A Brief History of Mathematics

“This is a smoothly written translation of a revision of the author’s Chinese textbook published in 2012. Aimed at a general readership, the style is explicitly influenced by that of M. Kline … . It provides historical accounts that are often opinionated and more readable than the usual history textbooks. … The book is generally well-produced and amply illustrated though several figures … .” (Albert C. Lewis, zbMATH 1539.01001, 2024)

Cai Tianxin was born in Taizhou, in southeastern China in 1963. He received his doctorate in science in 1987 from Shandong University, and currently serves as an outstanding professor at the School of Mathematics at Zhejiang University. In his capacity as a professor of mathematics, Cai proposed a class of Diophantine equations that was hailed as a “truly original contribution” by the British mathematician and recipient of the Fields Medal Alan Baker. He is also a poet, writer, and photographer, who has published more than forty literary and scholarly works, translated variously into more than twenty languages, including seven works translated into English. For his poetical and literary works, Cai was awarded the Naji Naaman Poetry Prize (Beirut) in 2013, and the Kathak Literary Award(Dakar) in 2019. In 2022, he was selected as an influential writer on Dangdang (the Chinese analogue to Amazon.com).

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