From preeminent math personality and author of The Joy of x, a brilliant and endlessly appealing explanation of calculus – how it works and why it makes our lives immeasurably better.
Without calculus, we wouldn’t have cell phones, TV, GPS, or ultrasound. We wouldn’t have unraveled DNA or discovered Neptune or figured out how to put 5,000 songs in your pocket.
Though many of us were scared away from this essential, engrossing subject in high school and college, Steven Strogatz’s brilliantly creative, down‑to‑earth history shows that calculus is not about complexity; it’s about simplicity. It harnesses an unreal number—infinity—to tackle real‑world problems, breaking them down into easier ones and then reassembling the answers into solutions that feel miraculous.
Infinite Powers recounts how calculus tantalized and thrilled its inventors, starting with its first glimmers in ancient Greece and bringing us right up to the discovery of gravitational waves (a phenomenon predicted by calculus). Strogatz reveals how this form of math rose to the challenges of each age: how to determine the area of a circle with only sand and a stick; how to explain why Mars goes “backwards” sometimes; how to make electricity with magnets; how to ensure your rocket doesn’t miss the moon; how to turn the tide in the fight against AIDS.
As Strogatz proves, calculus is truly the language of the universe. By unveiling the principles of that language, Infinite Powers makes us marvel at the world anew.
##特别适合学微积分的时候看
评分##今年的新书~
评分##与其说是用微积分揭示宇宙的奥秘不如说是关于微积分的简史。不过我仍然喜欢这本书,因为作者试图用最简单的文字把故事讲得有趣。
评分##与其说是用微积分揭示宇宙的奥秘不如说是关于微积分的简史。不过我仍然喜欢这本书,因为作者试图用最简单的文字把故事讲得有趣。
评分##好看,以微积分为主题的书能写得这么深入浅出真不容易。不知道有没有中译,原文非常流畅,打算把作者的其他书也都读一遍。
评分##是本会让人看high的书
评分##今年的新书~
评分##棒。今年出来中文版,推荐给中学生看。成年人就算了,有点简单。
评分##Strogatz文笔好好啊, 是那种不骄不躁娓娓道来的学者气质. 整本书的结构就是一部微积分的通史, 从阿基米德时代对无限的朴素认识, 到伽利略和开普勒, 到笛卡尔和费马, 到牛顿和莱布尼茨, 再到"贵宾头婴儿脸"的傅里叶, 每一代人都从每个时代的理论和认识局限中做出了有限的突破. 而把所有这些 delta 加起来, 再回过头来看当代数学庞大的体系, 以及其能够或不能解决的问题, 就特别能够 appreciate "edifice" 这个比喻, 它的基奠, 以及它未来的命运.
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