3 ms·

It's an interesting looking book, and I'm somewhat inclined to buy it. Bookmarked! I agree that you don't need to read thousands of pages to learn calculus.

by clarry 12y ago

It's an interesting looking book, and I'm somewhat inclined to buy it. Bookmarked! I agree that you don't need to read thousands of pages to learn calculus. However, I don't want to stop at calculus. Basically, what I'd really love to have is a "mother of all maths textbook" -- a thick and heavy tome that compacts information from all the other thick and expensive books (which I'm never going to read) and different fields of mathematics. With enough detail that you can actually learn from it -- so it shouldn't be just for review and looking up formulas you couldn't memorize. I'd like to call it a reference book I can forever keep in my bookshelf (under my bed) and always look in it if I'm unsure about something... If someone has book suggestions, I'm all eyes.

maxerickson 12y ago
I hope you get a well informed answer. There are famous (so to speak) examples of such things: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%89l%C3%A9ments_de_math%C3%A9matique http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%89l%C3%A9ments_de_math%C3%A...
ivan_ah 12y ago
I've looked at a bunch of these math compendiums while researching what to include in my book, and this one seemed the best so far: http://www.amazon.com/Mathematics-Content-Methods-Meaning-Dover/dp/0486409163 http://www.amazon.com/Mathematics-Content-Methods-Meaning-Do... The writing isn't very hand-holdy, but it covers a lot of important topics, and without too much fluff. For a more "math for general culture" I'd recommend this one: http://www.amazon.ca/Mathematics-1001-Absolutely-Everything-Explanations/dp/1554077192 http://www.amazon.ca/Mathematics-1001-Absolutely-Everything-... which covers a lot of fundamental topics in an intuitive manner. I have both books on the shelf, but not finished reading through all of them so I can't give my full endorsement, but from what I've seen so far, they're good stuff.
dobbsbob 12y ago
The Princeton Companion to Mathematics is exactly what you are looking for http://press.princeton.edu/titles/8350.html http://press.princeton.edu/titles/8350.html

by clarry 12y ago

maxerickson 12y ago

I hope you get a well informed answer. There are famous (so to speak) examples of such things: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%89l%C3%A9ments_de_math%C3%A9matique http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%89l%C3%A9ments_de_math%C3%A...

ivan_ah 12y ago

I've looked at a bunch of these math compendiums while researching what to include in my book, and this one seemed the best so far: http://www.amazon.com/Mathematics-Content-Methods-Meaning-Dover/dp/0486409163 http://www.amazon.com/Mathematics-Content-Methods-Meaning-Do... The writing isn't very hand-holdy, but it covers a lot of important topics, and without too much fluff. For a more "math for general culture" I'd recommend this one: http://www.amazon.ca/Mathematics-1001-Absolutely-Everything-Explanations/dp/1554077192 http://www.amazon.ca/Mathematics-1001-Absolutely-Everything-... which covers a lot of fundamental topics in an intuitive manner. I have both books on the shelf, but not finished reading through all of them so I can't give my full endorsement, but from what I've seen so far, they're good stuff.

dobbsbob 12y ago

The Princeton Companion to Mathematics is exactly what you are looking for http://press.princeton.edu/titles/8350.html http://press.princeton.edu/titles/8350.html