| Description |
xiv, 227 pages : illustrations ; 25 cm |
|
text txt rdacontent |
|
unmediated n rdamedia |
|
volume nc rdacarrier |
| Series |
Princeton paperbacks |
|
Princeton paperbacks.
|
| Bibliography |
Includes bibliographical references (pages 217-219) and index. |
| Contents |
John Napier, 1614 -- Recognition -- Computing with logarithms -- Financial matters -- To the limit, if it exists -- Some curious numbers related to e -- Forefathers of the calculus -- Prelude to breakthrough -- Indivisibles at work -- Squaring the hyperbola -- The birth of a new science -- The great controversy -- The evolution of a notation -- e(x): the function that equals its own derivative -- The parachutist -- Can perceptions be quantified? -- e([theta]): spira mirabilis -- Historic meeting between J.S. Bach and Johann Bernoulli -- The logarithmic spiral in art and nature -- (e(x) + e( -x))/2: the hanging chain -- Remarkable analogies -- Some interesting formulas involving e -- e(ix): "the most famous of all formulas" -- Curious episode in the history of e -- e(x+iy): the imaginary becomes real -- A most remarkable discovery -- But what kind of number is it? -- Appendixes. Some additional remarks on Napier's logarithms -- Existence of lim (1 + 1/n)(n) as n [approaches] infinity -- A heuristic derivation of the fundamental theorem of calculus -- The inverse relation between lim (b(h) -- 1)/h = 1 and lim (1 + h)(1/h) = b as h [approaches] 0 -- An alternative definition of the logarithmic function -- Two properties of the logarithmic spiral -- Interpretation of the parameter [phi] in the hyperbolic functions -- e to one hundred decimal places. |
| Summary |
Interest earned on a bank account ... arrangement of seeds in a sunflower ... the shape of the Gateway Arch in St. Louis ... are all intimately connected with the mysterious number "e". In this informal and engaging history, Eli Maor portrays the curious characters and the mathematics that lie behind the number e. Designed for a reader with only a modes background in mathematics, this book brings out e's central importance in mathematics. Illustrated. |
| Subject |
e (The number)
|
|
e (The number) (OCoLC)fst01185011
|
| ISBN |
0691058547 (pbk.) |
|
9780691058542 (pbk.) |
|
