The Nuts and Bolts of Proofs, Third Edition

Book Description

The Nuts and Bolts of Proof instructs students on the basic logic of mathematical proofs, showing how and why proofs of mathematical statements work. It provides them with techniques they can use to gain an inside view of the subject, reach other results, remember results more easily, or rederive them if the results are forgotten.A flow chart graphically demonstrates the basic steps in the construction of any proof and numerous examples illustrate the method and detail necessary to prove various kinds of theorems.

* The "List of Symbols" has been extended.
* Set Theory section has been strengthened with more examples and exercises.
* Addition of "A Collection of Proofs"

Customer Reviews:

WOW!!!!.......2006-04-11

This book is like no other. Its short and to the point which means that the busy math major can actually sit down and read it! We all know how hard it is to try and read a wordy book on how to write proofs while at the same time trying to study abstract algebra! We dont need a full 100 pages on informal logic! Antonella Cupillari seems to understand this and sums up everything we need to know concerning logic in under 12 pages! Excellent book! Well worth the $32.95!

I own a previous edition.......2006-03-08

I own the second edition of this book and find it incredibly well done. I am a math major, and this book was recommended to me by a caring professor to help aid my transition between computational mathematics and the more abstract area of Mathematical Proofs.

It is a complete and easy to follow introduction to proofs. It quickly goes over the basic properties of numbers and symbols, then goes into direct proofs. It then explains the logic of using the contrapositive instead of using direct proof by showing truth trees of the statements. After that she goes over special types of theorems.

Everything is well documented and there are tons of examples. In her examples Antonella first explains the peculiarities of the proof she is about to attempt, and then she does the proof. That discussion is enlightening and her proofs are easy to follow.

I found going through this book was invaluable to my mathematics career. The level of difficulty of this book is very EASY, so it is perfect for going though on ones own. You will likely have much more difficult proofs in class, but by going through this book will become familiar with the techniques and ideas of Proofs, which is where most students have difficulty!

The book is small and does not feel like a textbook. It has about 80 pages of text and the rest of the book is solutions to exercises. The new edition is larger, but still relatively small, and so hopefully it has this same feel, and if nothing else is light enough to carry around!

When I was going through this book, I would carry it around in my purse with me--that is how small and portable and useful this treasure is.

Amazon.com

Flash of Brilliance describes how to foster creativity in corporate America and boost the bottom line in the process. Creativity consultant William C. Miller argues that the most successful companies encourage inspiration and innovation and allow people to make a difference. "Our work is an expression of our souls, our deepest being, the creative spirit working through us," writes Miller, who is also author of The Creative Edge. "We have to give what we do a context that is real and alive for each one of us, a context that serves mankind." Miller describes concrete steps to get companies started on the "creative journey" and shows how to use diagrams and focused questions as tools to inspire creativity. He also muses on many creative moments in history, including Friedrich Kekule's insight and intuition that led to the discovery of the molecular structure of benzene, and Arnold Fornachou's spontaneous solution to the challenge of the ice-cream cone, as examples of how inspiration can strike. Flash of Brilliance is both an entertaining and practical handbook for managers interested in leading for creativity rather than simply managing for productivity. --Dan Ring

Customer Reviews:

offers a gamut of tools & techniques to fuel creativity & innovation in the workplace!.......2006-10-10

THE FLASH OF BRILLIANCE: INSPIRING CREATIVITY WHERE YOU WORK;
THE FLASH OF BRILLIANCE WORKBOOK: THE EIGHT KEYS TO DISCOVER, UNLOCK & FULFILL YOUR CREATIVE POTENTIAL AT WORK
by William Miller

In the field of creativity, especially in connection with creativity within the business landscape, most enterprising authors start off with excellent works. Many have breakthrough concepts in the beginning. As they start to churn out more books in the same genre, I notice a growing trend: the intellectual fabric starts to grow stale. Many of the original ideas get repeated. Some clever authors put in some innovative twists. I must add, this is no reflection of their good intentions &/or noble purposes in writing the books. However, it is obvious that marketing becomes the sole prime motivating factor.

The 'Flash of Brilliance', unfortunately, is one good example. I strongly feel the author's earlier works, namely, 'The Creative Edge: Fostering Innovation Where You Work' & his audio version, 'The Neuropsychology of Creativity', are excellent as well as inspiring productions.

