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Bezig met laden... Mathematics: A Concise History and Philosophydoor W.S. Anglin
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 Meld je aan bij LibraryThing om erachter te komen of je dit boek goed zult vinden. Op dit moment geen Discussie gesprekken over dit boek.  rashtastic | Nov 13, 2009 |  geen besprekingen | voeg een bespreking toe
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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. Geen bibliotheekbeschrijvingen gevonden. |
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 Google Books — Bezig met laden...GenresDewey Decimale Classificatie (DDC)510.9Natural sciences and mathematics Mathematics General Mathematics Biography And HistoryLC-classificatieWaarderingGemiddelde: Geen beoordelingen.Ben jij dit?Word een LibraryThing Auteur. |
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It's a pleasant book, something useful: a very accessible run through the history of mathematics with a paragraph per major contributor, small sections, really an interesting development of what must inevitably be a hopelessly incomplete history of mathematics. I liked it. This is to paint a picture of what developments have been like. Anglin keeps our interest with philosophical consequences of the theorems developed. Once Plato and Aristotle are mentioned, their arguments don't go away. So it's a fun book, suitable for a first study of the history of mathematics. Not for a semester-long course or anything; this is a couple days of study to build up a context for a fuller exploration. There are problems in the book allowing you to really follow along some of the brief discoveries.
But. Anglin decides to not separate his Christian faith from his mathematics. The (otherwise excellent) exercises include some comparisons of theorems to Psalms and apologetic arguments. A concise history necessarily has tragic omissions of important mathematicians and significant developments (e.g. the three lines for Legendre), but Anglin seems to find space for Ezekiel and St. Augustine. Some mentioned mathematicians get less space than that devoted to arguing that E.T. Bell is a "Real Madman" for his treatment of Pascal in (the wonderful) Men of Mathematics.
It's funny. But it's still a good baby introduction to the history of math, something enabling this math major to greater appreciation of study.