ST EDMUND HALL OXFORD

OX1 4AR Telephone (Switchboard): 01865 279000 Telephone (College Office): 01865 279011 Fax (College Office): 01865 279002

Dear Maths candidates What follows is a list of suggested reading to initiate your metamorphosis from school to undergraduate-level mathematician. This list is neither obligatory nor (despite its length) comprehensive. We would advise you not to purchase more than a handful and even then only those you are truly interested in. A local library should be able to help you with the rest (possibly through the Inter-Library Loan Scheme). Professor Barbara Niethammer Professor Oliver Riordan Books for the Transition between School and University Richard Courant et al, What is Mathematics?: An Elementary Approach to Ideas and Methods (OUP Inc 1996) Tim Gowers, Mathematics: A Very Short Introduction (Oxford Paperbacks 2002) M.J. Sewell, Mathematics Masterclasses: Stretching the Imagination (OUP 1997) Books you could lend to your Non-Mathematician Friends Sarah Flannery, In Code: A Mathematical Journey (Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill 2003) Paul Hoffman, The Man who loved only Numbers (Fourth Estate1999) Simon Singh, Fermats Last Theorem (Fourth Estate 2002) Simon Singh, The Code Book (Fourth Estate 2000) Ian Stewart, From here to Infinity (Oxford Paperbacks 1996)

Of an Applied Bent David Acheson, 1089 and All That: A Journey into Mathematics (OUP 2002) David Acheson, From Calculus to Chaos (OUP 1997)

Tom Krner, The Pleasures of Counting (CUP 1996) John Polkinghorne, Quantum Mechanics: A Very Short Introduction (Oxford Paperbacks 2002) And for the Philosophers... John Barrow, Pi in the Sky: Counting, Thinking and Being, (Back Bay Books 1993) Imre Lakatos, Proofs and Refutations, The Logic of Mathematical Discovery (CUP 1976) Graham Priest, Logic: A Very Short Introduction (Oxford Paperbacks 2000) We also ask that you to refer to the course website where you can look up individual courses for next term and their reading lists that you might also find useful. Please go to and look under moderations courses. http://www.maths.ox.ac.uk/courses