From Zero to Infinity: What Makes Numbers Interesting (Spectrum Series) - Softcover

Reid, Constance

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0883855054 ISBN 13: 9780883855058

Publisher: Mathematical Association of America, 1992

Synopsis

A classic of popular mathematical literature (since 1955) that combines the mathematics and the history of number theory with descriptions of the mystique that has, on occasion, surrounded the numbers even among great mathematicians. This edition brings up to date those portions pertaining to the applications of computers to the determination of the nature of large numbers. Annotation copyright Book News, Inc. Portland, Or.

About this title

Review

"I (an undergraduate comp sci major) personally enjoyed this book. The author clearly has a love of numbers that can prove infectious. ... the proofs given are all clear and easy to understand."
―SIGACT News, 2014

"Upon reading this edition anew, I was struck by its superb mathematical taste. I knew I was meant to spend my life loving numbers and working with them; From Zero to Infinity crucially told me that there was a large community of People of Number I could hope to join when I grew up. ... As I got older, I continued to read From Zero to Infinity and the other influential math books I knew ... I was truly fortunate to have run across From Zero to Infinity when I did."
―Bruce Reznick, Notices of the AMS, February 2007

"This book should be in the library of every mathematics teacher, and university faculty who prepare students to teach mathematics should also own this book."
―Murray H. Siegel, Mathematics Teaching in the Middle School, February 2007

"... a sequence of rare beauty, a drama built out of nothing but numbers―and imagination."
―Freeman Dyson, Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton

"... singular for its insight into the imagination, relevance, and sheer excitement of mathematics."
―Kirkus Bulletin, November 2005

About the Author

Although not trained as a mathematician, Constance Reid is well known for her books on mathematicians and mathematics. Following the success of From Zero to Infinity, her first book, Reid went on to write: A Long Way from Euclid; Hilbert; Courant in Gottingen and New York; Neyman; The Search for E.T. Bell; Julia - a Life in Mathematics, among others.

Edition details

• Publisher: Mathematical Association of America
• Publication date: 1992
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0883855054
• ISBN 13: 9780883855058
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 4
• Number of pages: 186