He implies that his book is more rough and ready for applications, but those books are more geared towards solving clearly stated problems in, say, a competition setting.
I would add Putnam and Beyond to the list, classifying it as advanced competition style problem solving (some of the stuff in that book is pretty tough).
I have only read/skimmed through/worked a few problems out of Putnam and Beyond. I can attest to its advanced level (compared to other problem solving books, I have looked at a few before and found that they were geared more towards high school level subject matter; you won’t find any actually advanced [read; grad level] topics in it) and systematic presentation, but that is about it. Its problems are mainly chosen from actual math competitions, and it seems to present a useful bag of tricks via well thought out examples and explanations. I am currently working through it and have a ways to go.
I’ve heard How to Solve It mentioned a number of times, but I’ve never really looked into it. I can’t really say anything about the other books beyond what the author said about them.
Well, they aren’t necessarily comparison volumes, but the author suggested that the book should be used as a compliment to the following:
How to Solve It, Mathematics and Plausible Reasoning, Vol. II, The Art and Craft of Problem Solving
He implies that his book is more rough and ready for applications, but those books are more geared towards solving clearly stated problems in, say, a competition setting.
I would add Putnam and Beyond to the list, classifying it as advanced competition style problem solving (some of the stuff in that book is pretty tough).
Have you read any of those? If so, what did you think of them in comparison to ‘Street-Fighting Mathematics’?
I have only read/skimmed through/worked a few problems out of Putnam and Beyond. I can attest to its advanced level (compared to other problem solving books, I have looked at a few before and found that they were geared more towards high school level subject matter; you won’t find any actually advanced [read; grad level] topics in it) and systematic presentation, but that is about it. Its problems are mainly chosen from actual math competitions, and it seems to present a useful bag of tricks via well thought out examples and explanations. I am currently working through it and have a ways to go.
I’ve heard How to Solve It mentioned a number of times, but I’ve never really looked into it. I can’t really say anything about the other books beyond what the author said about them.