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Review
"'Unknown Quantity buzzes with rivalries, frustrations and breakthroughs... A first-rate account that even algebraphobes will struggle to fault.' New Scientist 'Mind-expanding... made my brain work so hard I thought my hair might catch fire.' Mark Haddon, Daily Telegraph, Books of the Year 2003 'An intellectual tour de force and an excellent read' Washington Times"
--This text refers to the
Hardcover
edition.
Review
"* 'Unknown Quantity buzzes with rivalries, frustrations and breakthroughs... A first-rate account that even algebraphobes will struggle to fault.' New Scientist * 'Derbyshire is a virtuoso at simplifying mathematics... This is more than an engaging history; it records an entire, perhaps endangered, way of thinking.' Simon Ings, Daily Telegraph * 'Everything a popular mathematics book should be: gentle, chatty, anecdotal and full of mind-aching equations... Worth reading twice.' Alexander Masters, Literary Review * 'Derbyshire offers a very real and very entertaining survey of the development of algebra.' Publishers Weekly (US)"
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
38 of 41 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
I've long been interested in the history of science and mathematics and have to say that this book is an absolute treat to read.
I read John Derbyshire's other historical mathematics book - "Prime Obsession" - about a year ago and was mightly impressed. His ability to weave historical facts with some of the more complicated mathematics is something that a lesser author would stumble with. Not Derbyshire. "Unknown Quantity" takes "Prime Obsession" further - as it were - leaving behind one specific area of mathematical intregue (the Reimann Hypothesis) and covering this time the entire field of the history and development of algebra. Its a interesting feat to attempt given the huge subject base and the literally hundreds (if not few thousands) of years of history that have to be covered, but he does it well. Along the way we encounter ALL of the big names in maths: Galois, Lagrange, Euler (to name but a few) and some others that you may not have heard of, all of them though have their own backstories that make the characters come alive on the page (it is amazing how often some form of tragedy befalls a member of the mathematical elite of the 18th and 19th centuries).
But it's not all history. Derbyshire deftly takes us through some simple examples - how to solve the general cubic equation (and extend this to the general quartic) in a detailed yet unpatronising way - and goes further into some of the more abstract areas of modern mathematics (fields, algebras and manifolds).
This is a fabulous book that takes us from ancient civilisations in the middle-east through europe in the 18th and 19th centuries and out to the present day, and leaves you with a sense of awe at what was achieved and what could yet be discovered in this most intreguing of mathematical fields.
I read John Derbyshire's other historical mathematics book - "Prime Obsession" - about a year ago and was mightly impressed. His ability to weave historical facts with some of the more complicated mathematics is something that a lesser author would stumble with. Not Derbyshire. "Unknown Quantity" takes "Prime Obsession" further - as it were - leaving behind one specific area of mathematical intregue (the Reimann Hypothesis) and covering this time the entire field of the history and development of algebra. Its a interesting feat to attempt given the huge subject base and the literally hundreds (if not few thousands) of years of history that have to be covered, but he does it well. Along the way we encounter ALL of the big names in maths: Galois, Lagrange, Euler (to name but a few) and some others that you may not have heard of, all of them though have their own backstories that make the characters come alive on the page (it is amazing how often some form of tragedy befalls a member of the mathematical elite of the 18th and 19th centuries).
But it's not all history. Derbyshire deftly takes us through some simple examples - how to solve the general cubic equation (and extend this to the general quartic) in a detailed yet unpatronising way - and goes further into some of the more abstract areas of modern mathematics (fields, algebras and manifolds).
This is a fabulous book that takes us from ancient civilisations in the middle-east through europe in the 18th and 19th centuries and out to the present day, and leaves you with a sense of awe at what was achieved and what could yet be discovered in this most intreguing of mathematical fields.
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
The sample of reviews on this site is small, but it has an unusual distribution - five out of six reviews (including this one) give 4 stars. Thus it qualifies as a book which almost all readers found excellent without giving it their ultimate approval. And this is exactly the right conclusion. It is very well done, and loaded to the gunwales with interesting material - both historical and mathematical. But there is a missing ingredient.
Derbyshire's brilliant earlier book on Riemann (actually the only popular book on the subject that deserves to stay in the literature) was focussed by the clarity, and the difficulty, of its goal: to get the reader to understand the Riemann Hypothesis and the state of recent research. In slightly disappointing contrast, Unknown Quantity flows nicely along on a current of Whiggish historical progress, chugging downstream from Ahmes and Diophantus to the broad modern concept of algebra. Inevitably, this is less exciting.
The feature that should nevertheless make this book a continuing success is that Derbyshire provides unusually direct historical explorations of the way the mathematics was created. So, for instance, his exposition of Abel's proof of the unsolvability of the quintic is not a discussion of some later simplified proof of the same result. Moving on to Galois, we get a real sense of how the same result appears in a more general setting. All of this done using essentially elementary tools (with extensions in the useful "primers" that are dotted about the book).
The UK paperback edition has a curiously meaningless cover illustration (a sort of sprocket replacing the iconic "x" that adorns the US version). And there is a tantalising list of illustration credits; tantalising because only one of the illustrations has made it into this edition.
Derbyshire's brilliant earlier book on Riemann (actually the only popular book on the subject that deserves to stay in the literature) was focussed by the clarity, and the difficulty, of its goal: to get the reader to understand the Riemann Hypothesis and the state of recent research. In slightly disappointing contrast, Unknown Quantity flows nicely along on a current of Whiggish historical progress, chugging downstream from Ahmes and Diophantus to the broad modern concept of algebra. Inevitably, this is less exciting.
The feature that should nevertheless make this book a continuing success is that Derbyshire provides unusually direct historical explorations of the way the mathematics was created. So, for instance, his exposition of Abel's proof of the unsolvability of the quintic is not a discussion of some later simplified proof of the same result. Moving on to Galois, we get a real sense of how the same result appears in a more general setting. All of this done using essentially elementary tools (with extensions in the useful "primers" that are dotted about the book).
The UK paperback edition has a curiously meaningless cover illustration (a sort of sprocket replacing the iconic "x" that adorns the US version). And there is a tantalising list of illustration credits; tantalising because only one of the illustrations has made it into this edition.
20 of 24 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
Really interesting book which puts currently taught mathematics into its historical context. I bought the hardback which has "even algebraphobes will struggle to find fault" - don't believe a word of it: I don't think I would have understood much of the book without having done first year university pure maths already and would not recommend it to non math-inclined friends. There were a few typos in my edition but not enough to cause too many problems.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Brilliant history of algebra
A brilliant history of algebra, which people with little knowledge of maths can follow. John Derbyshire does not shy away from topics not normally covered until undergraduate or... Read more
Published 19 months ago by M. F. Cayley
If only ...
If only I had had books like this one when I took my degree back in the late 1950's.
The interleaving of historical chapters with the maths chapters is a real aid to... Read more
The interleaving of historical chapters with the maths chapters is a real aid to... Read more
Published 23 months ago by Dikwoody
Helps to make the unknown less so
Easy to read summary history of the key dates and movers in the development of modern algebra. I particularly recommend it to UK students of A-level Further Maths, as it... Read more
Published on 14 July 2009 by Allister Steele
A significant quantity
This is an engaging and thoroughly competent history. John Derbyshire both knows and loves the subject, and it shows. Read more
Published on 15 April 2009 by Andrew Ross
express train show concerning the history of Algebraic developments
Hi,
The book is easy to read on a few levels, one of which due to the physical size of the fonts in this printing. Read more
The book is easy to read on a few levels, one of which due to the physical size of the fonts in this printing. Read more
Published on 29 Sep 2007 by ab..c
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