Author: Jefferson Have Weaver
Publisher: Universities Press
Year: 2007
Language: English
Pages: 288
ISBN/UPC (if available): 8173715637
Description
This Book was written to acquaint the reader with some of the more intriguing areas of mathematics, many of which may relate to our daily lives. It recognizes that mathematics has both an abstract as well as eminently practical orientation. But this book is not a textbook and does not purport to examine all of the major topics of mathematics. Instead it invites the reader to go on a walking tour through mathematics and sample a few of the most interesting topics. The book begins with a discussion of both the origin and nature of mathematics. It then shifts to a discussion of both very large numbers and fractions. This is followed by a review of several of the most important areas of mathematics-algebra, geometry, and trigonometry-that existed before the invention of the calculus by Isaac Newton.
Recognizing the fact that much of mathematics has to do with human behavior, the fourth part of the book looks at probability theory and introduces some of the basic concepts of statistics. Finally, the book shifts to a review of the life and work of the five men-Copernicus, Descartes, Kepler, Galileo, and Newton-who were most responsible for integrating mathematics with science and crating the foundations of our modern, quantitative physical science that continues to make possible extraordinary technological achievements. This seemed to me to be an appropriate way to conclude the book because what we now know as the scientific method, which has been responsible for so much of our higher civilization, would not have been possible without the achievement of these heroic individuals.
Contents
PREFACE
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
PART ONE
The World of Mathematics
PART TWO
Mathematics and The Imagination
PART THREE
Mathematics Before Newton
PART FOUR
Mathematics for the People
PART FIVE
Melding Mathematics and Science
AFTERWORD
NOTES
INDEX