The History of the History of Mathematics

Benjamin Wardhaugh

ISBN 10: 303430708X / ISBN 13: 9783034307086

Published by Peter Lang, Peter Lang Jan 2012, 2012

About this Item

Neuware -The writing of mathematical histories has a long history, one which has seldom received scholarly attention. Mathematical history, and mathematical biography, raise distinctive issues of method and approach to which different periods have responded in different ways. At a time of increasing interest in the history of mathematics, this book attempts to show something of the trajectory that history has taken in the past. It presents seven case studies illustrating the different ways that mathematical histories have been written since the seventeenth century, ranging from the ¿historiä of John Wallis to the recent re-presentation of Thomas Harriot¿s manuscripts online. It considers both the ways that individual reputations and biographies have been shaped differently in different circumstances, and the ways that the discipline of mathematics has itself been variously presented through the writing of its history.Books on Demand GmbH, Überseering 33, 22297 Hamburg 194 pp. Englisch.

Seller Inventory # 9783034307086

Bibliographic Details

• Title: The History of the History of Mathematics
• Publisher: Peter Lang, Peter Lang Jan 2012
• Publication Date: 2012
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 303430708X
• ISBN 13: 9783034307086
• Binding: Taschenbuch
• Condition: Neu
• Dimensions: 225W x 150H x 11D millimeters 225 millimeters width by 150 millimeters height by 11 millimeters depth
• Weight: 281 grams

About this title

Synopsis

The writing of mathematical histories has a long history, one which has seldom received scholarly attention. Mathematical history, and mathematical biography, raise distinctive issues of method and approach to which different periods have responded in different ways. At a time of increasing interest in the history of mathematics, this book attempts to show something of the trajectory that history has taken in the past. It presents seven case studies illustrating the different ways that mathematical histories have been written since the seventeenth century, ranging from the ‘historia’ of John Wallis to the recent re-presentation of Thomas Harriot’s manuscripts online. It considers both the ways that individual reputations and biographies have been shaped differently in different circumstances, and the ways that the discipline of mathematics has itself been variously presented through the writing of its history.

About the Author

Benjamin Wardhaugh is a Post-doctoral Research Fellow at All Souls College, Oxford, where he works on mathematics and its uses in early modern Britain; he has a particular interest in the use of mathematics in early modern music theory. He is the author of How to Read Historical Mathematics (2010).