A First Course in Analysis - Paperback

The first course in Analysis, which follows calculus, along with other courses, such as differential equations and elementary linear algebra, in the curricu- lum, presents special pedagogical challenges. There is a change of stress from computational manipulation to "proof. " Indeed, the course can become more a course in Logic than one in Analysis. Many students, caught short by a weak command of the means of mathematical discourse and unsure of what is expected of them, what "the game" is, suffer bouts of a kind of mental paralysis. This text attempts to address these problems in several ways: First, we have attempted to define "the game" as that of "inquiry," by using a form of exposition that begins with a question and proceeds to analyze, ultimately to answer it, bringing in definitions, arguments, conjectures, exam- ples, etc., as they arise naturally in the course of a narrative discussion of the question. (The true, historical narrative is too convoluted to serve for first explanations, so no attempt at historical accuracy has been made; our narra- tives are completely contrived. ) Second, we have kept the logic informal, especially in the course of preliminary speculative discussions, where common sense and plausibility- tempered by mild skepticism-serve to energize the inquiry.

• | Author: George Pedrick
• | Publisher: Springer
• | Publication Date: Sep 05, 2012
• | Number of Pages: 279 pages
• | Binding: Paperback or Softback
• | ISBN-10: 1461264359
• | ISBN-13: 9781461264354