The central theme of these essays is the nature and role of mathematics, its growth and spread, and its involvement with ever-wider areas of knowledge. The author attempts to determine the decisive and creative aspects of the abstractness" of mathematics which have made it the dominant intellectual force that it is. He frequently confronts the mathematics and physics of today with the mathematics and physics of the Greeks, which, however renowned, was not yet capable of this abstractness. Originally published in 1966. The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These paperback editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.

Product Description: This book presents, in his own words, the life of Hugo Steinhaus (1887–1972), noted Polish mathematician of Jewish background, educator, and mathematical popularizer. A student of Hilbert, a pioneer of the foundations of probability and game theory, and a contributor to the development of functional analysis, he was one of those instrumental to the extraordinary flowering of Polish mathematics before and after World War I...read more

Product Description: This book shows, for the very first time, how love stories a vital issue in our lives can be tentatively described with classical mathematics. Focus is on the derivation and analysis of reliable models that allow one to formally describe the expected evolution of love affairs from the initial state of indifference to the final romantic regime...read more

Product Description: This volume explores how mathematical propositions are discovered, how they are demonstrated in various mathematical cultures -- ancient Greece, classical Islam, medieval and modern Europe, India, China, and pre-modern Japan -- and how they are shaped in texts and stylistic traditions...read more

Product Description: This unique book overturns our ideas about non-Euclidean geometry and the fine-structure constant, and attempts to solve long-standing mathematical problems. It describes a general theory of "recursive" hyperbolic functions based on the "Mathematics of Harmony," and the "golden," "silver," and other "metallic" proportions...read more

Product Description: A zebrafish, the hull of a miniature ship, a mathematical equation and a food chain - what do these things have in common? They are examples of models used by scientists to isolate and study particular aspects of the world around us...read more

Is there any knowledge in the world which is so certain that no reasonable man could doubt it? This question, which at first sight might not seem difficult, is really one of the most difficult that can be asked. When we have realized the obstacles in the way of a straightforward and confident answer, we shall be well launched on the study of philosophy—for philosophy is merely the attempt to answer such ultimate questions, not carelessly and dogmatically, as we do in ordinary life and even in the sciences, but critically, after exploring all that makes such questions puzzling, and after realizing all the vagueness and confusion that underlie our ordinary ideas.

Product Description: If you have a question about History of Science and Mathematics this is the book with the answers. History of Science and Mathematics: Questions and Answers takes some of the best questions and answers asked on the hsm.stackexchange...read more

Product Description: From the Preface: "Jack Kiefer's sudden and unexpected death in August, 1981, stunned his family, friends, and colleagues. Memorial services in Cincinnati, Ohio, Berkeley, California, and Ithaca, New York, shortly after his death, brought forth tributes from so many who shared in his life...read more

Product Description: Dieses Werk greift die Leibnizforschung von Margot Faak wieder auf und erlaubt dem Leser einen tiefen Einblick in den politischen Werdegang von Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz, insbesondere seine Zeit als Reichshofrat. Bis heute ist diese Monographie einzigartig in ihrer Behandlung des Themas...read more

Product Description: Where and how do we, as a culture, get our ideas about mathematics and about who can engage with mathematical knowledge? Sara N. Hottinger uses a cultural studies approach to address how our ideas about mathematics shape our individual and cultural relationship to the field...read more

Product Description: Originally published in 1950 and written by the renowned mathematician, university professor, author and World War II codebreaker W. Gordon Welchman (1906-85), this textbook contains a treatment of projective geometry and provides a solid introduction to similar studies in space of more than two dimensions...read more

Product Description: Originally published in 1938, this book provides a series of exercises in arithmetic intended to take pupils ten minutes to complete. The text was created to train pupils in speed and accuracy in the fundamentals of arithmetic, avoiding unnecessary written work...read more

Product Description: Originally published in 1916, this book was written to provide readers with a concise account of the leading properties of quartic surfaces possessing nodes or nodal curves. A brief summary of the leading results discussed in the book is included in the form of an introduction...read more

Product Description: Originally published in 1934, this informative textbook was written by renowned mathematician and astronomer Duncan Sommerville (1879-1934). Primarily aimed at undergraduates, the book carefully starts from the very beginning of the subject, but also engages with concepts which are considered profoundly more specialist in the field of geometry...read more