Description
A celebrated mathematician, explaining why mathematical problems exist, what drives mathematicians to solve them, and why their efforts matter in the context of science as a whole, presents a fascinating history of mathematics as told through 14 of its greatest problems. 25,000 first printing.
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Acclaimed writer and mathematician Ian Stewart investigates history's most important and elusive math problemsFor every problem mathematicians solve, another awaits to perplex and galvanize them. Such challenges offer a tantalizing glimpse of the field's unlimited potential and keep mathematicians looking toward the horizons of intellectual possibility.In Visions of Infinity, Ian Stewart explains why these problems exist, what drives mathematicians to solve them, and why their efforts matter in the context of science as a whole. Stewart describes solved problems as well as those like the P/NP problem, which could easily remain unproved for another hundred years.An approachable and illuminating history of mathematics as told through fourteen of its greatest problems, Visions of Infinity reveals how mathematics the world over have risen to meet the challenges set by their predecessors-and how the enigmas of the past inevitably surrender to the powerful techniques of the present.
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