"O'Shea tells the fascinating story of this mathematical mystery and its solution by the eccentric Mr. Perelman."--"Wall Street Journal

"In 1904, Henri Poincare, a giant among mathematicians who transformed the fledging area of topology into a powerful field essential to all mathematics and physics, posed the Poincare conjecture, a tantalizing puzzle that speaks to the possible shape of the universe. For more than a century, the conjecture resisted attempts to prove or disprove it. As Donal O'Shea reveals in his elegant narrative, Poincare's conjecture opens a door to the history of geometry, from the Pythagoreans of ancient Greece to the celebrated geniuses of the nineteenth-century German academy and, ultimately, to a fascinating array of personalities--Poincare and Bernhard Riemann, William Thurston and Richard Hamilton, and the eccentric genius who appears to have solved it, Grigory Perelman. The solution seems certain to open up new corners of the mathematical universe.

Originally published in 1960, as the second edition of a 1957 original, this textbook is aimed at those without advanced mathematical training and provides a comprehensive introductory account of digital computers, what they are capable of doing and how they are made to do it. It begins with a discussion of programming - the preparation of instructions for the computer. This leads on to a consideration of systems of number storage, from the simple decimal system of desk calculating machines to the varieties of binary storage systems used in modern high-speed computers. The final chapter considers points, which arise in applying computers to engineering calculations, and gives details of some of the problems already solved in this way. Throughout the book the emphasis is on the applications of computers to routine work rather than to advanced research. This book will be of value to students of the history of computer science.

On the General Science of Mathematics is the third of four surviving works out of ten by Iamblichus (c. 245 CE-early 320s) on the Pythagoreans. He thought the Pythagoreans had treated mathematics as essential for drawing the human soul upwards to higher realms described by Plato, and downwards to understand the physical cosmos, the products of arts and crafts and the order required for an ethical life. His Pythagorean treatises use edited quotation to re-tell the history of philosophy, presenting Plato and Aristotle as passing on the ideas invented by Pythagoras and his early followers. Although his quotations tend to come instead from Plato and later Pythagoreanising Platonists, this re-interpretation had a huge impact on the Neoplatonist commentators in Athens. Iamblichus' cleverness, if not to the same extent his re-interpretation, was appreciated by the commentators in Alexandria.

This vividly illustrated history of the International Congress of Mathematicians - a meeting of mathematicians from around the world held roughly every four years - acts as a visual history of the 25 congresses held between 1897 and 2006, as well as a story of changes in the culture of mathematics over the past century. Because the congress is an international meeting, looking at its history allows us a glimpse into the effect of wars and strained relations between nations on the scientific community.

This book presents a history of differential equations, both ordinary and partial, as well as the calculus of variations, from the origins of the subjects to around 1900. Topics treated include the wave equation in the hands of d'Alembert and Euler; Fourier's solutions to the heat equation and the contribution of Kovalevskaya; the work of Euler, Gauss, Kummer, Riemann, and Poincare on the hypergeometric equation; Green's functions, the Dirichlet principle, and Schwarz's solution of the Dirichlet problem; minimal surfaces; the telegraphists' equation and Thomson's successful design of the trans-Atlantic cable; Riemann's paper on shock waves; the geometrical interpretation of mechanics; and aspects of the study of the calculus of variations from the problems of the catenary and the brachistochrone to attempts at a rigorous theory by Weierstrass, Kneser, and Hilbert. Three final chapters look at how the theory of partial differential equations stood around 1900, as they were treated by Picard and Hadamard. There are also extensive, new translations of original papers by Cauchy, Riemann, Schwarz, Darboux, and Picard. The first book to cover the history of differential equations and the calculus of variations in such breadth and detail, it will appeal to anyone with an interest in the field. Beyond secondary school mathematics and physics, a course in mathematical analysis is the only prerequisite to fully appreciate its contents. Based on a course for third-year university students, the book contains numerous historical and mathematical exercises, offers extensive advice to the student on how to write essays, and can easily be used in whole or in part as a course in the history of mathematics. Several appendices help make the book self-contained and suitable for self-study.

