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Books > Science & Mathematics > Mathematics > History of mathematics
In 1844, the Prussian schoolmaster Hermann Grassmann (1809-77) published Die Lineale Ausdehnungslehre (also reissued in the Cambridge Library Collection). This revolutionary work anticipated the modern theory of vector spaces and exterior algebras. It was little understood at the time and the few sympathetic mathematicians, rather than trying harder to comprehend it, urged Grassmann to write an extended version of his theories. The present work is that version, first published in 1862. However, this also proved too far ahead of its time and Grassmann turned to historical linguistics, in which field his contributions are still remembered. His mathematical work eventually found champions such as Hankel, Peano, Whitehead and Elie Cartan, and it is now recognised for the brilliant achievement that it was in the history of mathematics.
This monograph provides a concise introduction to the tangled issues of communication between Russian and Western scientists during the Cold War. It details the extent to which mid-twentieth-century researchers and practitioners were able to communicate with their counterparts on the opposite side of the Iron Curtain. Drawing upon evidence from a range of disciplines, a decade-by-decade account is first given of the varying levels of contact that existed via private correspondence and conference attendance. Next, the book examines the exchange of publications and the availability of one side's work in the libraries of the other. It then goes on to compare general language abilities on opposite sides of the Iron Curtain, with comments on efforts in the West to learn Russian and the systematic translation of Russian work. In the end, author Christopher Hollings argues that physical accessibility was generally good in both directions, but that Western scientists were afflicted by greater linguistic difficulties than their Soviet counterparts whose major problems were bureaucratic in nature. This volume will be of interest to historians of Cold War science, particularly those who study communications and language issues. In addition, it will be an ideal starting pointing for anyone looking to know more about this fascinating area.
The Swiss mathematician Jakob Steiner (1796-1863) came from a poor background with an incomplete education, yet such was his mathematical talent that eventually the Prussian university system adapted itself to him rather than he to it. A geometer in an age dominated by analysts, he pursued his own interests in his own way. The elegant results which bear his name - including Steiner circles, systems and symmetrisation - are known to most mathematicians today. Considered by many to be the greatest geometer since Apollonius of Perga, Steiner did important work on systemising geometry, laying the foundation for much later work on projective geometry. Edited by the eminent mathematician Karl Weierstrass (1815-97), this two-volume edition of Steiner's collected works offers scholars access to his influential writings in the original German. Volume 1 was published in 1881.
The Greek astronomer Aristarchus of Samos was active in the third century BCE, more than a thousand years before Copernicus presented his model of a heliocentric solar system. It was Aristarchus, however, who first suggested - in a work that is now lost - that the planets revolve around the sun. Edited by Sir Thomas Little Heath (1861 1940), this 1913 publication contains the ancient astronomer's only surviving treatise, which does not propound the heliocentric hypothesis. The Greek text is based principally on the tenth-century manuscript Vaticanus Graecus 204. Heath also provides a facing-page English translation and explanatory notes. The treatise is prefaced by a substantial history of ancient Greek astronomy, ranging from Homer's first mention of constellations to work by Heraclides of Pontus in the fourth century BCE relating to the Earth's rotation. Heath's collection of translated ancient texts, Greek Astronomy (1932), is also reissued in this series.
By the end of the eighteenth century, British mathematics had been stuck in a rut for a hundred years. Calculus was still taught in the style of Newton, with no recognition of the great advances made in continental Europe. The examination system at Cambridge even mandated the use of Newtonian notation. As discontented undergraduates, Charles Babbage (1791 1871) and John Herschel (1792 1871) formed the Analytical Society in 1811. The group, including William Whewell and George Peacock, sought to promote the new continental mathematics. Babbage's preface to the present work, first published in 1813, may be considered the movement's manifesto. He provided the first paper here, and Herschel the two others. Although the group was relatively short-lived, its ideas took root as its erstwhile members rose to prominence. As the society's sole publication, this remains a significant text in the history of British mathematics.
