Math through the Ages (2nd Edition) Berlinghoff

AMS / MAA TEXTBOOKS VOL 32

Math through the Ages

https://www.yakibooki.com/download/math-through-the-ages-2nd-edition/
A Gentle History for Teachers and Others
Expanded Second Edition

William P. Berlinghoff and Fernando Q. Gouvêa

This Book is Available on YakiBooki.com

 Math through the Ages (2nd Edition) Berlinghoff

ttps://www.yakibooki.com/download/math-through-the-ages-2nd-edition

Math through the Ages

This Book is Available on YakiBooki.com

 Math through the Ages (2nd Edition) Berlinghoff

Originally published by
ttps://www.yakibooki.com/download/math-through-the-ages-2nd-edition
The Mathematical Association of America, 2015.
ISBN: 978-1-4704-6456-1
LCCN: 2015951223

Copyright © 2015, held by the Amercan Mathematical Society

Printed in the United States of America.
Reprinted by the American Mathematical Society, 2021
The American Mathematical Society retains all rights
except those granted to the United States Government.
∞ The paper used in this book is acid-free and falls within the guidelines
⃝
established to ensure permanence and durability.
Visit the AMS home page at https://www.ams.org/
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 26 25 24 23 22 21

This Book is Available on YakiBooki.com

 Math through the Ages (2nd Edition) Berlinghoff
AMS/MAA TEXTBOOKS

VOL 32

ttps://www.yakibooki.com/download/math-through-the-ages-2nd-edition

Math through the Ages

A Gentle History for Teachers
and Others
Expanded Second Edition

William P. Berlinghoff
Fernando Q. Gouvêa

A Joint Publication of
Oxton House Publishers
and
e Mathematical Association of America
This Book is Available on YakiBooki.com
 Math through the Ages (2nd Edition) Berlinghoff

ttps://www.yakibooki.com/download/math-through-the-ages-2nd-edition
Council on Publications and Communications
Jennifer J. Quinn, Chair
Committee on Books
Fernando Gouvea, Chair
MAA Textbooks Editorial Board
Stanley E. Seltzer, Editor
Matthias Beck
Richard E. Bedient
Otto Bretscher
Heather Ann Dye
Charles R. Hampton
Jacqueline A. Jensen-Vallin
Suzanne Lynne Larson
John Lorch
Virginia A. Noonburg
Susan F. Pustejovsky
Elsa Schaefer

This Book is Available on YakiBooki.com

 Math through the Ages (2nd Edition) Berlinghoff

AŽ TEXTBOOKS
Bridge to Abstract Mathematics, Ralph Oberste-Vorth, Aristides
Mouzakitis, and Bonita A. Lawrence
Calculus Deconstructed: A Second Course in First-Year Calculus,
ttps://www.yakibooki.com/download/math-through-the-ages-2nd-edition
Zbigniew H. Nitecki
Calculus for the L e Sciences: A Modeling App ach, James L. Co ette
and Ralph A. Acke an
Combinatorics: A Guided Tour, David R. Mazur
Combinatorics: A P blem Oriented App ach, Daniel A. Marcus
Compl Numbers and Geomet , Liang-shin Hahn
A Course in Mathematical Modeling, Douglas Mooney and Randall
Swi
Cryptological Mathematics, Robert Edward Lewand
D e ntial Geomet and its Applications, John Oprea
Distilling Ideas: An Int duction to Mathematical Thinking, Brian P.
Katz and Michael Starbird
Elementa C ptanalysis, Abraham Sinkov
Elementary Mathematical Models, Dan Kalman
An Episodic Histo of Mathematics: Mathematical Cultu Th ugh
P blem Solving, Steven G. Krantz
Essentials of Mathematics, Margie Hale
Field Theo and its Classical P blems, Charles Hadlock
Fourier Series, Rajendra Bhatia
Game Theo and Strate , Philip D. Stra n
Geomet luminated: An lustrated Int ction to Euclidean and Hy-
perbolic Plane Geomet , Matthew Harvey
Geomet Revisited, H. S. M. Coxeter d S. L. Greitzer
Graph Theo : A Problem Oriented App ach, Daniel Marcus
An Invitation to Real Analysis, Luis F. Moreno
Knot Theo , Charles Livingston
Lea ing Modern Algebra: F m Ear Attempts to P ve Fermat s Last
Theo m, Al Cuoco and Joseph J. Rotman
The Lebesgue Integral for Unde raduates, William Johnston
Lie G ups: A P blem-Oriented Int duction via Matr G ups,
Harriet Pollatsek
Mathematical Connections: A Companion for Teachers and Others, Al
Cuoco

