Numbers (Graduate Texts in Mathematics, 123)

Heinz-Dieter Ebbinghaus , Hans Hermes Friedrich Hirzebruch Max Koecher Klaus Mainzer Jürgen Neukirch Alexander Prestel John H. Ewing , H.L.S. Orde (Translator), K. Lamotke (Introduction)

ISBN 10: 0387974970 / ISBN 13: 9780387974972

Published by Springer, 1990

About this Item

[ No Hassle 30 Day Returns ][ Ships Daily ] [ Underlining/Highlighting: NONE ] [ Writing: NONE ] [ Edition: Second ] Publisher: Springer Pub Date: 12/19/1990 Binding: Paperback Pages: 391 Second edition.

Seller Inventory # 6963226

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Numbers (Graduate Texts in Mathematics, 123)
• Publisher: Springer
• Publication Date: 1990
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0387974970
• ISBN 13: 9780387974972
• Binding: Soft cover
• Condition: Fair

About this title

Synopsis

A book about numbers sounds rather dull. This one is not. Instead it is a lively story about one thread of mathematics-the concept of "number"­ told by eight authors and organized into a historical narrative that leads the reader from ancient Egypt to the late twentieth century. It is a story that begins with some of the simplest ideas of mathematics and ends with some of the most complex. It is a story that mathematicians, both amateur and professional, ought to know. Why write about numbers? Mathematicians have always found it diffi­ cult to develop broad perspective about their subject. While we each view our specialty as having roots in the past, and sometimes having connec­ tions to other specialties in the present, we seldom see the panorama of mathematical development over thousands of years. Numbers attempts to give that broad perspective, from hieroglyphs to K-theory, from Dedekind cuts to nonstandard analysis.