Is this a novel? Or a biography? Graeme Cohen is so close to his true life subject, that imagined events and conversations seem exactly real. Martin Gardiner, colonial Australia’s most published mathematician, was better at attracting supporters and women than at caring for them, or protecting himself. Cohen’s warts and all story is true to ......
Mathematics today is the fruit of centuries of brilliant insights by men and women whose personalities and life experiences were often as extraordinary as their mathematical achievements. This entertaining history of mathematics chronicles those achievements through fifty short biographies that bring these great thinkers to life while making their ......
Numerals and Their Peculiarities in Mathematics and Beyond
We see numbers on automobile license plates, addresses, weather reports, and, of course, on our smartphones. Yet we look at these numbers for their role as descriptors, not as an entity in and unto themselves. Each number has its own history of meaning, usage, and connotation in the larger world. The Secret Lives of Numbers takes readers on a ......
We all learned that the ratio of the circumference of a circle to its diameter is called pi and that the value of this algebraic symbol is roughly 3.14. What we weren't told, though, is that behind this seemingly mundane fact is a world of mystery, which has fascinated mathematicians from ancient times to the present. Simply put, pi is weird. ......
We measure historyits defining moments, landmark documents, and great figuresby dates. The French Revolution began in 1789, the Magna Carta was originally issued in 1215, and Julius Caesar died in the year 44 BC. What makes these dates correct, though? Is it possible that there is a massive gap in the historical record and that the calendar ......
Accounts of the seventeenth-century Jesuit Mission to China have often celebrated it as the great encounter of two civilizations. The Jesuits portrayed themselves as wise men from the West who used mathematics and science in service of their mission. Chinese literati-official Xu Guangqi (1562-1633), who collaborated with the Italian Jesuit Matteo ......
Unleash your inner math diva. Join sensational drag queen Kyne Santos on a fascinating journey through the glamorous world of . . . math? This hilarious and sometimes controversial book is your VIP pass, taking you behind the scenes with a TikTok superstar who shatters stereotypes and proves that math can be sassy and fun, even for people who ......
A Codex From Late Antique Business Education (P.Math.)
A comprehensive edition and commentary of a late antique codex Mathematics, Metrology, and Model Contracts is a comprehensive edition and commentary of a late antique codex. The codex contains mathematical problems, metrological tables, and model contracts. Given the nature of the contents, the format, and quality of the Greek, the editors ......
Did you grow up thinking math is boring? It's time to reconsider. This book will teach you everything you ever wondered about numbers--and more. How and why did human beings first start using numbers at the dawn of history? Would numbers exist if we Homo sapiens weren't around to discover them? What's so special about weird numbers like pi and the ......