What Is Mathematics?

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What Is Mathematics?
What Is Mathematics.jpg
Cover of 1996 second edition
Author Richard Courant and Herbert Robbins
LanguageEnglish
Subject Mathematics
Publisher Oxford University Press
Publication date
1941
ISBN 0-19-502517-2
OCLC 16608993

What Is Mathematics? is a mathematics book written by Richard Courant and Herbert Robbins, published in England by Oxford University Press. It is an introduction to mathematics, intended both for the mathematics student and for the general public.

Contents

First published in 1941, it discusses number theory, geometry, topology and calculus. A second edition was published in 1996 with an additional chapter on recent progress in mathematics, written by Ian Stewart.

Authorship

The book was based on Courant's course material. Although Robbins assisted in writing a large part of the book, he had to fight for authorship. Nevertheless, Courant alone held the copyright for the book. This resulted in Robbins receiving a smaller share of the royalties. [1] [2]

Title

Michael Katehakis remembers Robbins' interest in the literature and Tolstoy in particular and he is convinced that the title of the book is most likely due to Robbins, who was inspired by the title of the essay What Is Art? by Leo Tolstoy. Robbins did the same in the book Great Expectations: The Theory of Optimal Stopping he co-authored with Yuan-Shih Chow and David Siegmund, where one can not miss the connection with the title of the novel Great Expectations by Charles Dickens.

According to Constance Reid, [2] Courant finalized the title after a conversation with Thomas Mann.

Translations

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References

  1. Page, Warren; Robbins, Herbert (1984), "An Interview with Herbert Robbins", The College Mathematics Journal, The Mathematical Association of America, 15 (1): 5, doi:10.2307/3027425, JSTOR   3027425
  2. 1 2 Reid, Constance, Courant in Göttingen and New York. The story of an improbable mathematician. Springer-Verlag, New York-Heidelberg, 1976. ii+314 pp.
  3. Courant, Richard and Robbins, Herbert Ellis, What is Mathematics?, Oxford University Press, London-New York-Toronto, Tenth Printing, 1960. xix+521 pp.
  4. Courant, Richard and Robbins, Herbert Ellis, What is Mathematics?, Oxford University Press, London-New York-Toronto, 1978.