Download or read book Mathematics in Society and History written by S. Restivo and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2013-12-01 with total page 215 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This is the first book by a sociologist devoted exclusively to a general sociology of mathematics. The author provides examples of different ways of thinking about mathematics sociologically. The survey of mathematical traditions covers ancient China, the Arabic-Islamic world, India, and Europe. Following the leads of classical social theorists such as Emile Durkheim, Restivo develops the idea that mathematical concepts and ideas are collective representations, and that it is mathematical communities that create mathematics, not individual mathematicians. The implications of the sociology of mathematics, and especially of pure mathematics, for a sociology of mind are also explored. In general, the author's objective is to explore, conjecture, suggest, and stimulate in order to introduce the sociological perspective on mathematics, and to broaden and deepen the still narrow, shallow path that today carries the sociology of mathematics. This book will interest specialists in the philosophy, history, and sociology of mathematics, persons interested in mathematics education, students of science and society, and people interested in current developments in the social and cultural analysis of science and mathematics.

Download or read book Mathematics in Historical Context written by Jeff Suzuki and published by MAA. This book was released on 2009-08-27 with total page 432 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 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.

Download or read book Mathematics and Its History written by John Stillwell and published by Springer Nature. This book was released on 2020-11-07 with total page 400 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This textbook provides a unified and concise exploration of undergraduate mathematics by approaching the subject through its history. Readers will discover the rich tapestry of ideas behind familiar topics from the undergraduate curriculum, such as calculus, algebra, topology, and more. Featuring historical episodes ranging from the Ancient Greeks to Fermat and Descartes, this volume offers a glimpse into the broader context in which these ideas developed, revealing unexpected connections that make this ideal for a senior capstone course. The presentation of previous versions has been refined by omitting the less mainstream topics and inserting new connecting material, allowing instructors to cover the book in a one-semester course. This condensed edition prioritizes succinctness and cohesiveness, and there is a greater emphasis on visual clarity, featuring full color images and high quality 3D models. As in previous editions, a wide array of mathematical topics are covered, from geometry to computation; however, biographical sketches have been omitted. Mathematics and Its History: A Concise Edition is an essential resource for courses or reading programs on the history of mathematics. Knowledge of basic calculus, algebra, geometry, topology, and set theory is assumed. From reviews of previous editions: “Mathematics and Its History is a joy to read. The writing is clear, concise and inviting. The style is very different from a traditional text. I found myself picking it up to read at the expense of my usual late evening thriller or detective novel.... The author has done a wonderful job of tying together the dominant themes of undergraduate mathematics.” Richard J. Wilders, MAA, on the Third Edition "The book...is presented in a lively style without unnecessary detail. It is very stimulating and will be appreciated not only by students. Much attention is paid to problems and to the development of mathematics before the end of the nineteenth century.... This book brings to the non-specialist interested in mathematics many interesting results. It can be recommended for seminars and will be enjoyed by the broad mathematical community." European Mathematical Society, on the Second Edition

Download or read book Social History of Nineteenth Century Mathematics written by Mehrtens and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2012-12-06 with total page 307 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: During the last few decades historians of science have shown a growing interest in science as a cultural activity and have regarded science more and more as part of the gene ral developments that have occurred in society. This trend has been less evident arnong historians of mathematics, who traditionally concentrate primarily on tracing the develop ment of mathematical knowledge itself. To some degree this restriction is connected with the special role of mathematics compared with the other sciences; mathematics typifies the most objective, most coercive type of knowledge, and there fore seems to be least affected by social influences. Nevertheless, biography, institutional history and his tory of national developments have long been elements in the historiography of mathematics. This interest in the social aspects of mathematics has widened recently through the stu dy of other themes, such as the relation of mathematics to the development of the educational system. Some scholars have begun to apply the methods of historical sociology of knowledge to mathematics; others have attempted to give a ix x Marxist analysis of the connection between mathematics and productive forces, and there have been philosophical studies about the communication processes involved in the production of mathematical knowledge. An interest in causal analyses of historical processes has led to the study of other factors influencing the development of mathematics, such as the f- mation of mathematical schools, the changes in the profes- onal situation of the mathematician and the general cultural milieu of the mathematical scientist.

