This book is the English translation of Baumgart’s thesis on the early proofs of the quadratic reciprocity law (“Über das quadratische Reciprocitätsgesetz. Eine vergleichende Darstellung der Beweise”), first published in 1885. It is divided into two parts. The first part presents a very brief history of the development of number theory up to Legendre, as well as detailed descriptions of several early proofs of the quadratic reciprocity law. The second part highlights Baumgart’s comparisons...

In considering the history of modern mathematics two questions at once arise:(1) What limitations shall be placed upon the term Mathematics?(2) What force shall be assigned to the word Modern? In other words, how shall Modern Mathematics be defined?In these pages the term Mathematics will be limited to the domain of pure science. Questions of the applications of the various branches will be considered only incidentally. Such great contributions as those of Newton in t...

The algebra of logic was founded by George Boole (1815-1864); it was developed and perfected by Ernst Schroder (1841-1902) The fundamental laws of this calculus were devised to express the principles of reasoning, the laws of thought But this calculus may be considered from the purely formal point of view, which is that of mathematics, as an algebra based upon certain principles arbitrarily laid down It belongs to the realm of philosophy to decide whether, and in what measure, this calculu...

Who first presented Pascal's triangle? (It was not Pascal.) Who first presented Hamiltonian graphs? (It was not Hamilton.) Who first presented Steiner triple systems? (It was not Steiner.) The history of mathematics is a well-studied and vibrant area of research, with books and scholarly articles published on various aspects of the subject. Yet, the history of combinatorics seems to have been largely overlooked. This book goes some way to redress this and serves two main purposes: 1) it co...

While most texts on real analysis are content to assume the real numbers, or to treat them only briefly, this text makes a serious study of the real number system and the issues it brings to light. Analysis needs the real numbers to model the line, and to support the concepts of continuity and measure. But these seemingly simple requirements lead to deep issues of set theory—uncountability, the axiom of choice, and large cardinals. In fact, virtually all the concepts of infinite set theory...

This comprehensive history traces the development of mathematical ideas and the careers of the men responsible for them. Volume 1 looks at the disciplines origins in Babylon and Egypt, the creation of geometry and trigonometry by the Greeks, and the role of mathematics in the medieval and early modern periods. Volume 2 focuses on calculus, the rise of analysis in the 19th century, and the number theories of Dedekind and Dirichlet. The concluding volume covers the revival of projective geom...

What is algebra? For some, it is an abstract language of x's and y’s. For mathematics majors and professional mathematicians, it is a world of axiomatically defined constructs like groups, rings, and fields. Taming the Unknown considers how these two seemingly different types of algebra evolved and how they relate. Victor Katz and Karen Parshall explore the history of algebra, from its roots in the ancient civilizations of Egypt, Mesopotamia, Greece, China, and India, through its ...

This book offers an original contribution to the foundations of logic and mathematics and focuses on the internal logic of mathematical theories, from arithmetic or number theory to algebraic geometry. Arithmetical logic is the term used to refer to the internal logic of classical arithmetic, here called Fermat-Kronecker arithmetic and combines Fermat’s method of infinite descent with Kronecker’s general arithmetic of homogeneous polynomials. The book also includes a treatment of theories ...

Hardy's Z-function, related to the Riemann zeta-function ζ(s), was originally utilised by G. H. Hardy to show that ζ(s) has infinitely many zeros of the form ½+it. It is now amongst the most important functions of analytic number theory, and the Riemann hypothesis, that all complex zeros lie on the line ½+it, is perhaps one of the best known and most important open problems in mathematics. Today Hardy's function has many applications; among others it is used for extensive calculations rega...

This book focuses on some of the major developments in the history of contemporary (19th and 20th century) mathematics as seen in the broader context of the development of science and culture. Avoiding technicalities, it displays the breadth of contrasting images of mathematics favoured by different countries, schools and historical movements, showing how the conception and practice of mathematics changed over time depending on the cultural and national context. Thus it provides an origina...

Paradoxes of the Infinite presents one of the most insightful, yet strangely unacknowledged, mathematical treatises of the 19th century: Dr Bernard Bolzano’s Paradoxien. This volume contains an adept translation of the work itself by Donald A. Steele S.J., and in addition an historical introduction, which includes a brief biography as well as an evaluation of Bolzano the mathematician, logician and physicist.

This is a semi-popular mathematics book aimed at a broad readership of mathematically literate scientists, especially mathematicians and physicists who are not experts in classical mechanics or KAM theory, and scientific-minded readers. Parts of the book should also appeal to less mathematically trained readers with an interest in the history or philosophy of science.The scope of the book is broad: it not only describes KAM theory in some detail, but also presents its historical context (t...