In fact, 'The Creative Edge' plus the audio package, together with Michael Ray's 'Creativity in Business', were the first business creativity books in my hands during the mid- to end-eighties. They have been instrumental in guiding my managerial work, while I was still a corporate rat during that period. Later on, from the early nineties, both books were pivotal in helping me to design my own training curriculum pertaining to visual thinking & idea mapping strategies. I believe the former book has some intellectual heritage from the former SRI research outfit, while the latter book has its origins from a graduate program at the Stanford University School of Business.

'The Creative Edge' introduced me to the original concepts & practices of 'The Creative Journey' & also to the 'Innovative Leadership Styles'. What is quite boring for me is that I have to keep reading about these concepts in the author's subsequent works, which include 'Quantum Quality: Quality Improvement through Innovation, Learning & Creativity', published in the mid-nineties. Even his musings on the many creative moments in history, including Friedrich Kekule's insight & intuition that led to the discovery of the molecular structure of benzene, & Arnold Fornachou's spontaneous solution to the challenge of the ice-cream cone, as examples of how inspiration can strike, are rehashed in this book.

I do not deny that the 'Flash of Brilliance' is both an entertaining & practical hand-book for managers & professionals interested in leading for creativity rather than simply managing for productivity. This is particularly so if they have not yet read any of the author's earlier works. I would even concur that the companion workbook is a reasonably good interactive guide.

Unlike most business creativity books, this book has a deeper focus on the spirituality aspect: "only when we venture deep within our spiritual selves, even beyond our religious beliefs, do we access the core of our creativity." In fact, spirituality permeates throughout all the author's works. There is nothing wrong with this personal connection. My point: Don't get carried away.

In fairness to the author, this book still offers a gamut of tools & techniques to fuel creativity & innovation in the workplace. The book is broken down into four key sections:

- Breathe New Life into Your Work;
- Foster Breakthrough Innovation in Groups;
- Revitalize the Soul of Corporate Creativity;
- Keep the Faith - Integrate Profits and Prophets;

For the uninitiated, 'The Creative Journey' in the book offers a practical framework for identifying a challenge, focusing on priority issues, generating creative ideas, & implementing them. Likewise, the author's model of 'Innovative Leadership Styles' covering Visioning, Modifying, Experiementing & Exploring is certainly worthwhile to explore in the workplace. I remember at one point in time, Wilson Learning, a global performance improvement/training outfit (subsequently bought over by the Japanese & Larry Wilson, the founder, moved on to start another one under the name of Pecos River Training.), had converted this into a organisational assessment tool.

Coming to rating for the book, I would rate it rather low because of the lack of intellectual freshness from my personal standpoint. In terms of practical usefulness or utlity, particularly for first timers to business creativity, & also in contrast to other books in the same genre, it deserves a higher rating. I will therefore give it a 4.

A good read.......2006-01-27

This book is designed to teach the reader how to inspire creativity in the workplace. This is a how-to manual for inspiring and supporting creativity at the individual, group, and organizational level.

The author's initial lesson is explaining that all individuals are creative even though many do not realize their own creative talents. Many have particular strengths that lie in personality and are part of their character, when harnessed, can provide groundbreaking results. This book is also designed to help the reader recognize creative qualities both within and in others.

The author also offers a variety of techniques for developing ideas, and shares with the reader the four "innovation styles" on which all idea-generation techniques are based:
Visioning-imagine, in detail, a long-tern solution to a problem
Modifying-find a way to make the solution happen
Experimenting-combine elements I various ways and see if the solution can be reached
Exploring- find a way to discover new alternatives

"Creativity" is the new competitive edge.......2005-04-05

In many ways "creativity" is the new competitive edge. While this book is targeted at classic corporate America, it will give entrepreneurs insight into how to take your creativity to the next level. Companies that encourage inspiration and innovation, and allow people to make a difference will soar high above others in the long-run.

Divided into four parts, Miller outlines how you can be more creative alone and more importantly - as part of a team. Miller organizes his book into four sections:

Breathe New Life into Your Work
Foster Breakthrough Innovation in Groups
Revitalize the Soul of Corporate Creativity
Keep the Faith - Integrate Profits and Prophets

William Miller also introduces a concept called the "Creative Journey" that is a four stage process through which every endeavor passes. This Creative Journey offers a framework for identifying a challenge, focusing on priority issues, generating creative ideas, and implementing them. What seems to be most important is the ability to ignite the internal fire within yourself and others to unleash the fullest potential of creativity.

Creativity is the fuel that drives innovation and energizes companies. As an entrepreneur it's important to remember that people become truly creative only when they decide "internally" to take personal responsibility for results. As you create and develop your leadership team, be sure to find people who are internally driven and committed to your company's core vision.

