The Story Of Mathematics

By Jefferson Hane Weaver and Lloyd Motz

Book Overview

How did Archimedes raise the water level of the Nile River? Why did Catherine the Great and Euler conspire to banish Diderot from the Russian Court? Learn about Descartes' military career as well as his discovery of analytic geometry. Explore both the lives and remarkable careers of history's greatest mathematical legends. In the tradition of their acclaimed The Story of Physics, two renowned science writers - Lloyd Motz and Jefferson Hane Weaver - present a sweeping narrative that spans the glorious history of mathematics and paints vivid sketches of the most famous and prominent mathematicians through the centuries. These respected authors lead us from the birth of arithmetic through calculus and beyond. They delve into the intriguing theory of numbers, explore the challenges of probability theory, and reveal the wonders of the theory of relativity. The quest to impose a basic mathematical order on our daily lives began with the early Greeks and Alexandrians. In exciting and accessible prose, we rediscover the insights of the great mathematical minds beginning in antiquity with Euclid, through the mystical teachings of Pythagoras, and continuing with later geniuses such as Newton, Gauss, and Euler. The courage and daring of these innovative thinkers revolutionized our world and conferred an order and predictability to the universe. What is remarkable throughout this journey is how inextricably mathematics and physics are intertwined. Each subject depends upon and encourages the development of the other. Together they form a tapestry of knowledge that surpasses what either field could ever accomplish alone. What is the future of mathematics? Can it ever hope to achieve the heights it once reached during the Golden Age of Mathematics? Motz and Weaver successfully illustrate how the torch of knowledge and discovery can be passed on to a new, brilliant generation of mathematicians.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0306445085
• ISBN13: 9780306445088
• Release Date: August 1993
• Publisher: Basic Books
• Length: 337 Pages
• Weight: 1.34 lbs.
• Dimensions: 8.5" x 1.5" x 5.8"

Customer Reviews

Good overview (with reservations)

This book provides a good sense of the scope of mathematics and particularly how the development of mathematics and physics converge and diverge. However, the book is frustrating at times. Sometimes the book focuses on the history of an idea and sometimes it focuses on the chronology of events. There's a backwards-forwards motion in the book that I did not like. I read it closely but still found it hard to keep my bearing. Many books that try to provide an historical overview suffer from this, so I gave this book a four. There is definitely good content here. As a "read", I'd give it a three.

The story of the subject evolved

A wonderful inquiry into the evolution of mathematics from the counting needs of yesterday to the position of advanced tool in any and every subject of human enterprise. This book brings out fascinating insights into how we have come to inherit the mathematics ...from the masters who have lived before .. It also illustrates in a subtle manner that we are lucky to live in an age where mathematics learning and teaching has become extermely organised... The stories of the individuals who have contrubuted to this subject should spur anyone to greater good..Beg borrow or steal ..but read this book

Great book for those who have mathphobia

I love this book. I learn from story telling. I understand any subject matter better if I know its history, culture and reason for existence. The story of mathematics is such book. It helps me to overcome math anxiety and make the subject, dare I say it, cool. Read it and rid your math phobia forever.

Another Terrific Book by Motz and Weaver!

Like Story of Astronomy, Story of Mathematics is a very interesting and readable voyage through 2000+ years of history. The book focuses on the characters who developed mathematics rather than on the mathematics itself. The book is very sturdily constructed and will last a long time. Finally, for any reader who read my review of Astronomy, where I hinted that I liked that book better than Mathematics,I have to say after finishing Mathematics that I liked it even better than Astronomy. OK, so I changed my mind. I'm now working on Story of Physics and will report on it as soon as I'm finished.