The World of Mathematics: A Small Library of the Literature of Mathematics from A'h-mose the Scribe to Albert Einstein

In my high school trigonometry course, I had to do a research paper on a topic in any area of mathematics that I chose. I went through dozens of library books on mathematics to decide what I wanted to write about. This was my favorite - a set - and I checked it out a second time. I loved learning about the history of mathematics. I thought it covered a wide range of mathematics, although it is primarily Eurocentric. It is also easy to read. When I went to college and spotted it at the nearby used books store, I bought it, even though I had a limited budget.

I was first exposed to this work at my grandfather's home when in the seventh grade. I read the biographic history and first topic (Egyptian arithmetic and fractions) in his copy. The next Christmas he gave me my own. At that time I could follow the technical parts of only three topics, but was thrilled to realize that I could keep pace with the top mathemeticians in the world, if only I'd been born 2,800 years ago. The book(s) made me decide to study mathematics seriously.

I strongly recomend the set, both as history and a series of interesting introductions to various topics in the field. While I can't bring myself to class this as a 'juvenile' work, I would also suggest that anyone with a high-school student even mildly into math, show more might look to this work to encourage them. show less

A superb collection that made me want to be a mathematician. (Alas, I turned out not to be cut out for it.)

Contenido: volumen 1. General survey. Historical and biographical. Arithmetic, numbers and art of counting. Mathematics of space and motion -- volumen 2. Mathematics and the physical world. Mathematics and social science. The laws of chance -- volumen 3. Statistics and the design of experiments. The supreme art of abstraction: Group Theory. Mathematical truth and the structure of mathematics. The mathematical way of thinking. Mathematics and logic. The unreasonableness of mathematics. How to solve it. The vocabulary of mathematics. Mathematics as an art -- volumen 4. The mathematician. Mathematical machines: Can a machine think? Mathematics in warfare. A mathematical theory of art. Mathematics of the good. Mathematics in literature. show more Mathematics and music. Mathematics as a culture clue. Amusements, puzzles, fancies. show less

Excellent historical content and mathematical resource.

A great set of books. Reviews here: http://www24.brinkster.com/srineet/reviews.html#WorldOfMathematics

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