MATH V3952
Undergraduate Seminars II
Spring 2021

History of Mathematics (Dave Bayer)
Tuesdays, 7:30pm - 9:30pm ET

http://www.math.columbia.edu/~bayer/S21/Seminar/Bayer

Dave Bayer
Email
Office Hours

Week 1

Week1 notes

Books

Many textbooks are available freely online to Columbia University affiliates, for example through SpringerLink.

Here are some texts on mathematical history. I’ll update this list as we find others:

The most readable book on this list:

• 2010 Stillwell - Mathematics and Its History
• 2012 Kleiner - Excursions in the History of Mathematics
• 2012 Ostermann, Wanner - Geometry by Its History
• 2015 Grant, Kleiner - Turning Points in the History of Mathematics
• 2018 Gray - A History of Abstract Algebra

Other books to consider:

• 1983 van der Waerden - Geometry and Algebra in Ancient Civilizations
• 1985 van der Waerden - A History of Algebra
• 1988 Rosenfeld - A History of Non-Euclidean Geometry
• 1994 Bourbaki - Elements of the history of mathematics
• 2001 David, Edwards - Annotated Readings in the History of Statistics
• 2007 Kleiner - A History of Abstract Algebra
• 2008 Hairer, Wanner - Analysis by Its History
• 2008 Smorynski - History of Mathematics
• 2010 Seshadri - Studies in the History of Indian Mathematics
• 2018 Dillon - Geometry Through History
• 2018 Sonar - The History of the Priority Dispute between Newton and Leibniz

These are of interest, but likely too advanced for our purposes:

• 1982 Chandler, Magnus - The History of Combinatorial Group Theory
• 1991 Drucker - Perspectives on the History of Mathematical Logic
• 1997 Martzloff - A History of Chinese Mathematics
• 2009 Dieudonne - A History of Algebraic and Differential Topology, 1900 - 1960

Calendar

This calendar gives our schedule of meetings: