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I'm literate at best when it comes to mathematics.

The last thing I learned in high-school before I finished was financial mathematics, calculating annuities to be exact.

The problem is, most books on the subject of algebra I can find is out of my comprehensibility. This may be due to my education not being in English.

I have high dreams in what I would like to be able to do, but I can not find a starting point to continue from. Is there any resources, being books or otherwise, someone can recommend for me to be able to comprehend mathematics in English and afterwards, take on more advanced algebra and logic.

nand
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  • My ideal would be applied mathematics, specifically driven toward computer science(logic, algebra and combinatorics). – nand Sep 22 '12 at 19:52
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    If you find that most books on the type of math that you want to learn are in English, then it might be best simply to learn a little more English first and then read the books. The amount of a language that one has to know in order to read mathematics in that language is usually not very much. – Trevor Wilson Sep 22 '12 at 19:55
  • @TrevorWilson My English is quite fine. The naming of concepts/methods are different, which is what troubles me most when attempting to learn. – nand Sep 22 '12 at 20:20
  • @spudinski In that case wouldn't it work to just read whatever books on the subject anyone else in the Anglosphere would read, starting from the beginning? If you already know the concepts by different names then it seems like you would learn the correspondence very quickly. – Trevor Wilson Sep 22 '12 at 20:28

2 Answers2

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Perhaps:

  1. Mathematical Proofs: A Transition to Advanced Mathematics (2nd Edition) [Hardcover] Gary Chartrand (Author), Albert D. Polimeni (Author), Ping Zhang (Author)

  2. A Book of Abstract Algebra: Second Edition (Dover Books on Mathematics) [Paperback] Charles C Pinter (Author)

  3. how to be good at proving? (see my response and others on this posting)

Maybe you were looking for other stuff too, but hopefully this starts you off thinking and you can add more focus to your question.

~A

Community
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Amzoti
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Usually students at university start with Linear Algebra and Analysis. Yes, first courses on algebra (groups, rings, etc.) tend to be hard. My suggestion would be to find a good book on the history of mathematics, which explains the development of the field and perhaps look at Euclid's elements as the prime example of the axiomatic method.

RParadox
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