A History Of Analysis

Analysis as an independent subject was created as part of the scientific revolution in the seventeenth century. Kepler, Galileo, Descartes, Fermat, Huygens, Newton, and Leibniz, to name but a few, contributed to its genesis. Since the end of the seventeenth century, the historical progress of mathematical analysis has displayed unique vitality and momentum. No other mathematical field has so profoundly influenced the development of modern scientific thinking. Describing this multidimensional historical development requires an in-depth discussion which includes a reconstruction of general trends and an examination of the specific problems. This volume is designed as a collective work of authors who are proven experts in the history of mathematics. It clarifies the conceptual change that analysis underwent during its development while elucidating the influence of specific applications and describing the relevance of biographical and philosophical backgrounds. The first ten chapters of the book outline chronological development and the last three chapters survey the history of differential equations, the calculus of variations, and functional analysis. Special features are a separate chapter on the development of the theory of complex functions in the nineteenth century and two chapters on the influence of physics on analysis. One is about the origins of analytical mechanics, and one treats the development of boundary-value problems of mathematical physics (especially potential theory) in the nineteenth century. The book presents an accurate and very readable account of the history of analysis. Each chapter provides a comprehensive bibliography. Mathematical examples have been carefully chosen so that readers with a modest background in mathematics can follow them. It is suitable for mathematical historians and a general mathematical audience.

This book presents first-year calculus roughly in the order in which it was first discovered. The first two chapters show how the ancient calculations of practical problems led to infinite series, differential and integral calculus and to differential equations. The establishment of mathematical rigour for these subjects in the 19th century for one and several variables is treated in chapters III and IV. Many quotations are included to give the flavor of the history. The text is complemented by a large number of examples, calculations and mathematical pictures and will provide stimulating and enjoyable reading for students, teachers, as well as researchers.

What exactly is analysis? What are infinitely small or infinitely large quantities? What are indivisibles and infinitesimals? What are real numbers, continuity, the continuum, differentials, and integrals? You’ll find the answers to these and other questions in this unique book! It explains in detail the origins and evolution of this important branch of mathematics, which Euler dubbed the “analysis of the infinite.” A wealth of diagrams, tables, color images and figures serve to illustrate the fascinating history of analysis from Antiquity to the present. Further, the content is presented in connection with the historical and cultural events of the respective epochs, the lives of the scholars seeking knowledge, and insights into the subfields of analysis they created and shaped, as well as the applications in virtually every aspect of modern life that were made possible by analysis.

Prize-winning study traces the rise of the vector concept from the discovery of complex numbers through the systems of hypercomplex numbers to the final acceptance around 1910 of the modern system of vector analysis.

This book contains a history of real and complex analysis in the nineteenth century, from the work of Lagrange and Fourier to the origins of set theory and the modern foundations of analysis. It studies the works of many contributors including Gauss, Cauchy, Riemann, and Weierstrass. This book is unique owing to the treatment of real and complex analysis as overlapping, inter-related subjects, in keeping with how they were seen at the time. It is suitable as a course in the history of mathematics for students who have studied an introductory course in analysis, and will enrich any course in undergraduate real or complex analysis.

History of Functional Analysis presents functional analysis as a rather complex blend of algebra and topology, with its evolution influenced by the development of these two branches of mathematics. The book adopts a narrower definition—one that is assumed to satisfy various algebraic and topological conditions. A moment of reflections shows that this already covers a large part of modern analysis, in particular, the theory of partial differential equations. This volume comprises nine chapters, the first of which focuses on linear differential equations and the Sturm-Liouville problem. The succeeding chapters go on to discuss the ""crypto-integral"" equations, including the Dirichlet principle and the Beer-Neumann method; the equation of vibrating membranes, including the contributions of Poincare and H.A. Schwarz's 1885 paper; and the idea of infinite dimension. Other chapters cover the crucial years and the definition of Hilbert space, including Fredholm's discovery and the contributions of Hilbert; duality and the definition of normed spaces, including the Hahn-Banach theorem and the method of the gliding hump and Baire category; spectral theory after 1900, including the theories and works of F. Riesz, Hilbert, von Neumann, Weyl, and Carleman; locally convex spaces and the theory of distributions; and applications of functional analysis to differential and partial differential equations. This book will be of interest to practitioners in the fields of mathematics and statistics.

The book discusses the main interpretations of the classical distinction between analysis and synthesis with respect to mathematics. In the first part, this is discussed from a historical point of view, by considering different examples from the history of mathematics. In the second part, the question is considered from a philosophical point of view, and some new interpretations are proposed. Finally, in the third part, one of the editors discusses some common aspects of the different interpretations.

Film Style and Technology is a history of film style and its relationship to film technology. It also includes a theory of film analysis and demonstrates this theory using the films of Max Ophuls.