» Mathematics and the Physical World (Dover books explaining science)

Mathematics and the Physical World (Dover books explaining science) Reviews

Customer Rating:
Summary: A guided tour of Rome in one afternoon! (Caveat Emptor)
Comment: To the extent that this book collects many historical stories next to simple descriptions of mathematical ideas, reading _some_ parts of this book can be rewarding to _some_ people. But, the book over-reaches and over-promises. I also found the writing style annoying because the actual "per-page" ratio of _useful_ and _relevant_ information is low.

In retrospect, it is obvious that grand claims are always "red flags" - e.g. imagine a tourist on her first trip to Rome signing up for a guided tour that claims to show all of Rome in one afternoon.

---

Customer Rating:
Summary: Now I understand Physics and its beautiful!
Comment: Read this book and grow! This guy is a genius at communicating what is normally seen as difficult ideas. The pace is gentle and there are no mountains to scale - only hills where you can see fantastic physical vistas from. This stuff is beautiful.
Cheers

---

Customer Rating:
Summary: Almost a Humanities Course on Mathmatics
Comment: This book is excellent! Have you ever wondered, where did math come from? What caused/ how has math to developed? If so this book will hit the nail on the head for you. Dr. Kline is fabulous in this book, he explains things very clearly and gives the reader an overview of some of the more practical uses of math. After reading this book you will look at the world with a much better understanding of how math is used in the real world.

Kline also explains why math is so abstract (think of the way American schools teach math). Along with this he explains why math is so precise (due to it's being limited to using inductive reasoning only).

In fact, this book is a humanities course mixed in with the practical usage of mathematics, which all add up to a brilliant text. But don't be mislead, the book is not absent of the actual equations to help you understand some of the math. It's just simplified so as to be short of a textbook on how to do mathematics.


If this review is not helpful to you, or you think it could be improved please email your thoughts to:

HappyReaderTrueReview@yahoo.com

I want my reviews to be helpful to my fellow bookworms.

---

Customer Rating:
Summary: I wish this had been my physics textbook ...
Comment: I still have a hard time deciding if this is a book about math or physics, but actually, it's about both. Kline follows the history of physics beginning with the Greeks as a way to describe the evolution of mathematics up to the 20th century, and he does it brilliantly.

Kline is a master teacher, and his enthusiasm for his subject is evident. This is probably the clearest writing on mathematics (and physics) that I have ever seen. His chapters on the differential and integral calculus make their basic principles understandable to anyone with a high-school mathematics education -- not an easy task.

He shows how again and again through history, problems in physics led to mathematical discoveries which not only allowed the physical problems to be solved, but also advanced mathematics itself. And yet nowhere in the book is anything beyond simple algebra and geometry required to understand what he's saying. A remarkable achievement.

---

Customer Rating:
Summary: Mathematics and the Physical World by Morris Kline
Comment: This work is an excellent reference for the history of
mathematics. It begins describing some ancient numbering
systems. i.e. The Hindus utilized negative numbers. There was
an evolution in geometry. The development and refinement of
curves were set forth into equations. Newton's laws were
formulated . i.e. F= MA
The motion of projectiles evolved into the use of the sine and
cosine to describe curvilinear motion. The laws of gravity,
motion and oscillations were refined further into a multiplicity of uses in mathematics and theoretical physics. Many of the fundamental
laws and processes of the earlier mathematics have evolved into
important applications in theoretical and practical engineering.
Examples are Newton's Laws, the Bernoulli equations and a host
of other scientific achievements.

---

More Reviews for Mathematics and the Physical World (Dover books explaining science)