Numbers (Graduate Texts in Mathematics, 123)

Remmert, Reinhold,Prestel, Alexander,Neukirch, Jürgen,Mainzer, Klaus,Koecher, Max,Hirzebruch, Friedrich,Hermes, Hans,Ebbinghaus, Heinz-Dieter

ISBN 10: 0387974970 / ISBN 13: 9780387974972

Published by Springer, 1990

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Synopsis:

A book about numbers sounds rather dull. This one is not. Instead it is a lively story about one thread of mathematics-the concept of "number"­ told by eight authors and organized into a historical narrative that leads the reader from ancient Egypt to the late twentieth century. It is a story that begins with some of the simplest ideas of mathematics and ends with some of the most complex. It is a story that mathematicians, both amateur and professional, ought to know. Why write about numbers? Mathematicians have always found it diffi­ cult to develop broad perspective about their subject. While we each view our specialty as having roots in the past, and sometimes having connec­ tions to other specialties in the present, we seldom see the panorama of mathematical development over thousands of years. Numbers attempts to give that broad perspective, from hieroglyphs to K-theory, from Dedekind cuts to nonstandard analysis.

Synopsis: This is a book about numbers - all kinds of numbers, from integers to p-adics, from rationals to octonions, from reals to infinitesimals. Who first used the standard notation for A? Why was Hamilton obsessed with quaternions? What was the prospect for "quaternionic analysis" in the 19th century? This is the story about one of the major threads of mathematics over thousands of years. It is a story that will give the reader both a glimpse of the mystery surrounding imaginary numbers in the 17th century and also a view of some major developments in the 20th.

Bibliographic Details

Title: Numbers (Graduate Texts in Mathematics, 123)
Publisher: Springer
Publication Date: 1990
Binding: Paperback
Condition: Good