Michael Davis, Editor - Byvation

Okay.......2002-03-19

Like so many other books written by corporate presidents selling creative thinking, it is full of how I did this job at this prestigious company. A marketing exercise rather then a book to advice you how to do it.

I found that it had few ideas.

One of the top 30 business books of 1999 (out of 1500).......1999-07-15

This is a how-to manual for inspiring and supporting creativity at the individual, group, and organizational level. It teaches you how to recognize your own innvate creative qualities. You will then be introduced to what Miller calls the "Creative Journey" -- a four stage process through which every type of creative endeavor passes. It offers a framework for identifying a challenge, focusing on priority issues, generating creative ideas, and implementing them. The gbook offers a variety of techniques for developing ideas and shows you the four "innovation styles" on which all idea-generation techniques are based. Also learn how to spark the motivation required for high level creativity by uniting people behind a shared purpose, a vision for thefuture, and aset of core values. It shos you how to ignite the internal drive and enthusiasm in yourself and others that launch creativity to its fullest potential. ...from Soundview Executive Book Summaries

Book Description

Advances in analytical chemistry methodology now allow us to detect the most minute trace amounts of pesticides. As this capacity grows, so does public concern about toxic contamination, resulting in stricter government regulations and a growing demand for even more sensitive, precise, and reliable analysis.

Addressing the interplay between regulations and the development of analytical technology, this volume presents the first unified treatment of the regulatory and analytical aspects of pesticide residues. Current regulations, existing and emerging methodologies, state-of-the-art instrumentation, and the basic science of analyzing for pesticides in food and other environmental media are all covered.

The book provides step-by-step guidelines to analytical techniques, along with real-world examples from the latest research-showing the reader how to analyze minute traces of pesticides quickly and accurately, using both highly sophisticated and basic, less sensitive techniques. Many safety issues are explored in depth, as are the regulatory aspects of pesticide registration, residue analysis, exposure monitoring, risk assessment, and tolerance enforcement.

Timely, authoritative, and practical throughout, Pesticide Residues in Foods is an invaluable reference for analytical chemists and laboratory managers everywhere-in industry, agriculture, environmental sciences, research, and instrument manufacturing-and for anyone with an interest in the broader environmental, agricultural, and consumer-related implications of pesticide use.

An invaluable resource for analytical chemists and laboratory managers, Pesticide Residues in Foods provides a complete overview of the theory, practice, and regulatory aspects of pesticide residue analysis today, including:
* All regulatory issues, from risk assessment and tolerance to data-quality requirements to laboratory accreditation standards
* State-of-the-art methodologies and instrumentation, including high- performance liquid chromatography and mass spectrometry
* The application of analytical technology to "green chemistry," such as the reduction of solvents and toxic reagents in the laboratory
* Novel solutions to the old problem of keeping the food supply safe from harmful levels of pesticides
* Ample examples to help analytical chemists select the most appropriate method for a given residue analysis
* Easy-to-use tables and figures throughout the text

Pesticide Residues in Foods : Methods, Techniques, and Regulations (Chemical Analysis: A Series of Monographs on Analytical Chemistry and Its Applications)

Average customer rating:

Pesticide Residues in Foods : Methods, Techniques, and Regulations (Chemical Analysis: A Series of Monographs on Analytical Chemistry and Its Applications)
W. George Fong
Manufacturer: NY
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000MU6QYW

Book Description

Measurement, Judgment, and Decision Making provides an excellent introduction to measurement, which is one of the most basic issues of the science of psychology and the key to science. Written by leading researchers, the book covers measurement, psychophysical scaling, multidimensional scaling, stimulus categorization, and behavioral decision making. Each chapter provides a useful handbook summary and unlocks the door for a scholar who desires entry to that field.
Any psychologist who manipulates an independent variable that affects a psychological construct or who uses a numerical dependent variable to measure a psychological construct will want to study this book.

Written by leading researchers in fields of measurement, psychophysical scaling, multidimensional scaling, stimulus categorization, and behavioral decision making
Provides basic definitions and summaries of theories
Presents summaries and citations to relevant literature
Contains new developments, current controversies, and open questions
Explains relationships among fields and historical links

Measurement, Judgement and Decision Making (Handbook of Perception and Cognition, Second Edition)

Average customer rating:

Measurement, Judgement and Decision Making (Handbook of Perception and Cognition, Second Edition)
Michael H. Birnbaum
Manufacturer: Academic Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000OHIH90

Average customer rating:

Just glosses over

Good summary with too little depth

Very reader-friendly, informative, and interesting!