The Belgian polymath Lambert Adolphe Jacques Quetelet (1796-1874) was regarded by John Maynard Keynes as a 'parent of modern statistical method'. Applying his training in mathematics to the physical and psychological dimensions of individuals, his Treatise on Man (also reissued in this series) identified the 'average man' in statistical terms. Reissued here is the 1839 English translation of his 1828 work, which appeared at a time when the application of probability was moving away from gaming tables towards more useful areas of life. Quetelet believed that probability had more influence on human affairs than had been accepted, and this work marked his move from a focus on mathematics and the natural sciences to the study of statistics and, eventually, the investigation of social phenomena. Written as a summary of lectures given in Brussels, the work was translated from French by the engineer Richard Beamish (1798-1873).
The Cambridge polymath Isaac Barrow (1630 77) gained recognition as a theologian, classicist and mathematician. This one-volume collection of his mathematical writings, dutifully edited by one of his successors as Master of Trinity College, William Whewell (1794 1866), was first published in 1860. Containing significant contributions to the field, the work consists chiefly of the lectures on mathematics, optics and geometry that Barrow gave in his position as Lucasian Professor of Mathematics between 1663 and 1669. It includes the first general statement of the fundamental theorem of calculus as well as Barrow's 'differential triangle'. Not only did he precede Isaac Newton in the Lucasian chair, but his works were also to be found in the library of Gottfried Leibniz. However, rather than considering arid questions of priority, scholars can see in these Latin texts the status of advanced mathematics just before the great revolution of Newton and Leibniz.
As senior wrangler in 1854, Edward John Routh (1831-1907) was the man who beat James Clerk Maxwell in the Cambridge mathematics tripos. He went on to become a highly successful coach in mathematics at Cambridge, producing a total of twenty-seven senior wranglers during his career - an unrivalled achievement. In addition to his considerable teaching commitments, Routh was also a very able and productive researcher who contributed to the foundations of control theory and to the modern treatment of mechanics. This two-volume textbook, which first appeared in 1891-2 and is reissued here in the revised edition that was published between 1896 and 1902, offers extensive coverage of statics, providing formulae and examples throughout for the benefit of students. While the growth of modern physics and mathematics may have forced out the problem-based mechanics of Routh's textbooks from the undergraduate syllabus, the utility and importance of his work is undiminished.
As senior wrangler in 1854, Edward John Routh (1831-1907) was the man who beat James Clerk Maxwell in the Cambridge mathematics tripos. He went on to become a highly successful coach in mathematics at Cambridge, producing a total of twenty-seven senior wranglers during his career - an unrivalled achievement. In addition to his considerable teaching commitments, Routh was also a very able and productive researcher who contributed to the foundations of control theory and to the modern treatment of mechanics. This two-volume textbook, which first appeared in 1891-2 and is reissued here in the revised edition that was published between 1896 and 1902, offers extensive coverage of statics, providing formulae and examples throughout for the benefit of students. While the growth of modern physics and mathematics may have forced out the problem-based mechanics of Routh's textbooks from the undergraduate syllabus, the utility and importance of his work is undiminished.
When George Shoobridge Carr (1837-1914) wrote his Synopsis of Elementary Results he intended it as an aid to students preparing for degree-level examinations such as the Cambridge Mathematical Tripos, for which he provided private tuition. He would have been startled to see the two volumes, first published in 1880 and 1886 respectively, reissued more than a century later. Notably, in 1903 the work fell into the hands of the Indian prodigy Srinivasa Ramanujan (1887-1920) and greatly influenced his mathematical education. It is the interaction between a methodical teaching aid and the soaring spirit of a self-taught genius which gives this reissue its interest. Volume 1, presented here in its 1886 printing, contains sections on mathematical tables, algebra, the theory of equations, plane trigonometry, spherical trigonometry, elementary geometry and geometrical conics.
