How to Think Like a Mathematician

How to Think Like a Mathematician PDF Author: Kevin Houston
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1139477056
Category : Mathematics
Languages : en
Pages : 341

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Book Description
Looking for a head start in your undergraduate degree in mathematics? Maybe you've already started your degree and feel bewildered by the subject you previously loved? Don't panic! This friendly companion will ease your transition to real mathematical thinking. Working through the book you will develop an arsenal of techniques to help you unlock the meaning of definitions, theorems and proofs, solve problems, and write mathematics effectively. All the major methods of proof - direct method, cases, induction, contradiction and contrapositive - are featured. Concrete examples are used throughout, and you'll get plenty of practice on topics common to many courses such as divisors, Euclidean algorithms, modular arithmetic, equivalence relations, and injectivity and surjectivity of functions. The material has been tested by real students over many years so all the essentials are covered. With over 300 exercises to help you test your progress, you'll soon learn how to think like a mathematician.

How to Think Like a Mathematician

How to Think Like a Mathematician PDF Author: Kevin Houston
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1139477056
Category : Mathematics
Languages : en
Pages : 341

Get Book Here

Book Description
Looking for a head start in your undergraduate degree in mathematics? Maybe you've already started your degree and feel bewildered by the subject you previously loved? Don't panic! This friendly companion will ease your transition to real mathematical thinking. Working through the book you will develop an arsenal of techniques to help you unlock the meaning of definitions, theorems and proofs, solve problems, and write mathematics effectively. All the major methods of proof - direct method, cases, induction, contradiction and contrapositive - are featured. Concrete examples are used throughout, and you'll get plenty of practice on topics common to many courses such as divisors, Euclidean algorithms, modular arithmetic, equivalence relations, and injectivity and surjectivity of functions. The material has been tested by real students over many years so all the essentials are covered. With over 300 exercises to help you test your progress, you'll soon learn how to think like a mathematician.

Thinking Like a Mathematician

Thinking Like a Mathematician PDF Author: Mary-Lyons Walk Hanks
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1000489914
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 149

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Book Description
Thinking Like a Mathematician focuses on high-interest, career-related topics in the elementary curriculum related to mathematics. Students will explore interdisciplinary content, foster creativity, and develop higher order thinking skills with activities aligned to relevant content area standards. Students will engage in exploration activities, complete mathematical challenges, and then apply what they have learned by making real-world connections. Thinking Like a Mathematician reflects key emphases of curricula from the Center for Gifted Education at William & Mary, including the development of process skills in various content areas and the enhancement of discipline-specific thinking and habits of mind through hands-on activities. Grade 3

The Art of Logic in an Illogical World

The Art of Logic in an Illogical World PDF Author: Eugenia Cheng
Publisher: Basic Books
ISBN: 154167250X
Category : Mathematics
Languages : en
Pages : 296

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Book Description
How both logical and emotional reasoning can help us live better in our post-truth world In a world where fake news stories change election outcomes, has rationality become futile? In The Art of Logic in an Illogical World, Eugenia Cheng throws a lifeline to readers drowning in the illogic of contemporary life. Cheng is a mathematician, so she knows how to make an airtight argument. But even for her, logic sometimes falls prey to emotion, which is why she still fears flying and eats more cookies than she should. If a mathematician can't be logical, what are we to do? In this book, Cheng reveals the inner workings and limitations of logic, and explains why alogic -- for example, emotion -- is vital to how we think and communicate. Cheng shows us how to use logic and alogic together to navigate a world awash in bigotry, mansplaining, and manipulative memes. Insightful, useful, and funny, this essential book is for anyone who wants to think more clearly.

How Not to Be Wrong

How Not to Be Wrong PDF Author: Jordan Ellenberg
Publisher: Penguin
ISBN: 0143127535
Category : Mathematics
Languages : en
Pages : 482

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Book Description
“Witty, compelling, and just plain fun to read . . ." —Evelyn Lamb, Scientific American The Freakonomics of math—a math-world superstar unveils the hidden beauty and logic of the world and puts its power in our hands The math we learn in school can seem like a dull set of rules, laid down by the ancients and not to be questioned. In How Not to Be Wrong, Jordan Ellenberg shows us how terribly limiting this view is: Math isn’t confined to abstract incidents that never occur in real life, but rather touches everything we do—the whole world is shot through with it. Math allows us to see the hidden structures underneath the messy and chaotic surface of our world. It’s a science of not being wrong, hammered out by centuries of hard work and argument. Armed with the tools of mathematics, we can see through to the true meaning of information we take for granted: How early should you get to the airport? What does “public opinion” really represent? Why do tall parents have shorter children? Who really won Florida in 2000? And how likely are you, really, to develop cancer? How Not to Be Wrong presents the surprising revelations behind all of these questions and many more, using the mathematician’s method of analyzing life and exposing the hard-won insights of the academic community to the layman—minus the jargon. Ellenberg chases mathematical threads through a vast range of time and space, from the everyday to the cosmic, encountering, among other things, baseball, Reaganomics, daring lottery schemes, Voltaire, the replicability crisis in psychology, Italian Renaissance painting, artificial languages, the development of non-Euclidean geometry, the coming obesity apocalypse, Antonin Scalia’s views on crime and punishment, the psychology of slime molds, what Facebook can and can’t figure out about you, and the existence of God. Ellenberg pulls from history as well as from the latest theoretical developments to provide those not trained in math with the knowledge they need. Math, as Ellenberg says, is “an atomic-powered prosthesis that you attach to your common sense, vastly multiplying its reach and strength.” With the tools of mathematics in hand, you can understand the world in a deeper, more meaningful way. How Not to Be Wrong will show you how.

