on Distributions
No other book covers the elements of distributions and the fourier transform quite like Rudin's Functional Analysis.This is a must for every budding PDE-er! ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Advanced    2. Functional Analysis    3. Mathematics    4. Science/Mathematics    5. Mathematics / Functional Analysis   

Reviews (2)

Another fabulous book from Paul Nahin
Here is a book that is a delight to read.It is well-written and the text flows marvelously between each page and around the many formulas that are so carefully presented and worked out.I rate this book as 5-stars for presenting ever more mathematics relating to complex numbers in a clear and detailed manner.
Sequel to An Imaginary Tale
The reviews of An Imaginary Tale capture much of what will be said of Dr. Euler's Fabulous Formula. I happen to like Paul Nahin's books very much ever since reading The Science of Radio, one of my favorite books of all time. If you didn't like Imaginary, you won't like Dr. Euler's . If you like the earlier book, this one is a must.
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Subjects:  1. Euler's numbers    2. History    3. History & Philosophy    4. Mathematical Analysis    5. Mathematics    6. Number Theory    7. Numbers, Complex    8. Science/Mathematics    9. History of Science and Medicine, Philosophy of Science    10. History of mathematics    11. Mathematics / History    12. Popular science   

Reviews (23)

Rigorous but accesible..an engineer's intro to proofs
I write this review on the context of having done all the math required for mechanical engineer but never havin to do proofs... as B.Rusell once said do and the by faith you will believe... trying to escape that state of mind I got this book some years ago, Im glad for the author follows a structure approach similar to learning a programming language, once you master some elemenatry techniques you can stack up to create refined algorithms.

5 Stars for the book, 1 star for an unnecessary 2nd edition
I have the first edition of this excellent book, and I compared it to the recently published second edition. Quite frankly, I can't see why they bothered. It's not like the methods of mathematical proofs change that much over time. We're not talking about some 1400 page shovelware book on being a MCSE/CCNA/etc. where the qualifications change every six months. There are only three basic changes to this book in its second edition:
overlay logic on any other type of maths
The math notation in this book is that typically of texts used by maths majors. Most of those people should already have a grasp of proving statements. But some do not, and the book is directed to them.
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Subjects:  1. Combinatorics    2. General    3. Logic    4. Logic, Symbolic and mathematic    5. Logic, Symbolic and mathematical    6. Mathematics    7. Science    8. Science/Mathematics    9. Mathematical logic    10. Mathematics / Combinatorics   

Reviews (29)

excellent book for game developers
I'm about 2/3 through this book now, and I've found it very helpful.The explanations are good, and what I particularly like is how he illustrates most of the topics with pictures and graphs, explaining the relevance to rendering graphics in games.Unlike most math books and courses I've taken, I'm not left wondering "what the heck relevance does THIS have?" every time I turn a page.He also does provide C++ code game graphics rendering at the end of most topics.The code is very useful, and well explained.I can definitely see myself using some of it in future projects.
Great Introduction to the Math and Algorithms Behind Rendering
The first time I tried to read this book, I took frequent breaks and only made it to about chapter 10, not really understanding a few of the proofs and algorithms. However, after going through the entire book all at once in about a week, I was able to understand everything. It was definately worth it.
Not for Novices or Intermediate
Not an easy read. I thought of myself as being an intermediate level mathematician - leaning slightly towards the novice, but this was beyond my expectations.After the first few chapters on Vectors, getting into Matrices he lost me.Even some of the vector math lost me.Sure, if I want to find the cross product of two 3d vectors I can do it, I'd just go look up his source code,but *why* it works exactly?Don't know.
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Subjects:  1. Advanced    2. Computer Graphics - General    3. Computer games    4. Computer graphics    5. Computer science    6. Computers - Games    7. Discrete Mathematics    8. Game Theory    9. Mathematics    10. Programming    11. Programming - Software Development    12. Science/Mathematics    13. Video & Electronic - General    14. Applied mathematics    15. Computers / General    16. Image processing: graphics (static images)   

Subjects:  1. Calculus    2. Finite Mathematics    3. General    4. Mathematics    5. Science/Mathematics    6. Mathematics / General   

Reviews (3)

Where are the last four chapters?
This solutions book only goes through chapter 8 and the actual text has 12 chapters.I found that the answers were explained fairly well but I was very disappointed that it was missing several chapters and was probably not worth the money.

