Making up Numbers: A History of Invention in Mathematics PDF Download
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Author: Ekkehard Kopp
Publisher: Open Book Publishers
ISBN: 1800640978
Category : Mathematics
Languages : en
Pages : 282
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Book Description
Making up Numbers: A History of Invention in Mathematics offers a detailed but accessible account of a wide range of mathematical ideas. Starting with elementary concepts, it leads the reader towards aspects of current mathematical research. The book explains how conceptual hurdles in the development of numbers and number systems were overcome in the course of history, from Babylon to Classical Greece, from the Middle Ages to the Renaissance, and so to the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. The narrative moves from the Pythagorean insistence on positive multiples to the gradual acceptance of negative numbers, irrationals and complex numbers as essential tools in quantitative analysis. Within this chronological framework, chapters are organised thematically, covering a variety of topics and contexts: writing and solving equations, geometric construction, coordinates and complex numbers, perceptions of ‘infinity’ and its permissible uses in mathematics, number systems, and evolving views of the role of axioms. Through this approach, the author demonstrates that changes in our understanding of numbers have often relied on the breaking of long-held conventions to make way for new inventions at once providing greater clarity and widening mathematical horizons. Viewed from this historical perspective, mathematical abstraction emerges as neither mysterious nor immutable, but as a contingent, developing human activity. Making up Numbers will be of great interest to undergraduate and A-level students of mathematics, as well as secondary school teachers of the subject. In virtue of its detailed treatment of mathematical ideas, it will be of value to anyone seeking to learn more about the development of the subject.
Author: Ekkehard Kopp
Publisher: Open Book Publishers
ISBN: 1800640978
Category : Mathematics
Languages : en
Pages : 282
Get Book Here
Book Description
Making up Numbers: A History of Invention in Mathematics offers a detailed but accessible account of a wide range of mathematical ideas. Starting with elementary concepts, it leads the reader towards aspects of current mathematical research. The book explains how conceptual hurdles in the development of numbers and number systems were overcome in the course of history, from Babylon to Classical Greece, from the Middle Ages to the Renaissance, and so to the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. The narrative moves from the Pythagorean insistence on positive multiples to the gradual acceptance of negative numbers, irrationals and complex numbers as essential tools in quantitative analysis. Within this chronological framework, chapters are organised thematically, covering a variety of topics and contexts: writing and solving equations, geometric construction, coordinates and complex numbers, perceptions of ‘infinity’ and its permissible uses in mathematics, number systems, and evolving views of the role of axioms. Through this approach, the author demonstrates that changes in our understanding of numbers have often relied on the breaking of long-held conventions to make way for new inventions at once providing greater clarity and widening mathematical horizons. Viewed from this historical perspective, mathematical abstraction emerges as neither mysterious nor immutable, but as a contingent, developing human activity. Making up Numbers will be of great interest to undergraduate and A-level students of mathematics, as well as secondary school teachers of the subject. In virtue of its detailed treatment of mathematical ideas, it will be of value to anyone seeking to learn more about the development of the subject.
Author: John P. Boyd
Publisher: Courier Corporation
ISBN: 0486411834
Category : Mathematics
Languages : en
Pages : 690
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Book Description
Completely revised text focuses on use of spectral methods to solve boundary value, eigenvalue, and time-dependent problems, but also covers Hermite, Laguerre, rational Chebyshev, sinc, and spherical harmonic functions, as well as cardinal functions, linear eigenvalue problems, matrix-solving methods, coordinate transformations, methods for unbounded intervals, spherical and cylindrical geometry, and much more. 7 Appendices. Glossary. Bibliography. Index. Over 160 text figures.
Author: William H. Press
Publisher:
ISBN: 9788175960961
Category : Computers
Languages : en
Pages : 0
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Book Description
Now the acclaimed Second Edition of Numerical Recipes is available in the C++ object-oriented programming language. Including and updating the full mathematical and explanatory contents of Numerical Recipes in C, this new version incorporates completely new C++ versions of the more than 300 Numerical Recipes routines that are widely recognized as the most accessible and practical basis for scientific computing. The product of a unique collaboration among four leading scientists in academic research and industry, Numerical Recipes is a complete text and reference book on scientific computing. In a self-contained manner it proceeds from mathematical and theoretical considerations to actual practical computer routines. Highlights include linear algebra, interpolation, special functions, random numbers, nonlinear sets of equations, optimization, eigensystems, Fourier methods and wavelets, statistical tests, ODEs and PDEs, integral equations and inverse theory. The authors approach to C++ preserves the efficient execution that C users expect, while simultaneously employing a clear, object-oriented interface to the routines. Tricks and tips for scientific computing in C++ are liberally included. The routines, in ANSI/ISO C++ source code, can thus be used with almost any existing C++ vector/matrix class library, according to user preference. A simple class library for stand-alone use is also included in the book. Both scientific programmers new to C++, and experienced C++ programmers who need access to the Numerical Recipes routines, can benefit from this important new version of an invaluable, classic text.
