Alfred North Whitehead | Category: MathematicsBook Details
ISBN: 9789386677150
YOP: 2018
Pages: 228
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The study of mathematics is apt to commence in disappointment. The important applications of the science, the theoretical interest of its ideas, and the logical rigour of its methods, all generate the expectation of a speedy introduction to processes of interest. We are told that by its aid the stars are weighed and the billions of molecules in a drop of water are counted. Yet, like the ghost of Hamlet’s father, this great science eludes the efforts of our mental weapons to grasp it- ‘Tis here’, ’tis there’, ’tis gone’ and what we do see does not suggest the same excuse for illusiveness as sufficed for the ghost, that it is too noble for our gross methods. “A show of violence”, if ever excusable, may surely be “offered” to the trivial results which occupy the pages of some elementary mathematical treatises.
I THE ABSTRACT NATURE OF MATHEMATICS
II VARIABLES
III METHODS OF APPLICATION
IV DYNAMICS
V THE SYMBOLISM OF MATHEMATICS
VI GENERALIZATIONS OF NUMBER
VII IMAGINARY NUMBERS
VIII IMAGINARY NUMBERS (CONTINUED)
IX COORDINATE GEOMETRY
X CONIC SECTIONS
XI FUNCTIONS
XII PERIODICITY IN NATURE
XIII TRIGONOMETRY
XIV SERIES
XV THE DIFFERENTIAL CALCULUS
XVI GEOMETRY
XVII QUANTITY
NOTES
BIBLIOGRAPHY
The study of mathematics is apt to commence in disappointment. The important applications of the science, the theoretical interest of its ideas, and the logical rigour of its methods, all generate the expectation of a speedy introduction to processes of interest. We are told that by its aid the stars are weighed and the billions of molecules in a drop of water are counted. Yet, like the ghost of Hamlet’s father, this great science eludes the efforts of our mental weapons to grasp it- ‘Tis here’, ’tis there’, ’tis gone’ and what we do see does not suggest the same excuse for illusiveness as sufficed for the ghost, that it is too noble for our gross methods. “A show of violence”, if ever excusable, may surely be “offered” to the trivial results which occupy the pages of some elementary mathematical treatises.
I THE ABSTRACT NATURE OF MATHEMATICS
II VARIABLES
III METHODS OF APPLICATION
IV DYNAMICS
V THE SYMBOLISM OF MATHEMATICS
VI GENERALIZATIONS OF NUMBER
VII IMAGINARY NUMBERS
VIII IMAGINARY NUMBERS (CONTINUED)
IX COORDINATE GEOMETRY
X CONIC SECTIONS
XI FUNCTIONS
XII PERIODICITY IN NATURE
XIII TRIGONOMETRY
XIV SERIES
XV THE DIFFERENTIAL CALCULUS
XVI GEOMETRY
XVII QUANTITY
NOTES
BIBLIOGRAPHY
