Proofs and fundamentals. A first course in abstract mathematics (Q4488166)

This book is a textbook for a ``transition'' course that functions within the undergraduate mathematics curriculum as a bridge between computational courses such as Calculus, to more theoretical courses such as linear algebra and abstract algebra. The book contains the core topics that most transition courses cover. The topics are grouped into three parts: Part I Proofs, Part II Fundamentals, and Part III Extras. Part I Proofs, covers informal logic and proof techniques, the methodology of rigorous proofs. Proof techniques include direct proofs, proofs by contrapositive and contradiction, how to treat if and only if statements and quantifiers in theorems. In this first part, the discussion and also the exercises are somewhat informal, attempting to build and strengthen intuition about proofs. Symbolic logic and the use of logical notation are kept to a minimum. Part I concludes with a helpful section on the principles of writing mathematics. Part II Fundamentals, covers sets, functions, relations, and cardinality, material that is basic to all of modern mathematics. This material is written in a more formal definition/theorem/proof style, and there is less informal discussion here than in Part I. Topics include set operations, indexed families of sets, image and inverse image of functions, composition and inverse functions, injectivity, surjectivity and bijectivity of functions, and sets of functions. In the section on relations, congruence and equivalence relations are introduced, and in the section on infinite and finite sets, the cardinalities of the number systems, mathematical induction as well as recursion are discussed. Part III Extras, has brief treatments of a variety of topics, including groups, homomorphisms, partially ordered sets, lattices, and combinatorics, and a thorough axiomatic treatment of some of the standard number systems. In the last section, the author tries to introduce the student to the principles of mathematical research by selecting some easily accessible concepts, such as divisibility tests and iteration of functions, and by suggesting avenues for independent explorations This is a well-written book, based on very sound pedagogical ideas. It would be an excellent choice as a textbook for a ``transition'' course.