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Book 2A
Numbers, Limits and the Integral
Real analysis from the axioms up
The natural numbers from five axioms, then the integers, rationals and reals, and on that foundation limits, series, continuity, derivatives and the integral. Written to be read alongside Tao’s Analysis I.
- Main companionAnalysis I · Terence Tao
- Optional, if proofs are newBook of Proof · Richard Hammack
Contents
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1
The Natural Numbers
Five axioms, what each one rules out, and how induction and recursion build all of arithmetic.
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2
Sets, Functions and Equivalence
The language of sets and maps, and quotients: treating different things as the same.
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3
Integers and Rationals
Building ℤ and ℚ as quotients of pairs, checking operations are well defined, and finding the gaps in ℚ.
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4
The Real Numbers
Completing ℚ with Cauchy sequences: the least upper bound property and the idea of completion.
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5
Quantifiers and the Shape of a Proof
Reading and negating ∀ε ∃δ statements, and the proof patterns used from here to Perelman.
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6
Sequences
Limits, lim sup and lim inf, monotone convergence and Bolzano–Weierstrass.
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7
Series
Convergence tests, rearrangements and the geometric series in its two lives.
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8
Infinite Sets
Countable and uncountable sets, the diagonal argument, and where the axiom of choice will be needed.
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9
Continuous Functions
Continuity, the intermediate value theorem, uniform continuity, and the first maximum principle.
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10
Derivatives
The mean value theorem, the second-derivative test, and the first finite-time blow-up.
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11
The Riemann Integral
Upper and lower sums, the fundamental theorem, integration by parts, and where Riemann’s integral fails.
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