From: Ken.Pledger@vuw.ac.nz (Ken Pledger)
Newsgroups: sci.math
Subject: Re: The Purpose of Math
Date: Thu, 09 Apr 1998 09:07:39 +1200

In article <352b893f.75254259@cnews.newsguy.com>, (Rex Wilson) wrote:

> ... 
> I am trying to understand the 'big picture' as far as math is
> concerned....  how did it get to where it is now?...
> Long ago when there were just integers...


     What you really seem curious about is the history of mathematics.  
It's fascinating to read about if you choose the right book.   I'd very
strongly recommend Victor J. Katz, "A History of Mathematics," Harper
Collins 1992, 1998.   (Some other widely available books are much less
reliable.)

     There's also an increasing number of web sites that deal with it,
although they're not so useful for getting a good overview.   Here are a
few:
http://www.ams.org/mathweb/mi-mathhist.html
http://www2.bw.edu/~dcalvis/history.html
http://users.hol.gr/~xpolakis/
http://aleph0.clarku.edu/~djoyce/mathhist/mathhist.html
http://www.maths.tcd.ie/pub/HistMath/
http://members.aol.com/ayoung1919/AEY_Maths.htm
I know of several others, mostly more specialized; so if you want a
web-site dealing with something more specific, just e-mail me and ask.

          Ken Pledger.