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When mathematics itself amy be a formidable subject for many, the lives and accomplishments of history's greatest mathematicians --from Pythagoras to Cantor --offer fascinating reading.
In this delightful and informative recounting, for example we learn Pasacal's life was abruptly changed by a family of fanatical bonesetters, how Descartes was influenced by three dreams and how the scholarly Swiss Leonhard Euler(whose famous conjecture was finally disproved in 1959, after 177 years) almost ended up in Russian navy.
Here, too Cardano, the gambler who became the sizteenth century's most fashionable doctor: Archimedes, Newton and Gauss, often considered the three greatest mathematicians of all times; Lobatchevsky, inventor of non-Euclidean geometry ; and the tragic Galois, a founder of modern higher algebra.
In addition to a wealth of interesting and informative anecdotes, presented in a delightfully conversational style, the author offers lucid, accessible explanations of these thinker's invaluable contributions to the edifice of modern mathematical thought and to man's understanding of himself and his universe.
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Previews available in: English
Subjects
Mathematicians, Biography, Mathematicians, biographyShowing 8 featured editions. View all 8 editions?
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1
Of Men and Numbers: The Story of the Great Mathematicians
2023, Indy Pub
in English
1088152341 9781088152348
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2
Of Men and Numbers: The Story of the Great Mathematicians
2016, CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform
in English
1537609165 9781537609164
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3
Of men and numbers: the story of the great mathematicians
1996, Dover Publications
in English
0486289737 9780486289731
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Of Men and Numbers: The Story of the Great Mathematicians
1961-01-01, Dodd Mead
0396044816 9780396044819
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Book Details
First Sentence
"The names of the men who pioneered in mathematics are lost in the same ancient mists that obscure all of mankind's early history. There are no records of the cavemen who, eons ago, first conceived the idea of counting: 1,2,3,4-many. As language evolved, so did counting and very simple arithmetic. Men added 2 arrows to 3 arrows and got 5. Often several sets of numbers were used, depending on ht objects being counted. Vestiges of these multi-number systems occur even in modern usage where a couple, a pair, a brace, and a duo all mean "2." Millennia went by. Hundreds of generations rose from and sank back into the earth before the spoken number evolved into a written one. At first the notation system consisted simply of pictures of each object being counted- three bison painted on a cave wall recorded the number of animals a hunter had killed; four arrows scratched into a piece of bark indicated the quantity of his weapons. Even the early Egyptians used pictures of objects to show "how many." Neither the s poken nor the written number systems were as yet abstract, although pictures were the fist step in that direction, for a picture itself is not the actual object but only a symbol of it. Yet for each object being counted, a corresponding number of pictures were used. Numbers could not yet be thought of apart from the objects or pictures thereof being counted. Number was not a separate entity."
Edition Notes
Includes bibliography.
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Excerpts
Millennia went by. Hundreds of generations rose from and sank back into the earth before the spoken number evolved into a written one. At first the notation system consisted simply of pictures of each object being counted- three bison painted on a cave wall recorded the number of animals a hunter had killed; four arrows scratched into a piece of bark indicated the quantity of his weapons. Even the early Egyptians used pictures of objects to show "how many." Neither the s poken nor the written number systems were as yet abstract, although pictures were the fist step in that direction, for a picture itself is not the actual object but only a symbol of it. Yet for each object being counted, a corresponding number of pictures were used. Numbers could not yet be thought of apart from the objects or pictures thereof being counted. Number was not a separate entity.
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- Created April 1, 2008
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September 28, 2020 | Edited by MARC Bot | import existing book |
October 8, 2017 | Edited by MARC Bot | merge duplicate works of 'Of men and numbers' |
August 12, 2011 | Edited by ImportBot | add ia_box_id to scanned books |
April 29, 2011 | Edited by ImportBot | Added new cover |
April 1, 2008 | Created by an anonymous user | Imported from Scriblio MARC record |