A Concise History of MathematicsThis compact, well-written history — first published in 1948, and now in its fourth revised edition — describes the main trends in the development of all fields of mathematics from the first available records to the middle of the 20th century. Students, researchers, historians, specialists — in short, everyone with an interest in mathematics — will find it engrossing and stimulating. Beginning with the ancient Near East, the author traces the ideas and techniques developed in Egypt, Babylonia, China, and Arabia, looking into such manuscripts as the Egyptian Papyrus Rhind, the Ten Classics of China, and the Siddhantas of India. He considers Greek and Roman developments from their beginnings in Ionian rationalism to the fall of Constantinople; covers medieval European ideas and Renaissance trends; analyzes 17th- and 18th-century contributions; and offers an illuminating exposition of 19th century concepts. Every important figure in mathematical history is dealt with — Euclid, Archimedes, Diophantus, Omar Khayyam, Boethius, Fermat, Pascal, Newton, Leibniz, Fourier, Gauss, Riemann, Cantor, and many others. For this latest edition, Dr. Struik has both revised and updated the existing text, and also added a new chapter on the mathematics of the first half of the 20th century. Concise coverage is given to set theory, the influence of relativity and quantum theory, tensor calculus, the Lebesgue integral, the calculus of variations, and other important ideas and concepts. The book concludes with the beginnings of the computer era and the seminal work of von Neumann, Turing, Wiener, and 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 Magazine. |
From inside the book
Results 1-5 of 11
Page 115
Sorry, this page's content is restricted.
Sorry, this page's content is restricted.
Page 147
Sorry, this page's content is restricted.
Sorry, this page's content is restricted.
Page 149
Sorry, this page's content is restricted.
Sorry, this page's content is restricted.
Page 165
Sorry, this page's content is restricted.
Sorry, this page's content is restricted.
Page 167
Sorry, this page's content is restricted.
Sorry, this page's content is restricted.
Contents
Introduction | 1 |
The Beginnings | 9 |
The Ancient Orient | 19 |
Greece | 37 |
The Orient After the Decline of Greek Society | 65 |
The Beginnings in Western Europe | 77 |
The Seventeenth Century | 93 |
The Eighteenth Century | 117 |
The Nineteenth Century | 141 |
The First Half of the Twentieth Century | 189 |
Other editions - View all
Common terms and phrases
algebraic analysis analytical ancient antiquity appeared applied Arabic Archimedes arithmetic astronomy axiom Babylonian Babylonian mathematics became Berlin Bernoulli calculus calculus of variations Cambridge Cantor Chinese Chinese mathematics complex numbers computational concept curves d'Alembert decimal developed differential equations differential geometry Diophantus discovery Dover reprint droites edition Egyptian Euclid Euclid's Elements Eudoxus Euler Felix Klein fields fluxions foundations fractions French functions Gauss géométrie Geschichte Göttingen Greek mathematics Hilbert history of mathematics Huygens ideas infinite influence integral introduced Johann Klein Lagrange Laplace later Leibniz Leipzig Math mathematicians Mathematik mathématiques mechanics method modern Moscow Newton nineteenth century non-Euclidean geometry notation number theory Oriental Oriental mathematics papers Paris Pascal period philosophy Poincaré problems professor projective geometry proof published quadratic rectangle Riemann rigorous Roman Russian showed so-called solution solved symbols tensor texts theorem tion topology tradition translation trigonometric Weierstrass written wrote York πρὸς