The authors' novel approach to some interesting mathematical concepts - not normally taught in other courses - places them in a historical and philosophical setting. Although primarily intended for mathematics undergraduates, the book will also appeal to students in the sciences, humanities and education with a strong interest in this subject. The first part proceeds from about 1800 BC to 1800 AD, discussing, for example, the Renaissance method for solving cubic and quartic equations and providing rigorous elementary proof that certain geometrical problems posed by the ancient Greeks cannot be solved by ruler and compass alone. The second part presents some fundamental topics of interest from the past two centuries, including proof of G del's incompleteness theorem, together with a discussion of its implications.

This is a concise introductory textbook for a one-semester (40-class) course in the history and philosophy of mathematics. It is written for mathemat ics majors, philosophy students, history of science students, and (future) secondary school mathematics teachers. The only prerequisite is a solid command of precalculus mathematics. On the one hand, this book is designed to help mathematics majors ac quire a philosophical and cultural understanding of their subject by means of doing actual mathematical problems from different eras. On the other hand, it is designed to help philosophy, history, and education students come to a deeper understanding of the mathematical side of culture by means of writing short essays. The way I myself teach the material, stu dents are given a choice between mathematical assignments, and more his torical or philosophical assignments. (Some sample assignments and tests are found in an appendix to this book. ) This book differs from standard textbooks in several ways. First, it is shorter, and thus more accessible to students who have trouble coping with vast amounts of reading. Second, there are many detailed explanations of the important mathematical procedures actually used by famous mathe maticians, giving more mathematically talented students a greater oppor tunity to learn the history and philosophy by way of problem solving.

Bringing together geometry and philosophy, this book undertakes a strikingly original study of the origins and significance of the Pythagorean theorem. Thales, whom Aristotle called the first philosopher and who was an older contemporary of Pythagoras, posited the principle of a unity from which all things come, and back into which they return upon dissolution. He held that all appearances are only alterations of this basic unity and there can be no change in the cosmos. Such an account requires some fundamental geometric figure out of which appearances are structured. Robert Hahn argues that Thales came to the conclusion that it was the right triangle: by recombination and repackaging, all alterations can be explained from that figure. This idea is central to what the discovery of the Pythagorean theorem could have meant to Thales and Pythagoras in the sixth century BCE. With more than two hundred illustrations and figures, Hahn provides a series of geometric proofs for this lost narrative, tracing it from Thales to Pythagoras and the Pythagoreans who followed, and then finally to Plato's Timaeus. Uncovering the philosophical motivation behind the discovery of the theorem, Hahn's book will enrich the study of ancient philosophy and mathematics alike.

This book presents first-year calculus roughly in the order in which it was first discovered. The first two chapters show how the ancient calculations of practical problems led to infinite series, differential and integral calculus and to differential equations. The establishment of mathematical rigour for these subjects in the 19th century for one and several variables is treated in chapters III and IV. Many quotations are included to give the flavor of the history. The text is complemented by a large number of examples, calculations and mathematical pictures and will provide stimulating and enjoyable reading for students, teachers, as well as researchers.

This book introduces the concepts of linear algebra through the careful study of two and three-dimensional Euclidean geometry. This approach makes it possible to start with vectors, linear transformations, and matrices in the context of familiar plane geometry and to move directly to topics such as dot products, determinants, eigenvalues, and quadratic forms. The later chapters deal with n-dimensional Euclidean space and other finite-dimensional vector space.

This book presents modern vector analysis and carefully describes the classical notation and understanding of the theory. It covers all of the classical vector analysis in Euclidean space, as well as on manifolds, and goes on to introduce de Rham Cohomology, Hodge theory, elementary differential geometry, and basic duality. The material is accessible to readers and students with only calculus and linear algebra as prerequisites. A large number of illustrations, exercises, and tests with answers make this book an invaluable self-study source.

Based on a translation of the 6th edition of Gewöhnliche Differentialgleichungen by Wolfgang Walter, this edition includes additional treatments of important subjects not found in the German text as well as material that is seldom found in textbooks, such as new proofs for basic theorems. This unique feature of the book calls for a closer look at contents and methods with an emphasis on subjects outside the mainstream. Exercises, which range from routine to demanding, are dispersed throughout the text and some include an outline of the solution. Applications from mechanics to mathematical biology are included and solutions of selected exercises are found at the end of the book. It is suitable for mathematics, physics, and computer science graduate students to be used as collateral reading and as a reference source for mathematicians. Readers should have a sound knowledge of infinitesimal calculus and be familiar with basic notions from linear algebra; functional analysis is developed in the text when needed.