Yearning for the Impossible

The Surprising Truths of Mathematics

John Stillwell

230 pages, parution le 30/04/2006

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Résumé

This book explores the history of mathematics from the perspective of the creative tension between common sense and the "impossible" as the author follows the discovery or invention of new concepts that have marked mathematical progress:

Irrational and Imaginary Numbers
The Fourth Dimension
Curved Space
Infinity and others

The author puts these creations into a broader context involving related "impossibilities" from art, literature, philosophy, and physics. By imbedding mathematics into a broader cultural context and through his clever and enthusiastic explication of mathematical ideas the author broadens the horizon of students beyond the narrow confines of rote memorization and engages those who are curious about the place of mathematics in our intellectual landscape.

L'auteur - John Stillwell

John Stillwell is Professor of Mathematics at the University of San Francisco. He is the author of several highly regarded books published by Springer-Verlag, including Mathematics and Its History (Second Edition 2001), Numbers and Geometry (1997) and Elements of Algebra (1994).

Sommaire

Preface
The Irrational
The Imaginary
The Horizon
The Infinitesimal
Curved Space
The Fourth Dimension
The Ideal
Periodic Space
The Infinite
Epilogue
Index

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Caractéristiques techniques

	PAPIER
Éditeur(s)	AK Peters
Auteur(s)	John Stillwell
Parution	30/04/2006
Nb. de pages	230
Format	16 x 23,5
Couverture	Relié
Poids	512g
Intérieur	Noir et Blanc
EAN13	9781568812540
ISBN13	978-1-56881-254-0