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A Cultural History of Mathematics in the Eighteenth Century covers the period from 1687 to 1800. Advances in the use of calculus opened up both nature and society to mathematical analysis, while mathematical skills became increasingly valuable in ongoing power struggles between nation-states. This redefined the role of mathematics in many professional occupations, encouraging greater numerical literacy and better mathematical education. Building on advances in both analysis and physics, mathematics helped shape the ideas of the Enlightenment. The six volume set of the Cultural History of Mathematics explores the value and impact of mathematics in human culture from antiquity to the present. The themes covered in each volume are everyday numeracy; practice and profession; inventing mathematics; mathematics and worldviews; describing and understanding the world; mathematics and technological change; representing mathematics. Maarten Bullynckis Associate Professor of Mathematics and History of Science at the University of Paris 8, France. Volume 4 in the Cultural History of Mathematics set. General Editors: David E. Rowe, Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz, Germany, and Joseph W. Dauben, City University of New York, USA.
About the author
Tom Archibald took his Ph.D. at the University of Toronto in History and Philosophy of Science and is currently Professor of Mathematics at Simon Fraser University. His research concerns the history of mathematical analysis and its applications, and the relationship between mathematics and society more broadly. Until recently he was co-editor-in-chief of Historia Mathematica and a member of the Executive Committee of the International Commission on the History of Mathematics. He now serves on the editorial board of the Revue d'histoire des mathématiques.David E. Rowe is Professor emeritus of History of Mathematics and Natural Sciences at Mainz University. His principal research interests concern developments in Western mathematics and physics during the period 1800 to 1950 with special focus on Göttingen University. Since 2011 he and Klaus Volkert have co-edited the series Mathematik im Kontext. He has written or co-edited sixteen books, most recently Emmy Noether: Mathematician Extraordinaire (Springer 2021).
