Infinitesimal: How a Dangerous Mathematical Theory Shaped the Modern World

Amir Alexander

ISBN 10: 0374176817 / ISBN 13: 9780374176815

Edité par Scientific American / Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2014

Missing dust jacket; May have limited writing in cover pages. Pages are unmarked. ~ ThriftBooks: Read More, Spend Less. N° de réf. du vendeur G0374176817I4N01

Synopsis :

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.

Revue de presse:

Fascinating.. Amir Alexander vividly recreates a wonderfully strange chapter of scientific history... You will never look at calculus the same way again.

(Jordan Ellenberg, Professor of Mathematics, University of Wisconsin-Madison)

Clever and enthralling.'

(Simon Schaffer, Professor of the History of Science, University of Cambridge)

We thought we knew the whole story: Copernicus, Galileo, the sun in the centre, the Church rushing to condemn. Now this remarkable book puts the deeply subversive doctrine of atomism and its accompanying mathematics at the heart of modern science.

(Margaret C. Jacob, Distinguished Professor of History, University of California, Los Angeles)

A seamless synthesis of cultural history and storytelling... The history of mathematics has rarely been so readable.

(Michael Harris, Professor of Mathematics, Columbia University and Université Paris Diderot)

You may find it hard to believe that illustrious mathematicians, philosophers, and religious thinkers would engage in a bitter dispute over infinitely small quantities. Yet this is precisely what happened in the seventeenth century. In Infinitesimal, Amir Alexander puts this fascinating battle in historical and intellectual context.

(Mario Livio, Astrophysicist, Space Telescope Science Institute, and author of Brilliant Blunders: Fr)

Gripping... Amir Alexander writes with elegance and verve... A page-turner full of fascinating stories about the struggles of remarkable individuals and ideas, Infinitesimal will help you understand the world at a deeper level.

(Edward Frenkel, Professor, University of California at Berkeley, and author of Love and Math)

A real-world Da Vinci Code

(Publishers Weekly)

[Told with] high drama and thrilling tension.

(Kirkus Reviews (starred review))

A gripping tale of mathematical, philosophical, and theological controversies in the run-up to calculus.'

(Ian Stewart, author of Professor Stewart's Cabinet of Mathematical Curiosities)

Bertrand Russell once wrote that mathematics had a beauty cold and austere ... Amir Alexander shows that mathematics can also become entangled in ugliness hot and messy... [a] fascinating narrative.

(New York Times)

A gripping and thorough history of the ultimate triumph of the mathematical tool... Infinitesimal will inspire you to dig deeper into the implications of the philosophy of mathematics and knowledge

(New Scientist)

A complex story told with skill and verve... Alexander does an excellent job of presenting both sides of the debate.

(THES Book of the Week)

Amir Alexander s enthralling book presents a controversial mathematical breakthrough, vividly describing the players and showing exactly what was at stake.

--(Tony Mann, Director of the Maths Centre, University of Greenwich)

Détails bibliographiques

Titre : Infinitesimal: How a Dangerous Mathematical ...
Éditeur : Scientific American / Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Date d'édition : 2014
Reliure : Hardcover
Etat : Very Good
Etat de la jaquette : No Jacket