A Primer of Real Functions: Carus Mathematical Monographs, V13

Carus Mathematical Monographs #13

by Ralph Philip Boas Jr.

This is a revised, updated and significantly augmented edition of a classic
Carus Monograph (a bestseller for over 25 years) on the theory of functions of a
real variable. Earlier editions of this classic covered sets, metric spaces,
continuous functions, and differentiable functions. The greatly expanded fourth
edition adds sections on measurable sets and functions, the Lebesgue and
Stieltjes integrals, and applications.

The book retains the informal, chatty style of the previous editions,
remaining accessible to readers with some mathematical sophistication and a
background in calculus. The book is thus suitable either for self-study or for
supplemental reading in a course on advanced calculus or real analysis.

Not intended as a systematic treatise, this book has more the character of a
sequence of lectures on a variety of interesting topics connected with real
functions. Many of these topics are not commonly encountered in undergraduate
textbooks: for example, the existence of continuous everywhere-oscillating
functions (via the Baire category theorem); the universal chord theorem; two
functions having equal derivatives, yet not differing by a constant; and
application of Stieltjes integration to the speed of convergence of infinite
series.

This book recaptures the sense of wonder that was associated with the subject
in its early days. A must for your mathematics library.

Genres: Mathematics

200 pages, Hardcover

First published May 1, 1982

About the author

Ralph Philip Boas, Jr (August 8, 1912 – July 25, 1992) was a mathematician, teacher, and journal editor. He wrote over 200 papers, mainly in the fields of real and complex analysis.

Reviews

[Hamed Pourmohammad · Rating 5 out of 5]

A mathematical poetry