This volume in Richard Silverman's exceptional series of translations of Russian works in the mathematical science is a comprehensive, elementary introduction to real and functional analysis by two faculty members from Moscow University. It is self-contained, evenly paced, eminently readable, and readily accessible to those with adequate preparation in advanced calculus.
The first four chapters present basic concepts and introductory principles in set theory, metric spaces, topological spaces, and linear spaces. The next two chapters consider linear functionals and linear operators, with detailed discussions of continuous linear functionals, the conjugate space, the weak topology and weak convergence, generalized functions, basic concepts of linear operators, inverse and adjoint operators, and completely continuous operators. The final four chapters cover measure, integration, differentiation, and more on integration. Special attention is here given to the Lebesque integral, Fubini's theorem, and the Stieltjes integral. Each individual section — there are 37 in all — is equipped with a problem set, making a total of some 350 problems, all carefully selected and matched.
With these problems and the clear exposition, this book is useful for self-study or for the classroom — it is basic one-year course in real analysis. Dr. Silverman is a former member of the Institute of Mathematical Sciences of New York University and the Lincoln Library of M.I.T. Along with his translation, he has revised the text with numerous pedagogical and mathematical improvements and restyled the language so that it is even more readable.