Sets, Functions, and Logic: An Introduction to Abstract Mathematics, Third Edition

Since its first edition published in 1981, Set, Function and Logic has smoothed the road to higher mathematics for legions of undergraduate students. Now in its third edition, the author--a leading popularizer of mathematics -- has fully revised his text to reflect a new generation. The narrative is more lively, less textbook-like. Remarks and asides link the various topics to the real world. The chapter on complex numbers and discussion of formal symbolic logic is gone in favor of a new introductory chapter on the nature of mathematics and more exercises. The result is an affordable, thoroughly engaging book that every student making the transition from calculus to higher mathematics will welcome.

Keith Devlin is Executive Director of Stanford University's Center for the Study of Language and Information and a Consulting Professor of Mathematics at Stanford.