Terence Tao

In Six Maths Essentials, the renowned mathematician Terence Tao shows how mathematics has evolved from counting and geometry into a flexible set of tools for understanding an increasingly complex world. He moves effortlessly from children discovering infinity through play, to the numbers that underpin our online lives; from Johannes Kepler using algebra to price a barrel of wine, to curved geometries that explain why GPS works and planes don’t fly in straight lines on a map. Along the way, dice games, insurance policies and financial crises illuminate probability’s promise—and its limits—while deceptively simple rules give rise to chaos, pattern and life itself. Six Maths Essentials, Tao’s first popular math book, provides a glimpse into the workings of his incomparable mind and how he thinks about the creativity and interconnectedness of the mathematical enterprise. Contrary to popular perception, math, he insists, isn’t magic—it's a powerful way of thinking from first principles and modelling the world that anyone can learn.

This is part one of a two-volume introduction to real analysis and is intended for honours undergraduates who have already been exposed to calculus. The emphasis is on rigour and on foundations. The material starts at the very beginning--the construction of the number systems and set theory--then goes on to the basics of analysis (limits, series, continuity, differentiation, Riemann integration), through to power series, several variable calculus and Fourier analysis, and finally to the Lebesgue integral. These are almost entirely set in the concrete setting of the real line and Euclidean spaces, although there is some material on abstract metric and topological spaces. There are also appendices on mathematical logic and the decimal system. The entire text (omitting some less central topics) can be taught in two quarters of twenty-five to thirty lectures each. The course material is deeply intertwined with the exercises, as it is intended that the student actively learn the material (and practice thinking and writing rigorously) by proving several of the key results in the theory. The fourth edition incorporates a large number of additional corrections reported since the release of the third edition, as well as some additional new exercises.

This is part two of a two-volume introduction to real analysis and is intended for honours undergraduates who have already been exposed to calculus. The emphasis is on rigour and on foundations. The material starts at the very beginning--the construction of the number systems and set theory--then goes on to the basics of analysis (limits, series, continuity, differentiation, Riemann integration), through to power series, several variable calculus and Fourier analysis, and finally to the Lebesgue integral. These are almost entirely set in the concrete setting of the real line and Euclidean spaces, although there is some material on abstract metric and topological spaces. There are also appendices on mathematical logic and the decimal system. The entire text (omitting some less central topics) can be taught in two quarters of twenty-five to thirty lectures each. The course material is deeply intertwined with the exercises, as it is intended that the student actively learn the material (and practice thinking and writing rigorously) by proving several of the key results in the theory. The fourth edition incorporates a large number of additional corrections reported since the release of the third edition, as well as some additional new exercises.

Fourier analysis is a subject that was born in physics but grew up in mathematics. Now it is part of the standard repertoire for mathematicians, physicists and engineers. This diversity of interest is often overlooked, but in this much-loved book, Tom Körner provides a shop window for some of the ideas, techniques and elegant results of Fourier analysis, and for their applications. These range from number theory, numerical analysis, control theory and statistics, to earth science, astronomy and electrical engineering. The prerequisites are few (a reader with knowledge of second- or third-year undergraduate mathematics should have no difficulty following the text), and the style is lively and entertaining. This edition of Körner's 1989 text includes a foreword written by Professor Terence Tao introducing it to a new generation of fans.