Author: N. L. Carothers
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 9780521497565
Category : Mathematics
Languages : en
Pages : 420
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Book Description
A text for a first graduate course in real analysis for students in pure and applied mathematics, statistics, education, engineering, and economics.
Author: Steven H. Strogatz
Publisher: CRC Press
ISBN: 0429961111
Category : Mathematics
Languages : en
Pages : 532
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Book Description
This textbook is aimed at newcomers to nonlinear dynamics and chaos, especially students taking a first course in the subject. The presentation stresses analytical methods, concrete examples, and geometric intuition. The theory is developed systematically, starting with first-order differential equations and their bifurcations, followed by phase plane analysis, limit cycles and their bifurcations, and culminating with the Lorenz equations, chaos, iterated maps, period doubling, renormalization, fractals, and strange attractors.
Author: Lars Garding
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 1461596416
Category : Mathematics
Languages : en
Pages : 277
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Book Description
Trying to make mathematics understandable to the general public is a very difficult task. The writer has to take into account that his reader has very little patience with unfamiliar concepts and intricate logic and this means that large parts of mathematics are out of bounds. When planning this book, I set myself an easier goal. I wrote it for those who already know some mathematics, in particular those who study the subject the first year after high school. Its purpose is to provide a historical, scientific, and cultural frame for the parts of mathematics that meet the beginning student. Nine chapters ranging from number theory to applications are devoted to this program. Each one starts with a historical introduction, continues with a tight but complete account of some basic facts and proceeds to look at the present state of affairs including, if possible, some recent piece of research. Most of them end with one or two passages from historical mathematical papers, translated into English and edited so as to be understandable. Sometimes the reader is referred back to earlier parts of the text, but the various chapters are to a large extent independent of each other. A reader who gets stuck in the middle of a chapter can still read large parts of the others. It should be said, however, that the book is not meant to be read straight through.
Author: Mario Livio
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 0743274628
Category : Mathematics
Languages : en
Pages : 367
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Book Description
What do Bach's compositions, Rubik's Cube, the way we choose our mates, and the physics of subatomic particles have in common? All are governed by the laws of symmetry, which elegantly unify scientific and artistic principles. Yet the mathematical language of symmetry-known as group theory-did not emerge from the study of symmetry at all, but from an equation that couldn't be solved. For thousands of years mathematicians solved progressively more difficult algebraic equations, until they encountered the quintic equation, which resisted solution for three centuries. Working independently, two great prodigies ultimately proved that the quintic cannot be solved by a simple formula. These geniuses, a Norwegian named Niels Henrik Abel and a romantic Frenchman named Évariste Galois, both died tragically young. Their incredible labor, however, produced the origins of group theory. The first extensive, popular account of the mathematics of symmetry and order, The Equation That Couldn't Be Solved is told not through abstract formulas but in a beautifully written and dramatic account of the lives and work of some of the greatest and most intriguing mathematicians in history.
Author: Thomas A. Garrity
Publisher: 清华大学出版社有限公司
ISBN: 9787302090854
Category : Mathematics
Languages : en
Pages : 380
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Book Description
Author: Bjorn Poonen
Publisher: American Mathematical Soc.
ISBN: 1470437732
Category : Mathematics
Languages : en
Pages : 358
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Book Description
This book is motivated by the problem of determining the set of rational points on a variety, but its true goal is to equip readers with a broad range of tools essential for current research in algebraic geometry and number theory. The book is unconventional in that it provides concise accounts of many topics instead of a comprehensive account of just one—this is intentionally designed to bring readers up to speed rapidly. Among the topics included are Brauer groups, faithfully flat descent, algebraic groups, torsors, étale and fppf cohomology, the Weil conjectures, and the Brauer-Manin and descent obstructions. A final chapter applies all these to study the arithmetic of surfaces. The down-to-earth explanations and the over 100 exercises make the book suitable for use as a graduate-level textbook, but even experts will appreciate having a single source covering many aspects of geometry over an unrestricted ground field and containing some material that cannot be found elsewhere.
Author: William E. Boyce
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
ISBN: 1119443768
Category : Mathematics
Languages : en
Pages : 623
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Book Description
Elementary Differential Equations and Boundary Value Problems 11e, like its predecessors, is written from the viewpoint of the applied mathematician, whose interest in differential equations may sometimes be quite theoretical, sometimes intensely practical, and often somewhere in between. The authors have sought to combine a sound and accurate (but not abstract) exposition of the elementary theory of differential equations with considerable material on methods of solution, analysis, and approximation that have proved useful in a wide variety of applications. While the general structure of the book remains unchanged, some notable changes have been made to improve the clarity and readability of basic material about differential equations and their applications. In addition to expanded explanations, the 11th edition includes new problems, updated figures and examples to help motivate students. The program is primarily intended for undergraduate students of mathematics, science, or engineering, who typically take a course on differential equations during their first or second year of study. The main prerequisite for engaging with the program is a working knowledge of calculus, gained from a normal two or three semester course sequence or its equivalent. Some familiarity with matrices will also be helpful in the chapters on systems of differential equations.
