rdf-syntax-grammar
mods:
  schema location: http://www.loc.gov/mods/v3 http://www.loc.gov/standards/mods/v3/mods-3-2.xsd
  title info:
    title: History of Mathematics
    sub title: A Supplement
  name:
    name part: Smoryński, Craig.
    role:
      role term: creator
    role:
      role term: author.
  name:
    name part: SpringerLink (Online service)
  type of resource: text
  origin info:
    place:
      place term: xxu
    date issued: 2008
    issuance: monographic
  language:
    language term: eng
  physical description:
    form: electronic
    form: electronic resource
    reformatting quality: access
    form: remote
    extent: VI, 274 p. 42 illus. online resource.
  abstract: This book attempts to fill two gaps which exist in the standard textbooks on the History of Mathematics. One is to provide students with material that could encourage more critical thinking. General textbooks, attempting to cover three thousand years of mathematical history, must necessarily oversimplify almost everything, the practice of which can scarcely promote a critical approach to the subject. For this reason, Craig Smorynski chooses a more narrow but deeper coverage of a few select topics. The second aim of this book is to include the proofs of important results which are typically neglected in the modern history of mathematics curriculum. The most obvious of these is the oft-cited necessity of introducing complex numbers in applying the algebraic solution of cubic equations. This solution, though it is now relegated to courses in the History of Mathematics, was a major occurrence in the history of mathematics. It was the first substantial piece of mathematics in Europe that was not a mere extension of what the Greeks had done and thus signified the coming of age of European mathematics. The fact that the solution, in the case of three distinct real roots to a cubic, necessarily involved complex numbers both made inevitable the acceptance and study of these numbers and provided a stimulus for the development of numerical approximation methods. Other unique features include: * a prefatory essay on the ways in which sources may be unreliable, followed by an annotated bibliography; * a modern recounting of a Chinese word problem from the 13th century, illustrating the need for consulting multiple sources when the primary source is unavailable; * the solution of the cubic equation, including multiple proofs that the algebraic solution uses complex numbers whenever the cubic equation has three distinct real solutions; * a critical reappraisal of Horner's Method; The final chapter contains lighter material, including a critical look at North Korea's stamps commemo…
  table of contents: Annotated Bibliography -- Foundations of Geometry -- The Construction Problems of Antiquity -- A Chinese Problem -- The Cubic Equation -- Horner's Method -- Some Lighter Material.
  note: by Craig Smoryński.
  subject:
    topic: Mathematics
  subject:
    topic: Algebra
  subject:
    topic: Geometry
  subject:
    topic: History
  subject:
    topic: Mathematics
  subject:
    topic: History of Mathematical Sciences
  subject:
    topic: Geometry
  subject:
    topic: Algebra
  classification: QA21-27
  classification: 510.9
  related item:
    title info:
      title: Springer eBooks
  identifier: 9780387754819
  identifier: http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-75481-9
  record info:
    record creation date: 100301
    record change date: 20151204184235.0
    record identifier: 978-0-387-75481-9