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I'm looking for an understandable book about mathematical proofs.

As an engineer/computer scientist mayor I'm used to do higher math on a daily base, but whenever I'm asked in an exercise to "show" something I get the "where should I start? and what exactly do they want me to do?" syndrome.

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A classic reference is Polya's How to Solve It (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/How_to_Solve_It), which has been brought up on math.SE before. You might try searching for it here to see past threads. – Qiaochu Yuan May 13 '11 at 9:36

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There are books devoted to your question, e.g., Daniel Solow's book, How to Read and Do Proofs: An Introduction to Mathematical Thought Processes, http://www.wiley.com/WileyCDA/WileyTitle/productCd-EHEP000562.html but I'm not sure that's the way to go. It might be better to just pick up a good textbook in Number Theory (like Niven, Zuckerman, and Montgomery) or Abstract Algebra (like Fraleigh) or Discrete Math (maybe Grimaldi, or Brualdi), to see how people actually do proofs when they need them.

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Another book devoted to the question is Daniel Velleman, How To Prove It, cambridge.org/gb/knowledge/isbn/item1162725 – Gerry Myerson May 17 '11 at 3:59
up vote 3 down vote

Read Pólya's How to Solve It. See also these slides.

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I just came across this physics forum with a thread on how to write mathematical proofs. At first I was going to copy the list of texts there here, sorting out possible duplicates. But there are so many resources listed: books, tutorials, university-sponsored guides, etc. that I'll simply steer you to the site.

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You might also like this: How to Solve it: Modern Heuristics. I've read the first few pages and it's not bad at all.

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It's a very nice book but it's more advanced than Pólya's. – lhf May 13 '11 at 10:50
Yes it is a bit advanced. But I think glancing through it it worthwhile. The preface of the book has the following quote. "Whoever reads and understands the content of this book will be equipped with the most powerful tools for solving problems currently known". That seems tempting. :) – Koundinya Vajjha May 13 '11 at 11:09
Thank you, that looks like a fantastic book, especially for someone interested in optimization. – littleO Nov 19 '12 at 1:39
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Perhaps you might like: Solving Mathematical Problems: A Personal Perspective. By Terence Tao.

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