Introducing Mathematics

by Borin Van Loon, Ziauddin Sardar, Jerome Ravetz, et al.

Book Overview

What is mathematics, and why is it such a mystery to so many people? Mathematics is the greatest creation of human intelligence. It affects us all. We depend on it in our daily lives, and yet many of... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1840460113
• ISBN13: 9781840460117
• Release Date: March 1999
• Publisher: Totem Books
• Length: 176 Pages
• Weight: 0.58 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 4.7" x 7.4"

Customer Reviews

One of my favorites

I'm a big fan of the Introducing... series, and to me, this is one of the best.

Ethnomathematica and the universal language of maths as the tool of science

This book doesn't tutor you in mathematics so if that is what you want then go elsewhere now. If you are looking to learn mathematics without a good cause then I would say that you better have the attention span to learn something absolutely mundane if you don't have a reason for it. A reason to learn mathematics is as vital to grasping mathematics as our brain needing a spinal cord to work. It would be best to begin with a cause to learn it and unfortunately just needing to know it for exams doesn't help matters either. I would suggest therefore that you turn to other books in this series like "Introducing Newton and classical physics" and "Introducing the Universe". "Introducing Quantum Theory" and "Introducing Relativity" are the big two science books that can be understood somewhat rudimentary outside of the developed mathematics to support it. I think trying to understand those topics provides enough motives to complete a full study and application of the language of mathematics. Then this book becomes an engrossing essential. Mathematics is not hard if learned the correct way. Mathematics is easy if you spend the right amount of time (lifetime really but in a truly applied year you will have advanced dramatically) on it and know what to learn and in what order. Buy a calculator. Read and learn the manual. In the manual you will come across terminology that you would like to comprehend. This book lays it all out for you. "Introducing Mathematics" explains the historical record for mathematics and its development. By the end of the journey you would have an overview that maps mathematics. Then you should go about learning about each part in other specialized books. The main maths to learn after this one are algebra, geometry, trigonometry, analytical mathematics and then the big calculus. Getting to calculus is what it is all about. There are then various laws and rules and applications like statistics after that but the goal here is a slow progressive study of the above maths topics before moving into calculus. This is what it is all about. Core material: History of Mathematics culminating in Ethnomathematics is covered in detail Egyptian, Greek, Chinese, Hebrew, Middle Eastern and European contributions to maths Counting Representing numbers as figures Zero Special and large numbers Powers Logarithms (logs) Calculation Equations (linear, quadratic, cubic and degree equations) Algebra Simultaneous equations Measurements, error bars and fridges Pythagoras Zeno's paradoxes Geometry Binomials Pascal's triangle, Jain and Vedic and meru-prastara Trigonometry Integers Analytics Functions Calculus Differentiation Derivatives Integration Berkeley Euler Non-Euclidean N-Dimension spaces Groups and sets Boolean algebra Cantor Godel's theorem Turning machine Fractals Chaos theory Topology Number theory Statistics P-values and outliners Probability Uncertainty principle Policy numbers Overall this is exactly the kind of book I wanted to read. A star

Good overview for wide audience

I found this book to be quite enjoyable. The section on Muslim mathematicians was particularly interesting. Did you know that Muslim mathematics made great contributions to trigonometry? Buy this book if you want an overview of mathematics -- including the history of mathematics. The visual treatment make this book fun to read and attractive to all ages.

A great journey through mathematics

I enjoyed this treatment of the history of mathematics, and, in particular, I liked the sections on Islamic mathematics and Cantor's theories on infinity. The book is quite thought-provoking, and I recommend it highly.