Robin J. Wilson

A biography of mathematics includes stories of great mathematicians from the 6th century B.C. to the present.

Most people have heard of the Mobius band. But the work and influence of August Mobius are more far-reaching than a topological toy. For some fifty years of the nineteenth century, August Mobius taught astronomy and researched in mathematics at Leipzig University. During those years, which saw the German nation move towards unification, German mathematics developed into the most powerful and influential in the world and German astronomers became the world leaders. How did this come about? In this fascinating, richly illustrated, and accessible book, leading scholars assess the contribution of Mobius and others of his time to the practice of mathematics and astronomy today. Mobius and his band has been written for all those interested in the historical development of ideas and their legacy, and thus both the general reader and specialists in particular fields will find much of interest.

This volume contains approximately fifty articles that were published in "The Mathematical Intelligencer" during its first eighteen years. The selection exhibits the wide variety of attractive articles that have appeared over the years, ranging from general interest articles of a historical nature to lucid expositions of important current discoveries. The articles are introduced by the editors.

"This book contains ten expository chapters written by acknowledged international experts in the field. Their well-written contributions have been carefully edited to enhance readability and to standardize the chapter structure, terminology and notation throughout the book. To help the reader, there is an extensive introductory chapter that covers the basic background material in graph theory, linear algebra and group theory. Each chapter concludes with an extensive list of references."--BOOK JACKET

"Chromatic graph theory is a thriving area that uses various ideas of 'colouring' (of vertices, edges, and so on) to explore aspects of graph theory. It has links with other areas of mathematics, including topology, algebra and geometry, and is increasingly used in such areas as computer networks, where colouring algorithms form an important feature. While other books cover portions of the material, no other title has such a wide scope as this one, in which acknowledged international experts in the field provide a broad survey of the subject. All fifteen chapters have been carefully edited, with uniform notation and terminology applied throughout. Bjarne Toft (Odense, Denmark), widely recognized for his substantial contributions to the area, acted as academic consultant. The book serves as a valuable reference for researchers and graduate students in graph theory and combinatorics and as a useful introduction to the topic for mathematicians in related fields"--

The mathematical tradition at Oxford is one of the oldest in Britain, and Oxford scholars have been at the forefront of mathematical research for the past eight centuries. This is the story of the intellectual and social life of this community, and of its interactions with the wider world.

What is it that makes Euler's identity, e]iPi + 1 = 0, so special? In Euler's Pioneering Equation Robin Wilson shows how this simple, elegant, and profound formula links together perhaps the five most important numbers in mathematics, each associated with a story in themselves: the number 1, the basis of our counting system; the concept of zero, which was a major development in mathematics, and opened up the idea of negative numbers; Pi an irrational number, the basis for the measurement of circles; the exponential e, associated with exponential growth and logarithms; and the imaginary number i, the square root of -1, the basis of complex numbers. Following a chapter on each of the elements, Robin Wilson discusses how the startling relationship between them was established, including the several near misses to the discovery of the formula. --

This book presents the proceedings of a one-day conference in Combinatorics and Graph Theory held at The Open University, England, on 12 May 1978. The first nine papers presented here were given at the conference, and cover a wide variety of topics ranging from topological graph theory and block designs to latin rectangles and polymer chemistry. The submissions were chosen for their facility in combining interesting expository material in the areas concerned with accounts of recent research and new results in those areas.

Graph theory has recently emerged as a subject in its own right, as well as being an important mathematical tool in such diverse subjects as operational research, chemistry, sociology and genetics. This book provides an introduction to graph theory.

Ancient mathematics. Sherlock Holmes in Babylon / R. Creighton Buck -- Words and pictures: new light on Plimpton 322 / Eleanor Robson -- Mathematics, 600 B.C.-600 A.D. / Max Dehn -- Diophantus of Alexandria / J.D. Swift -- Hypatia of Alexandria / A.W. Richeson -- Hypatia and her mathematics / Michael A.B. Deakin -- The evolution of mathematics in ancient China / Frank Swetz -- Liu Hui and the first golden age of Chinese mathematics / Philip D. Straffin, Jr. -- Number systems of the North American Indians / W.C. Eells -- The number system of the Mayas / A.W. Richeson -- Before the conquest / Marcia Ascher -- Medieval and renaissance mathematics. The discovery of the series formula for [pi] by Leibniz, Gregory and Nilakantha / Ranjan Roy -- Ideas of calculus in Islam and India / Victor J. Katz -- Was calculus invented in India? / David Bressoud -- An early iterative method for the determinationof sin 1° / Farhad Riahi. Leonardo of Pisa and his Liber Quadratorum / R.B. McClenon -- The algorists vs. the abacists: an ancient controversy on the use of calculators / Barbara E. Reynolds -- Sidelights on the Cardan-Tartaglia controversy / Martin A. Nordgaard -- Reading Bombelli's x-purgated algebra / Abraham Arcavi and Maxim Bruckheimer -- The first work on mathematics printed in the New World / David Eugene Smith -- The seventeenth century. An application of geography to mathematics: history of the integral of the secant / V. Frederick Rickey and Philip M. Tuchinsky -- Some historical notes on the cycloid / E.A. Whitman -- Descartes and the problem-solving / Judith Grabiner -- René Descartes' curve-drawing devices: experiments in the relations between mechanical motion and symbolic language / David Dennis -- Certain mathematical achievements of James Gregory / Max Dehn and E.D. Hellinger -- The changing concept of change: the derivative from Fermat to Weierstrass / Judith V. Grabiner. The crooked made straight: Roberval and Newton on tangents / Paul R. Wolfson -- On the discovery of the logarithmic series and its development in England up to Cotes / Josef Ehrenfried Hofmann -- Isaac Newton: man, myth and mathematics / V. Frederick Rickey -- Reading the master: Newton and the birth of celestial mechanics / Bruce Pourciau -- Newton as an originator of polar coordinates / C.B. Boyer -- Newton's method for resolving affected equations / Chris Christensen -- A contribution of Leibniz to the history of complex numbers / R.B. McClenon -- Functions of a curve: Leibniz's original notion of functions / David Dennis and Jere Confrey -- The eighteenth century. Brook Taylor and the mathematical theory of linear perspectives / P.S. Jones -- Was Newton's calculus a dead end? The continental influence of Maclaurin's treatise of fluxions / Judith Grabiner -- Discussion of fluxions: from Berkeley to Woodhouse / Florian Cajori. The Bernoullis and the harmonic series / William Dunham -- Leonhard Euler 1707-1783 / J.J. Burckhardt -- The number e / J.L. Coolidge -- Euler's vision of a general partial differential calculus for a generalized kind of function / Jesper Lützen -- Euler and the fundamental theorem of algebra / William Dunham -- Euler and differentials / Anthony P. Ferzola -- Euler and quadratic reciprocity / Harold M. Edwards.