The Story of Numbers

Author: Asok Kumar Mallik, Indian Institute of Engineering Science and Technology, Shibpur

The reader will get a glimpse of the thought process behind the invention of new mathematics. Starting from natural numbers, the book discusses integers, real numbers, imaginary and complex numbers and some special numbers like quaternions, dual numbers and p-adic numbers. Real numbers include rational, irrational and transcendental numbers. Iterations on real numbers are shown to throw up some unexpected behavior, which has given rise to the new science of ‘Chaos’. Special numbers like e, pi, golden ratio, Euler’s constant, Gauss’s constant, amongst others, are discussed in great detail. The origin of imaginary numbers and the use of complex numbers constitute the next topic. It is shown why modern mathematics cannot even be imagined without imaginary numbers.

ISBN 978-9813222922 | First Published in 2017 Co-Publisher: World Scientific Publishing Company