Download or read book Mathematics and Society written by Wolfgang König and published by . This book was released on 2016 with total page 314 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The ubiquity and importance of mathematics in our complex society is generally not in doubt. However, even a scientifically interested layman would be hard pressed to point out aspects of our society where contemporary mathematical research is essential. Most popular examples are finance, engineering, wheather and industry, but the way mathematics comes into play is widely unknown in the public. And who thinks of application fields like biology, encryption, architecture, or voting systems? This volume comprises a number of success stories of mathematics in our society - important areas being shaped by cutting edge mathematical research. The authors are eminent mathematicians with a high sense for public presentation, addressing scientifically interested laymen as well as professionals in mathematics and its application disciplines.

Download or read book A History of Analysis written by Hans Niels Jahnke and published by American Mathematical Soc.. This book was released on 2003 with total page 434 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Analysis as an independent subject was created as part of the scientific revolution in the seventeenth century. Kepler, Galileo, Descartes, Fermat, Huygens, Newton, and Leibniz, to name but a few, contributed to its genesis. Since the end of the seventeenth century, the historical progress of mathematical analysis has displayed unique vitality and momentum. No other mathematical field has so profoundly influenced the development of modern scientific thinking. Describing this multidimensional historical development requires an in-depth discussion which includes a reconstruction of general trends and an examination of the specific problems. This volume is designed as a collective work of authors who are proven experts in the history of mathematics. It clarifies the conceptual change that analysis underwent during its development while elucidating the influence of specific applications and describing the relevance of biographical and philosophical backgrounds. The first ten chapters of the book outline chronological development and the last three chapters survey the history of differential equations, the calculus of variations, and functional analysis. Special features are a separate chapter on the development of the theory of complex functions in the nineteenth century and two chapters on the influence of physics on analysis. One is about the origins of analytical mechanics, and one treats the development of boundary-value problems of mathematical physics (especially potential theory) in the nineteenth century. The book presents an accurate and very readable account of the history of analysis. Each chapter provides a comprehensive bibliography. Mathematical examples have been carefully chosen so that readers with a modest background in mathematics can follow them. It is suitable for mathematical historians and a general mathematical audience.

Download or read book Mathematics in Ancient Iraq written by Eleanor Robson and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2020-06-30 with total page 399 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This monumental book traces the origins and development of mathematics in the ancient Middle East, from its earliest beginnings in the fourth millennium BCE to the end of indigenous intellectual culture in the second century BCE when cuneiform writing was gradually abandoned. Eleanor Robson offers a history like no other, examining ancient mathematics within its broader social, political, economic, and religious contexts, and showing that mathematics was not just an abstract discipline for elites but a key component in ordering society and understanding the world. The region of modern-day Iraq is uniquely rich in evidence for ancient mathematics because its prehistoric inhabitants wrote on clay tablets, many hundreds of thousands of which have been archaeologically excavated, deciphered, and translated. Drawing from these and a wealth of other textual and archaeological evidence, Robson gives an extraordinarily detailed picture of how mathematical ideas and practices were conceived, used, and taught during this period. She challenges the prevailing view that they were merely the simplistic precursors of classical Greek mathematics, and explains how the prevailing view came to be. Robson reveals the true sophistication and beauty of ancient Middle Eastern mathematics as it evolved over three thousand years, from the earliest beginnings of recorded accounting to complex mathematical astronomy. Every chapter provides detailed information on sources, and the book includes an appendix on all mathematical cuneiform tablets published before 2007.

Download or read book Mathematics and Mathematicians written by Lars Gårding and published by American Mathematical Soc.. This book was released on 1998 with total page 304 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book is about mathematics in Sweden between 1630 and 1950 - from S. Klingenstierna to M. Riesz, T. Carleman, and A. Beurling. It tells the story of how continental mathematics came to Sweden, how it was received, and how it inspired new results. The book contains a biography of Gosta Mittag-Leffler, the father of Swedish mathematics, who introduced the Weierstrassian theory of analytic functions and dominated a golden age from 1880 to 1910. Important results are analyzed and re-proved in modern notation, with explanations of their relations to mathematics at the time. The book treats Backlund transformations, Mittag-Leffler's theorem, the Phragmen-Lindelof theorem and Carleman's contributions to the spectral theorem, quantum mechanics, and the asymptotics of eigenvalues and eigenfunctions.

