Book Recommendation
Top 5 books to learn & understand math from the basics
For hungry brains
Here is a list of 5 books for learning and understanding math, the queen of all sciences. They were carefully selected for this list. These are good books for those who seek to understand math from the very basics, even if you learned them, or you learned math in school, It is highly recommended to reread and practice again some maths if you need it.
Arithmetic the Easy Way by Edward Williams [LINK]
Everybody uses arithmetic on virtually a daily basis, and this book serves as a handy brush-up for general readers while it also helps students master basic skills that they need before moving up to high-school-level math and beyond. It reviews addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division, then moves on to calculating with fractions, decimals, and percentages. A concluding chapter reviews units of measurement and word problems. Chapters are filled with short practice exercises, all of which are answered at the back of the book. The book features many tables, charts, and line illustrations. Barron’s Easy Way books introduce a variety of academic and practical subjects to students and general readers in clear, understandable language. Ideal as self-teaching manuals for readers interested in learning a new career-related skill, these books have also found widespread classroom use as supplementary texts and brush-up test-preparation guides. Subject heads and key phrases that need to be learned are set in a second color.
Mathematics: Its Content, Methods and Meaning by A. D. Aleksandrov [LINK]
“. . . Nothing less than a major contribution to the scientific culture of this world.” — The New York Times Book Review
This major survey of mathematics, featuring the work of 18 outstanding Russian mathematicians and including material on both elementary and advanced levels, encompasses 20 prime subject areas in mathematics in terms of their simple origins and their subsequent sophisticated developement. As Professor Morris Kline of New York University noted, “This unique work presents the amazing panorama of mathematics proper. It is the best answer in print to what mathematics contains both on the elementary and advanced levels.”
On the study and difficulties of mathematics by De Morgan, Augustus [LINK]
One of the twentieth century’s most eminent mathematical writers, Augustus De Morgan enriched his expositions with insights from history and psychology. On the Study and Difficulties of Mathematics represents some of his best work, containing points usually overlooked by elementary treatises, and written in a fresh and natural tone that provides a refreshing contrast to the mechanical character of common textbooks.
Presuming only a knowledge of the rules of algebra and Euclidean theorems, De Morgan begins with some introductory remarks on the nature and objects of mathematics. He discusses the concept of arithmetical notion and its elementary rules, including arithmetical reactions and decimal fractions. Moving on to algebra, he reviews the elementary principles, examines equations of the first and second degree, and surveys roots and logarithms. De Morgan’s book concludes with an exploration of geometrical reasoning that encompasses the formulation and use of axioms, the role of proportion, and the application of algebra to the measurement of lines, angles, the proportion of figures, and surfaces.
Basic Mathematics by Serge Lang [LINK]
This text in basic mathematics is ideal for high school or college students. It provides a firm foundation in basic principles of mathematics and thereby acts as a springboard into calculus, linear algebra and other more advanced topics. The information is clearly presented, and the author develops concepts in such a manner to show how one subject matter can relate and evolve into another.
Calculus by Michael Spivak [LINK]
Spivak’s celebrated textbook is widely held as one of the finest introductions to mathematical analysis. His aim is to present calculus as the first real encounter with mathematics: it is the place to learn how logical reasoning combined with fundamental concepts can be developed into a rigorous mathematical theory rather than a bunch of tools and techniques learned by rote. Since analysis is a subject students traditionally find difficult to grasp, Spivak provides leisurely explanations, a profusion of examples, a wide range of exercises and plenty of illustrations in an easy-going approach that enlightens difficult concepts and rewards effort. Calculus will continue to be regarded as a modern classic, ideal for honours students and mathematics majors, who seek an alternative to doorstop textbooks on calculus, and the more formidable introductions to real analysis.
If you struggle with math, there is an article I wrote about it [Link].
