Numbers: Computers, Philosophers, and the Search for Meaning

The History of Mathematics is a fascinating survey of the development of math through discovery, innovation, collaboration, and experimentation. The set presents a compelling overview of myriad aspects of mathematics using understandable language and appealing line illustrations and photographs. Numbers is an insightful look at the properties and uses of numerical quantities, from fractions to algebraic numbers, transcendental numbers, and complex numbers. We rely on numbers to carry out countless daily activities -- from mapping the universe to running word-processing programs to buying lunch. Author John Tabak points out that numbers are a human invention, as seen through the compelling histories of Babylonian, Roman, and Arab thinkers and their influential systems for representing numbers. The book examines in detail the number pi, the evolution of the idea of infinity, the representation of numbers in computers, the metric and American systems of measurement, and the application of some historical concepts of numbers in such modern forms as cryptography and hand calculators. Numbers includes an index, a chronology of notable events, a glossary of terms, a helpful list of Internet resources, and an array of historical and current print sources for further research. Keyed to current principles and standards in teaching math, The History of Mathematics set is essential for young readers who require information on relevant topics in mathematics.

School Library Journal

Gr 10-Up-In uniform but independent volumes, Tabak offers sustained, meaty historical and methodological studies of the major branches of mathematics. Beginning, in some cases, with prehistoric evidence, he traces: developments in our very idea of what algebra is; the nature of ancient, projective (including non-Euclidian), and coordinate geometry; the uses of mathematics in finding precise ways to describe natural laws; the "invention" of rational, irrational and imaginary numbers, and the idea of infinity; and advances in probability theory and statistics. In each volume he analyzes the insights and accomplishments of many thinkers, ancient and modern, providing a generous array of illuminating demonstrations and examples while keeping extraneous biographical details-and, for that matter, illustrations-to a minimum, then closes with a time line, a specialized glossary, and annotated, multimedia reading lists. General readers may prefer to start with such single-volume histories as William Berlinghoff and Fernando Gouvea's Math through the Ages (Oxton House, 2002) or Ivor Grattan-Guinness's Rainbow of Mathematics (Norton, 2000), but for serious students of the subject, and collections supporting strong science programs, these make appropriate additions to both reference and circulating shelves.-John Peters, New York Public Library Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.