Reviews for College Algebra

The average rating for College Algebra based on 2 reviews is 2 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2018-03-01 00:00:00 Aldo Allen Klein's book on the origin of algebra is about the great change in conceptualization that was achieved by Descartes's transformation of mathematics from a contemplative looking at form, to a method for manipulating symbols. Cartesian symbols are something unknown in Greek mathematics--they do not "intend" any concrete object, but are "indeterminate" quantities that are treated as determinate objects. Klein expresses this by saying that they are second intentions treated as first intentions, but Sean Collins has argued that they can better be understood as the kind of intentionality that the mind has when it is not apprehending the order of being, nor of its own act, nor of the moral acts of the will, but rather the order that it produces in external things. "Symbolic representation... signifies that which has existence through the very act of symbolizing."

Review # 2 was written on 2015-01-18 00:00:00 Tero Vahlroos This is one of the most carefully argued books I have read, honestly, ever. It ranks with the greats of philosophy and is an important book for all who wish to fully understand the power of ideas to shape our whole society and its trajectory.