7.8 /10 1 Votes
Country United States Publication date 1970 ISBN 978-0-911762-07-5 Genres Mathematics, Science | 3.9/5 Goodreads Language English Pages 190 pages Originally published 1970 OCLC 99082 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Publisher Golem Press (1st, 2nd ed.)
St. Martin's Press (3rd ed.)
Hippocrene Books (Reprint ed.) Subjects Mathematics, Science, History of mathematics Similar Circle books, Mathematics books | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
A history of pi
A History of Pi (also titled A History of π) is a 1970 non-fiction book by Petr Beckmann that presents a layman's introduction to the concept of the mathematical constant pi (π).
Contents
Author
Beckmann was a Czechoslovakian who fled the Communist regime to come to the United States. His dislike of authority gives A History of Pi a style that belies its dry title. For example, his chapter on the era following the classical age of ancient Greece is titled "The Roman Pest"; he calls the Catholic Inquisition the act of "insane religious fanatic"; and he says that people who question public spending on scientific research are "intellectual cripples who drivel about 'too much technology' because technology has wounded them with the ultimate insult: 'They can't understand it any more.'"
Beckmann was a prolific scientific author who wrote several electrical engineering textbooks and non-technical works, founded Golem Press, which published most of his books, and published his own monthly newsletter, Access to Energy. He wrote more than 60 scientific papers and eight technical books.