This vibrant and gripping history ultimately exposes how these twin mathematical giants (Newton, Leibniz) were proud, brilliant, at times mad, and in the end completely human.

Mathematics has for centuries been stimulated, financed and credited by military purposes. Some mathematical thoughts and mathematical technology have also been vital in war. During World War II mathematical work by the Anti-Hitler coalition was part of an aspiration to serve humanity and not help destroy it. At present, it is not an easy task to view the bellicose potentials of mathematics in a proper perspective. The book presents historical evidence and recent changes in the interaction between mathematics and the military. It discusses the new mathematically enhanced development of military technology which seems to have changed the very character of modern warfare.

Discarding tidy abstractions about the conduct of war, Aaron Sheehan-Dean shows that the notoriously bloody US Civil War could have been much worse. Despite agonizing debates over Just War and careful differentiation among victims, Americans could not avoid living with the contradictions inherent in a conflict that was both violent and restrained.

This book is written for parents and other interested parties so that they can understand the great debate taking place in many states in this country about how to teach basic math. The debate centers around the standards written by the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM), which call for a radically different approach to mathematics education. Because the issues are so heated between the NCTM-oriented curricula and traditional curricula (the curricula that NCTM-oriented replaced), the term Math Wars was coined to describe them. Parents are concerned about their children's math learning. Teachers are concerned about math teaching. When parents see what children are bringing home under the new curriculum, it is clear that their children are not working on the same mathematics that parents remember from the time when they were in school. But, the problem goes beyond grades K-12. Post-secondary mathematics courses are the fear of many students. The standards created by the NCTM do not necessarily prepare students for success, either on SATs or in college. Besides lack of knowledge about mathematics education, many parents have an additional problem in that they feel they lack knowledge in mathematics itself. This is very intimidating; thus it is difficult for parents to do anything about the confusing state of mathematics education. This book provides some answers.

A New York Times–bestselling author looks at mathematics education in America—when it’s worthwhile, and when it’s not. Why do we inflict a full menu of mathematics—algebra, geometry, trigonometry, even calculus—on all young Americans, regardless of their interests or aptitudes? While Andrew Hacker has been a professor of mathematics himself, and extols the glories of the subject, he also questions some widely held assumptions in this thought-provoking and practical-minded book. Does advanced math really broaden our minds? Is mastery of azimuths and asymptotes needed for success in most jobs? Should the entire Common Core syllabus be required of every student? Hacker worries that our nation’s current frenzied emphasis on STEM is diverting attention from other pursuits and even subverting the spirit of the country. Here, he shows how mandating math for everyone prevents other talents from being developed and acts as an irrational barrier to graduation and careers. He proposes alternatives, including teaching facility with figures, quantitative reasoning, and understanding statistics. Expanding upon the author’s viral New York Times op-ed, The Math Myth is sure to spark a heated and needed national conversation—not just about mathematics but about the kind of people and society we want to be. “Hacker’s accessible arguments offer plenty to think about and should serve as a clarion call to students, parents, and educators who decry the one-size-fits-all approach to schooling.” —Publishers Weekly, starred review

Adaptable to courses for non-engineering majors, this textbook illustrates the meaning of a curve through graphs and tests predictions through numerical values of change, before formally defining the limit of a sequence and function, the derivative, and the integral. The second half of the book develops techniques for integrating functions, approxi

1. Evolution or revolution in mathematics -- 2. Issues in seventeenth century mathematics -- 3. Isaac Barrow: a foil to Leibniz -- 4. A young central European polymath -- 5. First steps in mathematics -- 6. The creation of calculus -- 7. Logic -- 8. The universal characteristic -- 9. The baroque cultural context -- 10. Epilogue -- 11. Some concluding remarks on mathematical change -- Appendices.