Spanning six continents and thousands of years of untold stories, as well as just about every mathematical discipline, a renowned math historian and a science journalist/mathematician make the case that the history of math is infinitely deeper, broader and richer than the narrative we think we know.

From the Ishango Bone of central Africa and the Inca quipu of South America to the dawn of modern mathematics, The Crest of the Peacock makes it clear that human beings everywhere have been capable of advanced and innovative mathematical thinking. George Gheverghese Joseph takes us on a breathtaking multicultural tour of the roots and shoots of non-European mathematics. He shows us the deep influence that the Egyptians and Babylonians had on the Greeks,...

"Professional, Scholarly Cover/Jacket Award, New York Book Show" Paul J. Nahin is the author of many bestselling popular math books, including Mrs. Perkins's Electric Quilt, In Praise of Simple Physics, and An Imaginary Tale (all Princeton). He is professor emeritus of electrical engineering at the University of New Hampshire. In the mid-eighteenth century, Swiss-born mathematician Leonhard Euler developed a formula so innovative and complex that...

"Over Plato's Academy in ancient Athens, it is said, hung a sign: "Let no one ignorant of geometry enter here." Plato thought no one could do philosophy without also doing mathematics. In The Waltz of Reason, mathematician and philosopher Karl Sigmund shows us why. Charting an epic story spanning millennia and continents, Sigmund shows that philosophy and mathematics are inextricably intertwined, mutual partners in a reeling search for truth. Beginning...

"Bertrand Russell wrote that mathematics can exalt "as surely as poetry." This is especially true of one equation: ei(pi) + 1 = 0, the brainchild of Leonhard Euler, the Mozart of mathematics. More than two centuries after Euler's death, it is still regarded as a conceptual diamond of unsurpassed beauty. Called Euler's identity or God's equation, it includes just five numbers but represents an astonishing revelation of hidden connections. It ties together...

Provides an introduction to mathematics and its uses, discussing numbers and counting, shapes and measurements, patterns and sequences, data and statistics, and probability and logic.

This book teaches about the history of humankind's relationship with numbers, shapes, and patterns. This revised edition features up-to-date coverage of topics such as Fermat's Last Theorem and the Poincare conjecture, in addition to recent advances in areas such as finite group theory and computer-aided proofs. Includes information about the age of Plato and Aristotle, Poincare and Hilbert, the Pythagorean theorem, the golden mean. It explores the...