This Book is Available on YakiBooki.com

 Math through the Ages (2nd Edition) Berlinghoff

Mathematical Interest eo , Second Edition, Leslie Jane Federer

Vaaler and JamesW. Daniel
thematical Mo ling in the Envi nment, Charles Hadlock
Mathematics r Business Decisions Part I: P babili and Simulation
ttps://www.yakibooki.com/download/math-through-the-ages-2nd-edition
(electronic textbook), Richard B. Thompson and Christopher G.
Lamoureux
thematics r Business Decisions Part 2: Calculus and Optim ation
(electronic textbook), Richard B. Thompson and Christopher G.
Lamoureux
Mathematics for Seconda School Teachers, Elizabeth G. Bremigan,
Ralph J. Bremigan, and John D. Lorch
The Mathematics of Choice, Ivan Niven
The thematics of Games and Gambling, Edward Packel
th th ugh the Ages, William Berlingho and Fe ando Gouvea
Noncommutative Rings, I. N. Herstein
Non-Eucli an Geomet , H. S. M. Coxeter
Number eo Through Inqui , David C. Marshall, Edward Odell, and
Michael Starbird
Ordina D erential Equations: om Calculus to Dynamical Systems,
V. W. Noonburg
A Primer of Real Functions, Ralph P. Boas
A Radical Approach to Lebesgue s eo of Integration, David M.
Bressoud
A Ra cal Approach to Real Analysis, 2nd edition, David M. Bressoud
Real In nite Series, Daniel D. Bonar and Michael Khoury, Jr.
Thinking Geometrically: A Survey of Geometries, Thomas Q. Sibley
olo Now!, Robert Messer and Philip Stra n
Un tanding our Quantitative rld, Janet Andersen and Todd
Swanson

This Book is Available on YakiBooki.com

 Math through the Ages (2nd Edition) Berlinghoff

Preface to the
Second Edition
ttps://www.yakibooki.com/download/math-through-the-ages-2nd-edition

I
n the dozen years between the initial appearance of this book and
today, two ongoing events have motivated us to prepare this re­
vised edition. The rst is the signi cant expansion of published
scholarship in the history of mathematics, including many new books
accessible to non-specialists. The second is the grati ing widespread
use of this book, both here and abroad, and the continuing demand
r it. In addition, several more topics, admittedly chosen by personal
taste, seemed to merit sketches of their own.
Five new historical Sketches - on the tangent nction, logarithms,
conic sections, irrational numbers, and the derivative - have been
added. We opted not to change the numbering of the original Sketches,
so the new ones are numbers 26-30. Also new is the "When They
Lived" section just be re the Bibliography. It replaces all the par­
enthetical birth/ death dates that had appeared somewhat intrusively
(and, alas, inconsistently) throughout the text, a er the name of each
mathematician or other prominent historical gure.
Parts of the "Nutshell" overview have been rewritten extensively
to re ect recent scholarship. The "Books You Ought to Read" section
and the Bibliography have been thoroughly reworked to re ect recent
publications. The index has also been expanded and improved, and the
"For a Closer Look" piece at the end of each Sketch has been revised
to account r sources that have appeared in the past decade or so.
In preparing this revision we have tried to be mind l of the many
college pro ssors whose courses have been built, at least in part, around
the rst edition. To that end, Sketches 1-25 have remained substan­
tially the same. To be sure, parts of some have been reworked a bit.
In particular, there have been signi cant adjustments in Sketches 1, 5,
9, 15, 17, 18, and especially 19. Nevertheless, the "story lines" of all
the Sketches are unchanged.

