A Cultural History of Mathematics in the Nineteenth Century

A Cultural History of Mathematics in the Nineteenth Century covers the period from 1800 to 1914, an era shaped by expanding European empires and vastly improved systems of transportation and communication. Widening access to schools improved mathematical literacy amongst the public, while the growth of universities encouraged the formation of national societies of professional mathematicians. Technological innovations, such as wireless telegraphy and aeronautics, spawned new fields in applied mathematics, just as specialists in pure mathematics produced a huge body of knowledge, which almost defied classification. But the international competition and cooperation which had spurred much mathematical progress across the Nineteenth Century was suspended by the onset of the Great War.

The six volume set of the Cultural History of Mathematics explores the value and impact of mathematics in human culture from antiquity to the present. The themes covered in each volume are everyday numeracy; practice and profession; inventing mathematics; mathematics and worldviews; describing and understanding the world; mathematics and technological change; representing mathematics.

Tom Archibald is Professor of Mathematics at Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, Canada. David E. Rowe is Professor Emeritus of the History of Mathematics at Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz, Germany.

Volume 5 in the Cultural History of Mathematics set.

General Editors: David E. Rowe, Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz, Germany, and Joseph W. Dauben, City University of New York, USA.