Why read How to Read and Do Proofs?

Book cover of How to Read and Do Proofs

Book description

This text makes a great supplement and provides a systematic approach for teaching undergraduate and graduate students how to read, understand, think about, and do proofs. The approach is to categorize, identify, and explain (at the student's level) the various techniques that are used repeatedly in all proofs, regardless of…

Explore

Topics

Genres

Coming soon!

When you buy books, we may earn a commission that helps keep our lights on (or join the rebellion as a member).

Why read it?

1 author picked How to Read and Do Proofs as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

Lara Alcock

Author

This book provides a systematic account of how to understand and structure mathematical proofs. Its approach is almost entirely syntactic, which is the opposite of how I naturally think – I tend to generate arguments based on examples, diagrams, and conceptual understanding. But that difference, for me, is precisely what makes this book so valuable. Solow gives a no-nonsense, practical, almost algorithmic approach to interpreting logical language and to tackling the associated reasoning. His book thereby provides the best answer I know of to the “How do I start?” problem so often encountered when students begin constructing proofs.

From Lara's list on studying undergraduate mathematics.