Mathematical Essays and Recreations

The mathematical essays and recreations in this volume are by one of the most successful teachers and text-book writers of Germany. The monistic construction of arithmetic, the systematic and organic development of all its consequences from a few thoroughly established principles, is quite foreign to the general run of American and English elementary text-books, and the first three essays of Professor Schubert will, therefore, from a logical and esthetic side, be full of suggestions for elementary mathematical teachers and students, as well as for non-mathematical readers. The remaining essays on "Magic Squares," "The Fourth Dimension," and "The History of the Squaring of the Circle," will be found to be the most complete generally accessible accounts in English, and to have, one and all, a distinct educational and ethical lesson. In all these essays, which are of a simple and popular character, and designed for the general public, Professor Schubert has incorporated much of his original research. The essays included are: Notion and Definition of Number, Monism in Arithmetic, On the Nature of Mathematical Knowledge, The Magic Square, The Fourth Dimension, and The Squaring of the Circle. Read more