Download or read book Math in Society written by David Lippman and published by . This book was released on 2012-09-07 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Math in Society is a survey of contemporary mathematical topics, appropriate for a college-level topics course for liberal arts major, or as a general quantitative reasoning course.This book is an open textbook; it can be read free online at http://www.opentextbookstore.com/mathinsociety/. Editable versions of the chapters are available as well.

Download or read book A Century of Mathematics in America written by Peter L. Duren and published by Springer Science & Business. This book was released on 1988 with total page 692 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Part of the A Century of Mathematics in America collection, this book contains articles that describe the mathematics and the mathematical personalities in some of the nations' prominent departments: Johns Hopkins, Clark, Columbia, MIT, Michigan, Texas, and the Institute for Advanced Study.

Download or read book Hands on History written by Amy Shell-Gellasch and published by MAA. This book was released on 2007 with total page 191 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In an increasingly electronic society, these exercises are designed to help school and collegiate educators use historical devices of mathematics to balance the digital side of mathematics.

Download or read book Jacques Hadamard written by Vladimir Gilelevič Mazʹâ and published by American Mathematical Soc.. This book was released on 1999 with total page 604 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book presents a fascinating story of the long life and great accomplishments of Jacques Hadamard (1865-1963), who was once called 'the living legend of mathematics'. As one of the last universal mathematicians, Hadamard's contributions to mathematics are landmarks in various fields. His life is linked with world history of the 20th century in a dramatic way. This work provides an inspiring view of the development of various branches of mathematics during the 19th and 20th centuries.Part I of the book portrays Hadamard's family, childhood and student years, scientific triumphs, and his personal life and trials during the first two world wars. The story is told of his involvement in the Dreyfus affair and his subsequent fight for justice and human rights. Also recounted are Hadamard's worldwide travels, his famous seminar, his passion for botany, his home orchestra, where he played the violin with Einstein, and his interest in the psychology of mathematical creativity. Hadamard's life is described in a readable and inviting way.The authors humorously weave throughout the text his jokes and the myths about him. They also movingly recount the tragic side of his life. Stories about his relatives and friends, and old letters and documents create an authentic and colorful picture. The book contains over 300 photographs and illustrations. Part II of the book includes a lucid overview of Hadamard's enormous work, spanning over six decades. The authors do an excellent job of connecting his results to current concerns.While the book is accessible to beginners, it also provides rich information of interest to experts. Vladimir Mazya and Tatyana Shaposhnikova were the 2003 laureates of the Insitut de France's Prix Alfred Verdaguer. One or more prizes are awarded each year, based on suggestions from the Academie francaise, the Academie de sciences, and the Academie de beaux-arts, for the most remarkable work in the arts, literature, and the sciences. In 2003, the award for excellence was granted in recognition of Mazya and Shaposhnikova's book, ""Jacques Hadamard, A Universal Mathematician"", which is both an historical book about a great citizen and a scientific book about a great mathematician.

