Name: Mathematics and its history
ISBN: 9781441960528

Mathematics and its history

From a review of the second edition: "This book covers many interesting topics not usually covered in a present day undergraduate course, as well as certain basic topics such as the development of the calculus and the solution of polynomial equations. The fact that the topics are introduced in their historical contexts will enable students to better appreciate and understand the mathematical ideas involved...If one constructs a list of topics central to a history course, then they would closely resemble those chosen here." (David Parrott, Australian Mathematical Society) This book offers a collection of historical essays detailing a large variety of mathematical disciplines and issues; it’s accessible to a broad audience. This third edition includes new chapters on simple groups and new sections on alternating groups and the Poincare conjecture. Many more exercises have been added as well as commentary that helps place the exercises in context.

What Hacker News says

mindcrimeAug 2024

I've been going through that very video lecture series the last couple of weeks. Good stuff. And in the lectures he mentions a number of books. I looked a few up on Amazon, and then looked at the associated Amazon recommendations, and so far have this small list of books related to Maths history that look worth reading:

  Mathematics and Its History (Undergraduate Texts in Mathematics) 3rd ed. 2010 Edition by John Stillwell

  The History of the Calculus and Its Conceptual Development (Dover Books on Mathematics) by Carl B. Boyer

  A History of Mathematics by Carl B. Boyer

  A Concise History of Mathematics: Fourth Revised Edition (Dover Books on Mathematics)A Concise History of Mathematics: Fourth Revised Edition (Dover Books on Mathematics) by Dirk J. Struik

  Introduction to the Foundations of Mathematics: Second Edition (Dover Books on Mathematics) Second Edition by Raymond L. Wilder

  Mathematical Thought from Ancient to Modern Times by Morris Kline (3 volume set)

  The Calculus Wars: Newton, Leibniz, and the Greatest Mathematical Clash of All Time by Jason Socrates Bardi

There is also a "thing" in mathematics that is sometimes called the "genetic approach" where "genetic" is roughly equivalent to "historical" or maybe "developmental". IOW, a "genetic approach" book teaches a subject by tracing the development of the subject over its history. One popular book in this mold is:

  The Calculus: A Genetic Approach by Otto Toeplitz

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jsbgMay 2024

Mathematics and Its History (https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-1-4419-6053-5) is a really fun book for someone who already knows some university-level math and is just curious.

You may also enjoy Proofs from THE BOOK (https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-662-57265-8).

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KoshkinOct 2023

Mathematics and Its History by Stillwell might give one a good idea.

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antioedipusAug 2023

You (or others) may like Struik’s A Concise History of Mathematics [1]. It’s also quite easy to read cover-to-cover. My other favorite, Stillwell’s Mathematics and Its History, is excellent as well.

In my opinion, Stillwell’s book is better to read as a way to motivate a particular topic, whereas Struik’s book really tries to illustrate the arc of mathematics through history—of course, Struik’s approach has its limits.

History can motivate otherwise inscrutable or dry mathematics in a way that would probably interest many students. Why isn’t the history of math a serious part of secondary school? I don’t think US students remember that much of whatever we do teach there anyway.

[1]: https://www.google.com/books/edition/A_Concise_History_of_Ma... or https://archive.org/details/concisehistoryof0000dirk

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phonebucketJan 2023

A lot of recommendations depend on what you're trying to learn.

But I've enjoyed the following texts to a larger extent than others:

- Algebra: Chapter 0 (Aluffi)

- Real Mathematical Analysis (Pugh)

- Mathematics and its History (Stillwell)

- An Introduction to Manifolds (Tu)

- Gauge Fields, Knots and Gravity (Baez)

- A First Look at Rigorous Probability Theory (Rosenthal)

- All of Statistics (Wasserman)