Yet Another Introduction to Analysis

Book excerpt: Mathematics education in schools has seen a revolution in recent years. Students everywhere expect the subject to be well-motivated, relevant and practical. When such students reach higher education the traditional development of analysis, often rather divorced from the calculus which they learnt at school, seems highly inappropriate. Shouldn't every step in a first course in analysis arise naturally from the student's experience of functions and calculus at school? And shouldn't such a course take every opportunity to endorse and extend the student's basic knowledge of functions? In Yet Another Introduction to Analysis the author steers a simple and well-motivated path through the central ideas of real analysis. Each concept is introduced only after its need has become clear and after it has already been used informally. Wherever appropriate the new ideas are related to school topics and are used to extend the reader's understanding of those topics. A first course in analysis at college is always regarded as one of the hardest in the curriculum. However, in this book the reader is led carefully through every step in such a way that he/she will soon be predicting the next step for him/herself. In this way the subject is developed naturally: students will end up not only understanding analysis, but also enjoying it.