Read Anywhere and on Any Device!

Subscribe to Read | $0.00

Join today and start reading your favorite books for Free!

Create Free Account

What Is Mathematics?: An Elementary Approach to Ideas and Methods

4.2/5 ( ratings)

For more than two thousand years a familiarity with mathematics has been regarded as an indispensable part of the intellectual equipment of every cultured person. Today, unfortunately, the traditional place of mathematics in education is in grave danger. The teaching and learning of mathematics has degenerated into the realm of rote memorization, the outcome of which leads to satisfactory formal ability but does not lead to real understanding or to greater intellectual independence. This new edition of Richard Courant's and Herbert Robbins's classic work seeks to address this problem. Its goal is to put the meaning back into mathematics.

Written for beginners and scholars, for students and teachers, for philosophers and engineers, What is Mathematics? Second Edition is a sparkling collection of mathematical gems that offers an entertaining and accessible portrait of the mathematical world. Covering everything from natural numbers and the number system to geometrical constructions and projective geometry, from topology and calculus to matters of principle and the Continuum Hypothesis, this fascinating survey allows readers to delve into mathematics as an organic whole rather than an empty drill in problem solving. With chapters largely independent of one another and sections that lead upward from basic to more advanced discussions, readers can easily pick and choose areas of particular interest without impairing their understanding of subsequent parts.

Brought up to date with a new chapter by Ian Stewart, What is Mathematics? Second Edition offers new insights into recent mathematical developments and describes proofs of the Four-Color Theorem and Fermat's Last Theorem, problems that were still open when Courant and Robbins wrote this masterpiece, but ones that have since been solved.

Formal mathematics is like spelling and grammar - a matter of the correct application of local rules. Meaningful mathematics is like journalism - it tells an interesting story. But unlike some journalism, the story has to be true. The best mathematics is like literature - it brings a story to life before your eyes and involves you in it, intellectually and emotionally. What is Mathematics is like a fine piece of literature - it opens a window onto the world of mathematics for anyone interested to view.

Language: English

Pages: 592

Format: Paperback

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Release: July 18, 1996

ISBN: 0195105192

ISBN 13: 9780195105193

What Is Mathematics?: An Elementary Approach to Ideas and Methods

4.2/5 ( ratings)

For more than two thousand years a familiarity with mathematics has been regarded as an indispensable part of the intellectual equipment of every cultured person. Today, unfortunately, the traditional place of mathematics in education is in grave danger. The teaching and learning of mathematics has degenerated into the realm of rote memorization, the outcome of which leads to satisfactory formal ability but does not lead to real understanding or to greater intellectual independence. This new edition of Richard Courant's and Herbert Robbins's classic work seeks to address this problem. Its goal is to put the meaning back into mathematics.

Written for beginners and scholars, for students and teachers, for philosophers and engineers, What is Mathematics? Second Edition is a sparkling collection of mathematical gems that offers an entertaining and accessible portrait of the mathematical world. Covering everything from natural numbers and the number system to geometrical constructions and projective geometry, from topology and calculus to matters of principle and the Continuum Hypothesis, this fascinating survey allows readers to delve into mathematics as an organic whole rather than an empty drill in problem solving. With chapters largely independent of one another and sections that lead upward from basic to more advanced discussions, readers can easily pick and choose areas of particular interest without impairing their understanding of subsequent parts.

Brought up to date with a new chapter by Ian Stewart, What is Mathematics? Second Edition offers new insights into recent mathematical developments and describes proofs of the Four-Color Theorem and Fermat's Last Theorem, problems that were still open when Courant and Robbins wrote this masterpiece, but ones that have since been solved.

Formal mathematics is like spelling and grammar - a matter of the correct application of local rules. Meaningful mathematics is like journalism - it tells an interesting story. But unlike some journalism, the story has to be true. The best mathematics is like literature - it brings a story to life before your eyes and involves you in it, intellectually and emotionally. What is Mathematics is like a fine piece of literature - it opens a window onto the world of mathematics for anyone interested to view.

Language: English

Pages: 592

Format: Paperback

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Release: July 18, 1996

ISBN: 0195105192

ISBN 13: 9780195105193

More books from Ian Stewart

The Globe (The Science of Discworld, #2)

3.9/5 ( ratings)

Seeing Further: Ideas, Endeavours, Discoveries and Disputes — The Story of Science Through 350 Years of the Royal Society

3.5/5 ( ratings)

Flatterland: Like Flatland Only More So

3.7/5 ( ratings)

Does God Play Dice?: The New Mathematics of Chaos

Nature's Numbers: The Unreal Reality Of Mathematics

3.8/5 ( ratings)

Why Beauty Is Truth: A History of Symmetry

3.8/5 ( ratings)

Professor Stewart's Cabinet of Mathematical Curiosities

3.8/5 ( ratings)

Concepts of Modern Mathematics

Taming the Infinite: The Story of Mathematics from the First Numbers to Chaos Theory

3.8/5 ( ratings)

The Mathematics of Life

3.5/5 ( ratings)

Significant Figures: The Lives and Work of Great Mathematicians

3.7/5 ( ratings)

The Magical Maze

3.7/5 ( ratings)

In Pursuit of the Unknown: 17 Equations That Changed the World

4.2/5 ( ratings)

Letters to a Young Mathematician

3.8/5 ( ratings)

Fearful Symmetry: Is God a Geometer?

3.8/5 ( ratings)

100 Things to Do Before You Die (Plus a Few to Do Afterwards)

3.2/5 ( ratings)

The Great Mathematical Problems

3.4/5 ( ratings)

Algebraic Number Theory and Fermat's Last Theorem

4.2/5 ( ratings)

Calculating the Cosmos: How Mathematics Unveils the Universe

Rate this book!

Write a review?