An Episodic History of Mathematics: Mathematical Culture Through Problem Solving

by Steven G. Krantz

An Episodic History of Mathematics delivers a series of snapshots of the history of mathematics from ancient times to the twentieth century. The intent is not to provide an encyclopaedic history of mathematics, but to give the reader a sense of mathematical culture and history. The book also acquaints the reader with the nature and techniques of mathematics through its exercises. The book introduces the genesis of many mathematical ideas. For example, while Krantz does not get into the nuts and bolts of Andrew Wiles's solution of Fermat's Last Theorem, he does describe some of the stream of thought that created the problem and led to its solution. The focus in this text is on doing - getting involved with the mathematics and solving problems. Every chapter ends with a detailed problem set that will provide the student with many avenues for exploration and many new entrees into the subject.

Genres: Mathematics

396 pages, Hardcover

First published February 1, 2010

Reviews

[Karla]

I had to read this for class, but for a graduate level history and math book., I found it to be well rewritten. There were some errors in the text, which can cause confusion. Overall a decent book and has some great resources and facts in it.

[Audrey]

The history was interesting and the math content was fairly easy to understand. A few chapters didn't fit very well with the rest of the book: no one in my class understood the treatment of the Poincaré disk, and the chapter on proof techniques might have fit better at the beginning of the book. Beware of huge errors and typos in formulas and problems. Some problems are thus unsolvable. The level of the book varies greatly: some parts could be understood by undergrad freshmen, while others would be challenging for masters level grad students. The writing and concept were good enough that I would enjoy seeing a second edition with more careful editing and refinement.

[Ali]

One of the most profound books I have ever read. Gives a clear historical introduction to several topics of mathematics ranging from the solving quadratic equations to Functional analysis. The best thing about the book was how it gives a clear introduction about the problem that leads to such solution why does mathematics looks like this and why do we use this methods. Some of the ideas in this book can be used to teach young kids mathematics in a new way to make them really love mathematics and be prepared for using it in real life.