A Brief History of Mathematics: A Promenade Through the Civilizations of Our World

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 resulting applications, with the aid of images and photographs, often taken by the author, which further enhance the enjoyment for the reader.
Written for a general audience, this book will be of interest to anyone who's studied mathematics in university or even high school, while also benefiting researchers in mathematics and the humanities.

Author: Tianxin Cai
Publisher: Birkhauser
Published: 07/26/2023
Pages: 344
Binding Type: Hardcover
Weight: 1.51lbs
Size: 9.21h x 6.14w x 0.81d
ISBN13: 9783031268403
ISBN10: 3031268407
BISAC Categories:
- Mathematics | History & Philosophy
- Mathematics | Applied

About the Author
Tianxin Cai was born in 1963 in Taizhou, Zhejiang province, and completed a doctorate in science in 1987. He is a Professor of Mathematics at Zhejiang University as well as an author, poet, and lecturer. He has published over 80 academic papers in number theory and 22 books on popular mathematics and poetry (translated into 16 languages), as well as dozens of articles in magazines and newspapers that have been translated into a number of languages. His video open class, Mathematical Legends, has been viewed more than three million times.