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Books for maths

I'm going to study maths at the university of Birmingham next year and I wanted to know which books I'll need to buy!
I found this http://www.readinglists.bham.ac.uk/readinglist/show/id/814 but i wasn't sure if this was the list of books we'll need or just a list of those available at the library.
If anyone could let me know if I need to buy any and if so which I would be very grateful!
Thanks in advance :smile:
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davros
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Original post by ellewoodyy
I'm going to study maths at the university of Birmingham next year and I wanted to know which books I'll need to buy!
I found this http://www.readinglists.bham.ac.uk/readinglist/show/id/814 but i wasn't sure if this was the list of books we'll need or just a list of those available at the library.
If anyone could let me know if I need to buy any and if so which I would be very grateful!
Thanks in advance :smile:


They won't expect you to buy all those books!

Normally unis will give a list of titles that give good background for each course, but some may be old or out of print, and often they're very expensive!

You should find most in the uni's own library, but I'd wait until you get there and ask current students what they'd recommend - you might find lecture notes are good enough, or you might be able to buy cheap books from the second years!

Having said that, I definitely think you should have a look at Liebeck's Concise Intro to Pure Mathematics - it's a good intro to some of the topics you'll see at uni!
Original post by davros
They won't expect you to buy all those books!

Normally unis will give a list of titles that give good background for each course, but some may be old or out of print, and often they're very expensive!

You should find most in the uni's own library, but I'd wait until you get there and ask current students what they'd recommend - you might find lecture notes are good enough, or you might be able to buy cheap books from the second years!

Having said that, I definitely think you should have a look at Liebeck's Concise Intro to Pure Mathematics - it's a good intro to some of the topics you'll see at uni!


+1 for Liebeck's book -- he's improved it with an extra bit on sequences (definitions of convergence etc.) as they added it to the M1F course at Imperial a while back, which this book is covering.

If you can find a cheap used copy then it's a worthwhile summer read -- I think I did about half the book during the summer holidays and it was a huge help, as it forced me to start trying to write actual proofs.
Original post by ellewoodyy
I'm going to study maths at the university of Birmingham next year and I wanted to know which books I'll need to buy!
I found this http://www.readinglists.bham.ac.uk/readinglist/show/id/814 but i wasn't sure if this was the list of books we'll need or just a list of those available at the library.
If anyone could let me know if I need to buy any and if so which I would be very grateful!
Thanks in advance :smile:


I'm currently studying maths (though not at Birmingham) and I can say that buying books is usually a waste of money.

Lectures should contain most of the information necessary, and the library usually has multiple copies of "recommended" textbooks. On top of this, Google and Wolfram are very valuable resources. Don't spend loads of money on books until you're sure that you need them.


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You get a reading list for each of your modules, usually you should jus borrow and renew from the library unless you're a millionaire.

In my first year I had
elementary linear algebra and it's applications
Calculus (James Stewart)

I don't remember anymore, but point is it's better to read books which get you to understand maths, rather than textbooks. To appreciate maths is better.


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