Queen of the Sciences: A History of Mathematics

Synopsis

Over the course of 24 thirty minute lectures, Professor David M. Bressoud, looks at the 4,000 year history of mathematics, from its beginnings in ancient Mesopotamia to the sophisticated mathematical techniques used in the human genome project. Beginning with a definition of maths as the study of the abstraction of patterns, the lectures go on to focus on the European the European tradition that grew out of early mathematics in Mesopotamia, Egypt, and Greece. The first eight lectures examine these foundations and the contributions of India, China, and the Islamic world, which played important roles in the development of European mathematical achievements.

The next eight lectures show how Western Europe, beginning in the late Middle Ages, gathered existing mathematical ideas and refined them into new and powerful tools. The heart of this section is five lectures on the 17th century, including the creation of calculus by Isaac Newton and Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz.

The final eight lectures explore selected mathematical developments of the past 200 years, including: Joseph Fourier’s solution in the early 1800s to the problem of modeling heat flow, which led to a powerful technique called Fourier analysis for making sense of a wide range of complex physical phenomena.

Language

English

Country

Great Britain

Year of release

2013

Notes

DVD includes 120-page printed course guidebook, downloadable PDF of the course guidebook
and free video streaming of the course.

Subjects

Mathematics

Keywords

calculus; history of mathematics; mathematical theorems; mathematicians; mathematical concepts

Online availability

URI

http://www.thegreatcourses.co.uk/courses/queen-of-the-sciences-a-history-of-mathematics.html

Price

£48.99

Delivery

Streamed/Download

Credits

Contributor

David M. Bressoud

Distribution Formats

Type

DVD

Format

Region 2 PAL

Price

£54.99

Availability

Sale

Duration/Size

24 x 30 minutes

Year

2016

Distributor

Name

The Great Courses

Email

customerservices@greatcourses.co.uk

Web

www.thegreatcourses.co.uk External site opens in new window

Phone

0800 298 9796

Fax

0800 298 0300

Address

2nd Floor
Mander House
Mander Centre
Wolverhampton
WV1 3NH
United Kingdom