"As it is, the book is indispensable; it has, indeed, no serious English rival." — Times Literary Supplement. Volume I of an authoritative two-volume set that covers the essentials of mathematics and includes every landmark innovation and every important figure. This volume features ener... read more
Number Words and Number Symbols: A Cultural History of Numbers by Karl Menninger Classic study discusses number sequence and number language, then explores written numerals and computations in a wide range of cultures. 282 illustrations. "Superior narrative ability." — Library Journal.
Greek Mathematical Thought and the Origin of Algebra by Jacob Klein Important study focuses on the revival and assimilation of ancient Greek mathematics in the 13th-16th centuries, via Arabic science, and the 16th-century development of symbolic algebra. 1968 edition. Bibliography.
Ancient Science Through the Golden Age of Greece by George Sarton Remarkably readable, thoroughly documented, and well illustrated, this fascinating book by an eminent science historian covers problems of mathematics, astronomy, physics, and biology.
A Manual of Greek Mathematics by Sir Thomas L. Heath This concise but thorough history encompasses the enduring contributions of the ancient Greek mathematicians whose works form the basis of most modern mathematics. Discusses Pythagorean arithmetic, Plato, Euclid, more. 1931 edition.
A Short Account of the History of Mathematics by W. W. Rouse Ball This standard text treats hundreds of figures and schools instrumental in the development of mathematics, from the Phoenicians to such 19th-century giants as Grassman, Galois, and Riemann.
Product Description:
"As it is, the book is indispensable; it has, indeed, no serious English rival." — Times Literary Supplement. Volume I of an authoritative two-volume set that covers the essentials of mathematics and includes every landmark innovation and every important figure. This volume features energetic discourses on Euclid, Apollonius, and others.
Reprint of the Oxford University Press, 1921 edition.
Thomas Little Heath (1861–1940) was unusual for an authority on many esoteric, and many less esoteric, subjects in the history of mathematics in that he was never a university professor. The son of an English farmer from Lincolnshire, Heath demonstrated his academic gifts at a young age; studied at Trinity College, Cambridge, from 1879 to 1882; came away with numerous awards; and obtained the top grade in the 1884 English Civil Service examination. From that foundation, he went to work in the English Treasury, rose through the ranks, and by 1913, was permanent secretary to the Treasury, effectively the head of its operations. He left that post in 1919 at the end of the first World War, worked several years at the National Debt office, and retired in 1926. During all of that time, however, he became independently one of the world's leading authorities on the history of mathematics, especially on the history of ancient Greek mathematics. Heath's three-volume edition of Euclid is still the standard, it is generally accepted that it is primarily through Heath's great work on Archimedes that the accomplishments of Archimedes are known as well as they are.
Dover has reprinted these and other books by Heath, preserving over several decades a unique legacy in the history of mathematical scholarship. In the Author's Own Words: "The works of Archimedes are without exception, monuments of mathematical exposition; the gradual revelation of the plan of attack, the masterly ordering of the propositions, the stern elimination of everything not immediately relevant to the purpose, the finish of the whole, are so impressive in their perfection as to create a feeling akin to awe in the mind of the reader." — Thomas L. Heath
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