Mathematics: A Cultural Approach

by Morris Kline

This book is intended for one-year courses addressed to liberal arts students. The text attempts to show what mathematics is, how mathematics has developed from human efforts to understand and master nature, what the mathematical approach to real problems can accomplish and the extent to which mathematics has molded our civilization and our culture. The subject is shown to be related to physical science, philosophy, logic, religion, literature, the social sciences, music, painting and other arts.

Genres: Mathematics, History

701 pages, Hardcover

First published December 1, 1962

About the author

Morris Kline was a Professor of Mathematics, a writer on the history, philosophy, and teaching of mathematics, and also a popularizer of mathematical subjects.

Reviews

[Peter · Rating 5 out of 5]

Kline's Mathematics: A Cultural Approach is a decent supplement to traditional math studies, with historical context that’s much more comprehensive than the usual disconnected tidbits found in regular textbooks. Author is not completely consistent, most of the time his presentation is Aristotelian, providing clear and logical explanations. However, his occasional Whiteheadian perspective feels like a self-imposed mental handicap. For example, he effectively explains how negative distance or time can be interpreted and even provides exercises to reinforce this concept. Yet, a few chapters later, he forgets what he said and dismisses a negative result in a problem concluding that "mathematics departed from physical reality," which it clearly didn’t. That’s unfortunate. The book was still worth a read though.

[Erik Graff · Rating 3 out of 5]

I only took three years of mathematics in high school and nothing afterwards. As in symbolic logic later on in graduate school, I always enjoyed geometry and algebra, but had little regard for either beyond the fun of them. This book was an attempt to take what I had learned more seriously.