History and Philosophy of Modern Mathematics PDF Download

Author: William Aspray
Publisher: U of Minnesota Press
ISBN: 0816615675
Category : Mathematics
Languages : en
Pages : 396

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Book Description
History and Philosophy of Modern Mathematics was first published in 1988. Minnesota Archive Editions uses digital technology to make long-unavailable books once again accessible, and are published unaltered from the original University of Minnesota Press editions. The fourteen essays in this volume build on the pioneering effort of Garrett Birkhoff, professor of mathematics at Harvard University, who in 1974 organized a conference of mathematicians and historians of modern mathematics to examine how the two disciplines approach the history of mathematics. In History and Philosophy of Modern Mathematics, William Aspray and Philip Kitcher bring together distinguished scholars from mathematics, history, and philosophy to assess the current state of the field. Their essays, which grow out of a 1985 conference at the University of Minnesota, develop the basic premise that mathematical thought needs to be studied from an interdisciplinary perspective. The opening essays study issues arising within logic and the foundations of mathematics, a traditional area of interest to historians and philosophers. The second section examines issues in the history of mathematics within the framework of established historical periods and questions. Next come case studies that illustrate the power of an interdisciplinary approach to the study of mathematics. The collection closes with a look at mathematics from a sociohistorical perspective, including the way institutions affect what constitutes mathematical knowledge.

Author: Dirk Jan Struik
Publisher: Courier Corporation
ISBN: 9780486602554
Category : Mathematics
Languages : en
Pages : 260

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Book Description
This compact, well-written history covers major mathematical ideas and techniques from the ancient Near East to 20th-century computer theory, surveying the works of Archimedes, Pascal, Gauss, Hilbert, and many others. "The author's ability as a first-class historian as well as an able mathematician has enabled him to produce a work which is unquestionably one of the best." — Nature.

Author: Albert Einstein
Publisher: Legare Street Press
ISBN: 9781021110886
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
Mathematische Annalen is a seminal mathematics journal that has published many groundbreaking papers and provided a venue for the most important mathematical discoveries of the past century. This anthology contains some of the most important papers published in the journal and includes contributions from luminaries such as David Hilbert, Albert Einstein, and Felix Klein. With its rigorous analysis and groundbreaking insights, this book is an essential resource for anyone interested in the history and development of the most important mathematical ideas of the 20th century. This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work is in the "public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.

Author: Joseph Warren Dauben
Publisher: Princeton University Press
ISBN: 0691214204
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 422

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Book Description
One of the greatest revolutions in mathematics occurred when Georg Cantor (1845-1918) promulgated his theory of transfinite sets. This revolution is the subject of Joseph Dauben's important studythe most thorough yet writtenof the philosopher and mathematician who was once called a "corrupter of youth" for an innovation that is now a vital component of elementary school curricula. Set theory has been widely adopted in mathematics and philosophy, but the controversy surrounding it at the turn of the century remains of great interest. Cantor's own faith in his theory was partly theological. His religious beliefs led him to expect paradoxes in any concept of the infinite, and he always retained his belief in the utter veracity of transfinite set theory. Later in his life, he was troubled by recurring attacks of severe depression. Dauben shows that these played an integral part in his understanding and defense of set theory.

Author: Stewart Shapiro
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
ISBN: 0198809646
Category : Mathematics
Languages : en
Pages : 593

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Book Description
Mathematical and philosophical thought about continuity has changed considerably over the ages, from Aristotle's insistence that a continuum is a unified whole, to the dominant account today, that a continuum is composed of infinitely many points. This book explores the key ideas and debates concerning continuity over more than 2500 years.

Author: Alberto Cogliati
Publisher: Academic Press
ISBN: 012814274X
Category : Mathematics
Languages : en
Pages : 304

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Book Description
Writing Small Omegas: Elie Cartan's Contributions to the Theory of Continuous Groups 1894-1926 provides a general account of Lie’s theory of finite continuous groups, critically examining Cartan’s doctoral attempts to rigorously classify simple Lie algebras, including the use of many unpublished letters. It evaluates pioneering attempts to generalize Lie's classical ideas to the infinite-dimensional case in the works of Lie, Engel, Medolaghi and Vessiot. Within this context, Cartan’s groundbreaking contributions in continuous group theory, particularly in his characteristic and unique recourse to exterior differential calculus, are introduced and discussed at length. The work concludes by discussing Cartan’s contributions to the structural theory of infinite continuous groups, his method of moving frames, and the genesis of his geometrical theory of Lie groups. Discusses the origins of the theory of moving frames and the geometrical theory of Lie groups Reviews Cartan’s revolutionary contributions to Lie group theory and differential geometry Evaluates many unpublished sources that shed light on important aspects of the historical development of Lie algebras