Think Like a Mathematician

Think Like a Mathematician PDF Author: Anne Rooney
Publisher: 'The Rosen Publishing Group, Inc'
ISBN: 1499470916
Category : Young Adult Nonfiction
Languages : en
Pages : 162

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Book Description
Mathematics is all around us. It is the universal language that allows us to work with numbers, patterns, processes, and the rules that govern the entire universe. Math enables us to understand our surroundings and model and predict phenomena. This insightful and comprehensive volume answers a series of compelling mathematical and life-related questions in an entertaining and informative way, showing inquisitive readers how math is the basis for just about everything they experience in their daily lives.

How Mathematicians Think

How Mathematicians Think PDF Author: William Byers
Publisher: Princeton University Press
ISBN: 0691145997
Category : Mathematics
Languages : en
Pages : 424

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Book Description
To many outsiders, mathematicians appear to think like computers, grimly grinding away with a strict formal logic and moving methodically--even algorithmically--from one black-and-white deduction to another. Yet mathematicians often describe their most important breakthroughs as creative, intuitive responses to ambiguity, contradiction, and paradox. A unique examination of this less-familiar aspect of mathematics, How Mathematicians Think reveals that mathematics is a profoundly creative activity and not just a body of formalized rules and results. Nonlogical qualities, William Byers shows, play an essential role in mathematics. Ambiguities, contradictions, and paradoxes can arise when ideas developed in different contexts come into contact. Uncertainties and conflicts do not impede but rather spur the development of mathematics. Creativity often means bringing apparently incompatible perspectives together as complementary aspects of a new, more subtle theory. The secret of mathematics is not to be found only in its logical structure. The creative dimensions of mathematical work have great implications for our notions of mathematical and scientific truth, and How Mathematicians Think provides a novel approach to many fundamental questions. Is mathematics objectively true? Is it discovered or invented? And is there such a thing as a "final" scientific theory? Ultimately, How Mathematicians Think shows that the nature of mathematical thinking can teach us a great deal about the human condition itself.

Introduction to Mathematical Thinking

Introduction to Mathematical Thinking PDF Author: Keith J. Devlin
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780615653631
Category : Mathematics
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
"Mathematical thinking is not the same as 'doing math'--unless you are a professional mathematician. For most people, 'doing math' means the application of procedures and symbolic manipulations. Mathematical thinking, in contrast, is what the name reflects, a way of thinking about things in the world that humans have developed over three thousand years. It does not have to be about mathematics at all, which means that many people can benefit from learning this powerful way of thinking, not just mathematicians and scientists."--Back cover.

A Mind for Numbers

A Mind for Numbers PDF Author: Barbara A. Oakley
Publisher: TarcherPerigee
ISBN: 039916524X
Category : Mathematics
Languages : en
Pages : 338

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Book Description
Engineering professor Barbara Oakley knows firsthand how it feels to struggle with math. In her book, she offers you the tools needed to get a better grasp of that intimidating but inescapable field.

Thnking Mathematically

Thnking Mathematically PDF Author: J Mason
Publisher: Pearson Higher Ed
ISBN: 027372892X
Category : Mathematics
Languages : en
Pages : 266

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Book Description
Thinking Mathematically is perfect for anyone who wants to develop their powers to think mathematically, whether at school, at university or just out of interest. This book is invaluable for anyone who wishes to promote mathematical thinking in others or for anyone who has always wondered what lies at the core of mathematics. Thinking Mathematically reveals the processes at the heart of mathematics and demonstrates how to encourage and develop them. Extremely practical, it involves the reader in questions so that subsequent discussions speak to immediate experience.

Math with Bad Drawings

Math with Bad Drawings PDF Author: Ben Orlin
Publisher: Black Dog & Leventhal
ISBN: 0316509027
Category : Mathematics
Languages : en
Pages : 556

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Book Description
A hilarious reeducation in mathematics-full of joy, jokes, and stick figures-that sheds light on the countless practical and wonderful ways that math structures and shapes our world. In Math With Bad Drawings, Ben Orlin reveals to us what math actually is; its myriad uses, its strange symbols, and the wild leaps of logic and faith that define the usually impenetrable work of the mathematician. Truth and knowledge come in multiple forms: colorful drawings, encouraging jokes, and the stories and insights of an empathetic teacher who believes that math should belong to everyone. Orlin shows us how to think like a mathematician by teaching us a brand-new game of tic-tac-toe, how to understand an economic crises by rolling a pair of dice, and the mathematical headache that ensues when attempting to build a spherical Death Star. Every discussion in the book is illustrated with Orlin's trademark "bad drawings," which convey his message and insights with perfect pitch and clarity. With 24 chapters covering topics from the electoral college to human genetics to the reasons not to trust statistics, Math with Bad Drawings is a life-changing book for the math-estranged and math-enamored alike.