A Course of Modern Analysis

"A Course of Modern Analysis", often called Whittaker and Watson, is a famous textbook about advanced mathematical analysis. It was written by Edmund T. Whittaker and George N. Watson and first published by Cambridge University Press in 1915. The book helps readers understand complex ideas like infinite processes and analytic functions. These ideas are important in many areas of mathematics and science.

The first edition of the book was written only by Whittaker. Later editions included Watson as a co-author. The book explains many important mathematical functions, known as transcendental functions, in a clear way. Because of its clear explanations, the book remains a valuable resource for students and experts in mathematics even today.

History

The book was first published in 1902. New editions came out in 1915, 1920, and 1927. It has been reprinted many times and is still available today. A new version was published in 2021.

Many famous mathematicians, including those from Cambridge University, used this book to learn important math ideas. It was also recommended for students at universities around the world.

Notable features

The book has fun exercises from an old version of the Cambridge Mathematical Tripos. It was also one of the first books to use decimal numbering for its sections. The authors said this idea came from Giuseppe Peano.

Contents

Below are the contents of the fourth edition:

Part I. The Process of Analysis

Part II. The Transcendental Functions

Reception

The book got good reviews from mathematicians and scientists. George B. Mathews liked the book for its clear explanations of important ideas, such as infinite series and complex integration. Arthur S. Hathaway said the book helps bring together many advanced math ideas useful for physics and chemistry.

Maxime Bôcher said that while the book wasn’t as detailed as some European books, it was still a big step for math in English. He noted that the book covered many topics that weren’t available in English before.