THE PAPERBACK IS THE SOLUTIONS MANUAL
Unfortunately the paperback is not a a paperback edition of the textbook, but the student's solution manual.

Easy to read.
I thought the book explained each topic in an easy to follow manner.There are some challenging excercises at the end of each section. Some of the exercises stumped me, but I guess that's good if you're looking to bechallenged. I bought the solutions manual which gives step by stepsolutions to the odd questions.The book doesn't cover every area ofcalculus, but I found it useful when I didn't understand what we covered inclass. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Applied    2. Calculus    3. Mathematics    4. Science/Mathematics    5. Social sciences    6. Textbooks    7. Calculus & mathematical analysis    8. Mathematics / Applied   

Subjects:  1. Algebra - General    2. General    3. Mathematics    4. Science/Mathematics    5. Algebra   

Reviews (2)

Great but with a few flaws
Overall, this book is great. Everything is pretty clear and it makes algebra II almost easy. However, there are many typos I found, like forgetting a negative, or using a wrong variable. but otherwise, it's awesome!

An Excellent Review or Preparatory Book For Algebra II
This book really helped me prepare for Algebra II. With the help of this book, I had a 97% in the first semester and a 94% in the second. Then at the end of the year, this was a great tool in reviewing for the final. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Algebra    2. Algebra - General    3. Algebra.    4. Book Notes    5. College Entrance    6. Outlines, syllabi, etc    7. Study Aids    8. Study Guides    9. Mathematics / Algebra / General    10. Study & learning skills   

Reviews (9)

College Prep Teacher Loves this Text
I have been teaching Advanced Precalculus in a college preparatory high School for 14 years.I also teach AP Calculus and know what my students must cover to be prepared for a Calculus I course.This precalculus text is excellent in teaching precal students EVERYTHING they need to be prepared for calculus.It is also very user-friendly.For instance,it is a very readable text and most examples are worked out using a variety of approaches.With the multiple solution approaches to examples, students can see an algebraic solution, numeric solution, and graphic solution to the same problem.This enables students to see how all these things fit together and make important connections between graphing and hand-work.Multiple solutions is also beneficial in a classroom setting as not all students have the same learning style.Visual learners will benefit by seeing the pictoral representation of their solution, while sequential learners will appreciate the step-by-step algebraic worked out solution, etc.All applicable examples are solved using a graphing calculator, which is essential for current technology requirements.The book is also easy to adjust for block or regular scheduling. (approximately 1 section a day on block; 1/2 section a day on regular)I have used several other precal texts and much prefer this one.The material is well laid out and ordered.The difficulty level can be adjusted to be challenging for a high school advanced precalculus course or otherwise.Students wishing to review a previous precalculus course or teach themselves precalculus will appreciate this text, as well.I read the other reviews of this book listed at Amazon.While it is true there are typographical errors, I don't find them any more excessive than in other texts I use.I don't use the "test generator" software as I make all my own tests and quizzes, so I cannot comment on it.Based on my years of experience as a Master Math Teacher, I would have to disagree with the other negative reviews of this text.Of course, this is only my opinion.I can tell you that the other teachers at my school using this book love it, as well.Hope this information is helpful.

Impossibly Annoying
I found this book to be very infuriating and shallow, and there are many incorrect answers in the back.Many of the homework exercises are simply busy work, and I felt like I learned nothing by wasting my time doing them.The overall approach is too elementary in some areas that really need explaining, and too complicated in areas that could be simply stated.The authors should have proof-read!!!Don't get this book if you have a choice.

I Won't Complain...
Last year I took an Algebra 2 Honors course and the book was absolutely horrendous.My teacher was fantastic, but every once in a while we ran out of time during class to finish the lesson.I would go to the book and try to learn it on my own, very unsuccessfully.
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Subjects:  1. Calculus    2. General    3. Mathematics    4. Science/Mathematics    5. Calculus & mathematical analysis    6. Mathematics and Science   

Reviews (3)

Partial Differential Equations and Boundary Value Problems
I think this book is Possibly the best Mathematic book for Engineer I've ever read. This is due to the fact that the material is so much clear and the examples are so easy to follow. The book's explanation is precise and accurate. The exercises on every chapter are helpful. I practise almost most of the exercise problems. In fact, I score an "A" on the first Test. I will recommend it to everyone without hesitation.