Author: Francesca Biagioli
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 3319317792
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 239

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Book Description
This book offers a reconstruction of the debate on non-Euclidean geometry in neo-Kantianism between the second half of the nineteenth century and the first decades of the twentieth century. Kant famously characterized space and time as a priori forms of intuitions, which lie at the foundation of mathematical knowledge. The success of his philosophical account of space was due not least to the fact that Euclidean geometry was widely considered to be a model of certainty at his time. However, such later scientific developments as non-Euclidean geometries and Einstein’s general theory of relativity called into question the certainty of Euclidean geometry and posed the problem of reconsidering space as an open question for empirical research. The transformation of the concept of space from a source of knowledge to an object of research can be traced back to a tradition, which includes such mathematicians as Carl Friedrich Gauss, Bernhard Riemann, Richard Dedekind, Felix Klein, and Henri Poincaré, and which finds one of its clearest expressions in Hermann von Helmholtz’s epistemological works. Although Helmholtz formulated compelling objections to Kant, the author reconsiders different strategies for a philosophical account of the same transformation from a neo-Kantian perspective, and especially Hermann Cohen’s account of the aprioricity of mathematics in terms of applicability and Ernst Cassirer’s reformulation of the a priori of space in terms of a system of hypotheses. This book is ideal for students, scholars and researchers who wish to broaden their knowledge of non-Euclidean geometry or neo-Kantianism.

Author: Jeremy Gray
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
ISBN: 9780198506515
Category : Mathematics
Languages : en
Pages : 340

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Book Description
David Hilbert was arguably the leading mathematician of his generation. He was among the few mathematicians who could reshape mathematics, and was able to because he brought together an impressive technical power and mastery of detail with a vision of where the subject was going and how it should get there. This was the unique combination which he brought to the setting of his famous 23 Problems. Few problems in mathematics have the status of those posed by David Hilbert in 1900. Mathematicians have made their reputations by solving individual ones such as Fermat's last theorem, and several remain unsolved including the Riemann hypotheses, which has eluded all the great minds of this century. A hundred years on, it is timely to take a fresh look at the problems, the man who set them, and the reasons for their lasting impact on the mathematics of the twentieth century. In this fascinating new book, Jeremy Gray and David Rowe consider what has made this the pre-eminent collection of problems in mathematics, what they tell us about what drives mathematicians, and the nature of reputation, influence and power in the world of modern mathematics. The book is written in a clear and lively manner and will appeal both to the general reader with an interest in mathematics and to mathematicians themselves.

Author: Jeremy Gray
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 0857290606
Category : Mathematics
Languages : en
Pages : 384

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Book Description
Based on the latest historical research, Worlds Out of Nothing is the first book to provide a course on the history of geometry in the 19th century. Topics covered in the first part of the book are projective geometry, especially the concept of duality, and non-Euclidean geometry. The book then moves on to the study of the singular points of algebraic curves (Plücker’s equations) and their role in resolving a paradox in the theory of duality; to Riemann’s work on differential geometry; and to Beltrami’s role in successfully establishing non-Euclidean geometry as a rigorous mathematical subject. The final part of the book considers how projective geometry rose to prominence, and looks at Poincaré’s ideas about non-Euclidean geometry and their physical and philosophical significance. Three chapters are devoted to writing and assessing work in the history of mathematics, with examples of sample questions in the subject, advice on how to write essays, and comments on what instructors should be looking for.

Author: David E. Rowe
Publisher: Academic Press
ISBN: 1483266214
Category : Mathematics
Languages : en
Pages : 470

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Book Description
The History of Modern Mathematics, Volume I: Ideas and their Reception documents the proceedings of the Symposium on the History of Modern Mathematics held at Vassar College in Poughkeepsie, New York on June 20-24, 1989. This book is concerned with the emergence and reception of major ideas in fields that range from foundations and set theory, algebra and invariant theory, and number theory to differential geometry, projective and algebraic geometry, line geometry, and transformation groups. Other topics include the theory of reception for the history of mathematics and British synthetic vs. French analytic styles of algebra in the early American Republic. The early geometrical works of Sophus Lie and Felix Klein, background to Gergonne's treatment of duality, and algebraic geometry in the late 19th century are also elaborated. This volume is intended for students and researchers interested in developments in pure mathematics.