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Understanding Analysis

Stephen Abbott

2001260 pagesabout 4–6 hours
2001
first published
  • 2001Island Press · ENGISBN 9781468495034
  • 2010Springer · 260 pages · ENGISBN 9780387215068
  • 2015Springer London, Limited · ENGISBN 9781493927128
  • 2016Springer New York · ENGISBN 9781493950263
  • 2021Springer International Publishing AG · ENGISBN 9783030891978
  • 2016Springer · 312 pagesISBN 9781493927111
  • 2002Springer · 272 pages · ENGISBN 9780387950600

Introduction to the Problems in Analysis outlines an elementary, one semester course which exposes students to both the process of rigor, and the rewards inherent in taking an axiomatic approach to the study of functions of a real variable. The aim of a course in real analysis should be to challenge and improve mathematical intuition rather than to verify it. The philosophy of this book is to focus attention on questions which give analysis its inherent fascination. Does the Cantor set contain any irrational numbers? Can the set of points where a function is discontinuous be arbitrary? Can the rational numbers be written as a countable intersection of open sets? Is an infinitely differentiable function necessarily the limit of its Taylor series? Giving these topics center stage, the motivation for a rigorous approach is justified by the fact that they are inaccessible without it.

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