Ebook: Two Millennia of Mathematics: From Archimedes to Gauss
Author: George M. Phillips
- Tags: Mathematics general
- Series: CMS Books in Mathematics / Ouvrages de mathématiques de la SMC
- Year: 2000
- Publisher: Springer-Verlag New York
- Edition: 1st
- Language: English
- pdf
This book is intended for those who love mathematics, including under graduate students of mathematics, more experienced students, and the vast number of amateurs, in the literal sense of those who do something for the love of it. I hope it will also be a useful source of material for those who teach mathematics. It is a collection of loosely connected topics in areas of mathematics that particularly interest me, ranging over the two millennia from the work of Archimedes, who died in the year 212 Be, to the Werke of Gauss, who was born in 1777, although there are some references outside this period. In view of its title, I must emphasize that this book is certainly not pretending to be a comprehensive history of the mathematics of this period, or even a complete account of the topics discussed. However, every chapter is written with the history of its topic in mind. It is fascinating, for example, to follow how both Napier and Briggs constructed their log arithms before many of the most relevant mathematical ideas had been discovered. Do I really mean "discovered"? There is an old question, "Is mathematics created or discovered?" Sometimes it seems a shame not to use the word "create" in praise of the first mathematician to write down some outstanding result. Yet the inner harmony that sings out from the best of mathematics seems to demand the word "discover.
This book is a collection of inter-connected topics in areas of mathematics which particularly interest the author, ranging over the two millennia from the work of Archimedes, who died in the year 212 BC, to the "Werke" of Gauss, who was born in 1777. The book is intended for those who love mathematics, including undergraduate students of mathematics, more experienced students and the vast unseen host of amateur mathematicians. It will also be a useful source of material for those who teach mathematics. The author, George Phillips, is a Scot who has lectured and researched in mathematics, mainly at the University of St Andrews, Scotland, but also in many other universities in the UK, the USA, Canada, Brazil, Portugal, Italy, the Czech Republic, Greece, Bulgaria, Turkey, Israel, Malaysia, Singapore, China, and Australia.
This book is a collection of inter-connected topics in areas of mathematics which particularly interest the author, ranging over the two millennia from the work of Archimedes, who died in the year 212 BC, to the "Werke" of Gauss, who was born in 1777. The book is intended for those who love mathematics, including undergraduate students of mathematics, more experienced students and the vast unseen host of amateur mathematicians. It will also be a useful source of material for those who teach mathematics. The author, George Phillips, is a Scot who has lectured and researched in mathematics, mainly at the University of St Andrews, Scotland, but also in many other universities in the UK, the USA, Canada, Brazil, Portugal, Italy, the Czech Republic, Greece, Bulgaria, Turkey, Israel, Malaysia, Singapore, China, and Australia.
Content:
Front Matter....Pages i-xii
From Archimedes to Gauss....Pages 1-44
Logarithms....Pages 45-80
Interpolation....Pages 81-120
Continued Fractions....Pages 121-164
More Number Theory....Pages 165-214
Back Matter....Pages 215-223
This book is a collection of inter-connected topics in areas of mathematics which particularly interest the author, ranging over the two millennia from the work of Archimedes, who died in the year 212 BC, to the "Werke" of Gauss, who was born in 1777. The book is intended for those who love mathematics, including undergraduate students of mathematics, more experienced students and the vast unseen host of amateur mathematicians. It will also be a useful source of material for those who teach mathematics. The author, George Phillips, is a Scot who has lectured and researched in mathematics, mainly at the University of St Andrews, Scotland, but also in many other universities in the UK, the USA, Canada, Brazil, Portugal, Italy, the Czech Republic, Greece, Bulgaria, Turkey, Israel, Malaysia, Singapore, China, and Australia.
Content:
Front Matter....Pages i-xii
From Archimedes to Gauss....Pages 1-44
Logarithms....Pages 45-80
Interpolation....Pages 81-120
Continued Fractions....Pages 121-164
More Number Theory....Pages 165-214
Back Matter....Pages 215-223
....
