The Irrationals (eBook)

A Story of the Numbers You Can't Count On

Julian Havil (Autor)

eBook Download: EPUB

2012
312 Seiten
Princeton University Press (Verlag)
978-1-4008-4170-7 (ISBN)

Infos

The first popular history of irrational numbers and their discoverers, from ancient Greece to the twenty-first centuryThe ancient Greeks discovered them, but it wasn't until the nineteenth century that irrational numbers were properly understood and rigorously defined, and even today not all their mysteries have been revealed. In The Irrationals, the first popular and comprehensive book on the subject, Julian Havil tells the story of irrational numbers and the mathematicians who have tackled their challenges, from antiquity to the twenty-first century. Along the way, he explains why irrational numbers are surprisingly difficult to define-and why so many questions still surround them. Fascinating and illuminating, this is a book for everyone who loves math and the history behind it.

Autor

Julian Havil is the author of Gamma: Exploring Euler's Constant, Nonplussed!: Mathematical Proof of Implausible Ideas, Impossible?: Surprising Solutions to Counterintuitive Conundrums, and John Napier: Life, Logarithms, and Legacy (all Princeton). He is a retired former master at Winchester College, England, where he taught mathematics for more than three decades.

Produkt-Details

• Erscheint lt. Verlag: 22.7.2012
• Zusatzinfo: 100 line illus.
• Verlagsort: Princeton
• Sprache: englisch
• Themenwelt: Sachbuch/Ratgeber ► Natur / Technik
• Themenwelt: Mathematik / Informatik ► Mathematik ► Arithmetik / Zahlentheorie
• Themenwelt: Mathematik / Informatik ► Mathematik ► Geometrie / Topologie
• Themenwelt: Mathematik / Informatik ► Mathematik ► Geschichte der Mathematik
• Themenwelt: Mathematik / Informatik ► Mathematik ► Mathematische Spiele und Unterhaltung
• Themenwelt: Technik
• Schlagworte: Accuracy and precision • Addition • Algebraic Curve • algebraic equation • Approximation • Arbitrarily large • arithmetic • arithmetic progression • Axiom • Calculation • Cartesian coordinate system • Cauchy Sequence • Cemetery • circumference • coefficient • columbarium • combination • Commensurability (mathematics) • complex number • Computer Graphics • continued fraction • Contradiction • Cube root • David Hilbert • Decimal representation • diagonal • DIAMETER • Elementary proof • empty set • Equation • equivalence class • equivalence relation • Euclid's elements • existential quantification • Fibonacci • Floor and ceiling functions • Function (mathematics) • Geometry • Greek mathematics • hexagon • Inequality (mathematics) • Infinite product • Infinitesimal • Integer • Interval (mathematics) • irrational number • Leonhard Euler • logarithm • Mathematical Induction • mathematician • Mathematics • mean value theorem • Method of exhaustion • Natural number • Normal number • Notation • Nth root • number line • Number Theory • parallelogram • parametrization • Parity (mathematics) • polynomial • Prime number • Probability • Proportionality (mathematics) • Pure Mathematics • Pythagoreanism • Quantity • randomness • Rate of Convergence • Rational approximation • Rational number • Rational point • real number • rectangle • Recurrence relation • Richard Dedekind • Right angle • Rolle's theorem • scientific notation • Sequence • Series (mathematics) • Significant figures • Special case • Spiral of Theodorus • square root • Squaring the circle • Subset • Summation • Theorem • theory • tomb • transcendental number • Transitive relation • Triangle Inequality • Trigonometric Functions • Unit square • Upper and lower bounds • Variable (mathematics)
• ISBN-10: 1-4008-4170-4 / 1400841704
• ISBN-13: 978-1-4008-4170-7 / 9781400841707