Tracing the roots of mathematics, this fascinating survey covers the ancient beginnings and subsequent branches of growth in this rich, diverse, and rapidly expanding scientific field, with discussions that progress from the theoretical mathematics in ancient Mesopotamia and Egypt to the emergence of higher analysis mathematics in the late seventeenth century. Well-documented, it presents both established and promising emerging theses, with careful consideration throughout to the remappings, redivisions, and renarrations presented by each new body of historians. Reflects on the nature and r... View More...
Based on dozens of interviews and extensive historical research, and spiced with interesting photographs, this entertaining book relates stories about mathematicians who have defied stereotypes. There are five chapters about women that provide insight into the nineteenth and the mid-twentieth century, the early 1970s, the early 1990s, and 2004. Activists in many fields will take heart at the progress made during that time. The author documents the rudimentary struggles to become professionals, being married without entirely giving up a career, organizing to eliminate flagrant discrimination, i... View More...
Mathematics can be a passionate subject, and this text introduces the human sides and foibles of mathematics and mathematicians. Each scandal is introduced by a vignette which, although fictional, follows factual historical accounts. View More...
A symbol for what is not there, an emptiness that increases any number it's added to, an inexhaustible and indispensable paradox. As we enter the year 2000, zero is once again making its presence felt. Nothing itself, it makes possible a myriad of calculations. Indeed, without zero mathematics as we know it would not exist. And without mathematics our understanding of the universe would be vastly impoverished. But where did this nothing, this hollow circle, come from? Who created it? And what, exactly, does it mean? Robert Kaplan's The Nothing That Is: A Natural History of Zero begins as a mys... View More...
