A History of Pi

A History of Pi
by Petr Beckmann

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Book Summary Information

Author: Petr Beckmann
Edition: Paperback
Audio: English (Original Language); English (Unknown); English (Published)
Published: 1976-07-15
ISBN: 0312381859
Number of pages: 208
Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin

Book Reviews of A History of Pi

Book Review: Missed the subject
Summary: 1 Stars

"Missed the subject"

Although I am not a teacher, this is what I would have expected for grading, had I written anything to the subject at hand, and delivered this book.

I was interested to learn about the development of mathematics over the centuries. The title of book fit quite neatly into a collection of other books I have recently read. E.g. Number Theory and its History, E: the Story of a Number, the Story of SQRT(-1); and others. I expected to have explained the development of thinking and understanding of the fundamental numbers over the centuries. Instead I received collection of name calling, "Thugs", "Morons", "Idiots" and other names that simply have no place in a scientific book.

Dr. Beckmann used the book as a platform to express his emotions about religion and politics with an arrogance that does not fit the scholar.

Although some of the content is very informative about the subject at hand and mathematics and number theory in general, it is not sufficient to reward for having to go through the ranting.

I am disappointed and will not allow this book a place on my book shelf.

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Summary of A History of Pi

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.

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