Daniel J. Velleman - Böcker

Proofs play a central role in advanced mathematics and theoretical computer science, yet many students struggle the first time they take a course in which proofs play a significant role. This bestselling text's third edition helps students transition from solving problems to proving theorems by teaching them the techniques needed to read and write proofs. Featuring over 150 new exercises and a new chapter on number theory, this new edition introduces students to the world of advanced mathematics through the mastery of proofs. The book begins with the basic concepts of logic and set theory to familiarize students with the language of mathematics and how it is interpreted. These concepts are used as the basis for an analysis of techniques that can be used to build up complex proofs step by step, using detailed 'scratch work' sections to expose the machinery of proofs about numbers, sets, relations, and functions. Assuming no background beyond standard high school mathematics, this book will be useful to anyone interested in logic and proofs: computer scientists, philosophers, linguists, and, of course, mathematicians.

Proofs play a central role in advanced mathematics and theoretical computer science, yet many students struggle the first time they take a course in which proofs play a significant role. This bestselling text's third edition helps students transition from solving problems to proving theorems by teaching them the techniques needed to read and write proofs. Featuring over 150 new exercises and a new chapter on number theory, this new edition introduces students to the world of advanced mathematics through the mastery of proofs. The book begins with the basic concepts of logic and set theory to familiarize students with the language of mathematics and how it is interpreted. These concepts are used as the basis for an analysis of techniques that can be used to build up complex proofs step by step, using detailed 'scratch work' sections to expose the machinery of proofs about numbers, sets, relations, and functions. Assuming no background beyond standard high school mathematics, this book will be useful to anyone interested in logic and proofs: computer scientists, philosophers, linguists, and, of course, mathematicians.

Bicycle or Unicycle? is a collection of 105 mathematical puzzles whose defining characteristic is the surprise encountered in their solutions. Solvers will be surprised, even occasionally shocked, at those solutions. The problems unfold into levels of depth and generality very unusual in the types of problems seen in contests. In contrast to contest problems, these are problems meant to be savored; many solutions, all beautifully explained, lead to unanswered research questions. At the same time, the mathematics necessary to understand the problems and their solutions is all at the undergraduate level. The puzzles will, nonetheless, appeal to professionals as well as to students and, in fact, to anyone who finds delight in an unexpected discovery.These problems were selected from the Macalester College Problem of the Week archive. The Macalester tradition of a weekly problem was started by Joseph Konhauser in 1968. In 1993 Stan Wagon assumed problem-generating duties. A previous book written by Wagon, Konhauser, and Dan Velleman, Which Way Did the Bicycle Go?, gathered problems from the first twenty-five years of the archive. The title problem in that collection was inspired by an error in logic made by Sherlock Holmes, who attempted to determine the direction of a bicycle from the tracks of its wheels. Here the title problem asks whether a bicycle track can always be distinguished from a unicycle track. You'll be surprised by the answer.