The Britanica Guide to the History of Mathematics

364 Pages·2010·3.91 MB·English

by  Britannica Educational Publishing

The Britannica Guide to
the History of Mathematics
MATH EXPLAINED
The Britannica Guide to
the History of Mathematics
EDITED BY ERIK GREGERSEN, ASSOCIATE EDITOR, ASTRONOMY AND SPACE
EXPLORATION
Published in 2011 by Britannica Educational Publishing
(a trademark of Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.)
in association with Rosen Educational Services, LLC
29 East 21st Street, New York, NY 10010.
Copyright © 2011 Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. Britannica,
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trademarks of Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. All rights reserved.
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Distributed exclusively by Rosen Educational Services.
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First Edition
Britannica Educational Publishing
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Introduction by John Strazzabosco
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
The Britannica guide to the history of mathematics / edited by Erik
Gregersen.—1st ed.
p. cm.—(Math explained)
“In association with Britannica Educational Publishing, Rosen
Educational Services.”
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-1-61530221-5 (eBook)
1. Mathematics—History. I. Gregersen, Erik. II. Title: History of
mathematics.
QA21.B84 2011
510.9—dc22
2010008356
On the cover: Hands with abacus, an old-fashioned counting device.
Jed Share/Photodisc/Getty Images
On page 12: Illustrating Pythagoras’s theorem, this diagram comes
from a mid-19th-century edition of the Elements of Euclid, a seminal
multi-book series incorporating the findings of both mathematicians.
SSPL via Getty Images
On page 20: A page from Newton’s annotated copy of Elements,
Euclid’s treatise on geometry. Hulton Archive/Getty Images
On pages 21, 84, 182, 217, 256, 282, 285, 294: This diagram from
Newton’s Principia Mathematica concerns hourly variations of the lunar
orbit. SSPL via Getty Images
CONTENTS
Introduction
Chapter 1: Ancient Western Mathematics
Ancient Mathematical Sources
Mathematics in Ancient Mesopotamia
The Numeral System and Arithmetic Operations
Geometric and Algebraic Problems
Mathematical Astronomy
Mathematics in Ancient Egypt
The Numeral System and Arithmetic Operations
Geometry
Assessment of Egyptian Mathematics
Greek Mathematics
The Development of Pure Mathematics
The Pre-Euclidean Period
The Elements
The Three Classical Problems
Geometry in the 3rd Century BCE
Archimedes
Apollonius
Applied Geometry
Later Trends in Geometry and Arithmetic
Greek Trigonometry and Mensuration
Number Theory
Survival and Influence of Greek Mathematics
Mathematics in the Islamic World (8th–15th Century)
Origins
Mathematics in the 9th Century
Mathematics in the 10th Century
Omar Khayyam
Islamic Mathematics to the 15th Century
Chapter 2: European Mathematics Since the Middle Ages
European Mathematics During the Middle Ages and Renaissance
The Transmission of Greek and Arabic Learning
The Universities
The Renaissance