| Descripción y Comentario
Amazon.comUntil about 1975, logarithms were every scientist's best friend. They were the basis of the slide rule that was the totemic wand of the trade, listed in huge books consulted in every library. Then hand-held calculators arrived, and within a few years slide rules were museum pieces. But e remains, the center of the natural logarithmic function and of calculus. Eli Maor's book is the only more or less popular account of the history of this universal constant. Maor gives human faces to fundamental mathematics, as in his fantasia of a meeting between Johann Bernoulli and J.S. Bach. e: The Story of a Number would be an excellent choice for a high school or college student of trigonometry or calculus. --Mary Ellen Curtin
Book Description The interest earned on a bank account, the arrangement of seeds in a sunflower, and the shape of the Gateway Arch in St. Louis are all intimately connected with the mysterious number e. In this informal and engaging history, Eli Maor portrays the curious characters and the elegant mathematics that lie behind the number. Designed for a reader with only a modest background in mathematics, this biography of e brings out that number's central importance in mathematics and illuminates a golden era in the age of science.
|
Comentarios del público
 Compelling and easy to read
I know calculus but I didn't know much about some of the history of mathematics. How easy is to learn a complex theme in the words of this author. A fascinating book about an important number, browsing the history of logarithms, then some of the history of calculus and finally the history of Leonhard Euler, and the first appearance of "e". Obviously you find mathematics in this book, but presented in a easy-to-understand way.
Fecha: 2006-06-11
A must read for math or EE major
This is by far the BEST book that I have read about math. It definitely helped me to understand some of the important concepts in applied math and electrical engineering fields. I'd strongly recommend this book!
Fecha: 2006-02-22
Good Balance of Math and History
For me, this book had the exact right balance of math and history. There is some mathematical discussion but nothing to scare anyone who has taken calculus. The historical discussion really helps one understand how mathematical thought has evolved over the last few hundred years.
Fecha: 2005-12-24
 Where is the story?
I am a bit bothered by all those 5-star reviews and feel obligated to tell any potential readers of this book the other side of the story. (Please also check out another review of this book by guttes on January 21, 2001.)
First of all, this book lacks a focus. It jumps back and forth with things related or even unrelated to the number e (it spends more than a chapter on the discovery of calculus, and on and off on the topic of pi). While it is more than verbose on something not (totally) relevant, it simply does not have some topics that you wanna know more about -- for instance, who/why there is such a notation 'e' for the number, or what are the latest hot topics about the number. It has no consistency in presenting its mathematical formulation either, in the first half of the book it assumes readers with minimal calculus background, but then in the second half of the book it assumes readers with background on complex and multi-variable analysis. In the very last chapter, it touches on the topic of transcendence, but again, fails to deliver anything substantial and signifies an hollow story for such an interesting and promising topic.
In a nutshell, the problems of the whole book are the choice of materials presented and the organization of the materials for the topic. It may be one of the very few books out there with a title related to the number 'e', but it surely is not a book telling you a story of this number.
For those who also finds this book disappointing, there are indeed way better "popular" math books out there. I would recommend books written by William Dunham, such as "Journey Through Genius" (for some easy reading) or "The Calculus Gallery" (for those with more calculus backgroud).
Fecha: 2005-12-19
A must for students of Mathematics
This book was written well, and every student interested in Mathematics or pursuing a career in engineering or the sciences should read this. You really don't need to be a math genious to enjoy this book. I would recommend that high school Math teachers and even college professors assign a little reading each day of the history of their profession. This is one of those history books.
Fecha: 2005-04-25
|
|
