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    The Irrationals: A Story of the Numbers You Can't Count On
    Unavailable
    The Irrationals: A Story of the Numbers You Can't Count On
    Unavailable
    The Irrationals: A Story of the Numbers You Can't Count On
    Ebook378 pages4 hours

    The Irrationals: A Story of the Numbers You Can't Count On

    By Julian Havil

    3.5/5

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    Currently unavailable

    About this ebook

    The first popular history of irrational numbers and their discoverers, from ancient Greece to the twenty-first century

    The ancient Greeks discovered them, but it wasn't until the nineteenth century that irrational numbers were properly understood and rigorously defined, and even today not all their mysteries have been revealed. In The Irrationals, the first popular and comprehensive book on the subject, Julian Havil tells the story of irrational numbers and the mathematicians who have tackled their challenges, from antiquity to the twenty-first century. Along the way, he explains why irrational numbers are surprisingly difficult to define—and why so many questions still surround them. Fascinating and illuminating, this is a book for everyone who loves math and the history behind it.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherPrinceton University Press
    Release dateJul 22, 2012
    ISBN9781400841707
    Unavailable
    The Irrationals: A Story of the Numbers You Can't Count On
    Author

    Julian Havil

    Julian Havil is the author of Gamma: Exploring Euler's Constant, Nonplussed!: Mathematical Proof of Implausible Ideas, Impossible?: Surprising Solutions to Counterintuitive Conundrums, and The Irrationals: A Story of the Numbers You Can't Count On (all Princeton). He is a retired former master at Winchester College, England, where he taught mathematics for more than three decades.

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