Name: Proofs from the book
ISBN: 9783642008559

Proofs from the book

PaulErdos? likedtotalkaboutTheBook,inwhichGodmaintainstheperfect proofsformathematicaltheorems,followingthedictumofG. H. Hardythat there is no permanent place for ugly mathematics. Erdos? also said that you need not believe in God but, as a mathematician, you should believe in The Book. A few years ago, we suggested to him to write up a?rst (and very modest) approximation to The Book. He was enthusiastic about the idea and, characteristically, went to work immediately,?lling page after page with his suggestions. Our book was supposed to appear in March 1998 as a present to Erdos? ’ 85th birthday. With Paul’s unfortunate death in the summer of 1996, he is not listed as a co-author. Instead this book is dedicated to his memory.? Paul Erdos We have no de?nition or characterization of what constitutes a proof from The Book: all we offer here is the examples that we have selected, h- ing that our readers will share our enthusiasm about brilliant ideas, clever insights and wonderful observations. We also hope that our readers will enjoy this despite the imperfections of our exposition. The selection is to a? great extent in?uencedby Paul Erdos himself. A largenumberof the topics were suggested by him, and many of the proofs trace directly back to him, or were initiated by his supreme insight in asking the right question or in makingthe rightconjecture. So to a largeextentthisbookre?ectstheviews of Paul Erdos? as to what should be considered a proof from The Book.

What Hacker News says

jsbgMay 2024

Mathematics and Its History (https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-1-4419-6053-5) is a really fun book for someone who already knows some university-level math and is just curious.

You may also enjoy Proofs from THE BOOK (https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-662-57265-8).

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FabHKApr 2024

And you might like Proofs from THE BOOK:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proofs_from_THE_BOOK

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actually_a_dogNov 2022

Concrete Mathematics, by Graham, Knuth, and Patashnik. Not only is the subject matter interesting, and, AFAICT not presented all together as a coherent body anywhere else, there are literally notes in the margins that the authors say reflect the comments of students who took courses using the book while it was being developed. Even if you don't care about the subject matter per se, the comments are well worth the read.

Similarly, Proofs from THE BOOK, by Aigner and Ziegler presents some interesting subject matter (short, elegant, and instructive proofs) all in one volume that you'd have to comb through large amounts of mathematical literature to encounter otherwise. The results themselves should be mostly familiar to any grad student or advanced undergrad in mathematics, but the proofs are sure to amuse as well as enlighten. The one unfortunate thing about this book is that the last edition was published almost 25 years ago.

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JacobiXJun 2022

For me the book that changed my perspective on proofs was : Proofs from THE BOOK by Martin Aigner and Günter M. Ziegler. I always thought that proofs are just means to an end, but this book showed me that proofs can be more interesting than the end result. The book begins with six proofs of the infinitude of the primes, and you can read it in any order. It contains some of the most elegant proofs of mathematical theorems.

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MageekJun 2022

“Proofs from the Book” is a great (and IMO fun) book. The 3Blue1Brown YouTube channel is amazing as well.

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kratom_sandwichJun 2022

I haven't read it, but I have heard good things about "Proofs from THE BOOK":

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proofs_from_THE_BOOK

Also, to get you into the right mood, I highly recommend "Fermats Last Theorem", which is light on mathemtics but quite interesting nontheless:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fermat%27s_Last_Theorem_(book)

and this article:

http://projectwordsworth.com/the-paradox-of-the-proof/

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