THE PROBLEMS THAT CREATED MATHEMATICS: From Zero to Infinity—The Ideas That Changed How Humans Understand the World - Couverture souple

Domingues-Montanari, Sophie

Couverture souple

ISBN 13 : 9798170020942

Editeur : Independently published, 2026

Synopsis

What if the history of mathematics were not a parade of formulas and famous names—but a story of impossible problems that forced humanity to invent entirely new ways of thinking?

THE PROBLEMS THAT CREATED MATHEMATICS takes you on a fascinating journey from the first acts of counting to zero, algebra, calculus, probability, infinity, cryptography, computers, artificial intelligence, and the great unsolved problems that still challenge mathematicians today.

This is not a textbook.

It is the story of the moments when the mathematics people already had was no longer enough.

How do you count what you cannot carry?

Can nothing really be a number?

What happens when an equation produces an “impossible” answer?

How do you measure motion at a single instant?

Can chance have rules?

Are some infinities larger than others?

Can mathematics prove everything?

And are there problems that no computer will ever be able to solve?

Each chapter begins with a problem, then follows the people, ideas, arguments, breakthroughs, and surprising consequences that transformed the way humans understand the world.

Along the way, you will meet mathematicians, astronomers, merchants, gamblers, philosophers, codebreakers, and computer pioneers whose work changed far more than mathematics itself.

Inside, you will discover:

• Why zero was one of humanity’s most radical inventions

• Why negative and imaginary numbers once seemed absurd

• How Euclid transformed proof into a system of reasoning

• How algebra gave humans a way to manipulate the unknown

• Why Newton and Leibniz fought over calculus

• How gambling helped create probability

• Why statistics can reveal truth—and mislead us

• How non-Euclidean geometry eventually helped describe spacetime

• Why Cantor discovered that some infinities are larger than others

• How Gödel uncovered limits inside mathematics itself

• Why chaos is not the same as randomness

• How Turing defined what computation can—and cannot—do

• Why prime numbers now protect digital communication

• How centuries of mathematics came together inside modern AI

• Which famous mathematical problems remain unsolved today

Designed for curious readers rather than mathematicians, the book explains difficult ideas in clear, engaging language with minimal technical barriers. Interactive features, visual summaries, Try It Yourself sections, common misconceptions, real-world applications, and memorable takeaways make complex concepts easier to understand—and much harder to forget.

You do not need to be “good at math” to enjoy this book.

You only need to be curious about how human beings learned to think beyond the limits of intuition.

Because the history of mathematics is not really the history of numbers.

It is the history of humanity repeatedly facing a problem that seemed impossible—and inventing a new way to see the world.

Détails de l'édition

• Éditeur: Independently published
• Date d'édition: 2026
• Langue: anglais
• ISBN 13: 9798170020942
• Reliure: Broché
• Nombre de pages: 281
• Coordonnées du fabricant: Manufactured by Amazon on behalf of the author; https://www.amazon.fr/hz/contact-us; ; c/o Amazon Media EU S.à.r.l., 38 Avenue John F. Kennedy; Luxembourg; L-1855; Luxembourg