Descartes' Dream: The World According to Mathematics

by Philip J. Davis and Reuben Hersh

Book Overview

Rationalist philosopher and mathematician Rene Descartes visualized a world unified by mathematics, in which all intellectual issues could be resolved rationally by local computation. This series of provocative essays takes a modern look at the seventeenth-century thinker's dream, examining the physical and intellectual influences of mathematics on society, particularly in light of technological advances.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0151252602
• ISBN13: 9780151252602
• Release Date: January 1986
• Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt P
• Length: 321 Pages
• Weight: 1.65 lbs.

Customer Reviews

Provides insight

I read this book over 20 yrs. ago, recommended by a friend who's a first rate mathematician, J. Palmore. I recall 2 things. First, that 'fairness' is not uniquely defined. Nice examples are given. Second, the 5 methods of mathematical proof: (i) proof by reference to the literature, (ii) proof by intimidation ("It's obvious!"), etc. Also recommended: to read in Descartes' memoirs the description of how he came on the idea to invent analytic geometry and derivatives of simple curves.