Graduate Texts in Mathematics

Graduate Texts in Mathematics (GTM; ISSN 0072-5285) is a series of graduate-level textbooks in mathematics published by Springer-Verlag. The books in this series, like the other Springer-Verlag mathematics series, are yellow books of a standard size (with variable numbers of pages). The GTM series is easily identified by a white band at the top of the book.

The books in this series tend to be written at a more advanced level than the similar Undergraduate Texts in Mathematics series, although there is a fair amount of overlap between the two series in terms of material covered and difficulty level. Four of the volumes (122, 123, 129, 206) are part of the subseries Readings in Mathematics.

The series was founded and edited by Paul Halmos, with the first voumes appearing in 1971. Halmos has said that it is the most successful series that he worked on. Early volumes in this series contained the following motivation for this book series

A student approaching mathematical research is often discouraged by the sheer volume of the literature and the long history of the subject, even when the actual problems are readily understandable. The new series, Graduate Texts in Mathematics, is intended to bridge the gap between passive study and creative understanding; it offers introductions on a suitably advanced level to areas of current research. These introductions are neither complete surveys nor brief accounts of the latest results only. They are textbooks carefully designed as teaching aids; the purpose of the authors is, in every case, to highlight the characteristic features of the theory. Graduate Texts in Mathematics can serve as the basis for advanced courses, they can be either the main or subsidiary sources for seminars, and they can be used for private study. Their guiding principle is to convince the student that mathematics is a living science.