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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

  1. 1
    The Natural Numbers

    Five axioms, what each one rules out, and how induction and recursion build all of arithmetic.

    54 min read

  2. 2
    Sets, Functions and Equivalence

    The language of sets and maps, and quotients: treating different things as the same.

    32 min read

  3. 3
    Integers and Rationals

    Building ℤ and ℚ as quotients of pairs, checking operations are well defined, and finding the gaps in ℚ.

    27 min read

  4. 4
    The Real Numbers

    Completing ℚ with Cauchy sequences: the least upper bound property and the idea of completion.

    37 min read

  5. 5
    Quantifiers and the Shape of a Proof

    Reading and negating ∀ε ∃δ statements, and the proof patterns used from here to Perelman.

    27 min read

  6. 6
    Sequences

    Limits, lim sup and lim inf, monotone convergence and Bolzano–Weierstrass.

    27 min read

  7. 7
    Series

    Convergence tests, rearrangements and the geometric series in its two lives.

    25 min read

  8. 8
    Infinite Sets

    Countable and uncountable sets, the diagonal argument, and where the axiom of choice will be needed.

    18 min read

  9. 9
    Continuous Functions

    Continuity, the intermediate value theorem, uniform continuity, and the first maximum principle.

    27 min read

  10. 10
    Derivatives

    The mean value theorem, the second-derivative test, and the first finite-time blow-up.

    30 min read

  11. 11
    The Riemann Integral

    Upper and lower sums, the fundamental theorem, integration by parts, and where Riemann’s integral fails.

    30 min read

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