Short description:

This volume, originally published in China and translated into four other languages, presents a fascinating and unique account of the history of mathematics, divided into eight chronologically organized chapters. Tracing the development of mathematics across disparate regions and peoples, with particular emphasis on the relationship between mathematics and civilization, it examines mathematical sources and inspirations leading from Egypt, Babylon and ancient Greece and expanding to include Chinese, Indian and Arabic mathematics, the European Renaissance and the French revolution up through the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries. Each chapter explores connections among mathematics and cultural elements of the time and place treated, accompanying the reader in a varied and exciting journey through human civilizations. The book contemplates the intersections of mathematics with other disciplines, including the relationship between modern mathematics and modern art, and the resultingapplications, with the aid of images and photographs, often taken by the author, which further enhance the enjoyment for the reader.

Long description:

This volume, originally published in China and translated into four other languages, presents a fascinating and unique account of the history of mathematics, divided into eight chronologically organized chapters. Tracing the development of mathematics across disparate regions and peoples, with particular emphasis on the relationship between mathematics and civilization, it examines mathematical sources and inspirations leading from Egypt, Babylon and ancient Greece and expanding to include Chinese, Indian and Arabic mathematics, the European Renaissance and the French revolution up through the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries. Each chapter explores connections among mathematics and cultural elements of the time and place treated, accompanying the reader in a varied and exciting journey through human civilizations. The book contemplates the intersections of mathematics with other disciplines, including the relationship between modern mathematics and modern art, and the resultingapplications, with the aid of images and photographs, often taken by the author, which further enhance the enjoyment for the reader.

?This is a smoothly written translation of a revision of the author?s Chinese textbook published in 2012. Aimed at a general readership, the style is explicitly influenced by that of M. Kline ? . It provides historical accounts that are often opinionated and more readable than the usual history textbooks. ? The book is generally well-produced and amply illustrated though several figures ? .? (Albert C. Lewis, zbMATH 1539.01001, 2024)

Table of Contents:

1. The Middle East, or the Beginning.- 2. The Sages of Ancient Greece.- 3. The Chinese Middle Ages.- 4. India and Persia.- 5. From the Renaissance to the Birth of Calculus.- 6. The Age of Analysis and the French Revolution.- 7. Modern Mathematics, Modern Art.- 8. Abstraction: Mathematics Since the Twentieth Century.