Friday, November 7, 2014

Review: Set Theory: With an Introduction to Real Point Sets


Set Theory: With an Introduction to Real Point Sets
Set Theory: With an Introduction to Real Point Sets by Abhijit Dasgupta

My rating: 5 of 5 stars



...The concluding section of paradoxes and special axioms is cogent and enlightening standalone reading. At first glance, this would seem odd to have material that contributes to developing theory and staking the limits of its applicability segregated off in a near appendix. However, this fits the informal approach where the author develops ideas often untethered by any specific axiom system. The result is a pace that moves briskly to connect ideas typically chapters apart and allows at times a hint of enthusiasm to emerge, as in “…strangely enough, a one-to-one correspondence between the whole and the strictly smaller part is established by n ↔ n2, showing that the size of the part is equal to the size of the whole, not smaller!” Such use of adverbs and exclamations rarely ornament set theoretic texts. This work is a good introduction for two semesters of upper undergraduate study and is also a concise companion to any assigned text and indeed one I wish I had available to myself...

[See my entire review at MAA Reviews.]



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