The Parrot's Theorem by Denis Guedj 350pp, Weidenfeld, £12.99 Buy it at BOL The last year has seen an unprecedented boom in the publishing of novels about mathematics. Number Nine by Cecil Balmond, ...

Visit NAP.edu/10766 to get more information about this book, to buy it in print, or to download it as a free PDF. §I.1 THIS BOOK IS A HISTORY OF ALGEBRA, written for the curious nonmathematician. It ...

Mathematicians were disturbed, centuries ago, to find that calculating the properties of certain curves demanded the seemingly impossible: numbers that, when multiplied by themselves, turn negative.

If standard quantum theory holds up, imaginary numbers are critical. When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Here’s how it works.

In spite of their name, “imaginary” numbers are as real as any other numbers, especially when it comes to hunting for lost treasure. For our first Insights puzzle of 2019, let’s go on a treasure hunt.

All numbers are imaginary (even "zero" was contentious once). Introducing the square root(s) of minus one is convenient because (i) all n-degree polynomials with real coefficients then have n roots, ...

The imaginary number takes mathematics to another dimension. If the square root of +1 is both +1 and -1, then what is the square root of -1? The imaginary number takes mathematics to another dimension ...

§2.1 FROM EGYPT TO EGYPT: Diophantus, 15 the father of algebra, in whose honor I have named this chapter, lived in Alexandria, in Roman Egypt, in either the 1st, the 2nd, or the 3rd century CE. I ...

If standard quantum theory holds up, imaginary numbers are critical. When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Here’s how it works. Breaking space news, the ...