"Plato's Ghost" is the first book to examine the development of mathematics from 1880 to 1920 as a modernist transformation similar to those in art, literature, and music. Jeremy Gray traces the growth of mathematical modernism from its roots in problem solving and theory to its interactions with physics, philosophy, theology, psychology, and ideas about real and artificial languages. He shows how mathematics was popularized, and explains how mathematical modernism not only gave expression to the work of mathematicians and the professional image they sought to create for themselves, but how modernism also introduced deeper and ultimately unanswerable questions.

"Plato's Ghost" evokes Yeats's lament that any claim to worldly perfection inevitably is proven wrong by the philosopher's ghost; Gray demonstrates how modernist mathematicians believed they had advanced further than anyone before them, only to make more profound mistakes. He tells for the first time the story of these ambitious and brilliant mathematicians, including Richard Dedekind, Henri Lebesgue, Henri Poincare, and many others. He describes the lively debates surrounding novel objects, definitions, and proofs in mathematics arising from the use of naive set theory and the revived axiomatic method--debates that spilled over into contemporary arguments in philosophy and the sciences and drove an upsurge of popular writing on mathematics. And he looks at mathematics after World War I, including the foundational crisis and mathematical Platonism.

"Plato's Ghost" is essential reading for mathematicians and historians, and will appeal to anyone interested in the development of modern mathematics."

Leonhard Euler's polyhedron formula describes the structure of many objects--from soccer balls and gemstones to Buckminster Fuller's buildings and giant all-carbon molecules. Yet Euler's formula is so simple it can be explained to a child. "Euler's Gem" tells the illuminating story of this indispensable mathematical idea.

From ancient Greek geometry to today's cutting-edge research, Euler's Gem celebrates the discovery of Euler's beloved polyhedron formula and its far-reaching impact on topology, the study of shapes. In 1750, Euler observed that any polyhedron composed of "V" vertices, "E" edges, and "F" faces satisfies the equation "V"-"E"+"F"=2. David Richeson tells how the Greeks missed the formula entirely; how Descartes almost discovered it but fell short; how nineteenth-century mathematicians widened the formula's scope in ways that Euler never envisioned by adapting it for use with doughnut shapes, smooth surfaces, and higher dimensional shapes; and how twentieth-century mathematicians discovered that every shape has its own Euler's formula. Using wonderful examples and numerous illustrations, Richeson presents the formula's many elegant and unexpected applications, such as showing why there is always some windless spot on earth, how to measure the acreage of a tree farm by counting trees, and how many crayons are needed to color any map.

Filled with a who's who of brilliant mathematicians who questioned, refined, and contributed to a remarkable theorem's development, "Euler's Gem" will fascinate every mathematics enthusiast.

This book, first published in 1977, discusses the Muslim contribution to mathematics during the golden age of Muslim learning from the seventh to the thirteenth century. It was during this period that Muslim culture exerted powerful economic, political and religious influence over a large part of the civilised world. The work of the Muslim scholars was by no means limited to religion, business and government. They researched and extended the theoretical and applied science of the Greeks and Romans of an earlier era in ways that preserved and strengthened man's knowledge in these important fields. Although the main object of this book is to trace the history of the Muslim contribution to mathematics during the European Dark Ages, some effort is made to explain the progress of mathematical thought and its effects upon present day culture. Certain Muslim mathematicians are mentioned because of the important nature of their ideas in the evolution of mathematical thinking during this earlier era. Muslim mathematicians invented the present arithmetical decimal system and the fundamental operations connected with it - addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, raising to a power, and extracting the square root and the cubic root. They also introduced the 'zero' symbol to Western culture which simplified considerably the entire arithmetical system and its fundamental operations; it is no exaggeration if it is said that this specific invention marks the turning point in the development of mathematics into a science.

In this book, Hawkins elegantly places Lebesgue's early work on integration theory within in proper historical context by relating it to the developments during the nineteenth century that motivated it and gave it significance and also to the contributions made in this field by Lebesgue's contemporaries. Hawkins was awarded the 1997 MAA Chauvenet Prize and the 2001 AMS Albert Leon Whiteman Memorial Prize for notable exposition and exceptional scholarship in the history of mathematics.

