什么是数学(英文影印版.第2版)(09年度畅销榜NO.3)
基本信息
- 作者: (美)Richard Courant Herbert Robbins (英)Ian Stewart [作译者介绍]
- 丛书名: 图灵原版数学·统计学系列
- 出版社:人民邮电出版社
- ISBN:9787115206930
- 上架时间:2009-5-20
- 出版日期:2009 年6月
- 开本:16开
- 页码:566
- 版次:2-1
- 所属分类:
数学 > 数学文化史 > 数学文化
推荐阅读
内容简介回到顶部↑
本书是世界著名的数学科普读物.它荟萃了许多数学的奇珍异宝,对数学世界做了生动而易懂的描述.内容涵盖代数、几何、微积分、拓扑等领域,其中还穿插了许多相关的历史和哲学知识..
本书不仅是数学专业人员的必读之物,也是任何愿意做科学思考者的优秀读物.对于中学数学教师、高中生和大学生来说,这都是一本极好的参考书....
本书不仅是数学专业人员的必读之物,也是任何愿意做科学思考者的优秀读物.对于中学数学教师、高中生和大学生来说,这都是一本极好的参考书....
作译者回到顶部↑
本书提供作译者介绍
Richard Courant (1888-1972) 20世纪杰出的数学家,哥廷根学派重要成员。曾担任纽约大学数学系主任和数学科学研究院院长,为了纪念他,纽约大学数学科学研究院1964年改名为柯朗数学科学研究院,成为世界上最大的应用数学研究中心。他写的书《数学物理方程》为每一个物理学家所熟知,而他的《微积分学》也被认为是该学科的代表作。.
Herbert Robbins(1915-2001) 美国著名数学家和统计学家。他的研究涉及拓扑学、测度论、统计学等诸多领域。经验贝叶斯方法中的 Robbins引理,图论中的Robbins定理,还.. << 查看详细
Herbert Robbins(1915-2001) 美国著名数学家和统计学家。他的研究涉及拓扑学、测度论、统计学等诸多领域。经验贝叶斯方法中的 Robbins引理,图论中的Robbins定理,还.. << 查看详细
目录回到顶部↑
preface to second edition .
preface to revised editions
preface to first edition
how to use the book
what is mathematics?
charter i. the natural numbers
introduction
1. calculation with integers
1. laws of arithmetic. 2. the representation of integers. 3. computation in systems other than the decimal.
2. the infinitude of the number system. mathematical induction
1. the principle of mathematical .induction. 2. the arithmetical progression. 3. the geometrical progression. 4. the sum of the first n squares. 5. an important inequality. 6. the binomial theorem. 7. further remarks on mathematical induction.
supplement to chapter i. the theory of numbers
introduction
1. the prime numbers
i. fundamental facts. 2. the distribution of the primes. a. formulas producing primes. b. primes in arithmetical progressions. c. the prime number theorem. d. two unsolved problems concerning prime numbers.
2. congruences
1. general concepts. 2. fermat's theorem. 3. quadratic residues.
3. pythagorean numbers and fermat's last theorem
4. the euclidean algorithm
1. general theory. 2. application to the fundamental theorem of arithmetic. 3. euler's function. fermat's theorem again. 4. continued fractions. diophantine equations.
preface to revised editions
preface to first edition
how to use the book
what is mathematics?
charter i. the natural numbers
introduction
1. calculation with integers
1. laws of arithmetic. 2. the representation of integers. 3. computation in systems other than the decimal.
2. the infinitude of the number system. mathematical induction
1. the principle of mathematical .induction. 2. the arithmetical progression. 3. the geometrical progression. 4. the sum of the first n squares. 5. an important inequality. 6. the binomial theorem. 7. further remarks on mathematical induction.
supplement to chapter i. the theory of numbers
introduction
1. the prime numbers
i. fundamental facts. 2. the distribution of the primes. a. formulas producing primes. b. primes in arithmetical progressions. c. the prime number theorem. d. two unsolved problems concerning prime numbers.
2. congruences
1. general concepts. 2. fermat's theorem. 3. quadratic residues.
3. pythagorean numbers and fermat's last theorem
4. the euclidean algorithm
1. general theory. 2. application to the fundamental theorem of arithmetic. 3. euler's function. fermat's theorem again. 4. continued fractions. diophantine equations.
