Particle verbs (combinations of two words but lexical units) are a notorious problem in linguistics. Is a particle verb like look up one word or two? It has its own entry in dictionaries, as if it is one word, but look and up can be split up in a sentence: we can say He looked the information up and He looked up the information. But why can't we say He looked up it? In English look and up can only be separated by a direct object, but in Dutch the two parts can be separated over a much long...

How Humans Learn to Think Mathematically describes the development of mathematical thinking from the young child to the sophisticated adult. Professor David Tall reveals the reasons why mathematical concepts that make sense in one context may become problematic in another. For example, a child's experience of whole number arithmetic successively affects subsequent understanding of fractions, negative numbers, algebra, and the introduction of definitions and proof. Tall's explanations for t...

In his long-awaited new edition of Philosophy of Mathematics, James Robert Brown tackles important new as well as enduring questions in the mathematical sciences. Can pictures go beyond being merely suggestive and actually prove anything? Are mathematical results certain? Are experiments of any real value?This clear and engaging book takes a unique approach, encompassing non-standard topics such as the role of visual reasoning, the importance of notation, and the place of ...

Algebra marked the beginning of modern mathematics, moving it beyond arithmetic, which involves calculations featuring given numbers, to problems where some quantities are unknown. Now, it stands as a pillar of mathematics, underpinning the quantitative sciences, both social and physical. This Very Short Introduction explains algebra from scratch. Over the course of ten logical chapters, Higgins offers a step by step approach for readers keen on developing their understanding of a...

This introduction to the philosophy of mathematics focuses on contemporary debates in an important and central area of philosophy. The reader is taken on a fascinating and entertaining journey through some intriguing mathematical and philosophical territory, including such topics as the realism/anti-realism debate in mathematics, mathematical explanation, the limits of mathematics, the significance of mathematical notation, inconsistent mathematics and the applications of mathematics. Each...

This book emphasizes the role of symmetry and presents as many viewpoints as possible of an important phenomenon — the functional equation of the associated zeta-function. It starts from the basics before warping into the space of new interest; from the ground state to the excited state. For example, the celebrated Gauss quadratic reciprocity law is proved in four independent ways, which are in some way or other dependent on the functional equation. The proofs rest on finite fields, repres...

This book is written for undergraduates who wish to learn some basic results in analytic number theory. It covers topics such as Bertrand's Postulate, the Prime Number Theorem and Dirichlet's Theorem of primes in arithmetic progression.The materials in this book are based on A Hildebrand's 1991 lectures delivered at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and the author's course conducted at the National University of Singapore from 2001 to 2008.

The purpose of this little book is to give the reader a convenient introduction to the theory of numbers, one of the most extensive and most elegant disciplines in the whole body of mathematics. The arrangement of the material is as follows:The first five chapters are devoted to the development of those elements which are essential to any study of the subject. The sixth and last chapter is intended to give the reader some indication of the direction of further study with a brief ac...

For over three decades, this best-selling classic has been used by thousands of students in the United States and abroad as a must-have textbook for a transitional course from calculus to analysis. It has proven to be very useful for mathematics majors who have no previous experience with rigorous proofs. Its friendly style unlocks the mystery of writing proofs, while carefully examining the theoretical basis for calculus. Proofs are given in full, and the large number of well-chosen examp...

This valuable book focuses on a collection of powerful methods of analysis that yield deep number-theoretical estimates. Particular attention is given to counting functions of prime numbers and multiplicative arithmetic functions. Both real variable (”elementary”) and complex variable (”analytic”) methods are employed. The reader is assumed to have knowledge of elementary number theory (abstract algebra will also do) and real and complex analysis. Specialized analytic techniques, including...

Generative Grammar presents a substantial contribution to the field of linguistics in drawing together for the first time the author's most significant work on the theory of generative grammar.The essays collected here display Freidin's role in moving the theory forward in terms of new proposals, and analyse the efforts to understand the evolution and history of the theory by careful investigation of how and why it has changed over the years.