ENGLISH

Doing Mathematics: Convention, Subject, Calculation, Analogy

By Martin H. Krieger

Book information

Publisher
World Scientific Pub Co Inc
Year
2003
ISBN
9789812382009, 9812382003
Open Library ID
OL9196307M
Language
english
Format
DJVU
Filesize
3 MB (3256298 bytes)
Pages
474\474
Time added
2014-10-05 02:30:00

Description

When one attempts to write an expository presentation, one should try to write clearly, directly, and in the simplest language possible. This book does not succeed in that endeavor. Rather, the author is to me a model of obfuscation, arcane language, wandering threads of reference, obscure relationships, and opaque explanation. Perhaps a philospher who likes to couch his writings in such wrapping would relate to this style of presentation, but certainly not a reader interested in how mathematicians actually do mathematics. I would assume that rules out professional mathematicians by default. In some ways this could have been a good book, if the author had been less interested in showing us how much obscura he knows and more in explaining in a truly understandable fashion how people do mathematics . A reader who is looking for insights into mathematicians and their methods would not go far wrong reading Hardy's A Mathematician's Apology, or Littlewoood's Miscellany.

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