Initial impressions
Nakhle:Just a quick note to thank you for your book! It arrived Thursday, and I've been reading it and doing the exercises both on paper and in Mathematica 3.0. After a quick review of the whole book and a thorough reading of the first 70 pages so far, I can say I just love it! IfI'd only had a book like this in college and graduate school I'd havebecome a much better electrical engineer. Yours is one of the bestexpositions of both Fourier series and partial differential equations I'veused. Although I haven't gotten very far into the boundary value problemsand the orthogonal functions areas of the book yet, my initial reviewindicates they will be excellent also. I am enjoying your book immensely,and I thank you very much for it. I'll update this with a more thoroughreview when I have a chance to finish the book, but I wanted to share myinitial impressions so others might weigh them into their own decisions toget this excellent book.

A clear introduction to PDEs, Fourier series
This text not only provides a simple and easy-to- read-the-first-time guide to solving PDEs with Fourier series, it also is chock-full with all the necessary details and includes many interesting problems.I took acourse out of this book as a sophomore in college and found it veryinteresting and useful.The style and difficulty is very similar to atypical undergraduate ordinary differential equations book, except this isbetter organized.Read more

Subjects:  1. Boundary Value Problems    2. Differential Equations    3. Differential Equations - Partial Differential Equations    4. Differential equations, Partia    5. Differential equations, Partial    6. Fourier series    7. Functional Analysis    8. Healing    9. Mathematics    10. Partial Differential Equations    11. Science/Mathematics    12. Mathematics / Advanced   

Reviews (7)

Very Good Introduction
This book provides an introduction to the advanced subject of dynamic optimization in an easy to comprehend manner. For students with no previous background in the subject, it is the best book in the market.If you are familiar with Chiang's Fundamental Methods of Mathematical Economics, you can expect the same level of comfort. There are plenty of examples in the text and all the aspects of the subject are covered. A valuable book to own and deserves the 5 stars.

Learn the stuff before writing a textbook
This book may be great for students. I has many good examples, is well written and generally looks good. HOWEVER, for anyone who actually knows optimal control theory it is clear that the book has several flaws. The worst example is the section on transversality conditions in infinite horizon problems. Chiang simply has no idea what he is talking about.

Better than any of the courses I had attented.
The book of professor Chiang is not simply a good introductory text to dynamic optimization in the continuous-time form, but also provides a tight explanation of the related original economic models. It is better than any of the courses most people had attented before. I wish a similar book will appear soon, developing dynamic optimization tools, and especially optimal control in the discret-time form. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Business & Economics / Economics / Theory    2. Business/Economics    3. Mathematics / Calculus    4. Calculus    5. Econometrics    6. Economics - Theory    7. Economics, Mathematical    8. Mathematical optimization    9. Mathematics   

Reviews (17)

Not ideal for self study
A primary group of people this book is aimed at is those preparing for Math contests such as the Olympiads. Many such people study the subject on their own. An important step in such preparation is solving a lot of problems. While it is important to try to solve the problems on one's own, it is equally important to be able to verify that one's solutions are correct. Unfortunately, this book does not provide solutions to the problems. Hence, it is not very helpful for those who are studying on their own. There are many other books in the market which are better from that point of view: For example, many books by Titu Andreescu, "Problem Solving Strategies" book by Arthur Engel are all good books that provide solutions as well. The "Art of Problem Solving" (Vol. 1 & Vol. 2) by Rusczyk et al. are also very good and have separate solution manuals available for purchase.

Outstanding, but you will need other sources
The Art and Craft of Problem Solving is an excellent book that covers the essentials of Algebra, Combinatorics, Number Theory, and even Calculus from a problem-solving point of view. However, there are very few solved problems. I strongly recommend this book, but also suggest that the student study other books as well, books with many more solved examples, because this book alone does not provide enough experience in putting the concepts into practice.

a marvelous introduction to problem solving
this is one of the rare books which truly
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Subjects:  1. Logic    2. Mathematics    3. Problem solving    4. Science/Mathematics    5. Mathematics / Logic   

Reviews (9)

Good Math Book
I learned calculus from this book, and i think that as a text it is excellent. I learned very little from my lecturer, and almost 90% of my 3 4.0 grades in calc 1,2 and 3 can be attributed to the pages of this book. On the other hand, by the end of the year my book had nearly fallen apart; i ask myself, why so expensive for cheap print? Furthermore, why would the authors write such a good book, but make the binding so terrible? If you use this textbook, be CAREFUL with the binding!

