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philofox's review against another edition
5.0
This, along with Coxeter's Geometry Revisited, was the book that got me into rigorous mathematics. I took proof-based geometry (and algebra, but that wasn't as proof-oriented) in high school and loved it, but blew through the official curriculum pretty quickly. We also had to move on to calculus, so it wasn't like I could take a proper class in algebra later in high school.
Luckily, my teacher was also a part-time community college math professor, and together we worked through this and Coxeter's Geometry Revisited over a year or so.
Luckily, my teacher was also a part-time community college math professor, and together we worked through this and Coxeter's Geometry Revisited over a year or so.
cynicusrex's review against another edition
4.0
Very educative. Not rote learning, but understanding why math works. I grew up being taught math by memorizing and applying formulas. For some reason, regardless of the latter, I still had affinity to math, particularly probability. That was the only branch not destroyed by the soul crushing application of formulas; you still had to think. This book revamped that feeling towards algebra. It felt uncomfortable at first, not just thinking in terms of a formula. Instead it magnifies that math is about finding creative patterns, and how elegant, yet subtle, proving seemingly obvious facts can be.
This was recommended to me as suitable for self-learning. However I do not think it's ideal to learn this book alone, or I'm too stupid. Many problems come without a solution, which is quite annoying if you want verification and an explanation. Luckily there is a PDF with all the solutions floating around on the web, but it's not always thorough or without mistakes. Gelfand does mention that the reader needn't worry if a solution was not found, and that a lot of problems are pretty hard. Nevertheless, I prefer understanding all my mistakes and mathematical sinkholes. Aside from its flaws, this book definitely beats any math curriculum I've had in high school.
PS PM me if you'd like a copy of the PDF if you can't find it.
This was recommended to me as suitable for self-learning. However I do not think it's ideal to learn this book alone, or I'm too stupid. Many problems come without a solution, which is quite annoying if you want verification and an explanation. Luckily there is a PDF with all the solutions floating around on the web, but it's not always thorough or without mistakes. Gelfand does mention that the reader needn't worry if a solution was not found, and that a lot of problems are pretty hard. Nevertheless, I prefer understanding all my mistakes and mathematical sinkholes. Aside from its flaws, this book definitely beats any math curriculum I've had in high school.
PS PM me if you'd like a copy of the PDF if you can't find it.