Advice about taking mathematical analysis class

I wouldn't take ratings/reviews from ratemyprofessor.com too literally. After all, it seems to me that it is much more likely that disgruntled students are going to go out of their way to (be)rate a professor than are those who have no complaints and would otherwise rate highly.

You've got the opportunity to get a "head start": use that opportunity to "preview" the text. E.g., read the Intro, the Table of Contents, and start tackling the first chapter prior to the start of class, if possible. Once class begins:

  • Yes, go to class!

  • Yes, do the homework!

  • Yes, read the book!:

and

  • "Write the book!"
    (I.e., Take notes; work through all the proofs in the text and fill in any steps that help connect the steps given by Rudin; create a list of definitions and add definitions to that list as you encounter them; work the problems, not just those that are assigned.)

It never hurts to have a supplementary text to refer to, for alternate proofs and explication:

  • E.g., See Serge Lang's Undergraduate Analysis. There is a text available to supplement Lang's text, entitled Problems and Solutions for Undergraduate Analysis.
  • Also see this recent post for some readily available resources to supplement (but not replace!) Rudin's Principles of Mathematical Analysis.

  • And of course, there's math.stackexchange.com, when you're completely stuck!