Math proofs

[black-dragon]

I'm looking for a book that will teach me the basics of proving things mathematically. My maths level is about halfway between high school and first year university (I don't take maths, but I'm teaching myself linear algebra and calculus in my spare time). Can anybody suggest something?

[Maximus Macro]

can you say what you want to proof

[JP226]

Math proofs are just about learning the and knowing it inside and out. There isn't anything that can actually teach you how to prove specifically. If you want good calc and algebra books, start with Alpha Chang.

[ShADoW]

I don't if you will find what you need but try:
www.khanacademy.org

[Legio]

Proofs aren't that bad.

1)Always start with the givens
2) Say every step
3) Know your postulates, (Side-Angle-Side, Angle-Angle-Side, etc.) and stuff

[JP226]

side angle side and angle angle side... I've never heard it put that way

[Legio]

side angle side and angle angle side... I've never heard it put that way

They're used for proofs involving triangles.
http://www.mathwarehouse.com/geometr...-postulate.php

[JP226]

Ohh, I never did deal with those. I just new the starting the point and end point on your standard equation and felt my way through the solution. Not alot of triangles in econ.

[Legio]

Inverse proofs are hell to deal with. The kinds the OP and I are talking about are trigonometric and algebraic proofs. In New York state it's called Math A and Math B, not sure how it is elsewhere.

[JP226]

How else do you solve trignometric proofs? You don't do it graphically do you? Conceptually everything in econ is trigonometric, but you lay equations.

[Legio]

How else do you solve trignometric proofs? You don't do it graphically do you? Conceptually everything in econ is trigonometric, but you lay equations.

In the curriculum I studied, you could use either. You could either calculate it, use the traditional proofs method (given, assumed, etc. etc.), or just eyeball it and get your answer based on the identities with sin, cos, etc. I took this two years ago so I could be a little shaky (or totally wrong, haha).

[JP226]

I take that back, I rememebr starting out a few years back we did solve models graphically. That is technically more or less a proof, but once I got to gradschool, things reverted more towards solving the equations even though it was saying the samething a graph was. I'm pretty rusty now too, once you graduate proofs go out the window and no one cares about them.

[Legio]

I take that back, I rememebr starting out a few years back we did solve models graphically. That is technically more or less a proof, but once I got to gradschool, things reverted more towards solving the equations even though it was saying the samething a graph was. I'm pretty rusty now too, once you graduate proofs go out the window and no one cares about them.

Exactly, you won't need it in life unless you aim to be a hardcore mathematician or something. I'm glad I'm not taking a math class this year.

[black-dragon]

Thanks for the responses everyone

I guess I wasn't very clear in my original post, I'm looking for something like this: http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Mathema.../Print_version , but more in-depth.