A source book in mathematics

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1. rramadassAug 2024
   The actual quote is;

   It appears to me that if one wants to make progress in mathematics one should study the masters and not the pupils.

   — N.H. Abel (1802–1829), quoted from an unpublished source by O. Ore in Niels Henrik Abel, Mathematician Extraordinary, p. 138.

   This is my absolute favourite quote too and i always keep this in mind. I think this is very relevant today since it seems every "Tom, Dick and Harry" wants to write a book most of which is mere parroting from other sources with no insight/simplification/intuition whatsoever. It is only the "Masters" who have a way of directly getting to the heart of the matter in the simplest manner possible. To this end i try and collect some of the original texts with detailed explanations so that i can learn from them. Some interesting ones are;

   1) A Source Book in Mathematics by David Eugene Smith (Dover Publications) - https://archive.org/details/sourcebookinmath00smit

   2) Newton's Principia for the Common Reader by Nobel-prize winning Physicist S.Chandrasekhar - https://archive.org/details/newtonsprincipia0000chan

   3) Maxwell on the Electromagnetic Field: A Guided Study (Masterworks of Discovery series) by Thomas Simpson - https://archive.org/details/maxwellonelectro0000simp

   4) The Annotated Turing by Charles Petzold - http://theannotatedturing.com/ and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Annotated_Turing

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2. rramadassFeb 2022
   There is a quote attributed to Gauss (or Abel?) which goes: When asked about how he made his great discoveries, answered; "By Studying the Masters and not their Pupils".

   Also Gauss: It is not knowledge, but the act of learning, not possession but the act of getting there, which grants the greatest enjoyment (understanding). Words in Parenthesis mine.

   I am of the firm belief that the original Discoverer/Inventor of an Idea/Concept/etc. is the best person to explain it since by definition they can lead you through the process of intuitively "getting" it. This is understanding from first principles. But since many of the original writings can be difficult to understand due to Complexity/Time Period you need a "Expert" who can explain the main ideas to the Student.

   So what Books can HN folks recommend that fall into this category? A few examples from my collection;

   1) A Source Book in Mathematics by David Eugene Smith.

   2) Newton's Principia for the Common Reader by S. Chandrasekhar.

   3) The Annotated Turing: A Guided Tour Through Alan Turing's Historic Paper On Computability And The Turing Machine by Charles Petzold.

   4) Maxwell on the Electromagnetic Field: A Guided Study (Masterworks of Discovery) by Thomas K. Simpson.

   Any and All suggestions welcome.

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3. saintxDec 2014
   "A Source Book in Mathematics" by David Eugene Smith. ISBN 0486646904.

   Short description: The writings of Newton, Leibniz, Pascal, Riemann, Bernoulli, and others in a comprehensive selection of 125 treatises dating from the Renaissance to the late 19th century — most unavailable elsewhere. Grouped in five sections: Number; Algebra; Geometry; Probability; and Calculus, Functions, and Quaternions. Includes a biographical-historical introduction for each article.

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4. hcsJun 2017
   Smith, "A Source Book in Mathematics"

   https://archive.org/details/sourcebookinmath00smit

   Contains the writings by Leibniz and Pascal on calculating machines.

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