Infinitesimal : how a dangerous mathematical theory shaped the modern world / Amir Alexander.
By: Alexander, Amir R [author.]
Language: English Publisher: New York : Scientific American/Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2015Edition: First editionDescription: 352 pages : illustrations ; 24 cmContent type: text Media type: unmediated Carrier type: volumeISBN: 9780374534998Subject(s): Calculus -- History | Geometry, Infinitesimal -- History | Mathematics -- Europe -- History -- 16th century | Mathematics -- Europe -- History -- 17th century | Science, RenaissanceDDC classification: 511 Online resources: Cover image Summary: "The epic battle over a mathematical concept that shook the old order and shaped the world as we know it. On August 10, 1632, five leaders of the Society of Jesus convened in a somber Roman palazzo to pass judgment on a simple idea: that a continuous line is composed of distinct and limitlessly tiny parts. The doctrine would become the foundation of calculus, but on that fateful day the judges ruled that it was forbidden. With the stroke of a pen they set off a war for the soul of the modern world. Amir Alexander's Infinitesimal is the story of the struggle that pitted Europe's entrenched powers against voices for tolerance and change. It takes us from the bloody religious strife of the sixteenth century to the battlefields of the English civil war and the fierce confrontations between leading thinkers like Galileo and Hobbes. We see how a small mathematical disagreement became a contest over the nature of the heavens and the earth: Was the world entirely known and ruled by a divinely sanctioned rationality and hierarchy? Or was it a vast and mysterious place, ripe for exploration? The legitimacy of popes and kings, as well as our modern beliefs in human liberty and progressive science, hung in the balance; the answer hinged on the infinitesimal. Pulsing with drama and excitement, Infinitesimal will forever change the way you look at a simple line--and celebrates the spirit of discovery, innovation, and intellectual achievement"-- Provided by publisher.Summary: "The epic battle over a mathematical concept that shook the old order and shaped the world as we know it"-- Provided by publisher.| Item type | Current location | Home library | Call number | Status | Date due | Barcode | Item holds |
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COLLEGE LIBRARY | COLLEGE LIBRARY SUBJECT REFERENCE | 511 Al262 2015 (Browse shelf) | Available | CITU-CL-50136 |
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| 510.9 B953 2011 The history of mathematics : an introduction / | 510.9 H3525 2015 A brief history of mathematical thought / | 511/.5 W52 2001 Introduction to graph theory / | 511 Al262 2015 Infinitesimal : how a dangerous mathematical theory shaped the modern world / | 511 D825 1993 Modelling with ordinary differential equations / | 511 G484 2000 Glencoe mathematics : applications and connections , course 1 / | 511 R722 2003 Discrete mathematics and its applications / |
Includes bibliographical references and index.
"The epic battle over a mathematical concept that shook the old order and shaped the world as we know it. On August 10, 1632, five leaders of the Society of Jesus convened in a somber Roman palazzo to pass judgment on a simple idea: that a continuous line is composed of distinct and limitlessly tiny parts. The doctrine would become the foundation of calculus, but on that fateful day the judges ruled that it was forbidden. With the stroke of a pen they set off a war for the soul of the modern world. Amir Alexander's Infinitesimal is the story of the struggle that pitted Europe's entrenched powers against voices for tolerance and change. It takes us from the bloody religious strife of the sixteenth century to the battlefields of the English civil war and the fierce confrontations between leading thinkers like Galileo and Hobbes. We see how a small mathematical disagreement became a contest over the nature of the heavens and the earth: Was the world entirely known and ruled by a divinely sanctioned rationality and hierarchy? Or was it a vast and mysterious place, ripe for exploration? The legitimacy of popes and kings, as well as our modern beliefs in human liberty and progressive science, hung in the balance; the answer hinged on the infinitesimal. Pulsing with drama and excitement, Infinitesimal will forever change the way you look at a simple line--and celebrates the spirit of discovery, innovation, and intellectual achievement"-- Provided by publisher.
"The epic battle over a mathematical concept that shook the old order and shaped the world as we know it"-- Provided by publisher.
500-599 510
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