Springer Undergraduate Mathematics
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" ... many eminent scholars, endowed with great geometric talent, make a point of never disclosing the simple and direct ideas that guided them, subordinating their elegant results to abstract general theories which often have no application outside the particular case in question. Geometry was becoming a study of algebraic, differential or partial differential equations, thus losing all the charm that comes from its being an art." H. Lebesgue, Ler;ons sur les Constructions Geometriques, Gauthier Villars, Paris, 1949. This book is based on lecture courses given to final-year students at the Uni versity of Nottingham and to M.Sc. students at the University of the West Indies in an attempt to reverse the process of expurgation of the geometry component from the mathematics curricula of universities. This erosion is in sharp contrast to the situation in research mathematics, where the ideas and methods of geometry enjoy ever-increasing influence and importance. In the other direction, more modern ideas have made a forceful and beneficial impact on the geometry of the ancients in many areas. Thus trigonometry has vastly clarified our concept of angle, calculus has revolutionised the study of plane curves, and group theory has become the language of symmetry.
In mathematics we are interested in why a particular formula is true. Intuition and statistical evidence are insufficient, so we need to construct a formal logical proof. The purpose of this book is to describe why such proofs are important, what they are made of, how to recognize valid ones, how to distinguish different kinds, and how to construct them. This book is written for 1st year students with no previous experience of formulating proofs. Dave Johnson has drawn from his considerable experience to provide a text that concentrates on the most important elements of the subject using clear, simple explanations that require no background knowledge of logic. It gives many useful examples and problems, many with fully-worked solutions at the end of the book. In addition to a comprehensive index, there is also a useful `Dramatis Personae` an index to the many symbols introduced in the text, most of which will be new to students and which will be used throughout their degree programme.