Spectrum
2 total works
A collection of the best from Mathematics Magazine. Gems from past issues of Mathematics Magazine or the Monthly or the College Mathematics Journal are read with pleasure when they appear, but get pushed into the background when the next issues arrive. So from time to time it is rewarding to go back and see just what marvellous material has been published over the years. There is history of mathematics (algebraic, numbers, inequalities, probability, and the Lebesgue integral, quaternions, Pólya's enumeration theorem, and group theory) and history of mathematicians (Hypatia, Gauss, E. T. Bell, Hamilton, and Euler). The list of authors is star-studded: E. T. Bell, Otto Neugebaur, D. H. Lehmer, Morris Kline, Einar Hille, Richard Bellman, Judith Grabiner, Paul Erdös, B. L. van der Waerden, Paul R. Halmos, Doris Schattschneider, J. J. Burckhardt, Branko Grübaum, and many more. Eight of the articles included have received the Carl L. Allendoerfer or Lester R. Ford Awards.
George Pólya was one of the giants of classical analysis in the 20th century, and the influence of his work can be seen far beyond analysis, into number theory, geometry, probability and combinatorics. This book serves both as a biography of Pólya's life, and a review of his many mathematical achievements by experts from a wide range of different fields. Last but not least the book finishes with two essays by Pólya himself which focus on how to learn to solve problems, a subject with which he was fascinated throughout his life.