Das Buch zeigt, inwiefern nicht, wie man ublicherweise sagt, die Arithmetik, Logik und Mengenlehre, sondern die Geometrie die Koenigin der Mathematik ist, weil namlich die oft verpoente Anschauung allen ihren Axiomatisierungen und Anwendungen zugrunde liegt, und zwar in der Form eines diagrammtheoretischen Strukturmodells. Dessen Punkte, Geraden und Ebenen sind selbst immer schon raumlose Teilformen idealer Formen. Zu den 'reellen Zahlen' als reine Groessenproportionen gelangt man durch Ausweitung des Punktbereiches zunachst uber den Fundamentalsatz der Algebra. Aber erst Cantors Naive Mengenlehre liefert genugend Nullstellen fur beliebige stetige Funktionen. Dabei ist die euklidische Geometrie eine Theorie der Koerperformen, wahrend fur jede Theorie des Raumes, in dem sich Koerper bewegen, immer auch schon die Zeit mathematisiert werden muss, so dass der Bewegungsraum nie einfach 'dreidimensional' ist. Diese Unterscheidung zum Anschauungsraum geformter Koerper macht das vierdimensionale Minkowski-Modell der Raum-Zeit in Einsteins spezieller Relativitatstheorie allererst voll begreifbar, zumal sich im empiristischen bzw. konventionalistischenAnsatz Reichenbachs, Grunbaums und vieler anderer Autoren deutliche Mangel finden.

Searching for small gaps between consecutive primes is one way to approach the twin primes conjecture, one of the most celebrated unsolved problems in number theory. This book documents the remarkable developments of recent decades, whereby an upper bound on the known gap length between infinite numbers of consecutive primes has been reduced to a tractable finite size. The text is both introductory and complete: the detailed way in which results are proved is fully set out and plenty of background material is included. The reader journeys from selected historical theorems to the latest best result, exploring the contributions of a vast array of mathematicians, including Bombieri, Goldston, Motohashi, Pintz, Yildirim, Zhang, Maynard, Tao and Polymath8. The book is supported by a linked and freely-available package of computer programs. The material is suitable for graduate students and of interest to any mathematician curious about recent breakthroughs in the field.

Im 3. und 2. Jahrhundert v. Chr. ereignete sich in der griechischen Welt ein wissenschaftlicher und technologischer Urknall. Schon im vorhergegangenen klassischen Zeitalter war die griechische Kultur in den Kunsten, der Literatur und der Philosophie zu grossen Hohen aufgestiegen; erst die Zeit eines Archimedes und eines Euklid jedoch, brachte die Entstehung von Wissenschaften in unserem Sinne. Damals entstanden hoch entwickelte Technologien, auf die man sich erst im 18. Jahrhundert wieder besinnen sollte. Gleichzeitig mit dieser wissenschaftlichen Revolution fanden auch auf vielen anderen Gebieten, wie den Kunsten und der Medizin grundlegende Veranderungen statt. Ein neues Bewusstsein entstand.

Was waren die Grundpfeiler dieses kometenhaften Aufstiegs der Wissenschaften vor 2.300 Jahren? Warum ist selbst unter Wissenschaftlern, Altphilologen und Historikern so wenig daruber bekannt? In welcher Beziehung stehen sie zu der Entwicklung der Wissenschaften seit dem 15. Jahrhundert, wie wir sie aus der Schule kennen Was fuhrte zum Ende antiker Wissenschaften? Das sind die Fragen, die in diesem Buch gestellt werden. Ihre Antworten sind von entscheidender Bedeutung auch fur Herausforderungen, vor denen wir heute stehen."

"Elliptic Tales" describes the latest developments in number theory by looking at one of the most exciting unsolved problems in contemporary mathematics--the Birch and Swinnerton-Dyer Conjecture. In this book, Avner Ash and Robert Gross guide readers through the mathematics they need to understand this captivating problem.

