Number. the Language of Science 4 Revised Edition

by Tobias Dantzig (Author)

30 customer reviews

ISBN-13: 978-0029069905

ISBN-10: 0029069904

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A critical survey written for the cultured non-mathematician. This book deals with ideas, not with methods. While the book avoids technical aspects of the subject, it is not written for those afraid of the symbol or those who are inherently form blind. It is a book on mathematics and deals with symbols--This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

--This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

Number. the Language of Science

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Product Details

Paperback: 340 pages
Publisher: Free Press; 4 Revised edition (May 1, 1967)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0029069904
ISBN-13: 978-0029069905
Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.4 x 0.9 inches
Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces
Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (30 customer reviews)
Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,435,377 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #2914 in Books > Science & Math > Mathematics > History
- #28765 in Books > Textbooks > Humanities > Philosophy
- #33879 in Books > Textbooks > Science & Mathematics > Mathematics

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Customer Reviews

4.5 out of 5 stars

5 star		70%
4 star		16%
3 star		7%
2 star		7%
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27 of 27 people found the following review helpful

Masterpiece Almost Forgotten

By Ary on June 17, 2000

Format: Paperback

This is a book hardly read in our times of "modern math" (we are living in a museum of great innovations!) and that shows the theory of numbers as a human activity, stressing the fundamental role of the intuition in the construction of the mathematics. It seems to me that the gradual forgetfulness of this kind of book is one of the important causes for the continuous decline in the number of interested (and interesting!) people in the field of mathematics. I recommend this reading. You'll find a lot of fun!

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36 of 40 people found the following review helpful

Postmodern mathematics?

By Dennis Littrell HALL OF FAMETOP 1000 REVIEWERVINE VOICE on July 10, 2005

Format: Hardcover

Einstein called this "the most interesting book on the evolution of mathematics which has ever fallen into my hands."

Number was first published in 1930 with the fourth edition coming out in 1954. This is a republication of that fourth edition (Dantzig died in 1956) edited by Joseph Mazur with a foreword by Barry Mazur. It is an eminently readable book like something from the pages of that fascinating four-volume work The World of Mathematics (1956) edited by James R. Newman in that it is aimed at mathematicians and the educated lay public alike.

Part history, part mathematics and part philosophy, Number is the story of how we humans got from "one, two...many" to various levels of infinity. Strange to say it is also about reality. Here is Dantzig's concluding statement from page 341 in Appendix D: "...modern science differs from its classical predecessor: it has recognized the anthropomorphic origin and nature of human knowledge. Be it determinism or rationality, empiricism or the mathematical method, it has recognized that man is the measure of all things, and that there is no other measure."

Or more pointedly from a couple of pages earlier: "Man's confident belief in the absolute validity of the two methods [mathematics and experiment] has been found to be of an anthropomorphic origin; both have been found to rest on articles of faith."

These are inescapably the statements of a postmodernist.Read more ›

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16 of 16 people found the following review helpful

A Human Story

By Prahlad Vaidyanathan on April 1, 2006

Format: Hardcover

The striking facts about Danzig's book are :

1. It does not claim to be a 'popular' science book. At the outset, he warns the reader ".. it is not written for those who are afflicted with an incurable horror of the symbol". In doing so, I think he has gained more readership, simply because noone likes to be patronised, and most 'popular' science books are extremely patronising.

2. He makes it a point to explain to the reader that mathematics is not something that was made by the Hand of God. He clearly explains the mistakes made by some of the most eminent mathematicians, and thus brings out the 'human' element in the evolution of mathematics very beautifully.

3. He interweaves his philosophy with that of the history of math, and thus makes it eminently readable.

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19 of 21 people found the following review helpful

An inferior edition

By Stewart A. Levin on December 7, 2007

Format: Paperback

This is a reprint of the author's 1954 fourth edition sandwiched between a new Foreword and Afterword. Neither the editor (Joseph Mazur) nor his brother (Barry Mazur, who wrote the Foreword) nor either of the advertised reviewers (Mario Livio or Charles Seife) apparently actually proofread the text as there are a distressing number of readily apparent typographic errors in the printing, both in the text and figures.
For a volume trumpeted on its title page as "The MASTERPIECE SCIENCE Edition" the many errors belie that mantle. In addition, the Afterword, which attempts to bring the reader up to date on relevant mathematical developments that occured after the fourth edition, fails to mention "undecidability" and the immense impact it has had on the issues discussed in the chapter entitled "The Anatomy of the Infinite."

Dantzig's Number continues to be accessible and generally insightful, but it is a shame that no one at Plume Books took due care and responsibility for its production.

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10 of 10 people found the following review helpful

Review of the 4th revised edition (not the new 2007 edition)

By Richard Frost on August 26, 2007

Format: Paperback

I am a mathematics teacher and have used this book as either a required reading or suggested supplement for a variety of courses, including math history for liberal arts students, number theory for mathematics majors, etc.

The book (4th edition) is divided into Part I and Part II -- the latter comprising only the last 4th of the book. Any successful college student will find Part I informative, and at times wonderfully enlightening about the development of the concepts of number and measurement. This book was written for the armchair reader, so expect a reader-friendly style of writing. However, I have found that Part II can be quite challenging for liberal arts students -- and quite stimulating to those whose studies included a more rigorous tour of mathematics. Do not let this bother you! I think Part I is worth the price of the book on its own.

If you wish to learn more about the history of mathematics and mathematicians, you might wish to examine Notable Mathematicians: From Ancient Times to the Present edited by Robyn V. Young and Zoran Minderovic.

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Most Recent Customer Reviews

and highly recommended to anyone who considers themselves a "math...

This is a classic, and highly recommended to anyone who considers themselves a "math geek"

Published 2 months ago by Mark

Einstein liked it, you should consider reading it.

Einstein read the book and praised it, enough said.

Published 6 months ago by Jacob

Five Stars

Thank you

Published 7 months ago by Ramons

He liked it.

Finally got a chance to read this classic book. Not impressed. I was hoping for a chronological history of mathematics, but what I got was a dispersive, hard-to-follow, account of... Read more

Published 10 months ago by Mike Jahan

Five Stars

A must read for anyone interested in mathematics.

Published 11 months ago by Byron Goodman

Great Old Book with a New Cover

Good book. A little hard to read. I didn't realize that this is a really old book with a new cover. The forward is by Einstein. Read more

Published 14 months ago by Helen Carlile

This book is every bit as good, entertaining and satisfying as...

This book is every bit as good, entertaining and satisfying as Einstein said it was. It is packed with information and insights. Top tier book in every way.

Published 14 months ago by Bill Clack

A Really Great Book

I learned a lot from reading this book, especially the gaps I left in the fundamentals in mathematics from my study of engineering. It is just a great book.

Published 14 months ago by Whitfield Martin

but nothing serious that would prevent book from being enjoyed. Not...

Clean and undamaged. Normal wear, but nothing serious that would prevent book from being enjoyed.
Not just a book about math, but the world of numbers and the visionary... Read more

Published 16 months ago by Mr Graphics

The valuable book for any one interested in math and its place in the...

I consider this book a great intro or reminder of what and where numbers came from . It also tells us how we use numbers

Published 20 months ago by Henry B. Lange