Good all around running guide

Literally everything you need

The Everything Running Book: From Circling the Block to Completing a Marathon, Tricks and Tips to Make You a Better Runner (Everything Series)
Art Liberman , and Stephen Pribut
Manufacturer: Adams Media Corporation
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Running & Jogging | Exercise & Fitness | Health, Mind & Body | Subjects | Books
General | Health, Mind & Body | Subjects | Books
Running & Jogging | Individual Sports | Sports | Subjects | Books
General | Sports | Subjects | Books
Similar Items:

The Non-Runner's Marathon Trainer

The Complete Book Of Running For Women

Runner's World Runner's Diet: The Ultimate Eating Plan That Will Make Every Runner (and Walker) Leaner, Faster, and Fitter (Runners World)

The Everything Weight Training Book: Tone, Shape, and Strengthen Your Body-Look Your Best in No Time (Everything Series)

Running for Dummies

Accessories:

Tanita BC554 Ironman Glass InnerScan Body Composition Monitor Elite Series

ASIN: 1580626181

Customer Reviews:

Just glosses over .......2007-06-18

It's a well written book.
The Good: The only thing worthwhile in the whole book is the running plan, that, IMHO is better than that in Bob Glover's book, as well as better than the Runner's world plan for beginners. Well, maybe not better, but better suited to me.
The Bad: Everything else.
Only too often, the author just glosses over the details, and you're left with pretty much nothing. For example, when the author talks about injuries, he pontificates about this muscle and that muscle, with the long technical names, but that's pretty much useless without diagrams to support it. [I would say it's useless even with the diagrams if I can't do anything with the information, but that's another story]. After reading a page of useless info, the author refers you to a different chapter. You flip to that chapter and are lost. When you do find a section of interest, it's again missing key information. This patter repeats itself too often.
Most of the excercises are described in plain text, no pictures.
For injury prevention, I recommend:
The Runners' Repair Manual: A Complete Program for Diagnosing and Treating Your Foot, Leg and Back Problems
For general ponitification about running:
The Runner's Handbook : The Bestselling Classic Fitness Guide for Beginning and Intermediate Runners (2nd rev Edition)

Good summary with too little depth.......2007-03-04

I bought this book with the expectation that I would finally be able to get a more profound knowledge about my superficial runner's knowledge such as: What other stretches are there apart from the very common ones some of which can't be performed when standing up (a common problem I have when I go running); what food to eat prior to a run, what it means if I continuously have sore muscles. The answers of the book were (in sequence): None, the recommended stretches were the ones that I learned when doing sport in sixth grade and required lying down(!), no drawings supported the description. Food: Eat what suits you best (aha). Do not run when injured.
What I did learn from the book, and that actually changed my routine from now on, is not to stretch prior to a run. This book is clearly more for the beginner than for somebody who's been running for a while. The information about preparing for a marathon seems pretty thin, too, so if you are planning on doing one, this book might disappoint you.

Very reader-friendly, informative, and interesting!.......2004-06-15

I recently started running this year, and I'm very thankful that I picked up this particular book. The author is an experienced marathon runner and has his own personal marathon website online as well. This book was very informative and interesting! The topics range from beginning runners to marathon runners, cross-training to advanced running/training, extreme weather running to running shoes/equipment. The book is very reader-friendly and reads very quickly. This book is probably better suited for beginning/intermediate runners, as it provides more info about getting into running and starting a running regimen, along with motivation and training advice. Yet, it's one of my favorite running books so far, and is helping me train for my first 1/2 marathon!

Good all around running guide.......2002-08-26

Great resource for runners. IT covers all information needed to reach your goals in running. Thumbs-up.

Literally everything you need.......2002-07-02

I wanted to write a review to applaud this book and it's author. Of all of the running and fitness books I have experienced, this book is the one of the only books to achieve putting the entire picture together. It not only gives you the accurate and entire picture, Art Liberman does it in a way that is easy to read and follow. He is one of the only authors to communicate worth-while information in a manner that will keep you reading the book. I attribute its ease of reading and thouroughness to my success as a "budding" runner. This is a keeper.

Book Description

Now learning non-Roman-alphabet languages is as easy as A-B-C!