Download or read book The History of Mathematics written by Roger L. Cooke and published by John Wiley & Sons. This book was released on 2011-02-14 with total page 630 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This new edition brings the fascinating and intriguing history of mathematics to life The Second Edition of this internationally acclaimed text has been thoroughly revised, updated, and reorganized to give readers a fresh perspective on the evolution of mathematics. Written by one of the world's leading experts on the history of mathematics, the book details the key historical developments in the field, providing an understanding and appreciation of how mathematics influences today's science, art, music, literature, and society. In the first edition, each chapter was devoted to a single culture. This Second Edition is organized by subject matter: a general survey of mathematics in many cultures, arithmetic, geometry, algebra, analysis, and mathematical inference. This new organization enables students to focus on one complete topic and, at the same time, compare how different cultures approached each topic. Many new photographs and diagrams have been added to this edition to enhance the presentation. The text is divided into seven parts: The World of Mathematics and the Mathematics of the World, including the origin and prehistory of mathematics, cultural surveys, and women mathematicians Numbers, including counting, calculation, ancient number theory, and numbers and number theory in modern mathematics Color Plates, illustrating the impact of mathematics on civilizations from Egypt to Japan to Mexico to modern Europe Space, including measurement, Euclidean geometry, post-Euclidean geometry, and modern geometrics Algebra, including problems leading to algebra, equations and methods, and modern algebra Analysis, including the calculus, real, and complex analysis Mathematical Inference, including probability and statistics, and logic and set theory As readers progress through the text, they learn about the evolution of each topic, how different cultures devised their own solutions, and how these solutions enabled the cultures to develop and progress. In addition, readers will meet some of the greatest mathematicians of the ages, who helped lay the groundwork for today's science and technology. The book's lively approach makes it appropriate for anyone interested in learning how the field of mathematics came to be what it is today. It can also serve as a textbook for undergraduate or graduate-level courses. An Instructor's Manual presenting detailed solutions to all the problems in the book is available upon request from the Wiley editorial department.

Download or read book The History of Mathematics A Very Short Introduction written by Jacqueline Stedall and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2012-02-23 with total page 145 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this Very Short Introduction, Jacqueline Stedall explores the rich historical and cultural diversity of mathematical endeavour from the distant past to the present day, using illustrative case studies drawn from a range of times and places; including early imperial China, the medieval Islamic world, and nineteenth-century Britain.

Download or read book The Scottish Book written by R. Daniel Mauldin and published by Birkhäuser. This book was released on 2015-11-26 with total page 333 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The second edition of this book updates and expands upon a historically important collection of mathematical problems first published in the United States by Birkhäuser in 1981. These problems serve as a record of the informal discussions held by a group of mathematicians at the Scottish Café in Lwów, Poland, between the two world wars. Many of them were leaders in the development of such areas as functional and real analysis, group theory, measure and set theory, probability, and topology. Finding solutions to the problems they proposed has been ongoing since World War II, with prizes offered in many cases to those who are successful. In the 35 years since the first edition published, several more problems have been fully or partially solved, but even today many still remain unsolved and several prizes remain unclaimed. In view of this, the editor has gathered new and updated commentaries on the original 193 problems. Some problems are solved for the first time in this edition. Included again in full are transcripts of lectures given by Stanislaw Ulam, Mark Kac, Antoni Zygmund, Paul Erdös, and Andrzej Granas that provide amazing insights into the mathematical environment of Lwów before World War II and the development of The Scottish Book. Also new in this edition are a brief history of the University of Wrocław’s New Scottish Book, created to revive the tradition of the original, and some selected problems from it. The Scottish Book offers a unique opportunity to communicate with the people and ideas of a time and place that had an enormous influence on the development of mathematics and try their hand on the unsolved problems. Anyone in the general mathematical community with an interest in the history of modern mathematics will find this to be an insightful and fascinating read.

Download or read book The History of Mathematics written by John Fauvel and published by . This book was released on 1987 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Anachronisms in the History of Mathematics written by Niccolò Guicciardini and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2021-07-22 with total page 394 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The controversial matters surrounding the notion of anachronism are difficult ones: they have been broached by literary and art critics, by philosophers, as well as by historians of science. This book adopts a bottom-up approach to the many problems concerning anachronism in the history of mathematics. Some of the leading scholars in the field of history of mathematics reflect on the applicability of present-day mathematical language, concepts, standards, disciplinary boundaries, indeed notions of mathematics itself, to well-chosen historical case studies belonging to the mathematics of the past, in European and non-European cultures. A detailed introduction describes the key themes and binds the various chapters together. The interdisciplinary and transcultural approach adopted allows this volume to cover topics important for history of mathematics, history of the physical sciences, history of science, philosophy of mathematics, history of philosophy, methodology of history, non-European science, and the transmission of mathematical knowledge across cultures.