What do you think?
Rate this book
A History of Mathematics
For more than forty years, A History of Mathematics has been the reference of choice for those looking to learn about the fascinating history of humankind’s relationship with numbers, shapes, and patterns. This revised edition features up-to-date coverage of topics such as Fermat’s Last Theorem and the Poincaré Conjecture, in addition to recent advances in areas such as finite group theory and computer-aided proofs.
Distills thousands of years of mathematics into a single, approachable volume
Covers mathematical discoveries, concepts, and thinkers, from Ancient Egypt to the present
Includes up-to-date references and an extensive chronological table of mathematical and general historical developments.
Whether you're interested in the age of Plato and Aristotle or Poincaré and Hilbert, whether you want to know more about the Pythagorean theorem or the golden mean, A History of Mathematics is an essential reference that will help you explore the incredible history of mathematics and the men and women who created it.
Distills thousands of years of mathematics into a single, approachable volume
Covers mathematical discoveries, concepts, and thinkers, from Ancient Egypt to the present
Includes up-to-date references and an extensive chronological table of mathematical and general historical developments.
Whether you're interested in the age of Plato and Aristotle or Poincaré and Hilbert, whether you want to know more about the Pythagorean theorem or the golden mean, A History of Mathematics is an essential reference that will help you explore the incredible history of mathematics and the men and women who created it.
Paperback
Published January 1, 2011
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 of 1 review
February 22, 2026
This book is big. It took me a looong time to finish it. And it is not even that good. The main issue is that the mathematics concepts that are introduced are not properly explained (I had to go to Wikipedia regularly to finally understand many of them). It is also not rigorous in its wording (e.g. « If one wishes to find a line x such that x^2=ab […]»; if x is a line, it is an infinite geometric concept, not a number that can be squared).
I was also disappointed with the little space given to non-Western mathematics (the reason I looked for a book about the history of mathematics was that I wanted a comparison between the Greek and Chinese approaches): 10 pages on China, 20 pages on India out of 600 ….
But all in all, the book manages to cover quite a breath of information, mixing biographies of famous mathematicians with development of mathematical concepts and it is quite readable (otherwise I would not have finished it).
I was also disappointed with the little space given to non-Western mathematics (the reason I looked for a book about the history of mathematics was that I wanted a comparison between the Greek and Chinese approaches): 10 pages on China, 20 pages on India out of 600 ….
But all in all, the book manages to cover quite a breath of information, mixing biographies of famous mathematicians with development of mathematical concepts and it is quite readable (otherwise I would not have finished it).
Displaying 1 of 1 review