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Unknown Quantity: A Real and Imaginary History of Algebra

Unknown Quantity: A Real and Imaginary History of Algebra

by JohnDerbyshire (Author)

  • Used

    Paperback 2008

    $4.39
Synopsis

'Here is the story of algebra.' With this deceptively simple introduction, Unknown Quantity opens, thirty-eight centuries ago, at the time of Abraham and Isaac. In stylish and accessible prose, Derbyshire shows how the invention of algebra was more than the beginning of a specific discipline of mathematics; it was also the birth of a new way of thinking that altered, forever, the ways in which we see and understand our world.

$4.39

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More Information

Format: Paperback
 Pages: 384
 Edition: Main
 Publisher: Atlantic Books
Published: 01 Aug 2008
ISBN 10: 1843545705
ISBN 13: 9781843545705
Book Overview: A brilliant and sparklingly original account of algebra through the ages, by one of mathematics' great popularizers: 'Unknown Quantity buzzes with rivalries, frustrations and breakthroughs ... A first-rate account that even algebraphobes will struggle to fault.' New Scientist

Media Reviews
* 'Unknown Quantity buzzes with rivalries, frustrations and breakthroughs... A first-rate account that even algebraphobes will struggle to fault.' New Scientist * 'Derbyshire is a virtuoso at simplifying mathematics... This is more than an engaging history; it records an entire, perhaps endangered, way of thinking.' Simon Ings, Daily Telegraph * 'Everything a popular mathematics book should be: gentle, chatty, anecdotal and full of mind-aching equations... Worth reading twice.' Alexander Masters, Literary Review * 'Derbyshire offers a very real and very entertaining survey of the development of algebra.' Publishers Weekly (US)
Author Bio
John Derbyshire is the author of Prime Obsession. His work appears frequently in National Review and The New Criterion. He lives in New York.