Excellent if you got the time
I also disagree with the reviewers that were so passionate about ditching the book with one star ratings. All I can think is that all of them were students who used it as a textbook in college. Most college students, specially Engineering students (guilty :) tend to put Calculus on the back seat and try to skim a lot specially when pressured by finals or other subjects. Fortunately, this wasn't my case. I used the book as a refresher and went deeper into more advanced topics at the of the book that were never explored in class back when I was in college. The book proved to be wonderful for this purpose. In four months I could get to the level I aimed for. I do agree however about the printing errors, the scarceness of the example problems, and some discrepance between the levels of examples and the exercises. Also, there are a few parts that should have been a little more detailed(that's why I don't grant it a 5-star). Nevertheless these little flaws do not take away the book's merit. I recommend to anyone(student or self-learner) who will block some time to go through the text without rushing,without skimming and appreciating the way new(or old) ideas are presented (as well as the history inserts). Great buy!

Very Challenging
Many people say that this book is bad. On the other hand, I think is very challenging. The exercises are not as simple as in other calculus textbooks. The book explains everything well and provides you with many examples. I am a math major and this book has been really helpful. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Calculus    2. Mathematics    3. Science/Mathematics    4. Calculus & mathematical analysis    5. Mathematics / Calculus   

Reviews (2)

I agree
This math book is repetitive and redundant. They give you a vague lesson and then forty exact questions.

This math book.
It is really horrible. Almost everyday in my math class me or my class finds something mathmatically wrong. Definitions are very very unclear. For Example It says the beging point for a ray is an endpoint. That can be confusing to someone unfamilar to rays. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Algebra - General    2. Geometry - General    3. Mathematics    4. Science/Mathematics   

Subjects:  1. Algebra - General    2. Mathematics   

Reviews (7)

Excellent, Accessible Book
This an excellent book.Basically, the whole point of it is to mathematically define what a computer is and prove that it works.The author does this by defining and manipulating mathematical alphabets and languages without resorting to any kind of advanced math.Starting from nothing, the whole thing leads up to Turing Machines.More specifically, according to the Preface, the goals of the book are:
Excellent
I must say this is one of the best books I have ever read.The auther is humorous and insightful.He manages to take very abstract concepts and explain them in clear concrete terms and metaphors.

Discursive presentation. Helpful for novices.
The book has one important attribute: it's clear, undoubtedly. Having a minimum of prerequisites, I think there's no way to not understand what Prof. Cohen says through its pages. It makes the job of learning this part of theory easier than any other text.Read more

Subjects:  1. Computer Books: General    2. Computer Science    3. Computers    4. Electronic digital computers    5. General    6. Logic    7. Mathematics    8. Theory Of Computing    9. Computers / General    10. General Theory of Computing   

Reviews (2)

Calculus and Its Applications, Eighth Edition
Probably I did not read the description of this book carefully, that is why not what I expected. Anyway, the transaction was very pleasant!!!
Very good for a beginner taking calculus
Its examples and explanations are very good. It contains the essentials of Calculus and good applications in many fields, e.g. biology, economics, etc. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Calculus    2. Mathematics    3. Science/Mathematics    4. Calculus & mathematical analysis    5. Mathematics / Calculus   

Reviews (1)

Everyone has to start some where.
I do not know about you. But I can study math a lot better if the book has a hard cover. This first chapter assumes you are coming from ground zero and is good to read just to brush up or see if there is anything new, that you missed originally. There is a smooth transition and a gradual complexity as you go from the fundamentals through the subject. Now some people will complain that it is not all practical or applied. This was not designed as a course for practical or applied. However it sure helps when reading other books tat can only explain tings in at least rudimentary math. Even the fundamentals of trig are needed to follow The Ascent of Man by Jacob Bronowski ISBN: 0316109339. Now I call that practical. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Algebra    2. Algebra - General    3. Mathematics    4. Plane trigonometry    5. Pre-Calculus    6. Science/Mathematics    7. Trigonometry    8. Elementary geometry & trigonometry    9. Euclidean geometry    10. Mathematics / General