Negative math : how mathematical rules can be positively bent : an easy introduction to the study of developing algebraic rules to describe relations among things
Explores controversies in the history of numbers, especially the so-called negative and ''impossible'' numbers. This book uses history, puzzles, and lively debates to demonstrate how it is possible to devise new artificial systems of mathematical rules. It contends that departures from traditional rules can even be the basis for new applications
Print Book, English, ©2006
Princeton University Press, Princeton, N.J., ©2006
History (form)
x, 267 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm
9780691123097, 0691123098
63197732
Introduction
The problem
History : much ado about less than nothing
History : meaningful and meaningless expressions
History : making radically new mathematics
Math is rather flexible
Making a meaningful math