Men of MathematicsFrom 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. |
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LibraryThing Review
User Review - br77rino - LibraryThingWhile there is one chapter on ancient mathematicians, the rest of the book is basically a chapter by chapter review of a dozen or so mathematicians, and their work, of the 17th, 18th, and 19th ... Read full review
LibraryThing Review
User Review - tungsten_peerts - LibraryThingThis is a wonderful book. The only reason I dock it a star is that a few of the accounts (Galois, Cantor) have proven to be inaccurate-to-lurid -- this fact does detract somewhat from its ultimate ... Read full review
Contents
INTRODUCTION | 3 |
MODERN MINDS IN ANCIENT BODIES | 19 |
S GENTLEMAN SOLDIER AND MATHEMATICIAN | 35 |
THE PRINCE OF AMATEURS | 56 |
GREATNESS AND MISERY OF MAN | 73 |
ON THE SEASHORE | 90 |
MASTER OF ALL TRADES | 117 |
The Bernoullis seventeenthand eighteenth centuries | 131 |
GENIUS AND POVERTY | 307 |
THE GREAT ALGORIST | 327 |
AN IRISH TRAGEDY 340 | 340 |
GENIUS AND STUPIDITY | 362 |
INVARIANT TWINS | 378 |
MASTER AND PUPIL 406 | 406 |
3 COMPLETE INDEPENDENCE 433 | 433 |
THE MAN NOT THE METHOD 448 | 448 |
ANALYSIS INCARNATE | 139 |
A LOFTY PYRAMID | 153 |
FROM PEASANT TO SNOB | 172 |
FRIENDS OF AN EMPEROR | 183 |
THE DAY OF GLORY | 206 |
THE PRINCE OF MATHEMATICIANS 218 | 218 |
6 MATHEMATICS AND WINDMILLS | 270 |
Converted by a nightmare Revelation of analytic geometry More | 294 |
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