What Is Mathematics?

What Is Mathematics?
Cover of 1996 second edition
AuthorRichard Courant and Herbert Robbins
LanguageEnglish
SubjectMathematics
PublisherOxford University Press
Publication date
1941
ISBN0-19-502517-2
OCLC16608993

What Is Mathematics? is a mathematics book written by Richard Courant and Herbert Robbins, published in England by Oxford University Press. It is an introduction to mathematics, intended both for the mathematics student and for the general public.

First published in 1941, it discusses number theory, geometry, topology and calculus. A second edition was published in 1996 with an additional chapter on recent progress in mathematics, written by Ian Stewart.