Math for Econ

[philecon]

Hi! Some people in this forum have recommended Steven Lay's Analysis with an Introduction to Proof as a good book for self-study. I actually used the book, and though I only went through the first three or four chapters (the intro to proofs part - it was for my fundamental math concepts class), I found the book to be pretty useful.

My friend also recommends Stephen Abbott's book. Like what the others have said here, he builds everything up nicely, allowing the reader to delve into the concepts further. Hope this helps!

[rcwlhk]

I used Lay's book. The chapters are OK by itself and the exercises are quite good too --- however, the exercises are, in my opinion, quite hard compared to what they teach you in the chapters. That is, often times, without the help of an instructor or a solution key, it's quite hard to navigate through all of the exercises. But maybe I'm just not too smart....

Originally Posted by philecon

Hi! Some people in this forum have recommended Steven Lay's Analysis with an Introduction to Proof as a good book for self-study. I actually used the book, and though I only went through the first three or four chapters (the intro to proofs part - it was for my fundamental math concepts class), I found the book to be pretty useful.

My friend also recommends Stephen Abbott's book. Like what the others have said here, he builds everything up nicely, allowing the reader to delve into the concepts further. Hope this helps!

[umutk]

thanks for all kind replies!!

[philecon]

Originally Posted by rcwlhk

I used Lay's book. The chapters are OK by itself and the exercises are quite good too --- however, the exercises are, in my opinion, quite hard compared to what they teach you in the chapters. That is, often times, without the help of an instructor or a solution key, it's quite hard to navigate through all of the exercises. But maybe I'm just not too smart....

I agree with you on this one. I actually bought Lay's book first before I did the proofs class because I thought I could teach myself how to prove, since the advanced calculus classes in my school didn't need the proofs class as a prerequisite. Alas, it wasn't the case. With the help of my teacher though, I was able to do well.

[umutk]

I have started to Understanding Analysis from Abbott and I need to see solutions to exercises. Can anybody help?

[TruDog]

You generally can't ask for solutions on this forum, as they're copyrighted material. Good luck with your studying, though...going over analysis on your own isn't easy.

[jeeves0923]

Most of the exercises in Abbott are not unique. There are math forums on the web that discuss similar problems without violating copyrights I think.

I generally think looking at solutions to analysis problems is unhelpful. If your proof is legitimate, you pretty much know it. If can't get the answer, just looking at the answer doesn't make you any better at proving tricky problems.

[umutk]

Originally Posted by jeeves0923

Most of the exercises in Abbott are not unique. There are math forums on the web that discuss similar problems without violating copyrights I think.

I generally think looking at solutions to analysis problems is unhelpful. If your proof is legitimate, you pretty much know it. If can't get the answer, just looking at the answer doesn't make you any better at proving tricky problems.

could you give the names of the forums you mention above? thanx

[jeeves0923]

I rarely use them, so I can't recall them off hand. What you should do is go to google and type in your problem as best as you can. For example type in:

"Prove sqrt(2) is irrational."

or
"If a_n --> a and b_n--> b, prove that a_n*b_n --> ab"

You will likely find a forum through mathworld or something similar.
Again, I generally discourage the use of published solutions to proofs.