David Hilbert (1862-1943) was the most influential mathematician of the early twentieth century and, together with Henri Poincare, the last mathematical universalist. His main known areas of research and influence were in pure mathematics (algebra, number theory, geometry, integral equations and analysis, logic and foundations), but he was also known to have some interest in physical topics. The latter, however, was traditionally conceived as comprising only sporadic incursions into a scientific domain which was essentially foreign to his mainstream of activity and in which he only made...
David Hilbert (1862-1943) was the most influential mathematician of the early twentieth century and, together with Henri Poincare, the last mathema...
The world around us is saturated with numbers. They are a fundamental pillar of our modern society, and accepted and used with hardly a second thought. But how did this state of affairs come to be? In this book, Leo Corry tells the story behind the idea of number from the early days of the Pythagoreans, up until the turn of the twentieth century. He presents an overview of how numbers were handled and conceived in classical Greek mathematics, in the mathematics of Islam, in European mathematics of the middle ages and the Renaissance, during the scientific revolution, all the way through...
The world around us is saturated with numbers. They are a fundamental pillar of our modern society, and accepted and used with hardly a second thought...
