{"product_id":"making-up-numbers-a-history-of-invention-in-mathematics-9781800640955","title":"Making up Numbers: A History of Invention in Mathematics","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eMaking up Numbers: A History of Invention in Mathematics\u003c\/em\u003e offers a detailed but accessible account of a wide range of mathematical ideas. Starting with elementary concepts, it leads the reader towards aspects of current mathematical research.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe book explains how conceptual hurdles in the development of numbers and number systems were overcome in the course of history, from Babylon to Classical Greece, from the Middle Ages to the Renaissance, and so to the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. The narrative moves from the Pythagorean insistence on positive multiples to the gradual acceptance of negative numbers, irrationals and complex numbers as essential tools in quantitative analysis.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eWithin this chronological framework, chapters are organised thematically, covering a variety of topics and contexts: writing and solving equations, geometric construction, coordinates and complex numbers, perceptions of 'infinity' and its permissible uses in mathematics, number systems, and evolving views of the role of axioms.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThrough this approach, the author demonstrates that changes in our understanding of numbers have often relied on the breaking of long-held conventions to make way for new inventions at once providing greater clarity and widening mathematical horizons. Viewed from this historical perspective, mathematical abstraction emerges as neither mysterious nor immutable, but as a contingent, developing human activity.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003e \u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eMaking up Numbers \u003c\/em\u003ewill be of great interest to undergraduate and A-level students of mathematics, as well as secondary school teachers of the subject. In virtue of its detailed treatment of mathematical ideas, it will be of value to anyone seeking to learn more about the development of the subject.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/sureshotbooks-com.myshopify.com\/search?type=product%2Carticle%2Cpage\u0026amp;q=AUTH-11242581\"\u003eEkkehard Kopp\u003c\/a\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e Open Book Publishers\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 10\/15\/2020\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 280\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eBinding Type:\u003c\/b\u003e Paperback\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 1.17lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 9.21h x 6.14w x 0.76d\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN13:\u003c\/b\u003e 9781800640955\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN10:\u003c\/b\u003e 1800640951\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eBISAC Categories:\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e- \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/sureshotbooks-com.myshopify.com\/search?type=product%2Carticle%2Cpage\u0026amp;q=CAT-MAT\"\u003eMathematics\u003c\/a\u003e | \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/sureshotbooks-com.myshopify.com\/search?type=product%2Carticle%2Cpage\u0026amp;q=BISAC-MAT015000\"\u003eHistory \u0026amp; Philosophy\u003c\/a\u003e\u003cbr\u003e- \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/sureshotbooks-com.myshopify.com\/search?type=product%2Carticle%2Cpage\u0026amp;q=CAT-MAT\"\u003eMathematics\u003c\/a\u003e | \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/sureshotbooks-com.myshopify.com\/search?type=product%2Carticle%2Cpage\u0026amp;q=BISAC-MAT027000\"\u003eResearch\u003c\/a\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eThis title is not returnable\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Open Book Publishers","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":44562718032109,"sku":"9781800640955","price":51.93,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0550\/8097\/6621\/products\/img_ff7722ed-180c-46c3-b120-bb146bb1ac27.jpg?v=1701835613","url":"https:\/\/sureshotbooks.com\/products\/making-up-numbers-a-history-of-invention-in-mathematics-9781800640955","provider":"SureShot Books Publishing LLC","version":"1.0","type":"link"}