MSC: Primary 00;
Print ISBN: 978-0-8218-9492-7
Product Code: MBK/81
List Price: $47.00
AMS Member Price: $37.60
MAA Member Price: $42.30
Electronic ISBN: 978-1-4704-1611-9
Product Code: MBK/81.E
List Price: $44.00
AMS Member Price: $35.20
MAA Member Price: $39.60
You may also like
Supplemental Materials
Compactness and Contradiction
Share this pageTerence Tao
There are many bits and pieces of folklore in
mathematics that are passed down from advisor to student, or from
collaborator to collaborator, but which are too fuzzy and nonrigorous
to be discussed in the formal literature. Traditionally, it was a
matter of luck and location as to who learned such “folklore
mathematics”. But today, such bits and pieces can be communicated
effectively and efficiently via the semiformal medium of research
blogging. This book grew from such a blog.
The articles, essays, and notes in this book are derived from the
author's mathematical blog in 2010. It contains a broad selection of
mathematical expositions, commentary, and self-contained technical
notes in many areas of mathematics, such as logic, group theory,
analysis, and partial differential equations. The topics range from
the foundations of mathematics to discussions of recent mathematical
breakthroughs.
Lecture notes from the author's courses that appeared on the blog
have been published separately in the Graduate Studies in Mathematics
series.
Readership
Graduate students and research mathematicians interested in analysis, logic and foundations, PDEs, algebra, and general topics related to mathematics.
Reviews & Endorsements
Lately, a new generation of experts, some of whom are very powerful researchers, has started disseminating exposition via interactive blogs. Since they receive immediate and continuous international feedback, the interests and needs of their audience inevitably inform the communication. Tao, who---even among Fields medalists---has exceptional intellectual range, writes among the most famous of these blogs, and the present volume contains a selection of redacted content from it. Whereas many textbooks aim to teach lower-division mathematics majors to prove trivial theorems, this book explores very generally how research mathematicians prove nontrivial theorems. But unifying themes aside, Tao has chosen very well as case studies sundry topics from mutually distant branches of mathematics. Those sufficiently elementary demand a healthy stretch, and none will seem overly familiar, even to most experts. The class exhortation 'read the masters' takes on new urgency in an era when the masters return favor. Highly recommended ... [for] all academic and professional library collections.
-- D.V. Feldman, CHOICE
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Compactness and Contradiction