The Great Invention of Algebra provides an insight into the work of Thomas Harriot, an innovative thinker and practitioner in several branches of the mathematical sciences, including navigation, astronomy, optics, geometry and algebra. This book focuses on one hundred and forty of these manuscript pages and concentrates on Harriot's work on the structure and solution of equations.

The Greate Invention of Algebra: Thomas Harriot's Treatise on Equations (Mathematics)

Stedall, Jacqueline

History

Oxford University Press

Writing in 1939, the historian of mathematics Herbert Turnbull described John Pell as 'a mysterious figure' and commented: 'he may well prove to be an unsuspected genius, for his manuscripts appear to survive, unexamined, in the British Museum.' Turnbull's expectations were pitched a little too high: although Pell was a man of unusual intellectual abilities, and one of the leading mathematicians of his day, his work does not merit any use of the term 'genius'. The term 'mysterious', on the other hand, was well deserved; and no less mysterious is the fact that the great majority of Pell's voluminous manuscripts have remained almost entirely unexamined for more than sixty years after Turnbull published those comments. This first full length biography of John Pell (1611-1685) by Malcolm and Stedall reconstructs the life and times of this central and enigmatic mathematician and scholar. The text consists of over 600 pages and is presented in three parts: Part 1 "The life of John Pell (1611-1685)" is a thoroughly researched new account of Pell's life; Part 2 "The mathematics of John Pell" explores Pell's contribution to mathematics; and Part 3 "The Pell-Cavendish correspondence" is the first complete edition of Pell's correspondence, with detailed annotations. For historians of mathematics and science, philosophers, social and political historians and early modern intellectual historians, this superb work of scholarship is essential reading.

John Pell (1611-1685) and His Correspondence with Sir Charles Cavendish: The Mental World of an Early Modern Mathematician

Science & Math

Malcolm, Noel

Mathematics

This Handbook explores the history of mathematics under a series of themes which raise new questions about what mathematics has been and what it has meant to practice it. It addresses questions of who creates mathematics, who uses it, and how. A broader understanding of mathematical practitioners naturally leads to a new appreciation of what counts as a historical source. Material and oral evidence is drawn upon as well as an unusual array of textual sources. Further, the ways in which people have chosen to express themselves are as historically meaningful as the contents of the mathematics they have produced. Mathematics is not a fixed and unchanging entity. New questions, contexts, and applications all influence what counts as productive ways of thinking. Because the history of mathematics should interact constructively with other ways of studying the past, the contributors to this book come from a diverse range of intellectual backgrounds in anthropology, archaeology, art history, philosophy, and literature, as well as history of mathematics more traditionally understood. The thirty-six self-contained, multifaceted chapters, each written by a specialist, are arranged under three main headings: 'Geographies and Cultures', 'Peoples and Practices', and 'Interactions and Interpretations'. Together they deal with the mathematics of 5000 years, but without privileging the past three centuries, and an impressive range of periods and places with many points of cross-reference between chapters. The key mathematical cultures of North America, Europe, the Middle East, India, and China are all represented here as well as areas which are not often treated in mainstream history of mathematics, such as Russia, the Balkans, Vietnam, and South America. This Handbook will be a vital reference for graduates and researchers in mathematics, historians of science, and general historians.

The Oxford Handbook of the History of Mathematics (Oxford Handbooks)

Robson, Eleanor

Aimed at students and researchers in Mathematics, History of Mathematics and Science, this book examines the development of mathematics from the late 16th Century to the end of the 20th Century. Mathematics has an amazingly long and rich history, it has been practised in every society and culture, with written records reaching back in some cases as far as four thousand years. This book will focus on just a small part of the story, in a sense the most recent chapter of it: the mathematics of western Europe from the sixteenth to the nineteenth centuries. Each chapter will focus on a particular topic and outline its history with the provision of facsimiles of primary source material along with explanatory notes and modern interpretations. Almost every source is given in its original form, not just in the language in which it was first written, but as far as practicable in the layout and typeface in which it was read by contemporaries. This book is designed to provide mathematics undergraduates with some historical background to the material that is now taught universally to students in their final years at school and the first years at college or university: the core subjects of calculus, analysis, and abstract algebra, along with others such as mechanics, probability, and number theory. All of these evolved into their present form in a relatively limited area of western Europe from the mid sixteenth century onwards, and it is there that we find the major writings that relate in a recognizable way to contemporary mathematics.

Mathematics Emerging: A Sourcebook 1540 - 1900

Chemistry

This Very Short Introduction explores the rich historical and cultural diversity of mathematical practice, ranging from the distant past to the present. Historian Jacqueline Stedall shows that mathematical ideas are far from being fixed, but are adapted and changed by their passage across periods and cultures. The book illuminates some of the varied contexts in which people have learned, used, and handed on mathematics, drawing on fascinating case studies from a range of times and places, including early imperial China, the medieval Islamic world, and nineteenth-century Britain. By drawing out some common threads, Stedall provides an introduction not only to the mathematics of the past but to the history of mathematics as a modern academic discipline.

The History of Mathematics: A Very Short Introduction

Historical Study & Educational Resources

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Stedall, Jacqueline. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Stedall, Jacqueline

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Stedall, Jacqueline. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

The Greate Invention of Algebra: Thomas Harriot's Treatise on Equations (Mathematics)

John Pell (1611-1685) and His Correspondence with Sir Charles Cavendish: The Mental World of an Early Modern Mathematician

The Oxford Handbook of the History of Mathematics (Oxford Handbooks)

Mathematics Emerging: A Sourcebook 1540 - 1900

The History of Mathematics: A Very Short Introduction

The Oxford Handbook of the History of Mathematics (Oxford Handbooks)