前言回到顶部↑
What Is Mathematics? is one of the great classics, a sparkling collection of mathematical gems, one of whose aims was to counter the idea that "mathematics is nothing but a system of conclusions drawn from definitions and postulates that must be consistent but otherwise may be created by the free will of the mathematician." In short, it wanted to put the meaning back into mathematics. But it was meaning of a very different kind from physical reality, for the meaning of mathematical objects states "only the relationships between mathematically 'undefined objects' and the rules governing operations with them." It doesn't matter what mathematical things are: it's what they do that counts. Thus mathematics hovers uneasily between the real and the not-real; its meaning does not reside in formal abstractions, but neither is it tangible. This may cause problems for philosophers who like tidy categories, but it is the great strength of mathematics--what I have elsewhere called its "unreal reality." Mathematics links the abstract world of mental concepts to the real world of physical things without being located completely In either. .
I first encountered What Is Mathematics? in 1963. I was about to take up a place at Cambridge University, and the book was recommended reading for prospective mathematics students. Even today, anyone who wants an advance look at university mathematics could profitably skim through its pages. However, you do not have to be a budding mathematician to get a great deal of pleasure and insight out of Courant and Robbins's masterpiece. You do need a modest attention span, an interest in mathematics for its own sake, and enough background not to feel out of your depth. High-school algebra, basic calculus, and trigonometric functions are enough, although a bit of Euclidean geometry helps.
One might expect a book whose most recent edition was prepared nearly fifty years ago to seem old-fashioned, its terminology dated, its viewpoint out of line with current fashions. In fact, What Is Mathematics? has worn amazingly well. Its emphasis on problem-solving is up to date, and its choice of material has lasted so well that not a single word or symbol had to be deleted from this new edition.
In case you imagine this is because nothing ever changes in mathematics, I direct your attention to the new chapter, "Recent Developments," which will show you just how rapid the changes have been. No, the book has worn well because although mathematics is still growing, it is the sort of subject in which old discoveries seldom become obsolete. You cannot "unprove" a theorem. True, you might occasionally find that a long-accepted proof is wrong--it has happened. But then it was never proved in the first place. However, new viewpoints can often render old proofs obsolete, or old facts no longer interesting. What Is Mathematics? has worn well because Richard Courant and Herbert Robbins displayed impeccable taste in their choice of material. ..
Formal mathematics is like spelling and grammar--a matter of the correct application of local rules. Meaningful mathematics is like journalism-it tells an interesting story. Unlike some journalism, the story has to be true. The best mathematics is like literature--it brings a story to life before your eyes and involves you in it, intellectually and emotionally. Mathematically speaking, What Is Mathematics? is a very literate work. The main purpose of the new chapter is to bring Courant and Robbins's stories up to date--for example, to describe proofs of the Four Color Theorem and Fermat's Last Theorem. These were major open problems when Courant and Robbins wrote their masterpiece, but they have since been solved. I do have one genuine mathematical quibble (see 9 of "Recent Developments"). I think that the particular issue involved is very much a case where the viewpoint has changed. Courant and Robbins's argument is correct, within their stated assumptions, but those assumptions no longer seem as reasonable as they did.
I have made no attempt to introduce new topics that have recently come to prominence, such as chaos, broken symmetry, or the many other intriguing mathematical inventions and discoveries of the late twentieth century. You can find those in many sources, in particular my book From Here to Infinity, which can be seen as a kind of companionpiece to this new edition of What Is Mathematics?. My rule has been to add only material that brings the original up to date--although I have bent it on a few occasions and have been tempted to break it on others.
What Is Mathematics? ...
Unique.
Ian Stewart
Coventry
June 1995
I first encountered What Is Mathematics? in 1963. I was about to take up a place at Cambridge University, and the book was recommended reading for prospective mathematics students. Even today, anyone who wants an advance look at university mathematics could profitably skim through its pages. However, you do not have to be a budding mathematician to get a great deal of pleasure and insight out of Courant and Robbins's masterpiece. You do need a modest attention span, an interest in mathematics for its own sake, and enough background not to feel out of your depth. High-school algebra, basic calculus, and trigonometric functions are enough, although a bit of Euclidean geometry helps.
One might expect a book whose most recent edition was prepared nearly fifty years ago to seem old-fashioned, its terminology dated, its viewpoint out of line with current fashions. In fact, What Is Mathematics? has worn amazingly well. Its emphasis on problem-solving is up to date, and its choice of material has lasted so well that not a single word or symbol had to be deleted from this new edition.
