Bibliograph

Mathematics, an illustrated history of numbers, contributors: Richard Beatty ; James Bow ; Mike Goldsmith ; Dan Green ; Tom Jackson ; Robert Snedden ; Susan Watt ; edited by Tom Jackson

Type

Label

Mathematics, an illustrated history of numbers, contributors: Richard Beatty ; James Bow ; Mike Goldsmith ; Dan Green ; Tom Jackson ; Robert Snedden ; Susan Watt ; edited by Tom Jackson

Language

eng

Bibliography note

Includes bibliographical references (page 140) and index

resource.biographical

contains biographical information

Illustrations

illustrationsportraits

Index

index present

Literary Form

non fiction

Main title

Mathematics

Nature of contents

bibliography

Oclc number

1003055852

Responsibility statement

contributors: Richard Beatty ; James Bow ; Mike Goldsmith ; Dan Green ; Tom Jackson ; Robert Snedden ; Susan Watt ; edited by Tom Jackson

Series statement

Ponderables: 100 breakthroughs that changed history: who did what when

Sub title

an illustrated history of numbers

Summary

Legend has it that the first magic square, where all lines and diagonals add up to the same figure, was revealed more than 2,000 years ago when a river turtle appeared to have ancient Chinese numerals inscribed on sections of its shell. Patterns are everywhere in nature, and counting, measuring, and calculating changes, are as old as civilization itself. Here is the essential illustrated guide to mathematics that explores the work of history's greatest mathematicians. From the teasing genius of Pierre de Fermat, who said he knew the answers but rarely gave them up, to the fractal pattern discovered by Waclaw Sierpinski, here are 100 landmark moments. Behind each breakthrough, there's a story about a great thinker and the confounding puzzle that became a discovery and changed the way we see the world

Target audience

general

Classification