Reviews for Combinatorial mathematics: Proceedings of the Third International Conference (Annals of the ...

The average rating for Combinatorial mathematics: Proceedings of the Third International Conference (Annals of the ... based on 2 reviews is 3 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2013-03-25 00:00:00 Pete Calvert Jr This history of mathematics book is all history, unlike most books written as texts in the subject, there are no pictures of the referenced mathematicians and no asides giving interesting facts about their life and times. The focus is almost exclusively on western mathematics plus the Arab contribution when European mathematics went dark; there is no real mention of what was done in other areas of the globe. Although there is a brief mention of early mathematics, the detailed explanations begin with the sudden development of abstract mathematics in ancient Greece. The concept of formal proof and logical reasoning was a revolutionary and necessary concept, without it mathematics can be little more than measuring and computing. Advancements in mathematics are tracked from there through the abstract algebra concepts of Galois and the rise of group theory. In the spectrum of books on the history of mathematics, this one is at the higher end of content and rigor. The authors are all business; there is nothing in the way of fluff or tangential development. Published in Journal of Recreational Mathematics, reprinted with permission and this review appears on Amazon

Review # 2 was written on 2013-06-03 00:00:00 Kristin Currey Very nice. I especially appreciated the details on Babylonian and Egyptian mathematical syntax. It would be 4 stars if it went deeper into those and the Oriental contributions, but it focuses on the usual Mediterranean/European history. There was a fair bit on the Arabic era (the supposed Dark Ages) which was nice and the authors emphasize praise for my favorite little known Mathematical hero Evariste Galois.