In case you imagine this is because nothing ever changes in mathematics, I direct your attention to the new chapter, "Recent Developments," which will show you just how rapid the changes have been. No, the book has worn well because although mathematics is still growing, it is the sort of subject in which old discoveries seldom become obsolete. You cannot "unprove" a theorem. True, you might occasionally find that a long-accepted proof is wrong--it has happened. But then it was never proved in the first place. However, new viewpoints can often render old proofs obsolete, or old facts no longer interesting. What Is Mathematics? has worn well because Richard Courant and Herbert Robbins displayed impeccable taste in their choice of material. ..
Formal mathematics is like spelling and grammar--a matter of the correct application of local rules. Meaningful mathematics is like journalism-it tells an interesting story. Unlike some journalism, the story has to be true. The best mathematics is like literature--it brings a story to life before your eyes and involves you in it, intellectually and emotionally. Mathematically speaking, What Is Mathematics? is a very literate work. The main purpose of the new chapter is to bring Courant and Robbins's stories up to date--for example, to describe proofs of the Four Color Theorem and Fermat's Last Theorem. These were major open problems when Courant and Robbins wrote their masterpiece, but they have since been solved. I do have one genuine mathematical quibble (see 9 of "Recent Developments"). I think that the particular issue involved is very much a case where the viewpoint has changed. Courant and Robbins's argument is correct, within their stated assumptions, but those assumptions no longer seem as reasonable as they did.
I have made no attempt to introduce new topics that have recently come to prominence, such as chaos, broken symmetry, or the many other intriguing mathematical inventions and discoveries of the late twentieth century. You can find those in many sources, in particular my book From Here to Infinity, which can be seen as a kind of companionpiece to this new edition of What Is Mathematics?. My rule has been to add only material that brings the original up to date--although I have bent it on a few occasions and have been tempted to break it on others.
What Is Mathematics? ...
Unique.
Ian Stewart
Coventry
June 1995
序言回到顶部↑
In the summer of 1937, when I was a young college student, I was studying calculus by going through my father's book Differential and Integral Calculus with him. I believe that is when he first conceived of writing an elementary book on the ideas and methods of mathematics and of the possibility that I might help with such a project. .
The book, What is Mathematics?, evolved in the following years. I recall participating in intensive editing sessions, assisting Herbert Robbins and my father, especially in the summers of 1940 and 1941.
When the book was published, a few copies had a special title page: Mathematics for Lori, for my youngest sister (then thirteen years old). A few years later, when I was about to be married, my father challenged my wife-to-be to read What Is Mathematics. She did not get far, but she was accepted into the family nonetheless.
For years the attic of the Courant house in New Rochelle was filled with the wire frames used in the soap film demonstrations described in Chapter VII, 11. These were a source of endless fascination for the grandchildren. Although my father never repeated these demonstrations for them, several of his grandchildren have since gone into mathematics and related pursuits.
No really new edition was ever prepared since the original publication. The revised editions referred to in the preface were essentially unchanged from the original except for a few corrections of minor errors and misprints; all subsequent printings have been identical to the third revised edition. In his last years, my father sometimes talked of the possibility of a major modernization, but he no longer had the energy for such a task. ..
Therefore I was delighted when Professor Ian Stewart proposed the present revision. He has added commentaries and extensions to several of the chapters in the light of recent progress. We learn that Fermat's Last Theorem and the four-color problem have been solved, and that infinitesimal and infinite quantities, formerly frowned upon as flawed concepts, have regained respectability in the context of "nonstandard analysis." (Once, during my undergraduate years, I used the word "in-finity," and my mathematics professor said, "I won't have bad language in my class!") The bibliography has been extended to the present. We hope that this new edition of What Is Mathematics? will again stimulate interest among readers across a broad range of backgrounds. ...
Ernest D. Courant
Bayport, N. Y.
September 1995
The book, What is Mathematics?, evolved in the following years. I recall participating in intensive editing sessions, assisting Herbert Robbins and my father, especially in the summers of 1940 and 1941.
When the book was published, a few copies had a special title page: Mathematics for Lori, for my youngest sister (then thirteen years old). A few years later, when I was about to be married, my father challenged my wife-to-be to read What Is Mathematics. She did not get far, but she was accepted into the family nonetheless.
For years the attic of the Courant house in New Rochelle was filled with the wire frames used in the soap film demonstrations described in Chapter VII, 11. These were a source of endless fascination for the grandchildren. Although my father never repeated these demonstrations for them, several of his grandchildren have since gone into mathematics and related pursuits.
