There may not seem to be anything special about the math textbook you use, but there are actually some texts considered by the mathematical community to be classics. They're usually considered exceptional because of how clearly or thoroughly they're written, or because they were authored by the mathematicians themselves who were fundamental in starting that particular field of math. Math textbooks definitely are written in a style that reflects the historical time period. Math vocab words come in and out of style, and proof methods or the use (or lack!) of figures in the text changes over the years. Some of the older texts are hard to learn from at first, and it might be helpful to use them as a second textbook for a particular math field. Others have been revised and updated several times and are more readable. "Classic" is a subjective term that, in this list, is mixed a little with "recommended." Opinion is definitely involved when making "classic" lists! |
The Classic Math Textbooks
Showing 13 items
Author | Textbook Title | Description | Link to Amazon | Related link | Year (most recent edition) | Year (first edition) |
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Author | Textbook Title | Description | Link to Amazon | Related link | Year (most recent edition) | Year (first edition) |
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Artin | Algebra | Famous author. More personal than Lang or Dummit & Foote, but covers less material. Makes interesting connections between different topics. | Artin, 1st Ed | Artin on Wikipedia | 2010 | 1991 |
Dummit & Foote | Abstract Algebra | Dense, graduate level, 933 pages, more than a full graduate year of algebra content. | Dummit & Foote, 3rd Ed | 2003 | ||
Euclid | Elements | No math textbook list is complete without Euclid's Elements, which was "The Book" in math for 2000 years. | Many versions on Amazon | Free download | 300 B.C. | |
Folland | Introduction to Partial Differential Equations | On Amazon | 1995 | |||
Guckenheimer & Holmes | Nonlinear Oscillations, Dynamical Systems, and Bifurcations of Vector Fields | Authors just won the Steele Prize for this text. | On Amazon | 1983 | ||
Hardy & Wright | An Introduction to the Theory of Numbers | Andrew Wiles just spearheaded a revised 6th edition in 2008 after five classic editions of this text from 1938-1979. The 6th edition finally includes an index! Does not include exercises. | On Amazon | About this text on Wikipedia | 2008 | 1938 |
Lang | Algebra | Famous author. Very dense, non-narrative. | Lang, 3rd Ed. | Lang on Wikipedia | 2002 | |
Lang | Differentiable Manifolds | A dense foundational classic which includes the infinite dimensional case. Lang also has a Springer text by a similar title. | On Amazon | 1988 | ||
Munkres | Topology | Student-friendly. Covers set theory, point-set topology, and introductory algebraic topology. | Munkres, 2nd Edition | 2000 | 1975 | |
Pinter | A Book of Abstract Algebra | Easy, readable, friendly guide. Great first text to start. | Pinter, 2nd Ed | 1990 | 1982 | |
Royden | Real Analysis | Royden, 4th Edition | 2010 | |||
Rudin | Principles of Mathematical Analysis | "The Bible of classical analysis," difficult as a first text | Rudin, 3rd Ed | 1976 | ||
Spivak | Calculus | "The" calculus book, but not used widely in the classroom. | Spivak, 4th Ed | 2008 |
Showing 13 items