| Description |
xxiii, 285 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm |
| Bibliography |
Includes index. |
| Contents |
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. |
| Subject |
Mathematical notation -- History.
|
| ISBN |
9780691154633 (hardcover : alk. paper) |
|
0691154635 (hardcover : alk. paper) |
|
