The Mathematical Experience

by Philip J. Davis (Author), Reuben Hersh (Author), Gian-Carlo Rota (Introduction)

27 customer reviews

ISBN-13: 978-0395321317

ISBN-10: 039532131X

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This is the classic introduction for the educated lay reader to the richly diverse world of mathematics: its history, philosophy, principles, and personalities.--This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

--This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

The Mathematical Experience

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Product Details

Paperback: 440 pages
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Company (May 1982)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 039532131X
ISBN-13: 978-0395321317
Product Dimensions: 1 x 6.5 x 9.2 inches
Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds
Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars See all reviews (27 customer reviews)
Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,865,193 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #2025 in Books > Science & Math > Mathematics > History
- #22842 in Books > Textbooks > Science & Mathematics > Mathematics
- #573383 in Books > Reference

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Customer Reviews

4.6 out of 5 stars

5 star		78%
4 star		11%
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2 star		4%
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72 of 80 people found the following review helpful

A survey on exactly that.

By Yoon Ha Lee on January 22, 2000

Format: Hardcover

Along with Ivars Peterson's books on math, I suppose this has changed my life, too.
I was going to study history. Math? Who cared about math? Math was for those science-types. I had an image of mathematicians as bespectacled, socially-inept, hunch-shouldered gnomes who lived in universities and ventured out of their burrows for--well, maybe they didn't venture out at all.
The joke's on me. I'm a math major now. This book is one of the reasons.
I've always loved history: the march of events, the ebb and flow of cause and effect and unexpected accident. I didn't realize that math, too, had a history, an ebb and flow. If I'd ever thought about it, I would have realized that an angel didn't come down from the heavens bearing The Big Book of Math, complete with proofs. But that's what it seemed like, until I read about the almost architectural building of theorem upon theorem, idea upon idea. Math wasn't a Big Book; it evolved and grew. Grows still, I should say.
Did numbers exist? Well, of course they existed. Wait a second. What *is* a number anyway? How *does* one exist? Would they exist if there were no people?
And so I learned that math, too, has its philosophies.
Most of all, I learned that mathematicians were and are people, not gnomes in burrows who have nothing to do with the rest of the world. That math is important for more than the homework assignments that plagued my high school evening hours. That math is worth studying.
If you could convey this to heaven knows how many disgruntled and frustrated math students around the world, I wonder if they might like the subject better.
I sure did.

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34 of 37 people found the following review helpful

One of the best books about math.

By Shard on December 1, 2000

Format: Paperback

Some books are of such depth that it is impossible to completely digest all that they contain even after multiple re-readings. Many achieve this through their level of technicality, or through sheer obscurity. The true gems are those that achieve it through clear intelligible discussion of deep concepts. Books like this point outside of themselves, leading one to whole new conceptual worlds. They force new connections to be made in the reader's brain. I reserve my highest recommendation for books of this type, and "The Mathematical Experience" is certainly one of them.
Popular books such as Ivars Peterson's "Mathematical Mystery Tour" and Keith Devlin's "Mathematics: The Science of Patterns" excel at giving the non-mathematician a glimpse into the world of modern mathematics, and an appreciation of the beauty and interest found therein. Depending on the level of sophistication of the reader, some popular math books are more appealing than others, in as much as they convey more or less actual mathematical knowledge. However I would venture to guess that these works hold little interest for real mathematicians, being much too shallow in their description of modern problems, even outside the specialized field of the reader.
Davis and Hersch on the other hand should strike a chord with most practicing professionals, as well as with the lay audience. As the authors state in the introduction, the layman reader may at times "feel like a guest who has been invited to a family dinner. After polite general conversation, the family turns to narrow family concerns, its delights and its worries, and the guest is left up in the air, but fascinated.Read more ›

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14 of 15 people found the following review helpful

Philosophy, History and Myths of Mathematics

By Jim Morrison on November 20, 2003

Format: Paperback

The Mathematical Experience by Philip J. Davis and Reuben Hersh
1981 Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston
Is all of pure mathematics a meaningless game? What are the contradictions that upset the very foundations of mathematics? If a can of tuna cost $1.05 how much does two cans of tuna cost (Pg. 71)? If you think you know the answer, don't be so sure. How old are the oldest mathematical tables? What is mathematics anyway, and why does it work? Can anyone prove that 1 + 1 = 2?
This is a book about the history and philosophy of mathematics. I'm certainly not a mathematician, and there are parts of the book I will never understand, yet the balance of it made the experience well worth while. The authors presented the material so that it is interesting and (mostly) easily understood. They have a creative way of making a difficult subject exciting. They do this by giving us insights into how mathematicians work and create. They live up to the title making mathematics a human experience by adding fascinating history. Frankly I was shocked when they pointing out how even mathematicians have made questionable assumptions and taken some basic "truths" on faith. They show the beauty of math in the "Aesthetic Component" chapter. Ultimately the question that comes up again and again is the question of whether or not we can really know anything about time and space independent of our own experience to make an adequate foundation for a complete system in mathematics. If you have ever wondered about the world of mathematics and the personalities involved you might consider this book. If you are a mathematics teacher you should read this book. If you are a mathematician you could find it quite unsettling.
It contains eight chapters, each one broken up into many subtitles so if you do get bogged down in the mathematics it isn't for long. There are 440 pages. I'd like to see a much more complete glossary for people like me who need it.

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Most Recent Customer Reviews

loved the

needed for college.....loved the book

Published 8 months ago by Donald Butchkoski

Read the chapter "The Ideal Mathematician"

This book is now fairly old, but overall it has aged well. This is written at an intermediate level--meaning too difficult for some novices and too simple for some mathematicians,... Read more

Published 12 months ago by mdromney

Three Stars

Good!

Published 14 months ago by Tina

Five Stars

Published 14 months ago by carla

Five Stars

The perfect book

Published 15 months ago by anthonyl

Can be read on multiple levels

This is ultimately a book on the philosophy of mathematics. Rather than a tedious and dry slog though, the authors use a very broad array of mathematical vignettes - often only a... Read more

Published 18 months ago by T. Gwinn

The Mathematical Experience

This book was recommended to me by my boyfriend. I teach high school math, so it seems like an ideal book for me. Read more

Published 22 months ago by Amy

A rewarding experience

This is a book I read through and return to again and again. It is truly illuminating about mathematics and the philosophy of mathematics (at least for this chemist).

Published on June 12, 2013 by Russell

My experience

Fine, but I though it was more amuse to read, in other words it is not a book to learn maths, it is just to know different aspects of this matter

Published on January 10, 2013 by Luis E. Becerra Ravaschio

A beatiful divulgative mathematics book

A very inytoduction to mathematics field,easy and interesting to read for anybody who likes to know the relations of mathematics with his history,developments,and other related... Read more

Published on May 19, 2011 by Juan A Gosalvez