The Irrationals : A Story of the Numbers You Can't Count On / Julian Havil.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Havil, Julian, 1952- Author.

Contributor:

Granville, Andrew, Contributor.

Series:

Princeton science library ; 134.

Princeton Science Library ; 134

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Irrational numbers.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (320 pages) : illustrations.

Place of Publication:

Princeton, NJ : Princeton University Press, [2023]

Summary:

An entertaining and enlightening history of irrational numbers, from ancient Greece to the twenty-first centuryThe ancient Greeks discovered them, but it wasn't until the nineteenth century that irrational numbers were properly understood and rigorously defined, and even today not all their mysteries have been revealed. In The Irrationals, the first popular and comprehensive book on the subject, Julian Havil tells the story of irrational numbers and the mathematicians who have tackled their challenges, from antiquity to the twenty-first century. Along the way, he explains why irrational numbers are surprisingly difficult to define-and why so many questions still surround them. Fascinating and illuminating, this is a book for everyone who loves math and the history behind it.

Contents:

Frontmatter

Contents

Foreword to the Princeton Science Library Edition

Acknowledgments

Introduction

1. Greek Beginnings

2. The Route to Germany

3. Two New Irrationals

4. Irrationals, Old and New

5. A Very Special Irrational

6. From the Rational to the Transcendental

7. Transcendentals If

8. Continued Fractions Revisited

9. The Question and Problem of Randomness

10. One Question, Three Answers

11. Does Irrationality Matter?

Appendix A: The Spiral of Theodorus

Appendix B: Rational Parameterizations of the Circle

Appendix C: Two Properties of Continued Fractions

Appendix D: Finding the Tomb of Roger Apéry

Appendix E: Equivalence Relations

Appendix F: The Mean Value Theorem

Index

Notes:

Description based on online resource; title from PDF title page (publisher's Web site, viewed 18. Sep 2023)

ISBN:

9780691247670

0691247676