--- title: History of Mathematics description: The history of mathematics traces ideas from Babylon to the present. You will learn how number, geometry, calculus and modern abstraction developed, and the people and problems that drove them. category: mathematics subcategory: mathematics difficulty: beginner, intermediate, advanced url: /subject/history-of-mathematics --- # History of Mathematics The history of mathematics traces ideas from Babylon to the present. You will learn how number, geometry, calculus and modern abstraction developed, and the people and problems that drove them. ## Available Resources 5 Books • 2 Websites ## Podcasts ### 1. Numberphile Podcast **Author:** Brady Haran Interview podcast from Brady Haran, maker of the Numberphile YouTube channel, featuring long conversations with mathematicians about their careers, research problems and favourite ideas. Listeners hear how working mathematicians think, what drew them to the subject and how mathematical discoveries happen. **Difficulty:** Beginner | **Language:** English | **Price:** Free **Link:** https://www.numberphile.com/podcast/ **Tags:** popular-mathematics, mathematicians, interviews, recreational-mathematics ## Websites ### 1. Euclid's Elements (Web Edition) **Author:** David E. Joyce Complete online text of all 13 books of Euclid's Elements with diagrams and a commentary on each proposition covering its logic, its uses and its history. A primary source for Greek axiomatic geometry. **Difficulty:** Intermediate | **Language:** English | **Price:** Free **Link:** https://mathcs.clarku.edu/~djoyce/java/elements/elements.html **Tags:** euclid, greek-mathematics, geometry, primary-sources, axiomatic-method ### 2. MacTutor History of Mathematics Archive **Author:** John J. O'Connor, Edmund F. Robertson University of St Andrews archive with biographies of more than 3,200 mathematicians and over 2,000 essays on history topics, from Babylonian numerals to modern fields, with source references for each entry. Updated regularly. **Difficulty:** Beginner | **Language:** English | **Price:** Free **Link:** https://mathshistory.st-andrews.ac.uk/ **Tags:** history-of-mathematics, biographies, mathematicians, reference ## Books ### 1. A History of Mathematics: An Introduction (3rd ed.) **Author:** Victor J. Katz Most complete single-volume survey with the widest global coverage. Survey textbook covering Egyptian and Mesopotamian mathematics through the twentieth century, including Chinese, Indian and Islamic contributions, with excerpts from primary sources and historical textbooks, plus exercises. Covers developments up to the four-color theorem and Fermat's Last Theorem. **Difficulty:** Intermediate | **Language:** English | **Price:** Paid **Link:** https://www.amazon.com/dp/0321387007?tag=edmonddante07-20 **Tags:** history-of-mathematics, non-western-mathematics, primary-sources, textbook ### 2. Mathematics and Its History (3rd ed.) **Author:** John Stillwell Best choice for learners who want the mathematics itself, not only the narrative. Springer Undergraduate Texts volume that follows mathematical ideas from Pythagoras through calculus, complex numbers, group theory, topology and simple groups, with the mathematics worked out and exercises in each chapter. Assumes some undergraduate mathematics. **Difficulty:** Advanced | **Language:** English | **Price:** Paid **Link:** https://www.amazon.com/dp/144196052X?tag=edmonddante07-20 **Tags:** history-of-mathematics, abstract-algebra, calculus, geometry, textbook ### 3. Infinite Powers **Author:** Steven Strogatz Steven Strogatz traces how calculus developed from Archimedes through Newton and Leibniz to modern applications in medicine, GPS, and physics. Written without technical prerequisites, it explains why the infinity principle works and where calculus shows up today. **Difficulty:** Beginner | **Language:** English | **Price:** Paid **Link:** https://www.amazon.com/dp/0358299284?tag=edmonddante07-20 **Tags:** calculus, history-of-mathematics, popular-mathematics ### 4. Mathematics for the Nonmathematician **Author:** Morris Kline Dover edition of Kline's textbook for liberal-arts students, presenting mathematics through its history and uses in art, astronomy, physics, and music. Readers see how number, algebra, geometry, trigonometry, and calculus developed and why they matter culturally, with little computational drill. **Difficulty:** Beginner | **Language:** English | **Price:** Paid **Link:** https://www.amazon.com/dp/0486248232?tag=edmonddante07-20 **Tags:** history-of-mathematics, mathematics-and-culture, liberal-arts-mathematics, popular-mathematics ### 5. Journey through Genius **Author:** William Dunham Twelve landmark theorems, from the lunes of Hippocrates to Cantor's transfinite numbers, presented with their original proofs and historical setting. Readers follow complete arguments and see how mathematical questions arose from the concerns of their period. **Difficulty:** Intermediate | **Language:** English | **Price:** Paid **Link:** https://www.amazon.com/dp/014014739X?tag=edmonddante07-20 **Tags:** history-of-mathematics, famous-theorems, mathematical-proofs, greek-mathematics --- *This content is part of Dantes.io - Your Treasure Map to Knowledge* *Curated by humans at Dantes.io. Personal study use welcome; republishing this curation requires permission (team@dantes.io).* View this page online: https://dantes.io/subject/history-of-mathematics