A Historian Looks Back: The Calculus as Algebra and Selected Writings
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Description
Judith Grabiner has written extensively on the history of mathematics. This collection, representing some of Grabiner's finest work, highlights the benefits of studying the development of mathematical ideas and the relationship between culture and mathematics. A large part of the book—Part I—is a welcome reprinting of Grabiner's “The Calculus as Algebra: J.-L. Lagrange, 1736–1813” (1990), which focuses on Lagrange's pioneering effort to reduce the calculus to algebra. Ten articles—Part II—span a range of other mathematical topics, including widely held myths about the history of mathematics and the work of such mathematicians as Descartes, Newton, and Maclaurin. Six of these articles won awards from the MAA for expository excellence.This collection is an inspiring resource for courses on the history of mathematics. It reveals the creativity that has produced the mathematics we see as the finished product in textbooks.
ISBN
9781614445067
Publication Date
2010
Publisher
Mathematical Association of America
City
Washington D.C.
Keywords
mathematics, history
Disciplines
History | Mathematics
Recommended Citation
Grabiner, Judith. A Historian Looks Back: The Calculus as Algebra and Selected Writings
