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MTH 243: Mathematical Analysis


Mathematical analysis investigates the rich world of functions only hinted at in calculus. When a chemist or biologist uses an electron microscope to examine a piece of material that is utterly ordinary, she can discover an entire world of complexity and beauty beyond her imagination. You might think of mathematical analysis as the electron microscope with which to examine functions of a real variable.

We begin with a close look at the real number system. We learn that some levels of infinity (uncountable infinity) are more numerous than other levels (countable infinity). We look at the subset structure of the real number line. Some sets have ``interior points'', which are surrounded only by other points in the same set. Some sets have no interior points. We define continuous functions as those which don't ``rip apart'' interiors of sets.

Analysis also involves approximating functions by sequences and series of other functions. How closely does a series of functions approximate a limiting function, and over how large an interval is the approximation a good one?

Another important topic in analysis involves the fact that there are contexts in which some intervals of real numbers are more important than other intervals of the same length. We learn how to measure subsets of the reals with different kinds of measures, and then learn to integrate with respect to different measures. It's possible to obtain several different values when you integrate a single function, depending on the measure used in the integration process. These ideas are at the foundation of probability theory and spectral analysis.


next up previous contents
Next: MTH 245: Introduction to Up: Some Detailed Course Descriptions Previous: MTH 238: Topics in   Contents
Nicholas Horton 2006-08-27