Publisher's Synopsis
From 700 BCE to 1300 CE, thousands of scholars from many civilizations introduced mathematical ideas that established the foundations of arithmetic, number theory, algebra, geometry, and trigonometry, as well as the related sciences of astronomy and physics. Although we know very little about specific individuals who made important mathematical discoveries in Babylonia, Egypt, and China, historians in Arabia, ancient Greece, India, and medieval Italy preserved a more complete record, including the identities of some of the innovators.
The Birth of Mathematics, Updated Edition profiles 10 individuals spanning four cultures and 20 centuries as representatives of the numerous scholars who contributed to the field of mathematics. The stories of their achievements provide a glimpse into the lives and the minds of some of the pioneers who discovered mathematics. Each unit contains information on the person's research, discoveries, and contributions to the field and concludes with a list of print and Internet references specific to that individual.
