Great way to put those brain cells through their paces again

books:


	• Mathematics: From the Birth of Numbers Jan Gullberg W. W. Norton & Company, 1997 - 1093 pages average customer review:based on 61 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

nice survey of basic mathematics

Just adding another 5 star review. This book spends 600 pages on high school mathematics, and 400 on calculus/analysis. It also tosses in things not often seen before college: set theory, logic, and combinatorics. It is a history, survey, and poor man's reference.

superb

I can only ditto what other reviewers have said; this is an amazing book. It's a great way to gently walk back up to something you might have run away from in school. The author ties together the math; its creation and its applications in a way that will fascinate you even if you're not a math geek. Beautifully done.

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A Bit Pricey, but aren't all Math Books?

A beautiful written and illustrated gentle, user-friendly reference guide to mathematics from the invention of numbers, counting and reckoning up through linear differential equations, touching on all of the important signposts in between. The explanations are clear, concise and accompanied by excellent diagrams. Elementary calculus is covered especially well. The foray into Topology, fractals, and symbolic logic was an unexpected bonus with a modern touch. The very final section on probability theory with a calculus approach to probability density functions stands out as exceptional.

On the negative side, I expected more on infinite numbers, topology (which was only two pages of diagrams and basic definitions only), and vector analysis, which seems to have stopped at cross products.

But despite these minor points, it is a very useful and up-to-date reference guide for non-mathematicians and others up through the calculus. Four stars.

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Fueled My Passion for Mathematics

I bought this book back in fourth or fifth grade. And it became my favorite ever since.

This book is a reference book. But it is VERY tempting and fun to just sit on your couch and browse though it.

I learned too much from this book. It tells so many things. It starts off with simple ARITHMETIC. And gets through algebra, geometry, trigonometry, differential and integral calculus, fractal geometry, linear algebra... And many more things.

I used to take this book everywhere with me, despite its dictionary size. It truly is a forest worth exploring.

It even includes some historical and biographical information.

You get a whole different, more amateur feel when you read this. This is not written in the professional LaTeX or TeX format or font. I am no idea how it was written. Though, it is not traditional math book typesetting. But, with all honesty, for this book, I like that a lot.

I recommend this book to every type of person. Mathematicians, people with interest in math, people who need review, people who need some aid, and even people who don't like math or are looking for some inspiration.

Worth all fifty dollars. (Well, that is what I paid back in the day).

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Great way to put those brain cells through their paces again

While I always enjoyed math and science, I didn't particularly have time to "enjoy" the process of learning, thanks to our wonderful public school system, which focuses kids on getting a passing grade instead of actually learning something. This book is a wonderful cure for the apathy towards learning that is so prevalent today.

"Mathematics" is a great refresher and a good starting point for someone who wants to study math just for the sake of learning, not necessarily with some utilitarian goal in mind. The books is well put together, there is an abundance of interesting facts, illustrations and historical references that make it quite educational. This is not an exhaustive reference, but it gives a great overview both from a thematic standpoint, as well as providing a historical overview of the development of mathematics as we know it today.

The book is very easy to read, and to follow; one doesn't have to read it in its sequence, reader can pick and choose the subjects that he is most interested in.

I think it could also be used as a teaching tool for junior high/high school age kids that are interested in math (I might be thinking of some other planet) and want to go beyond the curriculum.

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reviews: page 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10

What does mathematics mean? Is it numbers or arithmetic, proofs or equations? Jan Gullberg starts his massive historical overview with some insight into why human beings find it necessary to "reckon," or count, and what math means to us. From there to the last chapter, on differential equations, is a very long, but surprisingly engrossing journey. Mathematics covers how symbolic logic fits into cultures around the world, and gives fascinating biographical tidbits on mathematicians from Archimedes to Wiles. It's a big book, copiously illustrated with goofy little line drawings and cartoon reprints. But the real appeal (at least for math buffs) lies in the scads of problems--with solutions--illustrating the concepts. It really invites readers to sit down with a cup of tea, pencil and paper, and (ahem) a calculator and start solving. Remember the first time you "got it" in math class? With Mathematics you can recapture that bliss, and maybe learn something new, too. Everyone from schoolkids to professors (and maybe even die-hard mathphobes) can find something useful, informative, or entertaining here. --Therese Littleton

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