How to Think Like a Mathematician

Kevin Houston is Senior Lecturer in Mathematics at the University of Leeds.

• Preface; Part I. Study Skills For Mathematicians: 1. Sets and functions; 2. Reading mathematics; 3. Writing mathematics I; 4. Writing mathematics II; 5. How to solve problems; Part II. How To Think Logically: 6. Making a statement; 7. Implications; 8. Finer points concerning implications; 9. Converse and equivalence; 10. Quantifiers – For all and There exists; 11. Complexity and negation of quantifiers; 12. Examples and counterexamples; 13. Summary of logic; Part III. Definitions, Theorems and Proofs: 14. Definitions, theorems and proofs; 15. How to read a definition; 16. How to read a theorem; 17. Proof; 18. How to read a proof; 19. A study of Pythagoras' Theorem; Part IV. Techniques of Proof: 20. Techniques of proof I: direct method; 21. Some common mistakes; 22. Techniques of proof II: proof by cases; 23. Techniques of proof III: Contradiction; 24. Techniques of proof IV: Induction; 25. More sophisticated induction techniques; 26. Techniques of proof V: contrapositive method; Part V. Mathematics That All Good Mathematicians Need: 27. Divisors; 28. The Euclidean Algorithm; 29. Modular arithmetic; 30. Injective, surjective, bijective – and a bit about infinity; 31. Equivalence relations; Part VI. Closing Remarks: 32. Putting it all together; 33. Generalization and specialization; 34. True understanding; 35. The biggest secret; Appendices: A. Greek alphabet; B. Commonly used symbols and notation; C. How to prove that …; Index.

"In this book, Houston has created a primer on the fundamental abstract ideas of mathematics; the primary emphasis is on demonstrating the many principles and tactics used in proofs. The material is explained in ways that are comprehensible, which will be a great help for people who seem to hit the wall regarding what to do when confronted with the creation of a proof... In this book, Houston takes a systematic and gentle approach to explaining the ideas of mathematics and how tactics of reasoning can be combined with those ideas to generate what would be considered a convincing proof." Charles Ashbacher, Journal of Recreational Mathematics