Excursions in the History of Mathematics

This book offers an historical perspective on the basic mathematical concepts, results, and theories behind number theory, calculus/analysis, and proofs, offering ten historical essays on key topics, four historical courses and biographies of five important mathematicians.

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This book comprises five parts. The first three contain ten historical essays on important topics: number theory, calculus/analysis, and proof, respectively.  Part four deals with several historically oriented courses, and Part five provides biographies of five mathematicians—Dedekind, Euler, Gauss, Hilbert, and Weierstrass—who played major roles in the historical events described in the first four parts of the work.

Excursions in the History of Mathematics was written with several goals in mind: to arouse mathematics teachers’ interest in the history of their subject; to encourage mathematics teachers with at least some knowledge of the history of mathematics to offer courses with a strong historical component; and to provide an historical perspective on a number of basic topics taught in mathematics courses.