The History of Mathematics: A Brief Course

I've spent a long career trying to establish a few solid relationships between mathematics and the sciences of mind. Thus, it is truly a great pleasure to read a book on such a vast and deep subject as the history of mathematics and be thoroughly able to trust the author's knowledge of it through chapter after chapter.

Approximately every three years, I teach a course in the history of mathematics. It is one of my favorite math courses to teach, because it allows me to delve into the historical and cultural context of the development of mathematics. Among other things, I was a history minor in college, and if you learn anything in that field, it is that events are never isolated. Everything takes place in a social, economic, cultural and historical context, and that includes the development of new mathematics. Cooke is obviously as much a student of history as he is of mathematics. The technical structure of the mathematics is explained within the historical and cultural settings. There are many exercises at the end of the chapters with solutions to some of them included at the end. The coverage of the development of mathematics in the western world is fairly standard. Cooke is to be commended in that he includes sections on what was going on in the rest of the world. Section II contains the following chapters: *) Mathematics of the Hindus *) Chinese mathematics *) Korea and Japan *) Islamic mathematics Many mathematics books mention the role of the Islamic nations in keeping the ancient mathematics alive. However, there is little acknowledgement of what was going on in other cultures. If there is a mention of mathematics outside the western sphere, it is in reference to the creation of our modern numeration system. It may be some time before I teach the history of mathematics again. If I do, I will once again place a great deal of emphasis on the history, something that Cooke does so very well.

This book is a fascinating look at the history of mathematics, and is sure to inspire even the most devout haters of numbers.