When George Shoobridge Carr (1837-1914) wrote his Synopsis of Elementary Results he intended it as an aid to students preparing for degree-level examinations such as the Cambridge Mathematical Tripos, for which he provided private tuition. He would have been startled to see the two volumes, first published in 1880 and 1886 respectively, reissued more than a century later. Notably, in 1903 the work fell into the hands of the Indian prodigy Srinivasa Ramanujan (1887-1920) and greatly influenced his mathematical education. It is the interaction between a methodical teaching aid and the soaring spirit of a self-taught genius which gives this reissue its interest. Volume 2 contains sections on differential calculus, integral calculus, calculus of variations, differential equations, calculus of finite differences, plane coordinate geometry and solid coordinate geometry. Also included is a historically valuable index insofar as it provides references to 890 volumes of 32 periodicals dating back to 1800.
This volume contains almost all mathematical papers published between 1943 and 1984 of Igor R. Shafarevich. They appear in English translations (with two exceptions, which are in French and German), some of the papers have been translated into English especially for this edition. Notes by Shafarevich at the end of the volume contain corrections and remarks on the subsequent development of the subjects considered in the papers. Igor R. Shafarevich has made a big impact on mathematics. He has worked in the fields of algebra, algebraic number theory, algebraic geometry and arithmetic algebraic geometry. His papers reflect his broad interests and include topics such as the proof of the general reciprocity law, the realization of groups as Galois groups of number fields, class field towers, algebraic surfaces (in particular K3 surfaces), elliptic curves, and finiteness results on abelian varieties, algebraic curves over number fields and lie algebras.
This book analyzes the origins of statistical thinking as well as its related philosophical questions, such as causality, determinism or chance. Bayesian and frequentist approaches are subjected to a historical, cognitive and epistemological analysis, making it possible to not only compare the two competing theories, but to also find a potential solution. The work pursues a naturalistic approach, proceeding from the existence of numerosity in natural environments to the existence of contemporary formulas and methodologies to heuristic pragmatism, a concept introduced in the book's final section. This monograph will be of interest to philosophers and historians of science and students in related fields. Despite the mathematical nature of the topic, no statistical background is required, making the book a valuable read for anyone interested in the history of statistics and human cognition.
Peter Gustav Lejeune Dirichlet (1805-59) may be considered the father of modern number theory. He studied in Paris, coming under the influence of mathematicians like Fourier and Legendre, and then taught at Berlin and Goettingen universities, where he was the successor to Gauss. This book contains lectures on number theory given by Dirichlet in 1856-7. They include his famous proofs of the class number theorem for binary quadratic forms and the existence of an infinity of primes in every appropriate arithmetical progression. The material was first published in 1863 by Richard Dedekind (1831-1916), professor at Braunschweig, who had been a junior colleague of Dirichlet at Goettingen. The second edition appeared in 1871; this reissue is of the third, revised and expanded, edition of 1879; a fourth edition appeared as late as 1894. The appendices contain further work by both Dirichlet and Dedekind.
From the Preface: "Jack Kiefer's sudden and unexpected death in August, 1981, stunned his family, friends, and colleagues. Memorial services in Cincinnati, Ohio, Berkeley, California, and Ithaca, New York, shortly after his death, brought forth tributes from so many who shared in his life. But it was only with the passing of time that those who were close to him or to his work were able to begin assessing Jack's impact as a person and intellect. About one year after his death, an expression of what Jack meant to all of us took place at the 1982 annual meeting of the Institute of Mathematical Statistics and the American Statistical Association. Jack had been intimately involved in the affairs of the IMS as a Fellow since 1957, as a member of the Council, as President in 1970, as Wald lecturer in 1962, and as a frequent author in its journals. It was doubly fitting that the site of this meeting was Cincinnati, the place of his birth and residence of his mother, other family, and friends. Three lectures were presented there at a Memorial Session - by Jerry Sacks dealing with Jack's personal life, by Larry Brown dealing with Jack's contributions in statistics and probability, and by Henry Wynn dealing with Jack's contributions to the design of experiments. These three papers, together with Jack's bibliography, were published in the Annals of Statistics and are included as an introduction to these volumes."
