Research Catalog

Title

Unknown quantity : a real and imaginary history of algebra / John Derbyshire.

Author

Derbyshire, John.

Publication

Washington, D.C. : Joseph Henry Press, [2006], ©2006.

Items in the Library & Off-site

Details

Description

viii, 374 pages, 8 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations, portraits; 24 cm

Subjects

• Algebra > History
• Algebra, Universal > History
• Algebra, Abstract > History
• Equations > History
• Geometry, Algebraic > History

Bibliography (note)

• Includes bibliographical references and index.

Contents

Math primer : numbers and polynomials -- Pt. 1. The unknown quantity -- 1. Four thousand years ago -- 2. The father of algebra -- 3. Completion and reduction -- Math primer : cubic and quartic equations -- 4. Commerce and competition -- 5. Relief for the imagination -- Pt. 2. Universal arithmetic -- 6. The lion's claw -- Math primer : roots of unity -- 7. The assault on the quintic -- Math primer : vector spaces and algebras -- 8. The leap into the fourth dimension -- 9. An oblong arrangement of terms -- 10. Victoria's Brumous Isles -- Pt. 3. Levels of abstraction -- Math primer : field theory -- 11. Pistols at dawn -- 12. Lady of the rings -- Math primer : algebraic geometry -- 13. Geometry makes a comeback -- 14. Algebraic this, algebraic that -- 15. From universal arithmetic to universal algebra.

ISBN

030909657X (hardback : alk. paper)

LCCN

• 2005037018
• 9780309096577

OCLC

• ocm62742568
• SCSB-5248314

Owning Institutions

Columbia University Libraries