Paperback. Grey board binding with white title on the spine and mathematicians on the front board.

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See the photographs. Book is beginning to show signs of age wear but remains in a firm backed readable condition.

“Boyer and Merzbach distill thousands of years of mathematics into this fascinating chronicle. From the Greeks to Godel, the mathematics is brilliant; the cast of characters is distinguished; the ebb and flow of ideas is everywhere evident. And, while tracing the development of European mathematics, the authors do not overlook the contributions of Chinese, Indian, and Arabic civilizations. Without doubt, this is––and will long remain––a classic one–volume history of mathematics and mathematicians who create it.” ––William Dunham Author, Journey Through Genius, The Great Theorems of Mathematics “When we read a book like A History of Mathematics, we get the picture of a mounting structure, ever taller and broader and more beautiful and magnificent––and with a foundation, moreover, that is as untainted and as functional now as it was when Thales worked out the first geometrical theorems nearly 26 centuries ago.” ––From the Foreword by Isaac Asimov “One of the most useful and comprehensive general introductions to the subject.” ––J. W. Dauben The City University of New York “Both readable and scholarly, this book can serve as a fine introduction to the topic and also a reference book.” ––J. David Bolter University of North Carolina Author of Turing′s Man Revised to make it more accessible to a general audience, A History of Mathematics paints a vivid picture of humankind′s relationship with numbers. Updated and expanded, it now offers broadened coverage of twentieth century advances in probability and computers, and updated references to further reading. A feature that will be of interest to every reader is an appendix containing an extensive chronological table of mathematical and general historical developments.

Reviews:

• I picked up this and Burton’s similarly named book, and I just wanted to make a few comments and comparisons of the two. First off, both are excellent reads, and although they cover the same subject they approach it in two different manners. Boyer’s text takes the style of a history book to approach the topic. It often focuses on the people and on the time period, commenting on political/cultural going-on. Its an enjoyable book to read, almost in the sense of reading a novel. Usually the mathematics is brought up in the text, but most of the proofs and derivations are often glossed over. Possible many of those mathematical details were in the questions that are no longer at the end of the chapters. But I found missing those details to be somewhat frustrating. Conversely Burton takes the approach of a mathematics textbook that follows the storyline of history. It’s filled with proofs and examples, but isn’t quite as rich in historical content. Each chapter ends with numerous “homework” problems, oftentimes relating to specific solutions to a problem found by different mathematicians. Both are excellent books, but depending on your personal taste and interests you may prefer one approach over the other. If you are looking to sit down and work through historical mathematical problems, Burton is probably right for you. If you want to cozy up and imagine what life and thought was like throughout different times in civilization, Boyer is probably your answer.

• “Boyer and Merzbach distill thousands of years of mathematics into this fascinating chronicle. From the Greeks to Godel, the mathematics is brilliant; the cast of characters is distinguished; the ebb and flow of ideas is everywhere evident. And, while tracing the development of European mathematics, the authors do not overlook the contributions of Chinese, Indian, and Arabic civilizations. Without doubt, this is and will long remain a classic one–volume history of mathematics and mathematicians who create it.” William Dunham Author, Journey Through Genius, The Great Theorems of Mathematics “When we read a book like A History of Mathematics, we get the picture of a mounting structure, ever taller and broader and more beautiful and magnificent and with a foundation, moreover, that is as untainted and as functional now as it was when Thales worked out the first geometrical theorems nearly 26 centuries ago.” From the Foreword by Isaac Asimov “One of the most useful and comprehensive general introductions to the subject.” J. W. Dauben The City University of New York “Both readable and scholarly, this book can serve as a fine introduction to the topic and also a reference book.” J. David Bolter University of North Carolina Author of Turing’s Man Revised to make it more accessible to a general audience, A History of Mathematics paints a vivid picture of humankind’s relationship with numbers. Updated and expanded, it now offers broadened coverage of twentieth century advances in probability and computers, and updated references to further reading. A feature that will be of interest to every reader is an appendix containing an extensive chronological table of mathematical and general historical developments.