An explanation of the development and structure of the modern mathematics used in contemporary science

In their search for truth, contemporary religious believers and modern scientific investigators hold many values in common. But in their approaches, they express two fundamentally different conceptions of how to understand and represent the world. Michael E. Hobart looks for the origin of this difference in the work of Renaissance thinkers who invented a revolutionary mathematical system—relational numeracy. By creating meaning through numbers and abstract symbols rather than words, relational numeracy allowed inquisitive minds to vault beyond the constraints of language and explore the natural world with a fresh interpretive vision. The Great Rift is the first book to examine the religion-science divide through the history of information technology. Hobart follows numeracy as it emerged from the practical counting systems of merchants, the abstract notations of musicians, the linear perspective of artists, and the calendars and clocks of astronomers. As the technology of the alphabet and of mere counting gave way to abstract symbols, the earlier “thing-mathematics” metamorphosed into the relational mathematics of modern scientific investigation. Using these new information symbols, Galileo and his contemporaries mathematized motion and matter, separating the demonstrations of science from the linguistic logic of religious narration. Hobart locates the great rift between science and religion not in ideological disagreement but in advances in mathematics and symbolic representation that opened new windows onto nature. In so doing, he connects the cognitive breakthroughs of the past with intellectual debates ongoing in the twenty-first century.

A grand intellectual history from clay tablets to Bill Gates. Selected by Choice Magazine as an Outstanding Academic Title The late twentieth century is trumpeted as the Information Age by pundits and politicians alike, and on the face of it, the claim requires no justification. But in Information Ages, Michael E. Hobart and Zachary S. Schiffman challenge this widespread assumption. In a sweeping and captivating history of information technology from the ancient Sumerians to the world of Alan Turing and John von Neumann, the authors show how revolutions in the technology of information storage—from the invention of writing approximately 5,000 years ago to the mathematical models for describing physical reality in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries to the introduction of computers—profoundly transformed ways of thinking.

Contents include examinations of arithmetic and geometry; the rigorous construction of the theory of integers; the rational numbers and their foundation in arithmetic; and the rigorous construction of elementary arithmetic. Advanced topics encompass the principle of complete induction; the limit and point of accumulation; and more. Includes 27 figures. Index. 1959 edition.

Rigorous, concise, and provocative monograph analyzes the ancient concept of mass, the neoplatonic concept of inertia, the modern concept of mass, mass and energy, and much more. 1964 edition.

Engaging, erudite study of rise of scientific movement in 17th-century England; Francis Bacon s role particularly stressed. Revised (1961) edition."

Third edition of popular undergraduate-level text offers historic overview, readable treatment of mathematics before Euclid, Euclid's Elements, non-Euclidean geometry, algebraic structure, formal axiomatics, sets, more. Problems, some with solutions. Bibliography.

​The book records the essential discoveries of mathematical and computational scientists in chronological order, following the birth of ideas on the basis of prior ideas ad infinitum. The authors document the winding path of mathematical scholarship throughout history, and most importantly, the thought process of each individual that resulted in the mastery of their subject. The book implicitly addresses the nature and character of every scientist as one tries to understand their visible actions in both adverse and congenial environments. The authors hope that this will enable the reader to understand their mode of thinking, and perhaps even to emulate their virtues in life.

Can you multiply 362 x .5 quickly in your head? Could you readily calculate the square of 41? How much is 635 divided by 2«? Can 727,648 be evenly divided by 8? If any of these questions took you more than a few seconds to solve, you need this book. Short-Cut Math is a concise, remarkably clear compendium of about 150 math short-cuts ? timesaving tricks that provide faster, easier ways to add, subtract, multiply, and divide. By using the simple foolproof methods in this volume, you can double or triple your calculation speed ? even if you always hated math in school. Here's a sampling of the amazingly effective techniques you will learn in minutes: Adding by 10 Groups; No-Carry Addition; Subtraction Without Borrowing; Multiplying by Aliquot Parts; Test for Divisibility by Odd and Even Numbers; Simplifying Dividends and Divisors; Fastest Way to Add or Subtract Any Pair of Fractions; Multiplying and Dividing with Mixed Numbers, and more. The short-cuts in this book require no special math ability. If you can do ordinary arithmetic, you will have no trouble with these methods. There are no complicated formulas or unfamiliar jargon ? no long drills or exercises. For each problem, the author provides an explanation of the method and a step-by-step solution. Then the short-cut is applied, with a proof and an explanation of why it works. Students, teachers, businesspeople, accountants, bank tellers, check-out clerks ? anyone who uses numbers and wishes to increase his or her speed and arithmetical agility, can benefit from the clear, easy-to-follow techniques given here.

This book is concerned with `the problem of existence in mathematics'. It develops a mathematical system in which there are no existence assertions but only assertions of the constructibility of certain sorts of things. It explores the philosophical implications of such an approach in an examination of the writings of Field, Burgess, Maddy, Kitcher, and others.