A survey of Euclid's Elements, this text provides an understanding of the classical Greek conception of mathematics and its similarities to modern views as well as its differences. It focuses on philosophical, foundational, and logical questions -- rather than focusing strictly on historical and mathematical issues -- and features several helpful appendixes.

"The book includes introductions, terminology and biographical notes, bibliography, and an index and glossary" --from book jacket.

The Reader's Guide to the History of Science looks at the literature of science in some 550 entries on individuals (Einstein), institutions and disciplines (Mathematics), general themes (Romantic Science) and central concepts (Paradigm and Fact). The history of science is construed widely to include the history of medicine and technology as is reflected in the range of disciplines from which the international team of 200 contributors are drawn.

As of yet, the remarkable and highly influential textual form of Euclidean mathematics has not been considered from a literary-aesthetic perspective. By its extreme standardization and seeming non-literariness it appears to defy such an approach. This book nonetheless attempts precisely a literary-aesthetic study of the language and style of Euclid’s Elements, focusing on book I. It aims to find out what is literary about the form and what motivates this form as form. In doing so, it employs the concept of clarity, asking: How is the textual form related to logical and communicative clarity? That is, how far is the omnipresent standardization necessary for the accomplishment and successful communication of the proofs? Based on a close analysis of the standardization at all levels of the text (lexicon, grammar, structure, and especially diagram), it argues that the textual form of the Elements is standardized beyond logical-communicative purposes, and that it is in this sense ‘aesthetic’. The book exposes the unexpected literary dimension of Euclid’s Elements, provides a new interpretation of the peculiar form of the work, and offers a model for determining the role of clarity (not only) in Greek theoretical mathematics.

A survey of Euclid's Elements, this text provides an understanding of the classical Greek conception of mathematics. It offers a well-rounded perspective, examining similarities to modern views as well as differences. Rather than focusing strictly on historical and mathematical issues, the book examines philosophical, foundational, and logical questions. Although comprehensive in its treatment, this study represents a less cumbersome, more streamlined approach than the classic three-volume reference by Sir Thomas L. Heath (also available from Dover Publications). To make reading easier and to facilitate access to individual analyses and discussions, the author has included helpful appendixes. These list special symbols and additional propositions, along with all of the assumptions and propositions of the Elements and notations of their discussion within this volume.

This text is formulated on the fundamental idea that much of mathematics, including the classical number systems, can best be based on set theory. 1961 edition.

Covering both the history of mathematics and of philosophy, Descartes's Mathematical Thought reconstructs the intellectual career of Descartes most comprehensively and originally in a global perspective including the history of early modern China and Japan. Especially, it shows what the concept of "mathesis universalis" meant before and during the period of Descartes and how it influenced the young Descartes. In fact, it was the most fundamental mathematical discipline during the seventeenth century, and for Descartes a key notion which may have led to his novel mathematics of algebraic analysis.