The key to the conjecture lies in elliptic curves, which may appear simple, but arise from some very deep--and often very mystifying--mathematical ideas. Using only basic algebra and calculus while presenting numerous eye-opening examples, Ash and Gross make these ideas accessible to general readers, and, in the process, venture to the very frontiers of modern mathematics.

This book presents reverse mathematics to a general mathematical audience for the first time. Reverse mathematics is a new field that answers some old questions. In the two thousand years that mathematicians have been deriving theorems from axioms, it has often been asked: which axioms are needed to prove a given theorem? Only in the last two hundred years have some of these questions been answered, and only in the last forty years has a systematic approach been developed. In Reverse Mathematics, John Stillwell gives a representative view of this field, emphasizing basic analysis--finding the "right axioms" to prove fundamental theorems--and giving a novel approach to logic. Stillwell introduces reverse mathematics historically, describing the two developments that made reverse mathematics possible, both involving the idea of arithmetization. The first was the nineteenth-century project of arithmetizing analysis, which aimed to define all concepts of analysis in terms of natural numbers and sets of natural numbers. The second was the twentieth-century arithmetization of logic and computation. Thus arithmetic in some sense underlies analysis, logic, and computation. Reverse mathematics exploits this insight by viewing analysis as arithmetic extended by axioms about the existence of infinite sets. Remarkably, only a small number of axioms are needed for reverse mathematics, and, for each basic theorem of analysis, Stillwell finds the "right axiom" to prove it. By using a minimum of mathematical logic in a well-motivated way, Reverse Mathematics will engage advanced undergraduates and all mathematicians interested in the foundations of mathematics.

This vividly illustrated history of the International Congress of Mathematicians - a meeting of mathematicians from around the world held roughly every four years - acts as a visual history of the 25 congresses held between 1897 and 2006, as well as a story of changes in the culture of mathematics over the past century. Because the congress is an international meeting, looking at its history allows us a glimpse into the effect of wars and strained relations between nations on the scientific community.

Theory of Conics, Geometrical Constructions and Practical Geometry: A History of Arabic Sciences and Mathematics Volume 3, provides a unique primary source on the history and philosophy of mathematics and science from the mediaeval Arab world. The present text is complemented by two preceding volumes of A History of Arabic Sciences and Mathematics, which focused on founding figures and commentators in the ninth and tenth centuries, and the historical and epistemological development of 'infinitesimal mathematics' as it became clearly articulated in the oeuvre of Ibn al-Haytham. This volume examines the increasing tendency, after the ninth century, to explain mathematical problems inherited from Greek times using the theory of conics. Roshdi Rashed argues that Ibn al-Haytham completes the transformation of this 'area of activity,' into a part of geometry concerned with geometrical constructions, dealing not only with the metrical properties of conic sections but with ways of drawing them and properties of their position and shape. Including extensive commentary from one of world's foremost authorities on the subject, this book contributes a more informed and balanced understanding of the internal currents of the history of mathematics and the exact sciences in Islam, and of its adaptive interpretation and assimilation in the European context. This fundamental text will appeal to historians of ideas, epistemologists and mathematicians at the most advanced levels of research.

Essentials of Mathematical Thinking addresses the growing need to better comprehend mathematics today. Increasingly, our world is driven by mathematics in all aspects of life. The book is an excellent introduction to the world of mathematics for students not majoring in mathematical studies. The author has written this book in an enticing, rich manner that will engage students and introduce new paradigms of thought. Careful readers will develop critical thinking skills which will help them compete in today's world. The book explains: What goes behind a Google search algorithm How to calculate the odds in a lottery The value of Big Data How the nefarious Ponzi scheme operates Instructors will treasure the book for its ability to make the field of mathematics more accessible and alluring with relevant topics and helpful graphics. The author also encourages readers to see the beauty of mathematics and how it relates to their lives in meaningful ways.