From the Preface: "Jack Kiefer's sudden and unexpected death in August, 1981, stunned his family, friends, and colleagues. Memorial services in Cincinnati, Ohio, Berkeley, California, and Ithaca, New York, shortly after his death, brought forth tributes from so many who shared in his life. But it was only with the passing of time that those who were close to him or to his work were able to begin assessing Jack's impact as a person and intellect. About one year after his death, an expression of what Jack meant to all of us took place at the 1982 annual meeting of the Institute of Mathematical Statistics and the American Statistical Association. Jack had been intimately involved in the affairs of the IMS as a Fellow since 1957, as a member of the Council, as President in 1970, as Wald lecturer in 1962, and as a frequent author in its journals. It was doubly fitting that the site of this meeting was Cincinnati, the place of his birth and residence of his mother, other family, and friends. Three lectures were presented there at a Memorial Session - by Jerry Sacks dealing with Jack's personal life, by Larry Brown dealing with Jack's contributions in statistics and probability, and by Henry Wynn dealing with Jack's contributions to the design of experiments. These three papers, together with Jack's bibliography, were published in the Annals of Statistics and are included as an introduction to these volumes."
From the Preface by K. Chandrasekharan: "The publication of this collection of papers is intended as a service to the mathematical community, as well as a tribute to the genius of CARL LUDWIG SIEGEL, who is rising seventy. In the wide range of his interests, in his capacity to uncover, to attack, and to subdue problems of great significance and difficulty, in his invention of new concepts and ideas, in his technical prowess, and in the consummate artistry of his presentation, SIEGEL resembles the classical figures of mathematics. In his combination of arithmetical, analytical, algebraical, and geometrical methods of investigation, and in his unerring instinct for the conceptual and structural, as distinct from the merely technical, aspects of any concrete problem, he represents the best type of modern mathematical thought. At once classical and modern, his work has profoundly influenced the mathematical culture of our time...this publication...will no doubt stimulate generations of scholars to come." Volume II includes Siegel's papers written between 1937 and 1944.
A Huguenot exile in England, the French mathematician Abraham de Moivre (1667-1754) formed friendships with such luminaries as Edmond Halley and Isaac Newton. Making his living from private tuition, he became a fellow of the Royal Society in 1697 and published papers on a range of topics. Probability theory had been pioneered by Pascal, Fermat and Huygens, with further development by the Bernoullis. Originally published in 1718, The Doctrine of Chances was the first English textbook on the new science and so influential that for a time the whole subject was known by the title of the work. Reissued here is the revised and expanded 1738 second edition which contains the remarkable discovery that when a coin is tossed many times, the binomial distribution may be approximated by the normal distribution. This version of the central limit theorem stands as one of de Moivre's most significant contributions to mathematics.
The Greek astronomer and geometrician Apollonius of Perga (c.262-c.190 BCE) produced pioneering written work on conic sections in which he demonstrated mathematically the generation of curves and their fundamental properties. His innovative terminology gave us the terms 'ellipse', 'hyperbola' and 'parabola'. The Danish scholar Johan Ludvig Heiberg (1854-1928), a professor of classical philology at the University of Copenhagen, prepared important editions of works by Euclid, Archimedes and Ptolemy, among others. Published between 1891 and 1893, this two-volume work contains the definitive Greek text of the first four books of Apollonius' treatise together with a facing-page Latin translation. (The fifth, sixth and seventh books survive only in Arabic translation, while the eighth is lost entirely.) Volume 1 contains the first three books, with the editor's introductory matter in Latin.
The Greek astronomer and geometrician Apollonius of Perga (c.262-c.190 BCE) produced pioneering written work on conic sections in which he demonstrated mathematically the generation of curves and their fundamental properties. His innovative terminology gave us the terms 'ellipse', 'hyperbola' and 'parabola'. The Danish scholar Johan Ludvig Heiberg (1854-1928), a professor of classical philology at the University of Copenhagen, prepared important editions of works by Euclid, Archimedes and Ptolemy, among others. Published between 1891 and 1893, this two-volume work contains the definitive Greek text of the first four books of Apollonius' treatise together with a facing-page Latin translation. (The fifth, sixth and seventh books survive only in Arabic translation, while the eighth is lost entirely.) Volume 2 contains the fourth book in addition to other Greek fragments and ancient commentaries, notably that of Eutocius, as well as the editor's Latin prolegomena comparing the various manuscript sources.
