How to Think Like a Mathematician: A Companion to Undergraduate Mathematics

This book is fantastic and I wish I had it years ago. Like the author says, things I wish someone had told me before. I started reading it and I can't put it down. My primary reason for buying it is to learn how to do proofs well as requited in a college course.Basically, this should be a standard text for everyone that ever takes a math class. This book can be easily taught in high school or lower.

I have read quite a few books trying to prepare myself to tackle college mathematics. It has been difficult since I decided to improve myself in it much later in life. This book has presented the ideas in the clearest manner for me thus far. Will probably re-read with an emphasis on more of the assignments.

This is a wonderful text for college students learning to write proofs for the first time. The chapters are clear and concise, and they cover a wide range of topics.You'll need a good professor running the class, as the book has a few mistakes. To be fair, the author's website highlights in great detail where these occur, and many of the corrections are minor. I can easily overlook these.My main problem with the text is that there are inadequate solutions available. I know that providing them in advance may tempt some students to forego "getting their own hands dirty with the material," but I feel like most of the people who are at this point in their mathematics studies are the ones who will give good effort before consulting a solutions manual. Even just providing hints is better than going almost 20 chapters without guidance. And I don't even need them in the book; having them available with the others on the website would be good enough.But, Dr. Houston's writing style is clear, concise, and entertaining enough to merit 4 stars. This is a fundamental area of mathematics that needs good textbooks, and Dr. Houston's is among the best!

I have just started reading this book, in which the author strongly encourages the reader to do all of the exercises. Upon finishing the first exercise, I went to check my answers, and found that there were no solutions provided in the book to any of the exercises that appear in any of the chapters. After doing some research online, I found that the author has his own website and has since provided a PDF with the solutions to many of the exercises. I'm not sure if all of them are covered, but the list of solutions does appear to be quite extensive. So, in case you were like me and were wondering if your solutions were correct, you can check your answers by downloading the PDF at [...]So far, I am really enjoying the read!

This book is a great companion for anyone taking discrete mathematics (even if it is not a required book). It is very detailed and has plenty of examples. It's only downfall is as far as I can tell, it has no provided solutions making it hard to check your work.

This book is easy to read and gives very helpful insights on mathematical topics such as Pythagoras theorem and learning to use math techniques :) I haven't stopped reading this book. Definitely a must have to those who are aspiring mathematicians but of course this shouldn't be your only proof book in your math library.

The book is a practical guide to the study of math. Besides suggesting strategies for studying it, the book provides in a friendly way the foundations to study more advance math. Of course, the book is not appropriate for someone versed in math. It is a good book for the neophyte.

This book is great, the author is amazing I love reading it however, when I received the book the binding was pathetic. The book fell apart as soon as I opened the first page. It is now held together by duct tape so I can use it for my college courses. To those who purchase this book, ITS AWESOME but make sure the book your getting is held together properly so you don't have the same issues I had.