Jacqueline Stedall - The History of Mathematics: A Very Short Introduction

The History of Mathematics: A Very Short Introduction

VERY SHORT INTRODUCTIONS are for anyone wanting a stimulating and accessible way in to a new subject. They are written by experts, and have been published in more than 25 languages worldwide.

The series began in 1995, and now represents a wide variety of topics in history, philosophy, religion, science, and the humanities. The VSI library now contains 300 volumes a Very Short Introduction to everything from ancient Egypt and Indian philosophy to conceptual art and cosmology and will continue to grow in a variety of disciplines.

Very Short Introductions available now:

ADVERTISING Winston Fletcher

AFRICAN HISTORY John Parker and Richard Rathbone

AGNOSTICISM Robin Le Poidevin

AMERICAN IMMIGRATION
David A. Gerber

AMERICAN POLITICAL PARTIES AND ELECTIONS L. Sandy Maisel

THE AMERICAN PRESIDENCY Charles O. Jones

ANARCHISM Colin Ward

ANCIENT EGYPT Ian Shaw

ANCIENT GREECE Paul Cartledge

ANCIENT PHILOSOPHY Julia Annas

ANCIENT WARFARE
Harry Sidebottom

ANGELS David Albert Jones

ANGLICANISM Mark Chapman

THE ANGLO-SAXON AGE John Blair

THE ANIMAL KINGDOM
Peter Holland

ANIMAL RIGHTS David DeGrazia

ANTISEMITISM Steven Beller

THE APOCRYPHAL GOSPELS
Paul Foster

ARCHAEOLOGY Paul Bahn

ARCHITECTURE Andrew Ballantyne

ARISTOCRACY William Doyle

ARISTOTLE Jonathan Barnes

ART HISTORY Dana Arnold

ART THEORY Cynthia Freeland

ATHEISM Julian Baggini

AUGUSTINE Henry Chadwick

AUTISM Uta Frith

THE AZTECS Davd Carrasco

BARTHES Jonathan Culler

BEAUTY Roger Scruton

BESTSELLERS John Sutherland

THE BIBLE John Riches

BIBLICAL ARCHAEOLOGY
Eric H. Cline

BIOGRAPHY Hermione Lee

THE BLUES Elijah Wald

THE BOOK OF MORMON
Terryl Givens

THE BRAIN Michael OShea

BRITISH POLITICS Anthony Wright

BUDDHA Michael Carrithers

BUDDHISM Damien Keown

BUDDHIST ETHICS Damien Keown

CANCER Nicholas James

CAPITALISM James Fulcher

CATHOLICISM Gerald OCollins

THE CELL Terence Allen and
Graham Cowling

THE CELTS Barry Cunliffe

CHAOS Leonard Smith

CHILDRENS LITERATURE
Kimberley Reynolds

CHINESE LITERATURE Sabina Knight

CHOICE THEORY Michael Allingham

CHRISTIAN ART Beth Williamson

CHRISTIAN ETHICS D. Stephen Long

CHRISTIANITY Linda Woodhead

CITIZENSHIP Richard Bellamy

CLASSICAL MYTHOLOGY
Helen Morales

CLASSICS Mary Beard and
John Henderson

CLAUSEWITZ Michael Howard

THE COLD WAR Robert McMahon

COLONIAL LATIN AMERICAN LITERATURE Rolena Adorno

COMMUNISM Leslie Holmes

THE COMPUTER Darrel Ince

THE CONQUISTADORS
Matthew Restall and
Felipe Fernandez-Armesto

CONSCIENCE Paul Strohm

CONSCIOUSNESS Susan Blackmore

CONTEMPORARY ART
Julian Stallabrass

CONTINENTAL PHILOSOPHY
Simon Critchley

COSMOLOGY Peter Coles

CRITICAL THEORY
Stephen Eric Bronner

THE CRUSADES Christopher Tyerman

CRYPTOGRAPHY Fred Piper and
Sean Murphy

THE CULTURAL REVOLUTION
Richard Curt Kraus

DADA AND SURREALISM
David Hopkins

DARWIN Jonathan Howard

THE DEAD SEA SCROLLS Timothy Lim

DEMOCRACY Bernard Crick

DERRIDA Simon Glendinning

DESCARTES Tom Sorell

DESERTS Nick Middleton

DESIGN John Heskett

DEVELOPMENTAL BIOLOGY
Lewis Wolpert

DICTIONARIES Lynda Mugglestone

DINOSAURS David Norman

DIPLOMACY Joseph M. Siracusa

DOCUMENTARY FILM
Patricia Aufderheide

DREAMING J. Allan Hobson

DRUGS Leslie Iversen

DRUIDS Barry Cunliffe

EARLY MUSIC Thomas Forrest Kelly

THE EARTH Martin Redfern

ECONOMICS Partha Dasgupta

