Description: An enormous popular success when first published in 1956, this monumental four-volume set -- fifteen years in the making -- reveals the sweeping scope of mathematics, the richness of its ideas and the multiplicity of its aspects. In the editor's words, "It presents mathematics as a tool, a language and a map; as a work of art and as an end in itself; as a fulfillment of the passion for perfection". Specially designed to make mathematics more accessible to the layman, the work comprises non-technical essays on every aspect of the subject, including articles by and about scores of eminent mathematicians as well as literary figures, economists, biologists and many other thinkers. Contributors include Archimedes, Galileo, Descartes, Newton, Gregor Mendel, Edmund Halley, Jonathan Swift, John Maynard Keynes, Henri Poincare, Lewis Carroll, George Boole, Bertrand Russell, Alfred North Whitehead, John von Neumann and many others.

Each essay is preceded by an informative commentary by noted mathematics scholar James R. Newman, explaining its relevance and context in the history and development of mathematics. The Dover edition will be the only edition in print of this remarkable resource. While it is sure to be warmly welcomed by mathematicians, students and teachers of mathematics, the book's wealth of fascinating facts, abundance of anecdotes and general accessibility to non-mathematicians will make it of great interest to general readers as well.

Each of the volumes includes an index and can stand alone as a fascinating collection of essays in its own right, so readers with a particular interest in any of the topics can purchase the volume of their choice. As a complete set, the work isunsurpassed in its breadth and diversity and many individuals, as well as libraries and institutions, will want to own the complete set.

Volume III (Parts VIII-XVII) contains essays on such topics as statistics and the design of experiments, group theory, the mathematics of infinity, the unreasonableness of mathematics, the vocabulary of mathematics, and mathematics as an art. Specific contributions include: "The Law of Large Numbers" by Jacob Bernoulli; "The Vice of Gambling and the Virtue of Insurance" by George Bernard Shaw, "Mathematics and the Metaphysicians", by Bertrand Russell; and more.

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