A Mathematician’s Apology
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A Mathematician’s Apology
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Re: A Mathematician’s Apology
#2Would you recommend that book to a software engineer with an interest in Maths?
Re: A Mathematician’s Apology
#3Would you recommend that book to a software engineer with an interest in Maths?
I think A Mathematician's Apology is a good read, but if you're looking to learn mathematics there are probably better places to start.
If you want a cursory view of various parts of mathematics, you might prefer Courant's book "What is Mathematics?". Depending on your background and interest, there is a volume of books (available as a consolidated cheap Dover paperback) called Mathematics: Its Content, Meaning, and Methods.
I recently came across A Programmer's Book of Mathematics[0] -- I haven't read it, but the author is a developer and the content might be more appropriate if you're just starting out -- both of the other books I mentioned are older, and are really wonderful texts, but might possibly be overwhelming depending on your appetite and background.
Finally, if you're more interested in math that's relevant to software engineers, there's Knuth's book "Concrete Mathematics".
Re: A Mathematician’s Apology
#4Would you recommend that book to a software engineer with an interest in Maths?
It's a great read. I have also found a great reading list of from the University of Cambridge[0] that has a whole different range of books and websites for those who have a cursory interest in Mathematics.
[0] https://www.maths.cam.ac.uk/sites/www.maths.cam.ac.uk/files/...
Re: A Mathematician’s Apology
#5Would you recommend that book to a software engineer with an interest in Maths?
I think A Mathematician's Apology is a good read, but if you're looking to learn mathematics there are probably better places to start. If you want a cursory view of various parts of mathematics, you might prefer Courant's book "What is Mathematics?". Depending on your background and interest, there is a volume of books (available as a consolidated cheap Dover paperback) called Mathematics: Its Content, Meaning, and…
I'd second the "What is Mathematics?" and "Mathematics: Its Content, Methods and Meaning" recommendations, in that order. Both are very cheap, comprehensive, and in ascending rigour. After those, it's really dealer's choice, with "Concrete Mathematics" being of particular interest to computer scientist.
Additionally:
- "Princeton Companion to Mathematics" is really fun to have around for exploration
- if you're really really rusty with math, take a week or two with "Mathematical Handbook - Elementary Mathematics" by Vygodsky
I literally have all these on my desk at this very moment, what a fun coincidence.
Re: A Mathematician’s Apology
#6Would you recommend that book to a software engineer with an interest in Maths?
It's a great read. I have also found a great reading list of from the University of Cambridge[0] that has a whole different range of books and websites for those who have a cursory interest in Mathematics. [0] https://www.maths.cam.ac.uk/sites/www.maths.cam.ac.uk/files/...
Slightly updated version of the list at
https://www.maths.cam.ac.uk/documents/reading-list.pdf/
Re: A Mathematician’s Apology
#7Great read! The bit that I found the most curious is actually listed on Wikipedia (this was written in 1940):
> "No one has yet discovered any warlike purpose to be served by the theory of numbers or relativity, and it seems unlikely that anyone will do so for many years."
Re: A Mathematician’s Apology
#8Would you recommend that book to a software engineer with an interest in Maths?
Definitely, it's a brilliant read.
Re: A Mathematician’s Apology
#9Great read! The bit that I found the most curious is actually listed on Wikipedia (this was written in 1940): > "No one has yet discovered any warlike purpose to be served by the theory of numbers or relativity, and it seems unlikely that anyone will do so for many years."
But isn't that actually a false statement? Intelligence satellites rely on relativity to work out gravity formulas to stay afloat.
Re: A Mathematician’s Apology
#10Great read! The bit that I found the most curious is actually listed on Wikipedia (this was written in 1940): > "No one has yet discovered any warlike purpose to be served by the theory of numbers or relativity, and it seems unlikely that anyone will do so for many years."
What about elliptic curve cryptography?