A History of Mathematics

Great book of history of Mathematics

This is a slog, and to get the most out of it, you really need a piece of paper and a pencil handy while reading it. Who would have thought that the Babylonians and Egyptians were so advanced? And the greeks! To follow the discussion of their accomplishments, you need to draw out the diagram and play with them to undstand--but it is worth it. I never knew how much "algebra" could be done with geometrical figures, it is true revelation. To understand what I mean, just look at some of the proofs of the Pythagorean Theorem (A squared plus B squared equals C squared) that were done long before Algebra, arabic numerals, decimal numbers, orthe concept of zero. It is actually quite an important lesson to learn. I can't wait to get further into this book, but it is a lot of work.

I’ve started to read and the book has interesting history of numbers, arithmetic, math, etc….

A History Of Mathematics By Ta c. Merzbach and Carl B. Boyer – forward by Isaac Asimov John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Third Edition, 2011 ISBN: 978-0-470-52548-7, 668 pages This is first and last a history book. The first chapter begins with the early efforts to count items and make a record of that information. The concept of counting and records of the items formed introduced a new way of thinking. Early number systems were shortly joined by spatial measurements. I found it challenging to imagine what the early number systems met and more challenging to imagine what prompted the changes through the early records of history. This is not just a history of western civilization but includes the influences of Islamic world, China and India. From the number systems the book moves to elements of arithmetic, geometry and number theory. Mathematics slowly evolves into the art and science of solving problems. But this is not a book on how to solve mathematical problems but the history of when the problems were first defined and the initial attempts to solve them. Late in the book actual solutions by early mathematicians are addressed. Again the emphasis is on the history of the men making the discoveries not the solutions. Through out my reading of the book I found I took time to try to write the problem in modern notation and then recognized the solutions I was taught as a student. The book travels across many fields in mathematics some of which I have little knowledge and thus probably did not appreciate the elements of those chapters. This did not discourage me but instead prompted me to make a short list of topics to revisit in modern textbooks next year. Every mathematician should know the history of his craft and reading this book is a fine start. Michael Andrew Marsden – The North Idaho Ghost Writer

I used this book as an undergraduate math major in the early 90s and found it very comprehensive and easy to follow. The update did not disappoint!

The book had a throughout history of mathematics that covered every subject. I enjoyed reading it because it taught me in an example based way.

Works well

Came on time. Used but good condition. Great book, no surprise - I have read other books by the author.

まだ読んだないけど 本の厚さはびっくりした。ざっと見て50cmかな

Hervorragend

Ho letto la prima edizione, in lingua italiana, eccellente. La seconda edizione, aggiornata, mi sembra preferibile alla terza, perche' piu' aderente al piano originale di Boyer.

A long, endless historical list of names in the story of mathematics all leveled to the same common denominator. No breath, no vision from the author. I read 3/4 of the book hoping for some inspirational, enthousiasmant vision from the author but there was no take off.

I studied Physics at University quite a while ago, and am conversant in what might be considered quite advanced maths, but haven't used it on a day to day basis for a long time. Getting a little older the history of science and maths has become much more attractive. And this seems to the mother load daddy of all Mathematics History books. I still have huge swathes of the book to cover, and have to stop myself racing ahead to "fun" stuff I'm looking forward to. The writing style is a little dry at times even for someone with a passion for the subject, but the reward from getting through these parts to the well worked out examples help explain why most mathematics was born out of necessity to solve problems, and only recently has it blossomed into a subject in it's own curiosity. Highly recommended, but don't expect it to go easy, this is a grown up book that takes no prisoners and I have HUGE respect for that. Even though I have to Wikipedia my way through some bits.