8 Ergebnisse.

The binomial theorem is usually quite rightly considered as one of the most important theorems in the whole of analysis." Thus wrote Bernard Bolzano in 1816 in introducing the first correct proof of Newton's generalisation of a century and a half earlier of a result familiar to us all from elementary algebra. Bolzano's appraisal may surprise the modern reader familiar only with the finite algebraic version of the Binomial Theorem involving pos...

It is Sunday, the 7th of September 1930. The place is Konigsberg and the occasion is a small conference on the foundations of mathematics. Arend Heyting, the foremost disciple of L. E. J. Brouwer, has spoken on intuitionism, Rudolf Carnap of the Vienna Circle has expounded on logicism, Johann (formerly Janos and in a few years to be Johnny) von Neumann has explained Hilbert's proof theory-- the so-called formalism, and Hans Hahn has just propo...

Mathematics originates with intuition. But intuition alone can only go so far and formalism develops to handle the more difficult problems. Formalism, however, has its inherent dangers. There are three types of formalism. Type I formalism, exemplified in the work of Euler, is basically heuristic reasoning, the use of familiar reasoning in areas where the reasoning might not or ought not apply. The results include startling successes, and also ...

This book introduces elementary probability through its history, eschewing the usual drill in favour of a discussion of the problems that shaped the field's development. Numerous excerpts from the literature, both from the pioneers in the field and its commentators, some given new English translations, pepper the exposition. First, for the reader without a background in the Calculus, it offers a brief intuitive explanation of some of the conce...

Growing out of a course in the history of mathematics given to school teachers, the present book covers a number of topics of elementary mathematics from both the mathematical and historical perspectives. Included are topics from geometry (p, Napoleon's Theorem, trigonometry), recreational mathematics (the Pell equation, Fibonacci numbers), and computational mathematics (finding square roots, mathematical tables). Although written with the nee...

Number theory as studied by the logician is the subject matter of the book. This first volume can stand on its own as a somewhat unorthodox introduction to mathematical logic for undergraduates, dealing with the usual introductory material: recursion theory, first-order logic, completeness, incompleteness, and undecidability. In addition, its second chapter contains the most complete logical discussion of Diophantine Decision Problems availabl...

This book attempts to fill two gaps which exist in the standard textbooks on the History of Mathematics. One is to provide students with material that could encourage more critical thinking. General textbooks, attempting to cover three thousand years of mathematical history, must necessarily oversimplify almost everything, the practice of which can scarcely promote a critical approach to the subject. For this reason, Craig Smorynski chooses a ...

This book is about the rise and supposed fall of the mean value theorem. It discusses the evolution of the theorem and the concepts behind it, how the theorem relates to other fundamental results in calculus, and modern re-evaluations of its role in the standard calculus course.The mean value theorem is one of the central results of calculus. It was called “the fundamental theorem of the differential calculus” because of its power to provide s...