A History of Mathematics"Boyer and Merzbach distill thousands of years of mathematics into this fascinating chronicle. From the Greeks to Godel, the mathematics is brilliant; the cast of characters is distinguished; the ebb and flow of ideas is everywhere evident. And, while tracing the development of European mathematics, the authors do not overlook the contributions of Chinese, Indian, and Arabic civilizations. Without doubt, this is--and will long remain--a classic one-volume history of mathematics and mathematicians who create it." --William Dunham Author, Journey Through Genius, The Great Theorems of Mathematics "When we read a book like A History of Mathematics, we get the picture of a mounting structure, ever taller and broader and more beautiful and magnificent--and with a foundation, moreover, that is as untainted and as functional now as it was when Thales worked out the first geometrical theorems nearly 26 centuries ago." --From the Foreword by Isaac Asimov "One of the most useful and comprehensive general introductions to the subject." --J. W. Dauben The City University of New York "Both readable and scholarly, this book can serve as a fine introduction to the topic and also a reference book." --J. David Bolter University of North Carolina Author of Turing's Man Revised to make it more accessible to a general audience, A History of Mathematics paints a vivid picture of humankind's relationship with numbers. Updated and expanded, it now offers broadened coverage of twentieth century advances in probability and computers, and updated references to further reading. A feature that will be of interest to every reader is an appendix containing an extensive chronological table of mathematical and general historical developments. |
Common terms and phrases
al-Khwarizmi algebra analysis analytic geometry ancient angle Apollonius appeared Arabic Archimedes arithmetic Arithmetica astronomy Babylonian Bernoulli Brahmagupta calculus Carnot Cauchy chord circle coefficients concept conic sections contributions coordinates cube cubic cubic equation curve cycloid d'Alembert decimal Descartes differential Diophantus discovery earlier École Polytechnique Egyptian Elements ellipse equal equation equivalent Euclid Eudoxus Euler example Fermat formula fractions function Gauss given Greek Greek mathematics hence Hilbert Hindu history of mathematics hyperbola infinite series integral intersection Jean Bernoulli known Lagrange later Leibniz line segment logarithms math mathematicians method modern Monge multiplication Newton notation Pappus parabola parallel postulate Pascal plane problem proof propositions Ptolemy published Pythagorean quadratic quadrature ratio real number rectangle Regiomontanus result roots sexagesimal sides solution sphere square straight line symbols tangent Thales theorem theory of numbers treatise triangle trigonometry Viète Wallis wrote