Mathematical Methods in Science: Volume 26

'Mathematics, taught and learned appropriately, improves the mind and implants good habits of thought.' This tenet underlies all of Professor Pólya's works on teaching and problem-solving. This book captures some of Pólya's excitement and vision. In it he provides enlightenment for all those who have ever wondered how the laws of nature were worked out mathematically. The distinctive feature of the present book is the stress on the history of certain elementary chapters of science; these can be a source of enjoyment and deeper understanding of mathematics even for beginners who have little, or perhaps no, knowledge of physics.

George Poyla- received his doctor's degree in Budapest and taught at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich from 1914 to 1940, and at Stanford University from 1942 until his retirement in 1953.