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An imaginary tale : (Record no. 4941)

MARC details
000 -LEADER
fixed length control field	02404nam a22002057a 4500
003 - CONTROL NUMBER IDENTIFIER
control field	OSt
005 - DATE AND TIME OF LATEST TRANSACTION
control field	20220328152115.0
008 - FIXED-LENGTH DATA ELEMENTS--GENERAL INFORMATION
fixed length control field	121226b xxu\|\|\|\|\| \|\|\|\| 00\| 0 eng d
020 ## - INTERNATIONAL STANDARD BOOK NUMBER
International Standard Book Number	8173713995
040 ## - CATALOGING SOURCE
Transcribing agency	tshering
082 ## - DEWEY DECIMAL CLASSIFICATION NUMBER
Classification number	515.9 NAH
100 ## - MAIN ENTRY--PERSONAL NAME
Personal name	Nahin, Paul J.
245 ## - TITLE STATEMENT
Title	An imaginary tale :
Remainder of title	the story of /-1 /
Statement of responsibility, etc	Paul J Nahin
260 ## - PUBLICATION, DISTRIBUTION, ETC. (IMPRINT)
Place of publication, distribution, etc	India :
Name of publisher, distributor, etc	Universities press,
Date of publication, distribution, etc	2002.
300 ## - PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION
Extent	xix, 265 p. :
Other physical details	ill. ;
Dimensions	24 cm.
504 ## - BIBLIOGRAPHY, ETC. NOTE
Bibliography, etc	Include index.
520 ## - SUMMARY, ETC.
Summary, etc	Today complex numbers have such widespread practical use, from electrical engineering to aeronautics, that few people would expect the story behind their derivation to be filled with adventure and enigma. In this book, the author tells the 2000 year old history of one of mathematics' most elusive numbers, the square root of minus one, also known as i, re-creating the baffling mathematical problems that conjured it up and the colorful characters who tried to solve them. In 1878, when two brothers stole a mathematical papyrus from the ancient Egyptian burial site in the Valley of Kings, they led scholars to the earliest known occurrence of the square root of a negative number. The papyrus offered a specific numerical example of how to calculate the volume of a truncated square pyramid, which implied the need for i. In the first century, the mathematician-engineer Heron of Alexandria encountered i in a separate project, but fudged the arithmetic. Medieval mathematicians stumbled upon the concept while grappling with the meaning of negative numbers, but dismissed their square roots as nonsense. By the time of Descartes, a theoretical use for these elusive square roots, now called "imaginary numbers", was suspected, but efforts to solve them led to intense, bitter debates. The notorious i finally won acceptance and was put to use in complex analysis and theoretical physics in Napoleonic times. Addressing readers with both a general and scholarly interest in mathematics, the author weaves into this narrative entertaining historical facts, mathematical discussions, and the application of complex numbers and functions to important problems, such as Kepler's laws of planetary motion and ac electrical circuits. This book can be read as an engaging history, almost a biography, of one of the most evasive and pervasive "numbers" in all of mathematics
650 ## - SUBJECT ADDED ENTRY--TOPICAL TERM
Topical term or geographic name as entry element	Numbers, Complex.
942 ## - ADDED ENTRY ELEMENTS (KOHA)
Source of classification or shelving scheme
Koha item type	Books

Holdings
Home library	Current library	Date acquired	Full call number	Barcode	Date last seen	Price effective from	Koha item type
Paro College Library	Paro College Library	26/12/2012	515.9 NAH	07621	26/12/2012	26/12/2012	Books
Paro College Library	Paro College Library	26/12/2012	515.9 NAH	07622	26/12/2012	26/12/2012	Books
Paro College Library	Paro College Library	26/12/2012	515.9 NAH	07623	26/12/2012	26/12/2012	Books
Paro College Library	Paro College Library	26/12/2012	515.9 NAH	07624	26/12/2012	26/12/2012	Books
Paro College Library	Paro College Library	26/12/2012	515.9 NAH	07625	26/12/2012	26/12/2012	Books