An exploration of one of the most celebrated and well-known theorems in mathematics By any measure, the Pythagorean theorem is the most famous statement in all of mathematics. In this book, Eli Maor reveals the full story of this ubiquitous geometric theorem. Although attributed to Pythagoras, the theorem was known to the Babylonians more than a thousand years earlier. Pythagoras may have been the first to prove it, but his proof-if indeed he had one-is lost to us. The theorem itself, however, is central to almost every branch of science, pure or applied. Maor brings to life many of the characters that played a role in its history, providing a fascinating backdrop to perhaps our oldest enduring mathematical legacy.

What gives statistics its unity as a science? Stephen Stigler sets forth the seven foundational ideas of statistics-a scientific discipline related to but distinct from mathematics and computer science. Even the most basic idea-aggregation, exemplified by averaging-is counterintuitive. It allows one to gain information by discarding information, namely, the individuality of the observations. Stigler's second pillar, information measurement, challenges the importance of "big data" by noting that observations are not all equally important: the amount of information in a data set is often proportional to only the square root of the number of observations, not the absolute number. The third idea is likelihood, the calibration of inferences with the use of probability. Intercomparison is the principle that statistical comparisons do not need to be made with respect to an external standard. The fifth pillar is regression, both a paradox (tall parents on average produce shorter children; tall children on average have shorter parents) and the basis of inference, including Bayesian inference and causal reasoning. The sixth concept captures the importance of experimental design-for example, by recognizing the gains to be had from a combinatorial approach with rigorous randomization. The seventh idea is the residual: the notion that a complicated phenomenon can be simplified by subtracting the effect of known causes, leaving a residual phenomenon that can be explained more easily. The Seven Pillars of Statistical Wisdom presents an original, unified account of statistical science that will fascinate the interested layperson and engage the professional statistician.

William Thurston (1946-2012) was one of the great mathematicians of the twentieth century. He was a visionary whose extraordinary ideas revolutionized a broad range of areas of mathematics, from foliations, contact structures, and Teichmuller theory to automorphisms of surfaces, hyperbolic geometry, geometrization of 3-manifolds, geometric group theory, and rational maps. In addition, he discovered connections between disciplines that led to astonishing breakthroughs in mathematical understanding as well as the creation of entirely new fields. His far-reaching questions and conjectures led to enormous progress by other researchers. In What's Next?, many of today's leading mathematicians describe recent advances and future directions inspired by Thurston's transformative ideas. This book brings together papers delivered by his colleagues and former students at "What's Next? The Mathematical Legacy of Bill Thurston," a conference held in June 2014 at Cornell University. It discusses Thurston's fundamental contributions to topology, geometry, and dynamical systems and includes many deep and original contributions to the field. Incisive and wide-ranging, the book explores how he introduced new ways of thinking about and doing mathematics-innovations that have had a profound and lasting impact on the mathematical community as a whole-and also features two papers based on Thurston's unfinished work in dynamics.

The first book surveying the history and ideas behind reverse mathematics Reverse mathematics is a new field that seeks to find the axioms needed to prove given theorems. In Reverse Mathematics, John Stillwell offers a historical and representative view, emphasizing basic analysis and giving a novel approach to logic. By using a minimum of mathematical logic in a well-motivated way, Reverse Mathematics will engage advanced undergraduates and all mathematicians interested in the foundations of mathematics.

On the occasion of the 200th anniversary of the birth of Hermann Grassmann (1809-1877), an interdisciplinary conference was held in Potsdam, Germany, and in Grassmann's hometown Szczecin, Poland. The idea of the conference was to present a multi-faceted picture of Grassmann, and to uncover the complexity of the factors that were responsible for his creativity. The conference demonstrated not only the very influential reception of his work at the turn of the 20th century, but also the unexpected modernity of his ideas, and their continuing development in the 21st century.

This book contains 37 papers presented at the conference. They investigate the significance of Grassmann's work for philosophical as well as for scientific and methodological questions, for comparative philology in general and for Indology in particular, for psychology, physiology, religious studies, musicology, didactics, and, last but not least, mathematics. In addition, the book contains numerous illustrations and English translations of original sources, which are published here for the first time. These include life histories of Grassmann (written by his son Justus) and of his brother Robert (written by Robert himself), as well as the paper "On the concept and extent of pure theory of number'' by Justus Grassmann (the father).<