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14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
the best for the greatest !, 8 May 2003
The best book for the greatest mathematician! In my near half a century of life as a math amateur and would-be teacher, I haven't seen a book more clearly written as this one! If you remember something of your college calculus (and not looking back with anger, I assume), you'd do well reading it, it's most enjoyable and just at the right level. It explores the deeds of Euler in the different fields of math, one chapter to a field, and gives the most basic insights and results. And it's not an unduly 'modernized', anachronistic book, since it's Euler (and not, say, Gauss or Cauchy) who began 'contemporary' mathematics. If you read this and love it, please don't miss Euler works in translation, especially Prof. Blanton's for Springer!
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29 of 31 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Very readable overview of the work of a great mathematician, 17 Jun 2000
In 8 chapters Dunham selects highlights from the prolific work of Leonhard Euler, one of history's great mathematicians. Each chapter selects a topic from Euler's work, and explains some of Euler's results, putting them into an historical context by describing what was known before Euler, and how the area has been developed subsequently. All proofs are clearly and lucidly explained, and the book is completely accessible to anyone with a knowledge of high-school algebra, geometry and simple calculus.The book is also very readable, giving a clear idea of why Euler's work was so ground-breaking at the time. Yet Dunham does not place Euler on a pedestal - there are explanations of why some his methods of proof would no longer be accepted as entirely rigorous, and a chapter on his failed attempts to prove the fundamental theorem of algebra. Another masterpeice from Dunham, to go alongside "The Mathematical Universe" and "Journey Through Genius".
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15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Theorem, proof, happiness., 9 Feb 2004
This is a fairly slim book for the cost, but the content justifies this. Unlike some of Dunham's other books, this is really intended for an undergraduate rather than a school or A-level student, though I would recommend it to someone at college who is expecting to do a maths degree. Euler's works are not readily available and this book is one rare chance to see some fully worked proofs of Euler's. Luckily for me my university has Euler's "Opera Omnia" in its library, but even for us privaleged Euler fans, the great tomes are in all sorts of languages, (Latin, German, French &c). Take this opportunity and experience some well selected theorems with proofs belonging to Euler presented by Dunham in English and with informal commentary. I have worked through one or two of the proofs in "Euler, The Master Of Us All" in detail, ensuring that I followed every step, and the rewards are massive. I was so enthusiastic about one of the proofs that I tried to learn it off by heart, (and I think I succeeded short term, but I suspect I would need to revise it now). I am a pure mathematics enthusiast, (though I won't go into my philosophical uncertainties about today's frontiers), and this is what might be called elegant pure maths before all the big fish were caught, (Euler was himself a master fisherman, and could probably fish with a rod in both hands and undoubtedly knew every kind of knot).
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