Gabor Szegő – författare

This first detailed systematic treatment of orthogonal polynomials continues as a bestseller in the Colloquium Series

From the Preface (1955): The first part of the present exposition is devoted to the theory of Toeplitz forms. The second part deals with applications, in particular to the calculus of probability and mathematical statistics. Neither part claims completeness in any way. Our purpose has been to elucidate the principal ideas of this remarkable chapter of modern analysis and to help the interested student of mathematical statistics to acquire a working knowledge of the subject. The somewhat protracted Chapter 1 explains not only the notation employed but contains also the definition of important auxiliary concepts and the exposition of basic results which will be used later. This arrangement avoids interruptions in the main text ... [It is assumed] that the reader is in possession of the fundamental facts of the theory of functions. ""In chapters 2 and 3 certain topics appear which were treated in the book on orthogonal polynomials by G. Szego. In view of the progress made in this subject since the publication of that book (1939) it was possible to bring some details in an improved setting. The other chapters contain partly old and partly more recent results, some older facts in a new setting, and finally some completely new results. Chapter 1-6 and Chapter 9 have been prepared by Szego, the other chapters by Grenander ...""

The present English edition is not a mere translation of the German original. Many new problems have been added and there are also other changes, mostly minor. Yet all the alterations amount to less than ten percent of the text. We intended to keep intact the general plan and the original flavor of the work. Thus we have not introduced any essentially new subject matter, although the mathematical fashion has greatly changed since 1924. We have restricted ourselves to supplementing the topics originally chosen. Some of our problems first published in this work have given rise to extensive research. To include all such developments would have changed the character of the work, and even an incomplete account, which would be unsatisfactory in itself, would have cost too much labor and taken up too much space. We have to thank many readers who, since the publication of this work almost fifty years ago, communicated to us various remarks on it, some of which have been incorporated into this edition. We have not listed their names; we have forgotten the origin of some contributions, and an incomplete list would have been even less desirable than no list. The first volume has been translated by Mrs. Dorothee Aeppli, the second volume by Professor Claude Billigheimer. We wish to express our warmest thanks to both for the unselfish devotion and scrupulous conscientiousness with which they attacked their far from easy task.

Problems and Theorems in Analysis I by Polya/Szego is also available in the Classics in Mathematics series (3-540-63640-4).

From the reviews: "The work is one of the real classics of this century; it has had much influence on teaching, on research in several branches of hard analysis, particularly complex function theory, and it has been an essential indispensable source book for those seriously interested in mathematical problems. These volumes contain many extraordinary problems and sequences of problems, mostly from some time past, well worth attention today and tomorrow. Written in the early twenties by two young mathematicians of outstanding talent, taste, breadth, perception, perseverence, and pedagogical skill, this work broke new ground in the teaching of mathematics and how to do mathematical research. (Bulletin of the American Mathematical Society)