Mathematics in Historical Context (Spectrum) - Hardcover

Suzuki, Jeff

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0883855704 ISBN 13: 9780883855706

Publisher: American Mathematical Society, 2009

Synopsis

What would Newton see if he looked out his bedroom window? This book describes the world around the important mathematicians of the past, and explores the complex interaction between mathematics, mathematicians, and society. It takes the reader on a grand tour of history from the ancient Egyptians to the twentieth century to show how mathematicians and mathematics were affected by the outside world, and at the same time how the outside world was affected by mathematics and mathematicians. Part biography, part mathematics, and part history, this book provides the interested layperson the background to understand mathematics and the history of mathematics, and is suitable for supplemental reading in any history of mathematics course.

About this title

About the Author

Jeff Suzuki received his B.A. in mathematics and history from California State University. His previous publications include A History of Mathematics, A Brief History of Impossibility, Lagrange's Proof of the Fundamental Theorem of Algebra, and The Lost Calculus: Tangency and Optimization Without Limits, for which he won the Carl B. Allendoerfer Award from the MAA for an article of expository excellence. He is an Associate Professor of Mathematics at Brooklyn College.

From the Back Cover

What would Newton see if he looked out his bedroom window? Mathematics in Historical Context describes the world around the important mathematicians of the past, and explores the complex interaction between mathematics, mathematicians, and society. It takes the reader on a grand tour of history from the ancient Egyptians to the twentieth century to show how mathematicians and mathematics were affected by the outside world, and at the same time how the outside world was affected by mathematics and mathematicians. Part biography, part mathematics, and part history, this book provides the interested layperson the background to understand mathematics and the history of mathematics, and is suitable for supplemental reading in any history of mathematics course.Mathematics in Historical Context provides the historical background to the development of mathematics. It can be used as a supplemental text to a history of mathematics course, or even as a stand-alone history text.

Edition details

• Publisher: American Mathematical Society
• Publication date: 2009
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0883855704
• ISBN 13: 9780883855706
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 420