Winner of the 2015 Prose Award for Best Mathematics Book! In the fifth of his famous list of 23 problems, Hilbert asked if every topological group which was locally Euclidean was in fact a Lie group. Through the work of Gleason, Montgomery-Zippin, Yamabe, and others, this question was solved affirmatively; more generally, a satisfactory description of the (mesoscopic) structure of locally compact groups was established. Subsequently, this structure theory was used to prove Gromov's theorem on groups of polynomial growth, and more recently in the work of Hrushovski, Breuillard, Green, and the author on the structure of approximate groups. In this graduate text, all of this material is presented in a unified manner, starting with the analytic structural theory of real Lie groups and Lie algebras (emphasising the role of one-parameter groups and the Baker-Campbell-Hausdorff formula), then presenting a proof of the Gleason-Yamabe structure theorem for locally compact groups (emphasising the role of Gleason metrics), from which the solution to Hilbert's fifth problem follows as a corollary. After reviewing some model-theoretic preliminaries (most notably the theory of ultraproducts), the combinatorial applications of the Gleason-Yamabe theorem to approximate groups and groups of polynomial growth are then given. A large number of relevant exercises and other supplementary material are also provided.

Higher order Fourier analysis is a subject that has become very active only recently. This book serves as an introduction to the field, giving the beginning graduate student in the subject a high-level overview of the field. The text focuses on the simplest illustrative examples of key results, serving as a companion to the existing literature.

The field of random matrix theory has seen an explosion of activity in recent years, with connections to many areas of mathematics and physics. However, this makes the current state of the field almost too large to survey in a single book. In this graduate text, we focus on one specific sector of the field, namely the spectral distribution of random Wigner matrix ensembles (such as the Gaussian Unitary Ensemble), as well as iid matrix ensembles. The text is largely self-contained and starts with a review of relevant aspects of probability theory and linear algebra. With over 200 exercises, the book is suitable as an introductory text for beginning graduate students seeking to enter the field.

This is a graduate text introducing the fundamentals of measure theory and integration theory, which is the foundation of modern real analysis. The text focuses first on the concrete setting of Lebesgue measure and the Lebesgue integral (which in turn is motivated by the more classical concepts of Jordan measure and the Riemann integral), before moving on to abstract measure and integration theory, including the standard convergence theorems, Fubini's theorem, and the Caratheodory extension theorem. Classical differentiation theorems, such as the Lebesgue and Rademacher differentiation theorems, are also covered, as are connections with probability theory. The material is intended to cover a quarter or semester's worth of material for a first graduate course in real analysis. There is an emphasis in the text on tying together the abstract and the concrete sides of the subject, using the latter to illustrate and motivate the former. The central role of key principles (such as Littlewood's three principles) as providing guiding intuition to the subject is also emphasized. There are a large number of exercises throughout that develop key aspects of the theory, and are thus an integral component of the text. As a supplementary section, a discussion of general problem-solving strategies in analysis is also given. The last three sections discuss optional topics related to the main matter of the book.

There are many bits and pieces of folklore in mathematics that are passed down from advisor to student, or from collaborator to collaborator, but which are too fuzzy and nonrigorous to be discussed in the formal literature. Traditionally, it was a matter of luck and location as to who learned such "folklore mathematics". But today, such bits and pieces can be communicated effectively and efficiently via the semiformal medium of research blogging. This book grew from such a blog. In 2007 Terry Tao began a mathematical blog to cover a variety of topics, ranging from his own research and other recent developments in mathematics, to lecture notes for his classes, to nontechnical puzzles and expository articles. The first two years of the blog have already been published by the American Mathematical Society. The posts from the third year are being published in two volumes. This second volume contains a broad selection of mathematical expositions and self-contained technical notes in many areas of mathematics, such as logic, mathematical physics, combinatorics, number theory, statistics, theoretical computer science, and group theory. Tao has an extraordinary ability to explain deep results to his audience, which has made his blog quite popular. Some examples of this facility in the present book are the tale of two students and a multiple-choice exam being used to explain the $P = NP$ conjecture and a discussion of "no self-defeating object" arguments that starts from a schoolyard number game and ends with results in logic, game theory, and theoretical physics. The first volume consists of a second course in real analysis, together with related material from the blog, and it can be read independently.

