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Conference rusure::math

Title:Mathematics at DEC
Moderator:RUSURE::EDP
Created:Mon Feb 03 1986
Last Modified:Fri Jun 06 1997
Last Successful Update:Fri Jun 06 1997
Number of topics:2083
Total number of notes:14613

573.0. "Historical approach to learning math?" by KIRK::WOLFE () Thu Sep 04 1986 16:53

    I haven't done much math for about 12 years (I'm fairly good at
    it, but real rusty), and am interested in "getting back into shape"
    starting (probably) with a pre-calculus "course", and then going
    on as long as I can.  I am particularly interested in doing this
    review from an historical approach, sort of seeing how math grew
    through the years and learning more about those who "grew" it.
    
    Any suggestions on books/articles/courses?
    
    Dick Wolfe
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573.1GALLO::JMUNZERThu Sep 04 1986 17:215
    Dick:
    
    You might try the book mentioned in note 312.
    
    John
573.2a bookGALLO::JMUNZERFri Sep 05 1986 13:514
    "Mathematics for the Million", by Lancelot Hogben, first published
    in 1937(!), has lots of math, lots of history, lots of people.
    
    John
573.3a few more refs...ENGINE::ROTHFri Sep 05 1986 14:4412
    Another book that you may enjoy, "Encounter With Mathematics"
    by Lars Garding (I think the name is correct).  It's interesting
    in that it looks at history in the context of what contemporary
    mathematics is like, and fans out with good references to the
    more specialist texts, so you have a place to start on a topic once
    your appetite is whetted.

    I've also seen a set of 3 books from MIT press, called something like
    "Mathematics, its Content and Meaning" - this would also be well worth
    looking for...

    - Jim
573.4Historical ReferenceSTAR::BRANDENBERGCivilization is the progress toward a society of privacy.Thu Sep 11 1986 19:535
    
    "Men of Mathematics" by E.T. Bell.
    
    					Monty
    
573.5A History of MathematicsCOMET::ROBERTSDwayne RobertsWed Sep 17 1986 02:0824
    
    I highly recommend
    
    "A History of Mathematics"
    by Carl B. Boyer, Professor of Mathematics, Brooklyn College
    Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc
    
    Abbreviated TOC:
    "Primitive Origins", "Egypt", "Mesopotamia", "Ionia and the
    Pythagoreans", "The Heroic Age", "The Age of Plato and Aristotle",
    "Euclid of Alexandria", "Archimedes of Syracuse", "Apollonius of
    Perga", "Greek Trigonometry and Mensuration", "Revival and Decline
    of Greek Mathematics", "China and India", "The Arabic Hegemony",
    "Europe in the Middle Ages", "The Renaissance", "Prelude to Modern
    Mathematics", "The Time of Fermat and Descartes", "A Transitional
    Period", "Newton and Leibniz", "The Bernoulli Era", "The Age of
    Euler", "Mathematicians of the French Revolution", "The Time of
    Gauss and Cauchy", "The Heroic Age in Geometry", "The Arithmetization
    of Analysis", "The Rise of Abstract Algebra", "Aspects of the Twentieth
    Century".

    The book is extremely readable, entertaining, and informative. 
    The 1968 text I have has approximately 700 pages.
    
573.6ThanksKIRK::WOLFEWed Sep 17 1986 16:236
    Thanks very much for your suggestions.  If you have any more, keep
    them coming.
    
    Very appreciative,
    
    Dick