Unknown quantity : a real and imagined history of Algebra - Hardcover

John Derbyshire

3.9

755 ratings by Goodreads

9781843545699: Unknown quantity : a real and imagined history of Algebra

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1843545691 ISBN 13: 9781843545699

Publisher: Atlantic Books, 2007

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Hardcover: 382 pages Publisher: Atlantic Books; New Ed edition (2007) Language: English ISBN-10: 1843545691 ISBN-13: 978-1843545699 Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.5 x 1.6 inches Shipping Weight: 1.7 pounds

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About the Author:

John Derbyshire

From Publishers Weekly:

This book's title is deceiving, for Derbyshire offers a very real and very entertaining survey of the development of algebra. "Real" and "imaginary" refer to types of numbers, and Derbyshire (Prime Obsession) opens with a basic primer on the various flavors of numbers and polynomials before looking at algebra's development over 3,000 years. As he explains how algebraic notation wended its way from Sumerian scratches on clay to such contemporary mathematical structures as Calabi-Yau manifolds (used by Andrew Wiles to solve Fermat's Last Theorem), Derbyshire introduces readers to the colorful figures who made contributions: Hypatia, whose death in Alexandria at the hands of an angry Christian mob marked the end of mathematics in the ancient world; 19th-century mathematician Hermann Grassmann, who published a 3,000-page translation of the ancient Hindu text the Rig Veda after his work on vector spaces was ignored; and Emanuel Lasker, more famous as the longest-reigning world chess champion than for his contributions to ring theory. This book will appeal to readers who relished the rigorous mathematical discursions interspersed with informal historical vignettes of David Berlinski's A Tour of the Calculus, but less mathematically inclined readers more interested in the history of science will also enjoy it. (May)
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PublisherAtlantic Books
Publication date2007
ISBN 10 1843545691
ISBN 13 9781843545699
BindingHardcover
Edition number1
Number of pages382
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Unknown Quantity: A Real and Imagined History of Algebra

Derbyshire, John

Published by Atlantic, London (2007)

ISBN 10: 1843545691 ISBN 13: 9781843545699

New Hardcover First Edition Quantity: 1

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Rose's Books IOBA
(Harwich Port, MA, U.S.A.)

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Book Description Cloth. Condition: New. Dust Jacket Condition: New. First British Edition. In this elegant and engaging book, the author of Prime Obsession gives form to the beauty and mystery of that most abstract of mathematical disciplines, algebra. Derbyshire brings to life the extraordinary historical characters who, through the centuries and around the world, played a role in its genesis: Diophantus, the ancient father of algebra; the dazzling and tragic Hypatia, perhaps the only mathematician in history to be skinned alive by an angry mob; and the dashing, romantic Evariste Galois, who developed algebra to higher levels of abstraction before being killed, at age 20, in a pistol duel. Seller Inventory # 014659

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