e: The Story of a Number

I know calculus but I didn't know much about some of the history of mathematics. How easy is to learn a complex theme in the words of this author. A fascinating book about an important number, browsing the history of logarithms, then some of the history of calculus and finally the history of Leonhard Euler, and the first appearance of "e". Obviously you find mathematics in this book, but presented in a easy-to-understand way.

A definitely recommended read, pure mathematical beauty - this book shows how the mathematicians worked - it shows how Napier evolved the logarithms, how leibnitz and newton approached calculus, and how the number e itself was discovered... its so simple to read, and it also shows exactly how the firsts proved their theorems... unlike textbooks we have read proofs in. And a very quick and simple read too - where one is exposed to the beauty of mathematics when one sees how 'Pi' came to have its myriad infinite series expansions..A chapter here is devoted to the Bernoulli family - which is where I want to draw your attention. This is perhaps the most influential family in mathematics, where three generations of the family have made staggering contributions to physics, mathematics, astronomy, finance, etc etc. And the family is as insane as can be - The brothers Jacob and Johann were the first to sit and understand Leibnitz' calculus, and Johann was a staunch supporter in the fued with Newton, on Leibnitz' side...(btw - Newton destroyed Leibnitz professionally, after Leibnitz' death... and Leibnitz funeral was attended by his secretary only... none else). So soon Jacob and Johann fight like mad about who made certain proofs - and Johann leaves the house, promising to return only after Jacob's death. Which he does. Later Johann and his son, who were working together starting arguing on who's name should come first on the documents they published,... so they soon quarelled and began to work alone... and then later, when Daniel starting publishing more than his illustrious father, Johann expelled him from the house with a warning to never return...In the above book, Eli Maor also compares the Bernoulli achievements in maths, with the other family that had a 150 years of three generations of contributions to its field - which was also a contemporary - viz. the Bach's and music. Awesome book - clean and nice, and leaves you admiring the poetry of maths... The book closes on the marvellous work of Euler who shows 'e power i, pi = -1', and thus links the three most vexatious numbers in maths, e, pi and i (sqrt -1), in a most wonderfully simple equation. What sheer elegance, and what beauty indeed.

To those of you who are not familiar with Maor, let me point out that he is a mathematician (as opposed to a lot of the other people who write popular math books) with an immense knowledge of math history and also an excellent writer. Some reviewers have compared this book to books like "An Imaginary Tale" by Paul J. Nahin and "History of Pi" by Petr Beckmann. This is totally missing the point. Both of those books are written by non-mathematicians, and contain error that will annoy mathematicians. Maor on the other hand is a superb scholar. I've read all his four books quite carefull, and I've not found any errors.This book will give you a great understanding of what calculus is all about.

Galileo wrote that philosophy is written in the grand book of the universe, in a language of characters, circles, triangles, and other figures. Somewhere in this grand offering came the number e, which is the limit of the expression (1+1/n)^n, as n approaches infinity. It is a curiosity number, one that bridges Napier's original logarithms (which are to the base 1/e) and the origins of calculus. It was discovered at a time of exploding international trade, which is based on compound interest, whose formula you will recognize in the definition of e. It is the base of natural logarithms, a non-terminating, non-repeating decimal. e cannot be the solution to a quadratic equation that has integer coefficients.This is a splendid book about a number as strange and useful as pi. Well written, this book can be handled by bright high school students and college students who have an interest not in solving math problems (the way we usually teach math), but in the history of math and this curious number. I read it for general interest and was very pleased with the entire book.