No really new edition was ever prepared since the original publication. The revised editions referred to in the preface were essentially unchanged from the original except for a few corrections of minor errors and misprints; all subsequent printings have been identical to the third revised edition. In his last years, my father sometimes talked of the possibility of a major modernization, but he no longer had the energy for such a task. ..
Therefore I was delighted when Professor Ian Stewart proposed the present revision. He has added commentaries and extensions to several of the chapters in the light of recent progress. We learn that Fermat's Last Theorem and the four-color problem have been solved, and that infinitesimal and infinite quantities, formerly frowned upon as flawed concepts, have regained respectability in the context of "nonstandard analysis." (Once, during my undergraduate years, I used the word "in-finity," and my mathematics professor said, "I won't have bad language in my class!") The bibliography has been extended to the present. We hope that this new edition of What Is Mathematics? will again stimulate interest among readers across a broad range of backgrounds. ...
Ernest D. Courant
Bayport, N. Y.
September 1995
媒体评论回到顶部↑
“本书是对整个数学领域中的基本概念及方法的透彻清晰的阐述。”.
——爱因斯坦
“毫无疑问,这本书将会有深远的影响,它应当人手一册,无论是专业人员还是喜欢科学思考的任何人。” ——《纽约时报》
“一本极为完美的著作。” ——《数学评论》
“太妙了……这本书是巨大愉快和满足感的源泉。” —— 应用物理杂志
“这本书是一部艺术著作。” ——Marston Morse(美国著名数学家)
“这是一本非常完美的著作……被数学家们视作科学的鲜血的一切基本思路和方法在这本书中用最简单的例子使之清晰明了,已经达到令人惊讶的程度。”
——Herman Weyl(著名数学家、物理学家)..
20世纪的数学已经发展到了让人望洋兴叹的地步,如何在一本可以带出去郊游时随便翻翻的作品中,把这门异常发达的学科的面貌体现在读者面前呢?柯朗的做法是搜集很多数学上的“珍品”,每个方面的讲述并非深不见底,但也不是蜻蜓点水。适当地深入,然后在该结束的时候结束。这种既非盲人摸象、亦非解剖大象的方法,可以让普通读者也能粗略领悟到数学无比精巧的结构之美……
好作品要让读者常读常新。例如《西游记》,比起那些佛教典籍,太容易读懂了,但好玩的故事和浅显的文字背后,其思想上的玄妙实在不是一语、一人可以道破、穷尽的,故而历来评论绵绵不断;即便是普通读者,碰到一些社会现象,与小说中的情节做些类比,也有新的感悟. 那么科学著作能否也达到同样的功效呢?至少,《什么是数学》这本书是做到了。
——《中华读书报》...
——爱因斯坦
“毫无疑问,这本书将会有深远的影响,它应当人手一册,无论是专业人员还是喜欢科学思考的任何人。” ——《纽约时报》
“一本极为完美的著作。” ——《数学评论》
“太妙了……这本书是巨大愉快和满足感的源泉。” —— 应用物理杂志
“这本书是一部艺术著作。” ——Marston Morse(美国著名数学家)
“这是一本非常完美的著作……被数学家们视作科学的鲜血的一切基本思路和方法在这本书中用最简单的例子使之清晰明了,已经达到令人惊讶的程度。”
——Herman Weyl(著名数学家、物理学家)..
20世纪的数学已经发展到了让人望洋兴叹的地步,如何在一本可以带出去郊游时随便翻翻的作品中,把这门异常发达的学科的面貌体现在读者面前呢?柯朗的做法是搜集很多数学上的“珍品”,每个方面的讲述并非深不见底,但也不是蜻蜓点水。适当地深入,然后在该结束的时候结束。这种既非盲人摸象、亦非解剖大象的方法,可以让普通读者也能粗略领悟到数学无比精巧的结构之美……
好作品要让读者常读常新。例如《西游记》,比起那些佛教典籍,太容易读懂了,但好玩的故事和浅显的文字背后,其思想上的玄妙实在不是一语、一人可以道破、穷尽的,故而历来评论绵绵不断;即便是普通读者,碰到一些社会现象,与小说中的情节做些类比,也有新的感悟. 那么科学著作能否也达到同样的功效呢?至少,《什么是数学》这本书是做到了。
——《中华读书报》...








点击看大图






加载中...

