Significant Figures: The Lives and Work of Great Mathematicians (Hardcover) (ISBN-13: 9780465096121)

A celebrated mathematician traces the history of math through the lives and work of twenty-five pioneering mathematicians

In Significant Figures, acclaimed mathematician Ian Stewart explores the work of 25 of history's most important mathematicians, showing how they developed on each other's work and built the mathematics we use today.

Through these short biographies, we get acquainted with the history of mathematics from Archimedes to William Thurston, and learn about those too often left out of the cannon, such as Muhammad ibn Musa al-Khwarizmi, the creator of algebra; Ada Lovelace, the world's first computer programmer; and Emmy Noether, whose research on symmetry paved the way for modern physics.

Tracing the evolution of mathematics over the course of two millennia, Significant Figures will educate and delight aspiring mathematicians and experts alike.

Author: Ian Stewart
ISBN-10: 0465096123
ISBN-13: 9780465096121
Publisher: Basic Books
Language: English
Published: 09/12/2017
Pages: 320
Format: Hardcover
Weight: 1.10lbs
Size: 9.40h x 6.30w x 1.10d

Review Citation(s):
Kirkus Reviews 07/15/2017
Library Journal 07/01/2017
Publishers Weekly 07/31/2017
Booklist 09/01/2017 pg. 20
Choice 05/01/2018