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An Imaginary Tale: The Story of The Square Root of Minus One - Softcover

Book 10 of 61: Princeton Science Library

Nahin, Paul J.

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9780691146003: An Imaginary Tale: The Story of The Square Root of Minus One
Softcover
ISBN 10: 0691146004 ISBN 13: 9780691146003
Publisher: Princeton University Press, 2010

Synopsis

Today complex numbers have such widespread practical use--from electrical engineering to aeronautics--that few people would expect the story behind their derivation to be filled with adventure and enigma. In An Imaginary Tale, Paul Nahin tells the 2000-year-old history of one of mathematics' most elusive numbers, the square root of minus one, also known as i. He recreates the baffling mathematical problems that conjured it up, and the colorful characters who tried to solve them.In 1878, when two brothers stole a mathematical papyrus from the ancient Egyptian burial site in the Valley of Kings, they led scholars to the earliest known occurrence of the square root of a negative number. The papyrus offered a specific numerical example of how to calculate the volume of a truncated square pyramid, which implied the need for i. In the first century, the mathematician-engineer Heron of Alexandria encountered I in a separate project, but fudged the arithme

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About the Author

Paul J. Nahin is professor emeritus of electrical engineering at the University of New Hampshire and the author of many best-selling popular math books, including The Logician and the Engineer and Will You Be Alive 10 Years from Now? (both Princeton).

From the Back Cover

"Dispelling many common myths about the origin of the mystic 'imaginary' unit, Nahin tells the story ofi from a historic as well as human perspective. His enthusiasm and informal style easily catch on to the reader.An Imaginary Tale is a must for anyone curious about the evolution of our number concept."--Eli Maor, author ofTrigonometric Delights, e: The Story of a Number, and To Infinity and Beyond

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Publisher
Princeton University Press
Publication date
2010
Language
English
ISBN 10 
0691146004
ISBN 13 
9780691146003
Binding
Paperback
Number of pages
296
Rating
  • 3.96 out of 5 stars
    1,510 ratings by Goodreads