A History of Pi

by Petr Beckmann

Overview

The history of pi, says the author, though a small part of the history of mathematics, is nevertheless a mirror of the history of man. Petr Beckmann holds up this mirror, giving the background of the times when pi made progress — and also when it did not, because science was being stifled by militarism or religious fanaticism.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780312381851
Publisher:	St. Martin's Publishing Group
Publication date:	07/15/1976
Edition description:	19th ed.
Pages:	208
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.25(h) x 1.15(d)

About the Author

Petr Beckmann was born in Prague, Czechoslovakia, in 1924. Until 1963, he worked as a research scientist for the Czechoslovak Academy of Sciences, when he was invited as a Visiting Professor to the University of Colorado, where he decided to stay permanently as professor of electrical engineering. He has authored books including The History of Pi and more than fifty scientific papers, mostly on probability theory and electromagnetic wave propagation.

Table of Contents

1. Dawn

2. The Belt

3. The Early Greeks

4. Euclid

5. The Roman Pest

6. Archimedes of Syracuse

7. Dusk

8. Night

9. Awakening

10. The Digit Hunters

11. The Last Archimedeans

12. Prelude to Breakthrough

13. Newton

14. Euler

15. The Monte Carlo Method

16. The Transcendence of Pi

17. The Modern Circle Squarers

18. The Computer Age

Notes

Bibliography

Chronological Table

Index

The First 10,000 Decimal Places of Pi

Editorial Reviews

A pure delight . . . Entirely offbeat, which gives it its charm.” —The Denver Post

“A very readable account.” —Science

“A cheerful work.” —Scientific American

From the Publisher