EGYPTIAN MYTH Geraldine Pinch

EIGHTEENTH-CENTURY BRITAIN
Paul Langford

THE ELEMENTS Philip Ball

EMOTION Dylan Evans

EMPIRE Stephen Howe

ENGELS Terrell Carver

ENGLISH LITERATURE Jonathan Bate

ENVIRONMENTAL ECONOMICS
Stephen Smith

EPIDEMIOLOGY Rodolfo Saracci

ETHICS Simon Blackburn

THE EUROPEAN UNION
John Pinder and Simon Usherwood

EVOLUTION Brian and
Deborah Charlesworth

EXISTENTIALISM Thomas Flynn

FASCISM Kevin Passmore

FASHION Rebecca Arnold

FEMINISM Margaret Walters

FILM Michael Wood

FILM MUSIC Kathryn Kalinak

THE FIRST WORLD WAR
Michael Howard

FOLK MUSIC Mark Slobin

FORENSIC PSYCHOLOGY
David Canter

FORENSIC SCIENCE Jim Fraser

FOSSILS Keith Thomson

FOUCAULT Gary Gutting

FREE SPEECH Nigel Warburton

FREE WILL Thomas Pink

FRENCH LITERATURE John D. Lyons

THE FRENCH REVOLUTION
William Doyle

FREUD Anthony Storr

FUNDAMENTALISM Malise Ruthven

GALAXIES John Gribbin

GALILEO Stillman Drake

GAME THEORY Ken Binmore

GANDHI Bhikhu Parekh

GENIUS Andrew Robinson

GEOGRAPHY John Matthews and
David Herbert

GEOPOLITICS Klaus Dodds

GERMAN LITERATURE Nicholas Boyle

GERMAN PHILOSOPHY Andrew Bowie

GLOBAL CATASTROPHES Bill McGuire

GLOBAL ECONOMIC HISTORY
Robert C. Allen

GLOBAL WARMING Mark Maslin

GLOBALIZATION Manfred Steger

THE GREAT DEPRESSION AND
THE NEW DEAL Eric Rauchway

HABERMAS James Gordon Finlayson

HEGEL Peter Singer

HEIDEGGER Michael Inwood

HERODOTUS Jennifer T. Roberts

HIEROGLYPHS Penelope Wilson

HINDUISM Kim Knott

HISTORY John H. Arnold

THE HISTORY OF ASTRONOMY
Michael Hoskin

THE HISTORY OF LIFE
Michael Benton

THE HISTORY OF MATHEMATICS
Jacqueline Stedall

THE HISTORY OF
MEDICINE William Bynum

THE HISTORY OF TIME
Leofranc Holford-Strevens

HIV/AIDS Alan Whiteside

HOBBES Richard Tuck

HUMAN EVOLUTION Bernard Wood

HUMAN RIGHTS Andrew Clapham

HUMANISM Stephen Law

HUME A. J. Ayer

IDEOLOGY Michael Freeden

INDIAN PHILOSOPHY Sue Hamilton

INFORMATION Luciano Floridi

INNOVATION Mark Dodgson and
David Gann

INTELLIGENCE Ian J. Deary

INTERNATIONAL
MIGRATION Khalid Koser

INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS
Paul Wilkinson

ISLAM Malise Ruthven

ISLAMIC HISTORY Adam Silverstein

ITALIAN LITERATURE
Peter Hainsworth and David Robey

JESUS Richard Bauckham

JOURNALISM Ian Hargreaves

JUDAISM Norman Solomon

JUNG Anthony Stevens

KABBALAH Joseph Dan

KAFKA Ritchie Robertson

KANT Roger Scruton

KEYNES Robert Skidelsky

KIERKEGAARD Patrick Gardiner

THE KORAN Michael Cook

LANDSCAPES AND
GEOMORPHOLOGY
Andrew Goudie and Heather Viles

LATE ANTIQUITY Gillian Clark

LAW Raymond Wacks

THE LAWS OF THERMODYNAMICS
Peter Atkins

LEADERSHIP Keith Grint

LINCOLN Allen C. Guelzo

LINGUISTICS Peter Matthews

LITERARY THEORY Jonathan Culler

LOCKE John Dunn

LOGIC Graham Priest

MACHIAVELLI Quentin Skinner

MADNESS Andrew Scull

MAGIC Owen Davies

THE MARQUIS DE SADE John Phillips

MARTIN LUTHER Scott H. Hendrix

MARX Peter Singer

MATHEMATICS Timothy Gowers

THE MEANING OF LIFE
Terry Eagleton

MEDICAL ETHICS Tony Hope

MEDIEVAL BRITAIN John Gillingham
and Ralph A. Griffiths

MEMORY Jonathan K. Foster

MICHAEL FARADAY
Frank A. J. L. James

MODERN ART David Cottington

MODERN CHINA Rana Mitter

MODERN FRANCE
Vanessa R. Schwartz

MODERN IRELAND Senia Paeta

MODERN JAPAN
Christopher Goto-Jones

MODERN LATIN AMERICAN
LITERATURE
Roberto Gonzlez Echevarra

MODERNISM Christopher Butler

MOLECULES Philip Ball

MORMONISM
Richard Lyman Bushman

MUHAMMAD Jonathan A.C. Brown