Infinite ascent
Subtitle: a short history of mathematics
By: David Berlinski.
Edition: 1st ed.
Series: Modern Library chronicles
Publisher: Modern Library
Published: 2005
Place of publication: New York
Language: eng
Number of pages: 197
Subjects: Mathematicians; Mathematics; Mathematik; Philosophy; Popular works; History
Description: In Infinite Ascent, David Berlinski, the acclaimed author of The Advent of the Algorithm, A Tour of the Calculus, and Newton's Gift, tells the story of mathematics, bringing to life with wit, elegance, and deep insight a 2,500-year-long intellectual adventure. Berlinski focuses on the ten most important breakthroughs in mathematical history-and the men behind them. Here are Pythagoras, intoxicated by the mystical significance of numbers; Euclid, who gave the world the very idea of a proof; Leibniz and Newton, co-discoverers of the calculus; Cantor, master of the infinite; and Gödel, who in one magnificent proof placed everything in doubt. The elaboration of mathematical knowledge has meant nothing less than the unfolding of human consciousness itself. With his unmatched ability to make abstract ideas concrete and approachable, Berlinski both tells an engrossing tale and introduces us to the full power of what surely ranks as one of the greatest of all human endeavors.
Notes: Includes index.
Table of contents: title: Number; title: Proof; title: Analytic geometry; title: The calculus; title: Complex numbers; title: Groups; title: Non-Euclidean geometry; title: Sets; title: Incompleteness; title: The present.