I Wish They'd Taught Me That: Overlooked and Omitted Topics in Mathematics concerns the topics which every undergraduate mathematics student "should" know but has probably never encountered. These topics are not the ones which dominate every syllabus, but those magnificent secrets that are beautiful, useful and accessible but which are inexplicably hidden away from the mainstream curriculum.
Each chapter of this book concerns a different topic which students will almost certainly be unfamiliar with. Written in a lively, conversational style, by the end of each section the reader should feel equipped with the knowledge to explore the area more fully elsewhere.
Features
Topics from a variety of areas of mathematics, including geometry, logic, analysis, algebra, numerical analysis, and topology
Numerous examples, diagrams, and exercises
Collections of resources where an interested reader can learn more about each topic
Nontechnical introductions to each chapter.
For a full list of errata, maintained by the authors, please visit: https://juliangould.github.io/pages/IWTTMT_corrections.html
Arvustused
[ A]n invaluable, exceptional, unique, and unreservedly recommended contribution to personal, professional, and college/university library Algebraic Studies and Mathematics Analysis collections and supplemental Advanced Mathematics curriculum studies lists.
Midwest Book Review
"This is a light undergraduate textbook with rather more text than would be common in a maths book, introducing some genuinely interesting topics: irrationality, generating functions, polynomial systems, transfinite induction, Brownian motion (and its application to option pricing), approximation by polynomials, public key cryptography, asymptotic analysis, fractional dimensions, ultrafilters, scissors congruence, and Brownian motion take 2."
Brian Clegg, Popular Science
Author Bios List of Figures Acknowledgments Introduction
Chapter 1
Irrationality
Chapter 2 Generating functions
Chapter 3 Polynomial systems
Chapter 4 Transfinite induction
Chapter 5 The Brownian zoo
Chapter 6
Approximation by polynomials
Chapter 7 Public-key cryptography
Chapter 8
Asymptotic analysis
Chapter 9 Fractional dimension
Chapter 10 Ultrafilters
Chapter 11 Scissors congruence
Chapter 12 Brownian safari Index of Topics
Index of Names
Robin Pemantle grew up in Berkeley in the 1960s and 70s. You can probablyguess what that was like; then double that. He became interested in mathematics when he was very young. By age four, according to family lore, mathematics was his career plan (to the chagrin of NASA and the local fire stations). Robins PhD in probability theory got its start when Persi Diaconis, a mathematician and former magician, visited M.I.T. Robin was supposed to be working on a dissertation in combinatorics (a subject to which he later returned), but found himself working mostly on problems he heard from Persi. During a year off traveling in the South Pacific, he ended up working on probability theory in various youth hostels and on boats. Robin received his PhD in 1988, spent three years on post-doctoral fellowships in Berkeley, Ithaca and Oregon State, most of the 1990s at UW-Madison, three years at Ohio State, and has been at Penn since 2003. Robins research focuses on two areas. Within Probability Theory, the research concerns discrete probability models, including random graph theory, processes with reinforcement, statistical models and random walks. The other research area, analytic combinatorics, is the subject of a textbook with Mark C. Wilson and Steve Melczer (2013, 2024). Robin has been interested in Mathematics Education from an early age, growing up with an insiders view of an alternative school, and teaching mathematics to grades 58 during his college years and before. Robin has written books and articles on mathematics education, most recently having published a book on K-12 education, with co-author Henri Picciotto, entitled, There is No One Way to Teach Math. (Routledge, 2024). In direct and indirect ways, Project SEED has played a big role in Robins life as a math educator. Robin has held a Sloan Fellowship, a Presidential Faculty Fellowship, the Rollo Davidson Prize, and a Lilly Teaching Fellowship. He was a top five finisher in the Putnam Competition and is a Simons Fellow, a fellow of the American Mathematical Society and a fellow of the Institute for Mathematical Statistics. Most recently, he was inducted into the National Academy of Sciences as a member of the class of 2024.
Julian Gould grew up in the suburbs of Minneapolis, Minnesota. His fathers advice was always, Take math until you just cant take it anymore. The advice had a much larger impact on Julians life than intended. Julian received his bachelors and masters degrees from Johns Hopkins University, and is hopefully no longer a PhD candidate in mathematics at the University of Pennsylvania. He originally planned to study homotopy type theory, but his research took a turn toward applied algebraic topology and cellular sheaf theory. Before beginning his PhD, Julian worked as an associate quantitative analyst at T. Rowe Price in Baltimore. Julians passion for teaching began during his freshman year at Johns Hopkins, tutoring the football team in economics. He has received multiple honors for his work in the classroom, including Penns university-wide Deans Award for Distinguished Teaching by Graduate Students. He serves as a Master TA in the Penn mathematics department and helps lead the annual training for first-time teaching assistants. His friendship with Robin began when he was a teaching assistant for Robins introductory calculus course for Wharton students. Julian has mentored seven undergraduate students through Penns Directed Reading Program on topics ranging from descriptive set theory and categorical computer science to financial mathematics, topological data analysis, and game-theoretic models of international relations. His experiences mentoring students helped motivate and inspire many aspects of this book. When he isnt doing math, Julian likes to write about philosophy, trade on prediction markets, and pick up heavy things.
