Contents

Preface

to the Second Edition

to the First Edition

History in the Mathematics Classroom

The History of Mathematics in a Large Nutshell

Beginnings

Greek Mathematics

Meanwhile, in India

Arabic Mathematics

Medieval Europe

The 15th and 16th Centuries

Algebra Comes of Age

Calculus and Applied Mathematics

Rigor and Professionalism

Abstraction, Computers, and New Applications

Mathematics Today

Sketches

1.Keeping Count: Writing Whole Numbers

2.Reading and Writing Arithmetic: The Basic Symbols

3.Nothing Becomes a Number: The Story of Zero

4.Broken Numbers: Writing Fractions

5.Less Than Nothing?: Negative Numbers

6.By Tens and Tenths: Metric Measurement

7.Measuring the Circle: The Story of π

8.The Cossic Art: Writing Algebra with Symbols

9.Linear Thinking: Solving First Degree Equations

10.A Square and Things: Quadratic Equations

11.Intrigue in Renaissance Italy: Solving Cubic Equations

12.A Cheerful Fact: The Pythagorean Theorem

13.A Marvelous Proof: Fermat's Last Theorem

14.On Beauty Bare: Euclid's Plane Geometry

15.In Perfect Shape: The Platonic Solids

16.Shapes by the Numbers: Coordinate Geometry

17.Impossible, Imaginary, Useful: Complex Numbers

18.Half Is Better: Sine and Cosine

19.Strange New Worlds: The Non-Euclidean Geometries

20.In the Eye of the Beholder: Projective Geometry

21.What's in a Game?: The Start of Probability Theory

22.Making Sense of Data: Statistics Becomes a Science

23.Machines that Think?: Electronic Computers

24.The Arithmetic of Reasoning: Boolean Algebra

25.Beyond Counting: Infinity and the Theory of Sets

26.Out of the Shadows: The Tangent Function

27.Counting Ratios: Logarithms

28.Any Way You Slice It: Conic Sections

29.Beyond the Pale: Irrational Numbers

30.Barely Touching: From Tangents to Derivatives

What to Read Next

The Reference Shelf

Twelve Historical Books You Ought to Read

History Online

When They Lived

Bibliography

Index