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Enlightening symbols : a short history of mathematical notation and its hidden powers / Joseph Mazur.

by Mazur, Joseph.

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Princeton University Press, [2014]

Mathematical notation -- History.

Number systems -- History.

Algebra -- History.

Mathematics -- History.

9780691154633 (hc.)

0691154635 (hc.)

xxiii, 285 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm.

Includes index.

Numerals. Curious beginnings ; Certain ancient number systems ; Silk and Royal roads ; The Indian gift ; Arrival in Europe ; The Arab gift ; Liber abbaci ; Refuting origins -- Algebra. Sans symbols ; Diophantus's Arithmetica ; The great art ; Symbol infancy ; The timid symbol ; Hierarchies of dignity ; Vowels and consonants ; The explosion ; A catalogue of symbols ; The symbol master ; The last of the magicians -- The power of symbols. Rendezvous in the mind ; The good symbol ; Invisible gorillas ; Mental pictures -- Appendix A. Leibniz's notation -- Appendix B. Newton's fluxion of x [superscript n] -- Appendix C. Experiment -- Appendix D/ Visualizing complex numbers -- Appendix E. Quaternions.

"We regularly use math symbols such as those for plus, minus, and equals, but few of us know that many of these symbols weren't available before the sixteenth century. What did mathematicians rely on for their work before then? And how did mathematical notations evolve into what we know today? The fascinating history behind the development of our mathematical notation system. How symbols were used initially, how one symbol replaced another over time, and how written math was conveyed before and after symbols became widely adopted. Traversing mathematical history and the foundations of numerals in different cultures, Mazur looks at how historians have disagreed over the origins of the numerical system for the past two centuries. He follows the transfigurations of algebra from a rhetorical style to a symbolic one, demonstrating that most algebra before the sixteenth century was written in prose or in verse employing the written names of numerals. Mazur also investigates the subconscious and psychological effects that mathematical symbols have had on mathematical thought, moods, meaning, communication, and comprehension. He considers how these symbols influence us (through similarity, association, identity, resemblance, and repeated imagery), how they lead to new ideas by subconscious associations, how they make connections between experience and the unknown, and how they contribute to the communication of basic mathematics. Joseph Mazur is Professor Emeritus of Mathematics at Marlboro College. He lives in Vermont.

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