Critics Corner

Reviews of books, websites, poster sets, movies, and other resources for learning and teaching the history of mathematics.

Unexpected Links between Egyptian and Babylonian Mathematics

This book demonstrates the relationship between the mathematics in some recently discovered Babylonian tablets and some standard problems from Egyptian mathematics.

Historic Women of Mathematics

Poster picturing five famous women, from Hypatia to Grace Hopper.

Numbers at Work: A Cultural Perspective

Essays on how number has been critical to the work of scientists through the ages.

Cogwheels of the Mind: The Story of Venn Diagrams

An introduction to the work of Venn as well as the work of the author in extending some of Venn's results.

The Mathematics of the Heavens and the Earth

A comprehensive history of trigonometry from ancient times to the Renaissance.

History of Mathematical Symbolism and Terminology

Website containing much information on mathematical symbolism and terminology, as well as portraits of mathematicians from postage stamps.

From Calculus to Computers

A collection of articles on using the history of mathematics of the past 200 years in the undergraduate classroom.

Review of De grands defis mathematiques d'Euclide a Condorcet

Nine examples of using history in the mathematics classroom -- for those who read French!

The Equation that Couldn't Be Solved

A history of attempts to solve cubic and higher degree polynomial equations, including the notions of group theory and their relationship to the idea of symmetry.

History of Mathematics

Boyer's classic text, as revised by Uta Merzbach, is still worth having.