This book attempts to fill two gaps which exist in the standard textbooks on the History of Mathematics. One is to provide the students with material that could encourage more critical thinking. General textbooks, attempting to coverthree thousand or so years of mathematical history, must necessarily oversimplify just about everything, the practice of which can scarcely promote a critical approach to the subject. For this, I think a more narrow but deeper coverage of a few select topics is called for. The second aim is to include the proofs of important results which are typically neglected in the modern history ofmathematics curriculum. The most obvious of these is the oft-cited necessity of introducing complex numbers in applying the algebraic solution of cubic equations. This solution, though it is now relegated to courses in the History ofMathematics, was a major occurrence in our history. Includes an annotated bibliographys of books on the history of mathematics. Emphasizes the importance of using primary sources by looking at the distortion of historical facts over time. Author provides exercises and research projects for students. INDICE: Introduction.- Annotated Bibliography.- Foundations of Geometry.- The Construction Problems of Antiquity.- A Chinese Problem.- The Cubic Equation.- Horner’s Method.- Some Lighter Material.- Appendix A: Small Projects.- Index.
- ISBN: 978-0-387-75480-2
- Editorial: Springer
- Encuadernacion: Cartoné
- Páginas: 285
- Fecha Publicación: 01/01/2008
- Nº Volúmenes: 1
- Idioma: Inglés