Bøger i Sources and Studies in the History of Mathematics and Physical Sciences serien

In this examination of the Babylonian cuneiform "algebra" texts, based on a detailed investigation of the terminology and discursive organization of the texts, Jens Hoyrup proposes that the traditional interpretation must be rejected.

This fascinating insight into the minds of two great twentieth-century mathematicians affords an insider's view of the birth of modern probability theory as well as a revealing epistolary portrait spanning five decades of Levy and Frechet's academic careers.

t/c with MS.

Robert Simson is recognised as the first person to achieve an insight into the nature of the subject - Porisms. In this book, Ian Tweddle presents a translation of Simson's work. Supplemented by historical and mathematical notes and comments, this book is useful to those with an interest in mathematical history or geometry.

The discovery of a gradual acceleration in the moon's mean motion by Edmond Halley in the last decade of the seventeenth century led to a revival of interest in reports of astronomical observations from antiquity.

This book will appeal to both graduate students and researchers with an interest in topology, the history of mathematics, the foundations of mathematics, philosophy and general science.

Based on a modern approach incorporating recent insights, this book offers new translations and a new analysis of the procedure texts of Babylonian mathematical astronomy, the earliest known form of mathematical astronomy of the ancient world.

The book analyzes the mathematical tablets from the private collection of Martin Schoyen. This provides new insight into Babylonian understanding of sophisticated mathematical objects. The tablets are classified according to mathematical content and purpose, while drawings and pictures are provided for the most interesting tablets.

In his "Géométrie" of 1637 Descartes achieved a monumental innovation of mathematical techniques by introducing what is now called analytic geometry. Yet the key question of the book was foundational rather than technical: When are geometrical objects known with such clarity and distinctness as befits the exact science of geometry? Classically, the answer was sought in procedures of geometrical construction, in particular by ruler and compass, but the introduction of new algebraic techniques made these procedures insufficient. In this detailed study, spanning essentially the period from the first printed edition of Pappus' "Collection" (1588, in Latin translation) and Descartes' death in 1650, Bos explores the current ideas about construction and geometrical exactness, noting that by the time Descartes entered the field the incursion of algebraic techniques, combined with an increasing uncertainty about the proper means of geometrical problem solving, had produced a certain impasse. Hethen analyses how Descartes transformed geometry by a redefinition of exactness and by a demarcation of geometry's proper subject and procedures in such a way as to incorporate the use of algebraic methods without destroying the true nature of geometry. Although mathematicians later essentially discarded Descartes' methodological convictions, his influence was profound and pervasive. Bos' insistence on the foundational aspects of the "Géométrie" provides new insights both in the genesis of Descartes' masterpiece and in its significance for the development of the conceptions of mathematical exactness.