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Unknown Quantity | 
 enlarge | Author: John Derbyshire
Publisher: Atlantic Books
Category: Book
List Price: £9.99
Buy New: £5.63
You Save: £4.36 (44%)
New (12) Used (2) from £5.63
Rating:  3 reviews
Sales Rank: 45558
Media: Paperback
Pages: 384
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.8
Dimensions (in): 7.6 x 5 x 1.2
ISBN: 1843545705
EAN: 9781843545705
ASIN: 1843545705
Publication Date: August 1, 2008 (In 6 Days)
Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days
Condition: Go on you know you want one gZoop it NOW!! All gZoop products are dispatched from the Channel Islands & take approx 3-5 working days (excluding weekends) from order to delivery.
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| Customer Reviews:
 Sadly, not a book for everyone June 25, 2007
6 out of 7 found this review helpful
Really interesting book which puts currently taught mathematics into its historical context. I bought the hardback which has "even algebraphobes will struggle to find fault" - don't believe a word of it: I don't think I would have understood much of the book without having done first year university pure maths already and would not recommend it to non math-inclined friends. There were a few typos in my edition but not enough to cause too many problems.
 A Rollercoaster ride through the history of algebra... Hold on tight! July 5, 2006
20 out of 23 found this review helpful
I've long been interested in the history of science and mathematics and have to say that this book is an absolute treat to read.
I read John Derbyshire's other historical mathematics book - "Prime Obsession" - about a year ago and was mightly impressed. His ability to weave historical facts with some of the more complicated mathematics is something that a lesser author would stumble with. Not Derbyshire. "Unknown Quantity" takes "Prime Obsession" further - as it were - leaving behind one specific area of mathematical intregue (the Reimann Hypothesis) and covering this time the entire field of the history and development of algebra. Its a interesting feat to attempt given the huge subject base and the literally hundreds (if not few thousands) of years of history that have to be covered, but he does it well. Along the way we encounter ALL of the big names in maths: Galois, Lagrange, Euler (to name but a few) and some others that you may not have heard of, all of them though have their own backstories that make the characters come alive on the page (it is amazing how often some form of tragedy befalls a member of the mathematical elite of the 18th and 19th centuries).
But it's not all history. Derbyshire deftly takes us through some simple examples - how to solve the general cubic equation (and extend this to the general quartic) in a detailed yet unpatronising way - and goes further into some of the more abstract areas of modern mathematics (fields, algebras and manifolds).
This is a fabulous book that takes us from ancient civilisations in the middle-east through europe in the 18th and 19th centuries and out to the present day, and leaves you with a sense of awe at what was achieved and what could yet be discovered in this most intreguing of mathematical fields.
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