Men of Mathematics

Author: E.T. Bell
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 1476784256
Category : Mathematics
Languages : en
Pages : 608

Book Description
From one of the greatest minds in contemporary mathematics, Professor E.T. Bell, comes a witty, accessible, and fascinating look at the beautiful craft and enthralling history of mathematics. Men of Mathematics provides a rich account of major mathematical milestones, from the geometry of the Greeks through Newton’s calculus, and on to the laws of probability, symbolic logic, and the fourth dimension. Bell breaks down this majestic history of ideas into a series of engrossing biographies of the great mathematicians who made progress possible—and who also led intriguing, complicated, and often surprisingly entertaining lives. Never pedantic or dense, Bell writes with clarity and simplicity to distill great mathematical concepts into their most understandable forms for the curious everyday reader. Anyone with an interest in math may learn from these rich lessons, an advanced degree or extensive research is never necessary.

The Development of Mathematics

Author: E. T. Bell
Publisher: Courier Corporation
ISBN: 0486152286
Category : Mathematics
Languages : en
Pages : 657

Book Description
Time-honored study by a prominent scholar of mathematics traces decisive epochs from the evolution of mathematical ideas in ancient Egypt and Babylonia to major breakthroughs in the 19th and 20th centuries. 1945 edition.

The Mathematics of the Gods and the Algorithms of Men

Author: Paolo Zellini
Publisher: Penguin UK
ISBN: 0241312183
Category : Mathematics
Languages : en
Pages : 256

Book Description
Is mathematics a discovery or an invention? Do numbers truly exist? What sort of reality do formulas describe? The complexity of mathematics - its abstract rules and obscure symbols - can seem very distant from the everyday. There are those things that are real and present, it is supposed, and then there are mathematical concepts: creations of our mind, mysterious tools for those unengaged with the world. Yet, from its most remote history and deepest purpose, mathematics has served not just as a way to understand and order, but also as a foundation for the reality it describes. In this elegant book, mathematician and philosopher Paolo Zellini offers a brief cultural and intellectual history of mathematics, ranging widely from the paradoxes of ancient Greece to the sacred altars of India, from Mesopotamian calculus to our own contemporary obsession with algorithms. Masterful and illuminating, The Mathematics of the Gods and the Algorithms of Men transforms our understanding of mathematical thinking, showing that it is inextricably linked with the philosophical and the religious as well as the mundane - and, indeed, with our own very human experience of the universe.

A History of Mathematics

Author: Carl B. Boyer
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
ISBN: 0470525487
Category : Mathematics
Languages : en
Pages : 695

Book Description
The updated new edition of the classic and comprehensive guide to the history of mathematics For more than forty years, A History of Mathematics has been the reference of choice for those looking to learn about the fascinating history of humankind’s relationship with numbers, shapes, and patterns. This revised edition features up-to-date coverage of topics such as Fermat’s Last Theorem and the Poincaré Conjecture, in addition to recent advances in areas such as finite group theory and computer-aided proofs. Distills thousands of years of mathematics into a single, approachable volume Covers mathematical discoveries, concepts, and thinkers, from Ancient Egypt to the present Includes up-to-date references and an extensive chronological table of mathematical and general historical developments. Whether you're interested in the age of Plato and Aristotle or Poincaré and Hilbert, whether you want to know more about the Pythagorean theorem or the golden mean, A History of Mathematics is an essential reference that will help you explore the incredible history of mathematics and the men and women who created it.

Makers of Mathematics

Author: Stuart Hollingdale
Publisher: Courier Corporation
ISBN: 0486450074
Category : Mathematics
Languages : en
Pages : 466

Book Description
Each chapter of this portrait of the evolution of mathematics examines the work of an individual — Archimedes, Descartes, Fermat, Pascal, Newton, Einstein, and others — to explore the mathematics of his era. Rather than a series of biographical profiles, readers encounter an accessible chronology of pioneering developments in mathematics. 1989 edition.

Women in Mathematics

Author: Lynn M. Osen
Publisher: MIT Press
ISBN: 9780262650090
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 208

Book Description
Mathematicians, science historians, and general readers will find this book a lively history; women will find it a reminder of a proud tradition and a challenge to take their rightful place in academic life today. The colorful lives of these women, who often traveled in the most avant-garde circles of their day, are presented in fascinating detail. The obstacles and censures that were also a part of their lives are a sobering reminder of the bias against women still present in this and other fields of academic endeavor. Mathematicians, science historians, and general readers will find this book a lively history; women will find it a reminder of a proud tradition and a challenge to take their rightful place in academic life today.

Mathematics for the Nonmathematician

Author: Morris Kline
Publisher: Courier Corporation
ISBN: 0486316130
Category : Mathematics
Languages : en
Pages : 676

Book Description
Erudite and entertaining overview follows development of mathematics from ancient Greeks to present. Topics include logic and mathematics, the fundamental concept, differential calculus, probability theory, much more. Exercises and problems.

A Concise History of Mathematics

Author: Dirk Jan Struik
Publisher: Courier Corporation
ISBN: 9780486602554
Category : Mathematics
Languages : en
Pages : 260

Book Description
This compact, well-written history covers major mathematical ideas and techniques from the ancient Near East to 20th-century computer theory, surveying the works of Archimedes, Pascal, Gauss, Hilbert, and many others. "The author's ability as a first-class historian as well as an able mathematician has enabled him to produce a work which is unquestionably one of the best." — Nature.

The Search for E. T. Bell

Author: Constance Reid
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 9780883855089
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 388

Book Description
This is a compelling account of this complicated, difficult man.

The New York Times Book of Mathematics

Author: Gina Bari Kolata
Publisher: Union Square & Company
ISBN: 9781402793226
Category : Mathematics
Languages : en
Pages : 0

Book Description
Presents a selection from the archives of the New York newspaper of its writings on mathematics from 1892 to 2010, covering such topics as chaos theory, statistics, cryptography, and computers.