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The Fontana history of the mathematical sciences: The rainbow of mathematics
This is an exploration of the development of mathematics, from the ancient to the modern world. It covers all the major aspects of the discipline - early geometry, the growth of calculus and mechanics, the development of algebra, and the interplay between mathematics and modern physics.
- GenresMathematicsHistory
800 pages, Paperback
First published May 1, 2000
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November 29, 2025
This is just awesome! This is exactly what's missing from textbooks. Oh yeah, you get little blurbs about Descartes and Pascal but this is the whole story. This is what makes mathematics interesting. We enforce the study of the corpus without any recognition that our mathematics is an epic human achievement.
It gets pretty advanced. What we teach in high school was really understood by the 18th century so maybe half the book is kinda wasted. It really helped me when students would ask me "why" we had to study this stuff if I could wax poetic about who and how it was figured out.
A good read if your mathematically inclined. Indespensible if you teach the stuff.
It gets pretty advanced. What we teach in high school was really understood by the 18th century so maybe half the book is kinda wasted. It really helped me when students would ask me "why" we had to study this stuff if I could wax poetic about who and how it was figured out.
A good read if your mathematically inclined. Indespensible if you teach the stuff.
Displaying 1 of 1 review