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Forum URL: http://www.cut-the-knot.org/cgi-bin/dcforum/forumctk.cgi
Forum Name: High school
Topic ID: 188
Message ID: 4
#4, RE: Ancient Matheticians
Posted by NJZ on Aug-16-02 at 12:59 PM
In response to message #0
Hi jman_red, if you are interested in learning about historical mathematicians you should definitely read E.T. Bell's classic book Men of Mathematics. It doesn't have much about the ancients, although the second chapter talks about Zeno, Eudoxus, and Archimedes. The following chapters outline the lives and accomplishments of the Western world's greatest mathematicians from the 1600's through the early 1900's. The MacTutor History of Mathematics website (http://www-gap.dcs.st-and.ac.uk/~history/index.html) has hundreds of brief biographies of great mathematicians and scientists from throughout the world, and has listings for a number of the other Greeks (such as Euclid and Pythagoras). Sorry I don't know of any good books specifically about mathematicians of the ancient world, but hopefully you will find these two references enlightening.

Regards,

NJZ