Book Suggestions for High School Math Students + Tips for Improvement

[jsewell94]

Hola everyone!

So, I'm in High School...and I was wondering if you guys have any interesting reading suggestions (pertaining to math, of course :P). Please don't recommend anything too crazy that could be over my ignorant, uninformed, teenage brain.

Also, do you guys have any tips for improving my overall...math abilities? I'm in IB Higher Level Math at my school, I go to math competitions, and I have even qualified for state! However, there is always room for improvement, so how do suggest that I get better at "thinking mathematically."

Thanks for taking time to answer my questions!
-Jacob
(By the way, this is my first post on this forum. I am excited to read some of the posts on here hehe)

 

[rummgamon]

First off, congratulations! As for your question, that would depend on what you hope to achieve? Do you want to be able to solve competition problems or understand deep mathematical results? Bear in mind that high school maths, competition math and university maths demand different things of an individual- computational skills, ingenius solutions within a limited time frame and the capability of abstract thought respectively. Since you qualified for state, I'm going to assume the high school stuff is easy for you. For competition math, Terry Tao's Solving Math Problems: A Personal Perspective comes to mind. Apart from that, I'll echo the suggestions of my betters in this forum and point out that What is Mathematics? by Courant and Robbins would best suit your needs.

 

[jsewell94]

Haha, yeah, I pretty much kick butt in all of my math classes. The one that I am currently in is more demanding, but I am still doing quite well in it. Honestly, I would like to be better at both solving competition problems and "understanding deep mathematical results." I am planning on spending my entire life learning math, so I am willing to read all mathematical literature, unless it is way above my head.

I will check out both of those books! Hehe, my sister is a student at our local university, so I may snag her library card and check out some books there at some point in time.

Thanks for answering my question!

 

[chiro]

Hola everyone!

So, I'm in High School...and I was wondering if you guys have any interesting reading suggestions (pertaining to math, of course :P). Please don't recommend anything too crazy that could be over my ignorant, uninformed, teenage brain.

Also, do you guys have any tips for improving my overall...math abilities? I'm in IB Higher Level Math at my school, I go to math competitions, and I have even qualified for state! However, there is always room for improvement, so how do suggest that I get better at "thinking mathematically."

Thanks for taking time to answer my questions!
-Jacob
(By the way, this is my first post on this forum. I am excited to read some of the posts on here hehe)

Terrence Tao wrote a book about problem solving that was related to stuff he did in things like the Olympiads.

The book is called "Solving Mathematical Problems A Personal Perspective" by Terry Tao published by Oxford University Press.

 

[Studiot]

Rather than books that pre-empt what you will do in school anyway.

Professor Ian Stewart has written quite a few light hearted maths books that you would find readily accessible yet would stretch your (mathematical) horizons

Another Fine Math You've Got Me Into

Game Set and Math

From Here to Infinity

The Magical Maze

To name but a few

A slightly more formal book by David Wells is

You are a Mathemetician