1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910812425203321

Autore

Ebbinghaus Heinz-Dieter <1939->

Titolo

Numbers / / by Heinz-Dieter Ebbinghaus, Hans Hermes, Friedrich Hirzebruch, Max Koecher, Klaus Mainzer, Jürgen Neukirch, Alexander Prestel, Reinhold Remmert ; edited by John H. Ewing

Pubbl/distr/stampa

New York, NY : , : Springer New York : , : Imprint : Springer, , 1991

ISBN

1-4612-1005-4

Edizione

[1st ed. 1991.]

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (XVIII, 398 p.)

Collana

Readings in Mathematics ; ; 123

Disciplina

512/.7

Soggetti

Number theory

Number Theory

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Note generali

Translation of: Zahlen.

"With 24 illustrations."

Nota di bibliografia

Includes bibliographical references.

Nota di contenuto

A. From the Natural Numbers, to the Complex Numbers, to the p-adics -- 1. Natural Numbers, Integers, and Rational Numbers -- 2. Real Numbers -- 3. Complex Numbers -- 4. The Fundamental Theorem of Algebr -- 5. What is ?? -- 6. The p-Adic Numbers -- B. Real Division Algebras -- Repertory. Basic Concepts from the Theory of Algebras -- 7. Hamilton’s Quaternions -- 8. The Isomorphism Theorems of FROBENIUS, HOPF and GELFAND-MAZUR -- 9. CAYLEY Numbers or Alternative Division Algebras -- 10. Composition Algebras. HURWITZ’s Theorem-Vector-Product Algebras -- 11. Division Algebras and Topology -- C. Infinitesimals, Games, and Sets -- 12. Nonsiandard Analysis -- 13. Numbers and Games -- 14. Set Theory and Mathematics -- Name Index -- Portraits of Famous Mathematicians.

Sommario/riassunto

A book about numbers sounds rather dull. This one is not. Instead it is a lively story about one thread of mathematics-the concept of "number"­ told by eight authors and organized into a historical narrative that leads the reader from ancient Egypt to the late twentieth century. It is a story that begins with some of the simplest ideas of mathematics and ends with some of the most complex. It is a story that mathematicians, both amateur and professional, ought to know. Why write about numbers? Mathematicians have always found it diffi­ cult to develop



broad perspective about their subject. While we each view our specialty as having roots in the past, and sometimes having connec­ tions to other specialties in the present, we seldom see the panorama of mathematical development over thousands of years. Numbers attempts to give that broad perspective, from hieroglyphs to K-theory, from Dedekind cuts to nonstandard analysis.