Elements of Algebra [Hardcover]

L. Euler (Author), J. Hewlett (Translator), C. Truesdell (Introduction)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 8, 1984

In 1770, one of the founders of pure mathematics, Swiss mathematician Leonard Euler (1707-1783), published Elements of Algebra, a mathematics textbook for students. This edition of Euler's classic, published in 1822, is an English translation which includes notes added by Euler's tutor, Johann Bernoulli, and additions by Joseph-Louis Lagrange, both giants in eighteenth-century mathematics, as well as a short biography of Euler. Part 1 begins with elementary mathematics of determinate quantities and includes four sections on simple calculations (adding, subtracting, division, multiplication), and then progresses to compound calculations (fractions), ratios and proportions and algebraic equations. Part 2 consists of 15 chapters on analyses of indeterminate quantities. Here, Euler shows the reader several ways to solve polynomial equations up to the fourth degree. This landmark book showed students the beauty of mathematics, and more significantly, how to do it.

--This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"This is a facsimile reprint of John Hewlett's 1840 translation of Euler's Algebra and Lagrange's Additions thereto. Most of Euler's contribution is elementary, nothing more advanced than solving quartic equations, but worth having in order to appreciate his leisurely and effective style---would that more great mathematicians wrote so well and to such pedagogic effect. However, one third of the book is his lucid treatment of questions in number theory, and it is this material that drew Lagrange's comments. Here for the first time are the rigorous treatments of continued fractions and "Pell's" equation, and of quadratic forms. The combination of Euler's and Lagrange's tests, of experimental and theoretical research in Weil's description, is justly celebrated by the editors of Euler's Opera omnia, who print the two together, and it is good to see this classic back in print in English. Every library without much Euler should at least have this volume. It is accompanied by an excerpt of Horner's memoir on the life of Euler, and a eulogy by Truesdell, with a useful bibliography." -- MATHEMATICAL REVIEWS

Language Notes

Text: English, French, German (translation)

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 593 pages
• Publisher: Springer (October 8, 1984)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0387960147
• ISBN-13: 978-0387960142
• Product Dimensions: 9.8 x 6.8 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.8 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,686,931 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Another Magnum Opus by Leonhard Euler, August 11, 2010

By 

Apollonius - See all my reviews

This review is from: Elements of Algebra (Hardcover)

Elements of Algebra by Leonhard Euler is in a class all its own. His masterful exposition of rudimentary and not-so-rudimentary algebra is extraordinarily clear and notably readable. The problems that Euler designed are both profoundly elegant and in-depth. A percentage of each of his problem sets is relatively straightforward while other problems require some attentive thought. If one is interested in becoming a proficient algebraist in the classical sense, then Euler's work will greatly facilitate this objective. If one simply desires to 'read' mathematics for the sheer pleasure of it, this book will fulfill that aim.

By the way, the other reviewer's one-star rating has to do with a softcover and edited edition of this work.

11 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Extreme Abridgment of Euler's Work, January 2, 2010

By 

Dr. Ross Lee Graham "drrosslg" - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Elements of Algebra (Paperback)

This book is NOT a reprint of Euler's book as the publisher claims. Point one..is has significantly fewer than 300 pages and the Hewlett reprint requires close to 600 pages. Furthermore, Euler, a genius in mathematics, is corrupted by a new organizing of its contents as if this new editor had the genius to select and reorder the contents. Important footnotes have been removed under the pretense that they just took up space..etc. These include the famous Lagrange notes. Part II of the Algebra is completely left out. The title of this so-called reprint of Euler's brilliant book translated so well by Hewlett would better be entitled..Euler's Elements of Algebra Highly Abridged and Re-organized (by a scholar who has yet to prove he is up to such discernment)...