Published in 1879, this Latin dissertation was the first substantial work on Archimedes by the Danish philologist and historian Johan Ludvig Heiberg (1854-1928), who the following year embarked on editing the three-volume Archimedis Opera Omnia (also reissued in this series). Much later, in 1906, he discovered a palimpsest containing previously unknown works by the Greek mathematician. The Quaestiones includes chapters on the life of the famous scientist of Syracuse, a discussion of his works and explanations of his mathematical and scientific ideas, as well as a survey of the extant codices known to the author. It also contains the Greek text, edited and annotated by Heiberg, of Archimedes' Psammites (The Sand Reckoner), a mathematical enquiry into how many grains of sand would fit in the universe. This includes mention of a heliocentric solar system, speculation about the size of the Earth, and Archimedes' other views on astronomy.
Originally published in 1820, this is an early work by the renowned mathematician and inventor Charles Babbage (1791-1871). The text was written to provide mathematical students with an accessible introduction to functional equations, an area that had been previously absent from elementary mathematical literature. A short bibliography is also contained. This book will be of value to anyone with an interest in Babbage and the history of mathematics.
Originally published in 1925, this book forms part of a three-volume work created to expand upon the content of a series of lectures delivered at the University of Calcutta during the winter of 1909-10. The chief feature of all three volumes is that they deal with rectangular matrices and determinoids as distinguished from square matrices and determinants, the determinoid of a rectangular matrix being related to it in the same way as a determinant is related to a square matrix. An attempt is made to set forth a complete and consistent theory or calculus of rectangular matrices and determinoids. The third volume was originally intended to be divided into two parts, but the second section was never published. The part that made it into print deals chiefly with applications to vector analysis and the theory of invariants.
From the Introduction: " Marston Morse was born in 1892, so that he was 33 years old when in 1925 his paper Relations between the critical points of a real-valued function of n independent variables appeared in the Transactions of the American Mathematical Society. Thus Morse grew to maturity just at the time when the subject of Analysis Situs was being shaped by such masters as Poincare, Veblen, L. E. J. Brouwer, G. D. Birkhoff, Lefschetz and Alexander, and it was Morse's genius and destiny to discover one of the most beautiful and far-reaching relations between this fledgling and Analysis; a relation which is now known as Morse Theory. In retrospect all great ideas take on a certain simplicity and inevitability, partly because they shape the whole subsequent development of the subject. And so to us, today, Morse Theory seems natural and inevitable. This whole flight of ideas was of course acclaimed by the mathematical World...it eventually earned him practically every honor of the mathematical community, over twenty honorary degrees, the National Science Medal, the Legion of Honor of France, ..."
 From the Preface: “There are three volumes. The first one contains a curriculum vitae, a «Brève Analyse des Travaux» and a Iist of publications, including books and seminars. In addition the volume contains all papers of H. Cartan on analytic functions published before 1939. The other papers on analytic functions, e.g. those on Stein manifolds and coherent sheaves, make up the second volume. The third volume contains, with a few exceptions, all further papers of H. Cartan; among them is a reproduction of exposés 2 to 11 of his 1954/55 Seminar on Eilenberg-MacLane algebras. Each volume is arranged in chronological order. The reader should be aware that these volumes do not fully reflect H. Cartan's work, a large part of which is also contained in his fifteen ENS-Seminars (1948-1964) and in his book "Homological Algebra" with S. Eilenberg... Still, we trust that mathematicians throughout the world will welcome the availability of the "Oeuvres" of a mathematician whose writing and teaching has had such an influence on our generation.” |
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