Readers wanting to learn the basics of reading and writing a new language that employs script will find all they need in the Teach Yourself Beginner's Script series. Each book includes a step-by-step introduction to reading and writing in a new language as well as tips and practice exercises to build learners' skills. Thanks to the experts at Teach Yourself, script will no longer be all "Greek" to language learners--unless of course, it is Greek script! Teach Yourself Beginner's Script series books feature:

Origins of the language
A systematic approach to mastering the script
Lots of "hands-on" exercises and activities
Practical examples from real-life situations

Customer Reviews:

Decent book for absolute beginners in Russian, but BAD TITLE.......2007-06-07

This might be fine for someone who wanted practice in reading the Russian alphabet. However, I made the mistake of taking the title literally. I can read (or at least sound out) Russian books, but I have trouble reading or writing cursive Russian, which often looks quite different from the printed font. There is hardly any material on handwriting the language.

oustanding and simple to use.......2007-05-10

Excellent starter book to learn from.. Have used more than anything else to learn to speak short conversations with older russian patients. Able to communicate much more than I thought. The only thing that I can sayy negative about book is that I wish the print was a little bigger, as, I have poor sight and the print is kind of small. Great content!!!!!

Great little book.......2007-04-05

I am taking a beginning Russian class and have found this book to be very helpful in preparing me for the initial classes. I would have been lost without it.

The Russian alphabet can be offputting however, after only a couple of days with this text, I was able to read in Russian and often even understood what I was reading. Of course, this book is only helpful if you spend time with it but that's not hard because it's well written and well organized. I highly recommend it.

Needs the physical writing process.......2007-03-12

I just purchased this book today, and now wish I'd spent more time thumbing through it in the book store. From the title, I assumed that it would teach how to read and write the Russian (Cyrillic) alphabet. I have a hard time memorizing something by just looking at it, so I wanted a book that concentrated on how to write the alphabet as well. Although this book does include a section on Cyrillic cursive, I did not feel comfortable writing either Cyrillic block letters or cursive based on the information in this book. There is no stroke order or direction given, so the reader is left to guess how to replicate the given character.
Other than that, this is a cute little book, well priced, that will get you through reading the Cyrillic alphabet and some beginning vocabulary.

Wonderful and Simple.......2007-03-03

I was delighted with this book, and thrilled at how quickly I picked up the skill of reading Russian typed print. I was even more impressed when I used the book to teach my hisband in 10 minutes the rudaments of the Russian Alphabet and he can now point out the letters to me. All from 10 minutes of study.

Short simple lessons with excercises at the end of the chapters and each chapter builds on the previous one. Highly recomended book.
**Will not teach HOW to write the Script**

Book Description

Once the youngest member of the X-Men, Kitty Pryde has made the decision to leave her former super hero life after experiencing the tragic loss of friends and family as a costumed hero. Unfortunately, the same bigotry and hatred that killed her loved ones continues to haunt her, threatening new and old friends alike.

Customer Reviews:

Kitty goes to college.......2004-03-13

The story line and the artwork are superb. Kitty Pryde has been and will always be the heart of the X-Men. This series is great both in terms of growth on her part as a character and the storyline itself is very interesting. If you like the character you'll like this series.

good old-fashioned claremont, his best x-treme yet.......2003-12-09

collects mekanix 1-6 limited series + the kitty story in x-men unlimited 36. i had been really disappointed in claremont's x-treme books thus far (including the terrible savage land limited series), but this book has redeemed the whole series. in general it has all the action and adventure of claremont's best x-men stories, although it may be a little too old-fashioned for some and the artwork isn't particularly distinctive (larroca does the short story but the rest is bobillo/sosa).

the first short story shows kitty at college studying nuclear engineering while working as a bartender at night. having turned her back on the superhero life, kitty tries to find meaning in her father's death (he died on genosha). the story is nicely continued in the mekanix series which has kitty seeing a psychiatrist and standing up against an anti-mutant group on campus. the series begins with a huge explosion in her lab, while the rest of the series concentrates on the return of cassandra nova's modern day sentinel robots from south america who, as a nice twist, are machines who can evolve and thus are pretty much unbeatable. xian (aka karma) makes her reappearance early on and it's great to see the two of them kicking ass, along with a new mutant w/ TK. a bit too much of the same anti-mutant stuff, but lots of good old-fashioned claremont action.

The life of a mutant.......2003-08-13

The book is not all out action, with super heroes running around fighting the super villans. This book goes more into what living life as mutant is like. the hatered, the mistrust, the anger, it's all here. though the action is lacking, the story is interesting through and through.

The life of a mutant.......2003-08-13

Books:

Books Index

Books Home

Recommended Books