In 2007 Terry Tao began a mathematical blog to cover a variety of topics, ranging from his own research and other recent developments in mathematics, to lecture notes for his classes, to nontechnical puzzles and expository articles. The first two years of the blog have already been published by the American Mathematical Society. The posts from the third year are being published in two volumes. The present volume consists of a second course in real analysis, together with related material from the blog. The real analysis course assumes some familiarity with general measure theory, as well as fundamental notions from undergraduate analysis. The text then covers more advanced topics in measure theory, notably the Lebesgue-Radon-Nikodym theorem and the Riesz representation theorem, topics in functional analysis, such as Hilbert spaces and Banach spaces, and the study of spaces of distributions and key function spaces, including Lebesgue's $L^p$ spaces and Sobolev spaces. There is also a discussion of the general theory of the Fourier transform. The second part of the book addresses a number of auxiliary topics, such as Zorn's lemma, the Caratheodory extension theorem, and the Banach-Tarski paradox. Tao also discusses the epsilon regularisation argument--a fundamental trick from soft analysis, from which the book gets its title. Taken together, the book presents more than enough material for a second graduate course in real analysis. The second volume consists of technical and expository articles on a variety of topics and can be read independently.

There are many bits and pieces of folklore in mathematics that are passed down from advisor to student, or from collaborator to collaborator, but which are too fuzzy and non-rigorous to be discussed in the formal literature. Traditionally, it was a matter of luck and location as to who learned such folklore mathematics. But today, such bits and pieces can be communicated effectively and efficiently via the semiformal medium of research blogging. This book grew from such a blog. In 2007, Terry Tao began a mathematical blog, as an outgrowth of his own website at UCLA. This book is based on a selection of articles from the first year of that blog. These articles discuss a wide range of mathematics and its applications, ranging from expository articles on quantum mechanics, Einstein's equation E = mc2, or compressed sensing, to open problems in analysis, combinatorics, geometry, number theory, and algebra, to lecture series on random matrices, Fourier analysis, or the dichotomy between structure and randomness that is present in many subfields of mathematics, to more philosophical discussions on such topics as the interplay between finitary and infinitary in analysis. Some selected commentary from readers of the blog has also been included at the end of each article. While the articles vary widely in subject matter and level, they should be broadly accessible to readers with a general graduate mathematics background; the focus in many articles is on the 'big picture' and on informal discussion, with technical details largely being left to the referenced literature.

Additive combinatorics is the theory of counting additive structures in sets. This theory has seen exciting developments and dramatic changes in direction in recent years thanks to its connections with areas such as number theory, ergodic theory and graph theory. This graduate-level 2006 text will allow students and researchers easy entry into this fascinating field. Here, the authors bring together in a self-contained and systematic manner the many different tools and ideas that are used in the modern theory, presenting them in an accessible, coherent, and intuitively clear manner, and providing immediate applications to problems in additive combinatorics. The power of these tools is well demonstrated in the presentation of recent advances such as Szemerédi's theorem on arithmetic progressions, the Kakeya conjecture and Erdos distance problems, and the developing field of sum-product estimates. The text is supplemented by a large number of exercises and new results.

Authored by a leading name in mathematics, this engaging and clearly presented text leads the reader through the various tactics involved in solving mathematical problems at the Mathematical Olympiad level. Covering number theory, algebra, analysis, Euclidean geometry, and analytic geometry, Solving Mathematical Problems includes numerous exercises and model solutions throughout. Assuming only a basic level of mathematics, the text is ideal for students of 14 years and above in pure mathematics.

Authored by a leading name in mathematics, this engaging and clearly presented text leads the reader through the tactics involved in solving mathematical problems at the Mathematical Olympiad level. With numerous exercises and assuming only basic mathematics, this text is ideal for students of 14 years and above in pure mathematics.

Among nonlinear PDEs, dispersive and wave equations form an important class of equations, including the nonlinear Schrodinger equation, nonlinear wave equation, Korteweg de Vries equation, and the wave maps equation. This book offers an introduction to the methods and results used in the modern analysis of the Cauchy problem for such equations.