Skip to content
All resources

Resource guide

Recommended Reading

Books we keep recommending. Most are in the Tulane libraries or cheap used; many have free legal PDFs from the authors. Ask any officer for a copy or a loan.

Start here

Proof writing & problem solving

  • How to Prove It

    Daniel Velleman

    The standard intro-to-proof book. If you're about to take Math 3050 or 3070, read this first.

  • How to Solve It

    George Pólya

    Short and old. Still the best book ever written on mathematical problem solving.

  • The Art of Problem Solving, Volume 2

    Lehoczky & Rusczyk

    Friendly mentor in book form. Best on-ramp to competition math.

Pure math

Analysis, algebra, topology

  • Calculus

    Michael Spivak

    What calculus looks like when treated as analysis. The book that makes proof-based math click for a lot of students.

  • Principles of Mathematical Analysis

    Walter Rudin

    Universally known as "baby Rudin". Concise, demanding, and standard. Use it with a study group.

  • Abstract Algebra

    David Dummit & Richard Foote

    The thorough reference for groups, rings, fields, and Galois theory. Owned by most grad students.

  • Visual Complex Analysis

    Tristan Needham

    Complex analysis explained with pictures instead of epsilons. A genuinely beautiful book.

  • Topology

    James Munkres

    The default intro to point-set topology. Clear, careful, and well exercised.

Applied math & stats

Modeling, probability, computing

  • Introduction to Probability

    Blitzstein & Hwang

    Friendly, intuition-first probability. Pairs with the Harvard Stat 110 lectures on YouTube.

  • Linear Algebra Done Right

    Sheldon Axler

    Linear algebra without determinants until the end. Reframes everything you saw in Math 3090.

  • Numerical Linear Algebra

    Trefethen & Bau

    How to actually compute the things abstract linear algebra promises. Beautiful expository writing.

  • All of Statistics

    Larry Wasserman

    Whirlwind tour of stats for math/CS students. Concise and rigorous.

Popular math

For the bus, the beach, the break

  • A Mathematician's Apology

    G. H. Hardy

    Hardy on what mathematics is and why he loved it. Short, melancholy, essential reading.

  • Proofs from THE BOOK

    Aigner & Ziegler

    A collection of the most beautiful proofs the authors know. Browse a page, get amazed.

  • Gödel, Escher, Bach

    Douglas Hofstadter

    On formal systems, self-reference, and consciousness. Long, weird, and worth it.

  • The Mathematician's Lament

    Paul Lockhart

    Twenty-five pages on what's wrong with how we teach math. Read it; everyone you know in math has.