IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/h/spr/sprchp/978-0-8176-8268-2_11.html
   My bibliography  Save this book chapter

Numbers as a Source of Mathematical Ideas

In: Excursions in the History of Mathematics

Author

Listed:
  • Israel Kleiner

    (York University, Department of Mathematics and Statistics)

Abstract

Number systems have been a fruitful source of concepts, results, and theories in the evolution of mathematics. In fact, it has been suggested that much even of modern mathematics has its roots in the study of number and shape [78, 79]. This chapter offers suggestions for introducing various mathematical topics related to, and often originating in, the study of number systems. The material is organized around eight themes, which vary in detail and difficulty, and may serve as source material for courses or topics of varied degrees of sophistication and be addressed to various audiences – for example teachers, mathematics majors, and liberal-arts enthusiasts. The themes deal with algebraic, analytic, geometric, number-theoretic, set-theoretic, cultural, and philosophical issues. Although the themes are interconnected, they can be read independently. In many cases, we sketch the historical origin of the mathematical ideas involved. No attempt is made to be thorough, but references to an extensive bibliography are provided throughout. Readers are invited to come up with their own themes to suit their interests, needs, and objectives. The material in the next chapter may serve as an example of a possible theme.

Suggested Citation

  • Israel Kleiner, 2012. "Numbers as a Source of Mathematical Ideas," Springer Books, in: Excursions in the History of Mathematics, chapter 0, pages 239-259, Springer.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:sprchp:978-0-8176-8268-2_11
    DOI: 10.1007/978-0-8176-8268-2_11
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    To our knowledge, this item is not available for download. To find whether it is available, there are three options:
    1. Check below whether another version of this item is available online.
    2. Check on the provider's web page whether it is in fact available.
    3. Perform a
    for a similarly titled item that would be available.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:spr:sprchp:978-0-8176-8268-2_11. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.