The History of Mathematics: A Reader

"The history of mathematics can be studied and taught in different ways. In the past many people took the traditional ‘who-did-what-and-when?’ approach, but more recently there’s been an increased emphasis on putting mathematics into the context of the time. This was the approach taken by the Open University’s pioneering course MA290: ‘Topics in the History of Mathematics’, which ran from 1987 to 2007, and which was heavily based on translated original source material from this source book, edited by two distinguished members of the course team. Over the years there have been several good source books in the history of mathematics, but I particularly like this one, especially for the earlier material, and another one called ‘Mathematics Emerging’ by Jacqueline Stedall, covering the period from 1540 to 1900. Many courses on the history of mathematics describe what mathematical results have been discovered, but the student has little chance to explore these discoveries ‘from the inside’. A good source book provides a wide range of original sources (usually in translation and edited as necessary) which enable us to see the problems solved in the context of their time. Support Five Books Five Books interviews are expensive to produce. If you're enjoying this interview, please support us by donating a small amount . Let me give you a couple of examples. First, the origin of quadratic equations. It’s all very well to say that a Mesopotamian (Babylonian) clay tablet 4000 years ago ‘solved these equations’ (a statement that’s regularly heard), but until students work through the statements of the problems and the details of the calculations on the tablet, they don’t really understand exactly what problems were being solved, and why, and what form the solution took. Second, when undergraduate students first study mathematical analysis (sometimes described as ‘calculus done properly’), they often find it difficult to see the need for introducing the particular technicalities involved (such as ‘epsilons and deltas’). Looking at the original works of such mathematicians as D’Alembert, Cauchy, and Bolzano, helps us to understand how and why this particular approach arose. Other reasons for studying original sources are that they’re fun to try to sort out, and that they provide contextual interest for students learning the material in their mathematics courses. Jackie Stedall’s source book, ‘Mathematics Emerging’, in particular, reproduces the original works as they first appeared, followed by a translation into English (where needed) and a commentary."