Proofs and Fundamentals

In an effort to make advanced mathematics accessible to a wide variety of students, and to give even the most mathematically inclined students a solid basis upon which to build their continuing study of mathematics, there has been a tendency in recent years to introduce students to the for­ mulation and writing of rigorous mathematical proofs, and to teach topics such as sets, functions, relations and countability, in a "transition" course, rather than in traditional courses such as linear algeb