A Long Way from Euclid By: Constance Reid Publisher: Dover Publications Print ISBN: 9780486436135, 0486436136 eText ISBN: 9780486152028, 0486152022 Pages: 304 Format: EPUB Available from $ 13.95 USD SKU: 9780486152028 Mathematics has come a long way indeed in the last 2,000 years, and this guide to modern mathematics traces the fascinating path from Euclid's Elements to contemporary concepts. No background beyond elementary algebra and plane geometry is necessary to understand and appreciate author Constance Reid's simple, direct explanations of the arithmetic of the infinite, the paradoxes of point sets, the knotty problems of topology, and truth tables of symbolic logic. Reid illustrates the ways in which the quandaries that arose from unsolvable problems promoted new ideas. Numerical concepts expanded to accommodate such concepts as zero, irrational numbers, negative numbers, imaginary numbers, and infinite numbers. Geometry advanced into the widening territories of projective geometry, non-Euclidean geometries, the geometry of n-dimensions, and topology or rubber sheet geometry. More than 80 drawings, integrated with the text, assist in cultivating a grasp of the abstract foundations of modern mathematics, the search for truly consistent assumptions, the recognition that absolute consistency is unattainable, and the realization that some problems can never be solved. SKU: 9780486436135 Ebooks here: https://ebookscoffee.sellpass.io/products/A-Long-Way-from-Euclid
