How to study for a mathematics degree

Every year, thousands of students go to university to study mathematics (single honours or combined with another subject). Many of these students are extremely intelligent and hardworking, but even the best will, at some point, struggle with the demands of making the transition to advanced mathematics. Some have difficulty adjusting to independent study and to learning from lectures. Other struggles, however, are more fundamental: the mathematics shifts in focus from calculation toproof, so students are expected to interact with it in different ways. These changes need not be mysterious - math.

Title from PDF title page (viewed on Oct. 30, 2012).

Cover; Contents; Symbols; Introduction; Part 1 Mathematics; 1 Calculation Procedures; 1.1 Calculation at school and at university; 1.2 Decisions about and within procedures; 1.3 Learning from few (or no) examples; 1.4 Generating your own exercises; 1.5 Writing out calculations; 1.6 Checking for errors; 1.7 Mathematics is not just procedures; 2 Abstract Objects; 2.1 Numbers as abstract objects; 2.2 Functions as abstract objects; 2.3 What kind of object is that, really?; 2.4 Objects as the results of procedures; 2.5 Hierarchical organization of objects; 2.6 Turning processes into objects.

2.7 New objects: relations and binary operations2.8 New objects: symmetries; 3 Definitions; 3.1 Axioms, definitions and theorems; 3.2 What are axioms?; 3.3 What are definitions?; 3.4 What are theorems?; 3.5 Understanding definitions: even numbers; 3.6 Understanding definitions: increasing functions; 3.7 Understanding definitions: commutativity; 3.8 Understanding definitions: open sets; 3.9 Understanding definitions: limits; 3.10 Definitions and intuition; 4 Theorems; 4.1 Theorems and logical necessity; 4.2 A simple theorem about integers; 4.3 A theorem about functions and derivatives.

4.4 A theor…