An Invitation to Mathematics: From Competitions to Research

Click For Summary

Discussion Overview

The discussion revolves around the book "An Invitation to Mathematics," which features contributions from prominent mathematicians aimed at engaging students transitioning from high school to university mathematics. Participants explore the book's content, its target audience, and how it compares to other mathematical literature, particularly "Mathematics: Its Content, Methods and Meaning."

Discussion Character

  • Exploratory
  • Debate/contested

Main Points Raised

  • One participant describes "An Invitation to Mathematics" as a collection of contributions that showcase current mathematical research, aimed at students familiar with high school and competition mathematics.
  • Another participant notes that while both books are survey texts, "Mathematics: Its Content, Methods, and Meaning" is more comprehensive, suggesting a difference in depth and approach.
  • A later reply introduces a different book, "All You Wanted to Know about Mathematics but Were Afraid to Ask: Mathematics Applied to Science," proposing it as a more suitable comparison.

Areas of Agreement / Disagreement

Participants express differing views on how to compare "An Invitation to Mathematics" with "Mathematics: Its Content, Methods, and Meaning," indicating a lack of consensus on the similarities and differences between these works.

Contextual Notes

Some participants reference the intended readership and the nature of the contributions, but there are no explicit agreements on the merits or shortcomings of the books discussed.

theoristo
Messages
151
Reaction score
3
''This Invitation to Mathematics consists of 14 contributions, many from the world's leading mathematicians, which introduce the readers to exciting aspects of current mathematical research. The contributions are as varied as the personalities of active mathematicians, but together they show mathematics as a rich and lively field of research. The contributions are written for interested students at the age of transition between high school and university who know high school mathematics and perhaps competition mathematics and who want to find out what current research mathematics is about. We hope that it will also be of interest to teachers or more advanced mathematicians who would like to learn about exciting aspects of mathematics outside of their own work or specialization. Together with a team of young ``test readers'', editors and authors have taken great care, through a substantial ``active editing'' process, to make the contributions understandable by the intended readership.''Amazon
this book is very new,did anyone read it?is there any similarity with Mathematics: Its Content, Methods and Meaning (Dover Books on Mathematics)?
 
Physics news on Phys.org
You can read a good deal of it via the Amazon preview. Looks pretty interesting. I would not compare it with Mathematics: Its Content, Methods, and Meaning except that they are both survey books. The latter is far more thorough (compare their page numbers!). The former seems like a collection of interesting articles to entice very bright, young students.
 
dustbin said:
You can read a good deal of it via the Amazon preview. Looks pretty interesting. I would not compare it with Mathematics: Its Content, Methods, and Meaning except that they are both survey books. The latter is far more thorough (compare their page numbers!). The former seems like a collection of interesting articles to entice very bright, young students.

Good ,thanks!
 
I think this one is more like it:All You Wanted to Know about Mathematics but Were Afraid to Ask: Mathematics Applied to Science by Louis Lyons.
 

Similar threads

Replies
8
Views
3K
  • · Replies 64 ·
3
Replies
64
Views
3K
  • · Replies 6 ·
Replies
6
Views
17K
  • · Replies 38 ·
2
Replies
38
Views
12K
  • · Replies 1 ·
Replies
1
Views
2K
  • · Replies 5 ·
Replies
5
Views
3K
  • · Replies 7 ·
Replies
7
Views
4K
  • · Replies 4 ·
Replies
4
Views
1K
  • · Replies 8 ·
Replies
8
Views
4K
  • · Replies 4 ·
Replies
4
Views
1K