J.L. Berggren

From the reviews: The book is, in spite of the author's more modest claims, an introductory survey of main developments in those disciplines which were particularly important in Medieval Islamic mathematics...No knowledge of mathematics (or of the history of mathematics) beyond normal high-school level is presupposed, and everything required beyond that (be it Apollonian theory of conics or the definitions of celestial circles) is explained carefully and clearly. Scattered throughout the work are a number of lucid remarks on the character of Islamic mathematics or of mathematical work in general. The book will hence not only be an excellent textbook for the teaching of the history of mathematics but also for the liberal art aspect of mathematics teaching in general. - Jens Høyrup, Mathematical Reviews ...as a textbook, this work is highly commendable...It is definitely the product of a skillful mathematician who has collected over the years a reasonably large number of interesting problems from medieval Arabic mathematics. None of them is pursued to exhaustion, but all of them arranged in such a way, together with accompanying exercises, so that they would engage an active mind and introduce a subject, which I am sure the author agrees with me is, at this stage, very difficult to introduce. - G.Saliba, Zentralblatt

Episodes in the Mathematics of Medieval Islam

Jonathan M. Borwein

Peter Borwein

This book documents the history of pi from the dawn of mathematical time to the present. One of the beauties of the literature on pi is that it allows for the inclusion of very modern, yet accessible, mathematics. The articles on pi collected herein fall into various classes. First and foremost there is a selection from the mathematical and computational literature of four millennia. There is also a variety of historical studies on the cultural significance of the number. Additionally, there is a selection of pieces that are anecdotal, fanciful, or simply amusing. For this new edition, the authors have updated the original material while adding new material of historical and cultural interest. There is a substantial exposition of the recent history of the computation of digits of pi, a discussion of the normality of the distribution of the digits, and new translations of works by Viete and Huygen.

J.L. Berggren

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