Math

Cool Links

  • Here is a good  terms by Eric Weisstein.
  • Seton Hall sponsored an online textbook; it's really good!
  • MathSoft's list of 

Greatest Textbooks

A great textbook, must meet several criteria: good exposition (not too arcane, not too shallow), fun problems, clean typesetting. These are the my favorite Math/CS books of all time. First my absolute favorite:

  • Concrete Mathematics; Graham, Knuth, Patashnik [Probably the overall best math text I've ever seen.]

And then the runners-up:

  • The Art of Computer Science, vols 1-3; Knuth [Classic, perfect.]
  • Combinatorics; van Lint, Wilson [Not for the weak-hearted.]
  • Generatingfunctionology; Wilf [Fun approach, fun exposition.]
  • Randomized Algorithms; Motwani, Raghavan [Well-written and a cool topic.]
  • Analysis of Algorithms; Sedgewick, Flajolet [Important stuff, but not an introductory text.]
  • A First Course in Probability; Ross [Tons of good problems, but lots of typos.]
  • Abstract Algebra; Dummit, Foote [Best algebra text I've seen.]
  • Introduction to the Theory of Computation; Sipser [Sipser is a great expositor, but the book has a lot of typos.]
  • Modern Computer Algebra; von zur Gathen, Gerhard [Beautifully presented, fun topics]

John's Deep Math Thought for the Day: I noticed that at the 762nd decimal place of pi there occurs the sequence 999999. Wouldn't this be the logical place to round off?