Math th ugh the Ages continues to exist in two versions: a paper­

back edition published by Oxton House, which contains the basic text,
and the one you have in your hands: a hardcover "expanded edition"
including Questions and Projects r classroom use, co-published by

vii
This Book is Available on YakiBooki.com
 Math through the Ages (2nd Edition) Berlinghoff
viii Preface to the Second Edition

Oxton House and the Mathematical Association of America. For this

Expanded Second Edition, we have added Questions and Projects r
the ve new sketches, while only making small changes to the rest.
ttps://www.yakibooki.com/download/math-through-the-ages-2nd-edition
We have tried to do this within the guidelines described in the Pref­
ace to the Expanded F irst Edition, providing both mathematical and
historical questions and trying to make sure students are aware of the
historical context. The Expanded Edition also has an expanded bibli­
ography, because it includes materials related only to the Questions or
Projects.
An Instructor's Guide providing solutions to the Questions and
comments about the Projects is available to instructors who adopt the
book r classroom use.
We are grate l to the many students who read the rst edition and
shared their comments with us. We also thank the many reviewers who
wrote about the rst edition; we considered seriously all your criticisms
and suggestions. We are grate l, as well, to all those who helped us
write and produce this Expanded Second Edition. Glen van Brummelen
and Jeremy Gray answered our questions. Jessica Rosenberg insisted
on a new cover. The MAA Textbooks Editorial Board agreed to co­
publish this version of our book. Debra Richards of Oxton House did
some care l proo eading at various stages. Carol Baxter of the MAA
helped to manage the process of turning our computer les into this
nal book. We thank you all.

Maine, August 2015

This Book is Available on YakiBooki.com

 Math through the Ages (2nd Edition) Berlinghoff

Preface to the First Edition

ttps://www.yakibooki.com/download/math-through-the-ages-2nd-edition

T
his book grew out of a w casual hallway conversations in the
Colby College Mathematics Department about two years ago,
but its roots are much deeper and older than that. For many
years we have been interested in the history of mathematics, both r
its own sake and as an aid in teaching mathematical concepts to a wide
range of audiences. One of us has used it as a major ingredient in several
college mathematics texts r liberal arts students and as an important
part of his contributions to an NCTM Standards-based high school
mathematics series. The other has done considerable background re­
search in the eld, has participated in the Mathematical Association
of America's Institute for the History of Mathematics and its use in
Teaching, and teaches a course in the history of mathematics at Colby.
We are convinced that knowing the history of a mathematical concept
or technique leads to a deeper, richer understanding of the concept or
technique itself.
Un rtunately r teachers and other people with some interest in
mathematical history but relatively little time to pursue it, most books
on the subject are dauntingly large. If you want some historical back­
ground as you prepare to teach quadratic equations or negative num­
bers, or if you are just curious about the history of 1r or the metric
system or zero, where would you look? The indexes of most history
books will point you to a disjointed scattering of pages, leaving to you
the task of piecing together a coherent picture. A topical search on the
Internet is likely to inundate you with in rmation, some reliable, some
spurious, with little guidance as to which is which.
We decided to write a book with your needs in mind. The main part
of this book is a collection of twenty- ve short historical sketches about
some common ideas of basic mathematics. These sketches illustrate the
origins of an idea, process, or topic, sometimes connecting seemingly
distinct things that share common historical roots. They are preceded
by a brief panorama of the history of mathematics, om its earliest
days to the present. This provides a skeletal amework of important
people and events that shaped the mathematics we know today, and
it supplies a uni ing context r the separate, self-contained sketches.
Of course, the choice of sketch topics was quite subjective; we were
guided partly by our own interests and partly by our sense of what
might interest teachers and students of mathematics. If you would like

ix
This Book is Available on YakiBooki.com