Explore the World of Mathematics with These Must-Read Books

[Fragment]

Thanks a lot for the info guys. I had looked into Hoffman, seems very good, and has excellent ratings. I am convinced in Spivak, but I'm weighing out Apostol and Courant. Tell me, if you know, which one between Courant and Apostol provides the most practice/practice questions/topic assessment?

Many thanks,

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[qspeechc]

I read Courant/John and thought it was very good, very well motivated and explained. I do not think it is obsolete, people still read textbooks from 50 years ago, just think of Herstein. Also, Courant/John has nice applications, and remember, when you get to university, you will probably do a physics course too, where Courant and John will be handy.

I'm not sure if the differences in rigour between the books is as big a deal as people make it out to be. I mean, after all, you will study Rudin's PMA or some equivalent book later, right? And that's uber-rigorous.

Oh, as for the problems in Courant and John, there are plenty. None are plug-and-chug. Many challenge you to think harder. But, I have not read either Apostol or Spivak, so I can't compare.

 

[JG89]

I found Courant/John to be just as rigorous as Apostol. I can't compare it to Spivak though as I haven't read it.