Calculus Without Hocus Pocus

Calculus Without Hocus Pocus
Author: K. Razi Naqvi
Publisher: K. Razi Naqvi
Total Pages: 353
Release: 2019-07-03
Genre: Mathematics
ISBN: 8299992338

Calculus is a subject that needs to be studied many times over, ideally with a different book in each new round. Using Ezra Pound’s analogy (in ABC of Reading), we may think of the learner as an apprentice carpenter, and of calculus as a stool or table; the learner must keep going until the piece of furniture has three legs and will stand up, or four legs and won’t tip over too easily. Most people cannot follow this plan, because life is short and the list of other demands on their time just too long. This book has been written with a view to making calculus more interesting and intelligible to those who left college, recently or a long time ago, without becoming an adept; those who are familiar with the contents of undergraduate calculus, but not altogether content with their own grasp of the central concepts; those who are aware that the structure put together by them during their apprenticeship is too wobbly, and liable to tip over when the number of independent variables is increased from one to just two. An absurd simile? Not in the opinion of a distinguished mathematician and educator (quoted verbatim in the preface), who acknowledged that the customary definition of a differential in the theory of functions of a single variable breaks down when one extends it to functions of several variables and considers double integrals. He continued: “Students are rightly baffled when they attempt to convert such an integral to polar coordinates and are told that no longer is it permissible to [apply a straightforward extension of the relevant formula for a change of variable in a single integral]. The Jacobian must be used instead, and at this point the logical structure which was built so carefully collapses entirely. If we wish to make calculus an intellectually honest subject and not a collection of convenient tricks, it is time we made a fresh start.” Calculus Without Hocus Pocus aims to elucidate those (and only those) issues that are not treated adequately in standard textbooks. It offers more cogent explanations of the conundrums and paradoxes which have been nagging the minds of students and teachers of calculus for generations. The author, who has been using calculus as a teacher and researcher for over fifty years, has tried to produce a condensed and readable book that throws light from various directions upon the difficult parts of this very technical (and somewhat unpopular) subject; to show some of the reasons why calculus has been cast in the mould in which we find it; and to recommend some minor changes in notation and nomenclature that would remove nearly all of the hocus-pocus which almost every learner of calculus has had to endure so far.

Calculus of One Variable

Calculus of One Variable
Author: Joseph W. Kitchen
Publisher: Courier Dover Publications
Total Pages: 804
Release: 2020-01-15
Genre: Mathematics
ISBN: 0486838064

Richly textured and versatile text characterizes real numbers as a complete, ordered field. Rigorous development of the calculus, plus thorough treatment of basic topics of limits and inequalities. 1968 edition.

The Textual Genesis of Wittgenstein’s Philosophical Investigations

The Textual Genesis of Wittgenstein’s Philosophical Investigations
Author: Nuno Venturinha
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 239
Release: 2013-09-11
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 1136179984

Sixty years after its first edition, there is an increasing consensus among scholars that the work posthumously published as Philosophical Investigations represents something that is far from a complete picture of Wittgenstein’s second book project. G.H. von Wright’s seminal research on the Nachlass was an important contribution in this direction, showing that the Wittgenstein papers can reveal much more than the source of specific remarks. This book specifically explores Wittgenstein’s Philosophical Investigations from the different angles of its originary conceptions, including the mathematical texts, shedding new light on fundamental issues in twentieth century and contemporary philosophy. Leading authorities in the field focus on newly published or hitherto unpublished sources for the interpretation of Wittgenstein’s later work and a Wittgenstein typescript, translated for the first time into English, is included as an appendix.

Hocus Pocus

Hocus Pocus
Author: Erwin Brecher
Publisher: Master Point Press
Total Pages: 228
Release: 2001
Genre: Art
ISBN: 9780953995509

A unique collection of bridge problems, math brain-teasers and logic puzzles, from a master in the field. In the plethora of books on bridge, Erwin Brecher's Hocus Pocus stands out like a breath of fresh air in a crowded pub just before closing time. The unique format combines interesting and far-from-easy bridge problems with challenging and equally difficult logic puzzles. -- Zia Mahmood

Bernard Shaw's Book Reviews

Bernard Shaw's Book Reviews
Author: Brian Tyson
Publisher: Penn State Press
Total Pages: 526
Release: 2008-01-31
Genre: Literary Collections
ISBN: 0271027819

These hitherto uncollected book reviews of Shaw--his first journalistic efforts--reveal much not only about the writer but also the culture of the time in which he lived. Between 1885 and 1888, Bernard Shaw published 111 book reviews in the Pall Mall Gazette. In spite of their importance as the first regular journalism Shaw wrote and the fact that the books (fiction, nonfiction, plays, and poetry) he read during these years must have formed the nucleus of his permanent library, the reviews have never before been analyzed in connection with Shaw's work. Brian Tyson has assembled the book reviews, complete with the books' titles, authors, and a brief biography of each author, including any comments Shaw made about the review, and has placed them in historical context, elucidating any interesting, difficult, or obscure references. Tyson's critical introduction places the reviews in the context of Shaw's work and Victorian society. The reviews are often characterized by the wit and brilliance that we associate with the later Shaw, shedding light on his development as a writer at his most formative stage. Regardless of the merits of the material Shaw was reviewing, it is amusing and enlightening to follow him down to the wandering tributaries of Late Victorian fiction and poetry, which reveal as much about Shaw as they do about the preoccupations and prejudices of the average reader of the day.