How mathematics happened : the first 50,000 years / Peter S. Rudman
出版項
Amherst, N.Y. : Prometheus Books, 2007
說明
314 p. : ill. ; 24 cm
附註
Includes bibliographical references (p. 295-308) and index
List of figures -- List of tables -- Preface -- 1. Introduction -- 1.1. Mathematical Darwinism -- 1.2. The replacement concept -- 1.3. Number systems -- 2. The birth of arithmetic -- 2.1. Pattern recognition evolves into counting -- 2.2. Counting in hunter-gatherer cultures -- 3. Pebble counting evolves into written numbers -- 3.1. Herder-farmer and urban cultures in the valley of the Nile -- 3.2. Herder-farmer and urban cultures by the waters of Babylon -- 3.3. In the jungles of the Maya -- 4. Mathematics in the valley of the Nile -- 4.1. Egyptian multiplication -- 4.2. Egyptian fractions -- 4.3. Egyptian algebra -- 4.4. Pyramidiots -- 5. Mathematics by the waters of Babylon -- 5.1. Babylonian multiplication -- 5.2. Babylonian fractions -- 5.3. Plimpton 322, the enigma -- 5.4. Babylonian algebra -- 5.5. Babylonian calculation of square root of 2 -- 6. Mathematics attains maturity : rigorous proof -- 6.1. Pythagoras -- 6.2. Eratosthenes -- 6.3. Hippasus -- 7. We learn history to be able to repeat it -- 7.1. Teaching mathematics in ancient Greece and how we should but do not -- Appendix : Answers to fun questions -- Notes and references -- Index
