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Mazur, Barry

Imagining numbers : particularly the square root of minus fifteen by Barry Mazur - London : Allen Lane, ©2003 - xvi, 270 p. : ill. ; 20 cm.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

PART I
Chapter 1.The imagination and roots.
Chapter 2. Square roots and the imagination
Chapter 3. Looking at numbers
Chapter 4. Permission and laws
Chapter 5. Economy of expression
Chapter 6. Justifying laws PART II
Chapter 7. Bombelli's puzzle
Chapter 8. Stretching the image
Chapter 9. Putting geometry into numbers
Chapter 10. Seeing the geometry in the numbers PART III
Chapter 11. The literature of discovery of geometry in numbers
Chapter 12. Understanding algebra via geometry

Mazur considers the range of our imaginative experiences, especially in relation to mathematics. When we imagine a number, in particular an impossible number such as the square root of a negative quantity, what imaginative object might this bring to mind?

ISBN: 9780141008875

Subjects--Topical Terms:
Imagination.
Mathematics -- Philosophy.

Dewey Class. No.: 510.1 / MAZ-I