Cajori has mastered the art of incorporating an enormous amount of specific detail into a smooth-flowing narrative. The Index--for example--contains not just the 300 to 400 names one would expect to find, but over 1,600. And, for example, one will not only find John Pell, but will learn who he was and some specifics of what he did (and that the Pell equation was named erroneously after him). In addition, one will come across Anna J. Pell and learn of her work on biorthogonal systems; one will
find not only H. Lebesgue but the not unimportant (even if not major) V.A. Lebesgue. Of the Bernoullis one will find not three or four but all eight. One will find R. Sturm as well as C. Sturm; M. Ricci as well as G. Ricci; V. Riccati as well as J.F. Riccati; Wolfgang Bolyai as well as J. Bolyai; the mathematician Martin Ohm as well as the physicist G.S. Ohm; M. Riesz as well as F. Riesz; H.G. Grassmann as well as H. Grassmann; H.P. Babbage who continued the work of his father C. Babbage; R.
Fuchs
as well as the more famous L. Fuchs; A. Quetelet as well as L.A.J. Quetelet; P.M. Hahn and Hans Hahn; E. Blaschke and W. Blaschke; J. Picard as well as the more famous C.E. Picard; B. Pascal (of course) and also Ernesto Pascal and Etienne Pascal; and the historically important V.J. Bouniakovski and W.A. Steklov, seldom mentioned at the time outside the Soviet literature. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Synopsis
This edition covers the period from antiquity to the close of World War 1, with emphasis on advanced mathematics and, in particular, the advanced mathematics of the 19th and early 20th centuries. This volume presents an account of mathematics history for those who cannot devote themselves to an intensive study. Cajori has incorporated an amount of specific detail into a narrative. The index contains over 1600 names, and the reader can learn additional information about the person, such as who John Pell was and some specifics of what he did (and that the Pell equation was named erroneously after him).