Showing papers by "Lawrence Zalcman published in 1974"

Real Proofs of Complex Theorems (And Vice Versa)

Abstract: Introduction. It has become fashionable recently to argue that real and complex variables should be taught together as a unified curriculum in analysis. Now this is hardly a novel idea, as a quick perusal of Whittaker and Watson's Course of Modern Analysis or either Littlewood's or Titchmarsh's Theory of Functions (not to mention any number of cours d'analyse of the nineteenth or twentieth century) will indicate. And, while some persuasive arguments can be advanced in favor of this approach, it is by no means obvious that the advantages outweigh the disadvantages or, for that matter, that a unified treatment offers any substantial benefit to the student. What is obvious is that the two subjects do interact, and interact substantially, often in a surprising fashion. These points of tangency present an instructor the opportunity to pose (and answer) natural and important questions on basic material by applying real analysis to complex function theory, and vice versa. This article is devoted to several such applications. My own experience in teaching suggests that the subject matter discussed below is particularly well-suited for presentation in a year-long first graduate course in complex analysis. While most of this material is (perhaps by definition) well known to the experts, it is not, unfortunately, a part of the common culture of professional mathematicians. In fact, several of the examples arose in response to questions from friends and colleagues. The mathematics involved is too pretty to be the private preserve of specialists. Publicizing it is the purpose of the present paper.