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. |
Contents
Chapter | 1 |
Mesopotamia | 22 |
Ionia and the Pythagoreans | 44 |
Copyright | |
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al-Khwarizmi algebra analysis analytic geometry ancient angle Apollonius appeared applied Arabic Archimedean Archimedes arithmetic Arithmetica astronomy Babylonian Bernoulli Brahmagupta calculus Cavalieri century chord circle coefficients cone conic sections construction coordinates cube cubic equation curve cycloid decimal Desargues Descartes diameter differential Diophantus discovery earlier Elements ellipse equal equivalent Euclid Eudoxus Euler example Fermat formula fractions function Galileo Gauss given Greek Greek mathematics hence Hindu history of mathematics hyperbola inscribed integral intersection known later Latin Leibniz line segment logarithms math mathematicians medieval method modern multiplication Newton notation Oresme Pappus parabola Pascal plane polygon problem proof propositions prosthaphaeresis Ptolemy published Pythagorean quadratic equations quadrature radius ratio rectangle Regiomontanus result roots sexagesimal sides sine solid solution solved sphere spiral square straight line symbols tangent theorem theory of numbers translation treatise triangle trigonometry Viète Wallis wrote