Journey through Genius The Great Theorems of Mathematics [Paperback]

Like masterpieces of art, music, and literature, great mathematical theorems are creative milestones, works of genius destined to last forever. Now William Dunham gives them the attention they deserve.

Dunham places each theorem within its historical context and explores the very human and often turbulent life of the creator — from Archimedes, the absentminded theoretician whose absorption in his work often precluded eating or bathing, to Gerolamo Cardano, the sixteenth-century mathematician whose accomplishments flourished despite a bizarre array of misadventures, to the paranoid genius of modern times, Georg Cantor. He also provides step-by-step proofs for the theorems, each easily accessible to readers with no more than a knowledge of high school mathematics. A rare combination of the historical, biographical, and mathematical,Journey Through Geniusis a fascinating introduction to a neglected field of human creativity.

“It is mathematics presented as a series of works of art; a fascinating lingering over individual examples of ingenuity and insight. It is mathematics by lightning flash.” —Isaac AsimovJourney through Genius - William Dunham Preface
Acknowledgments
Chapter 1. Hippocrates' Quadrature of the Lune (ca. 440 B.C.)
The Appearance of Demonstrative Mathematics
Some Remarks on Quadrature
Great Theorem
Epilogue
Chapter 2. Euclid's Proof of the Pythagorean Theorem (ca. 300 B.C.)
TheElementsof Euclid
Book I: Preliminaries
Book I: The Early Propositions
Book I: Parallelism and Related Topics
Great Theorem
Epilogue
Chapter 3. Euclid and the Infinitude of Primes (ca. 300 B.C.)
TheElements, Books II-VI
Number Theory in Euclid
Great Theorem
The Final Books of theElements
Epilogue
Chapter 4. Archimedes' Determination of Circular Area (ca. 225 B.C.)
The Life of Archimedes
Great Theorem
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