A Course of Pure Mathematics Illustrated Edition

This is a an excellent textbook from one of the greatest masters of mathematical analysis. Anyone who has had a first course in calculus can read this and benefit immensely from it. The mathematically inclined reader will learn more from this book than from any of the $100+ calculus textbooks.If you are buying this edition because it says "illustrated" in the title, then you will be disappointed. There are just 3 or 4 photos of G. H. Hardy (who was very camera shy) and no other "historical illustrations"--of course there are plenty of "mathematical" illustrations that are part of the book. There may be other editions of the same book that may be better, like the Centenary edition with a foreword from T. W. Kroner, who has himself written an excellent "A companion to analysis".Also, a note of CAUTION: this book is a facsimile of the FIRST edition of 1908. The book has gone through 10 editions, with minor changes and corrections. The publisher, Merchant Books, does not state this anywhere in the book. If you want the latest edition then you should buy the one published by Cambridge University Press.

The work of G.H. Hardy is now and always shall be important to anyone studying mathematics as a career or the sciences where mathematical thought precisely applied is of importance. This text is a must have for those of such a nature. Any quibbling that others may forward is simply jealous ego. Buy and use this book.

Hardy is an excellent writer, and displays the content in a clear and simple way.

I bought this book based on the praise it has received here. I was hoping to be able to learn mathematical analysis, but all I this book taught me is that it is impossible to learn mathematical analysis. The exercises or "examples" are difficult to the point of being completely impossible to work through. This textbook might have been understandable for G.H. Hardy and possibly God, but for the unwashed masses whose only accomplishment in life is maintaining a 4.0 GPA through three semesters of calculus, this book is worthless.

G. H. Hardy was one of the greatest mathematicians of the 20th century. When the first edition of this book appeared in 1908, it was the only comprehensive introduction to analysis in the English language. More than a century later, it remains unsurpassed in that genre in any language.Elegant, detailed and precise, with perfect prose and proofs, and numerous examples, it reveals the talents of a master mathematician and pedagogue.I weep in frustration when I see the ridiculous number of poorly conceived and hideously expensive freshman calculus texts whose only claim to modernity are coloured boxes surrounding the equations. The reader patient enough to work through the many exercises in this magnificent volume will have a firm grounding in elementary analysis and feel the immense joy of pure mathematics.P.S. If you are a first year mathematics student and your faculty expects you to squander your money on one of those "paper weight" calculus books, you should complain loudly!

This edition (Rough Draft Printing, (October 5, 2007), # ISBN-10: 1603860495# ISBN-13: 978-1603860499) is not the 3rd edition of the text. It is a copy of the first edition, which has entered the public domain. There is no indication of this on the product description page. If you want the final edition that Hardy revised, look elsewhere.

Great classic book.