Math Through the Ages: A Gentle History for Teachers and Others
William P. Berlinghoff, Fernando Q. Gouvea
As a college senior majoring in Mathematics Education, I needed to take a Math History class. I read two books that focus on the history of mathematics; one of those books was Math Through the Ages. I found this book, especially in comparison with the other book, Journey Through Genius, to be disjointed, redundant and vague. The first part of the book reads like a typical math history book and the second part repeats the information given in the first part but reads more like a textbook, including questions and projects that pertain, loosely, to the information offered in each section. I found that the questions were often irrelevant for anyone not specifically majoring in Math history, which is fine for a history book... unless that book claims to be great for students of math education. Also, I felt that the questions and projects asked more from the student than the book gave to the student. It is one thing for the projects to expect extra research, but the point of a book is to give you the knowledge you need, especially to answer its end-of-section questions, not just pose more questions than it answers. Really, if you want a better understanding of Mathematics and its history, check out Journey Through Genius. It reads better and offers more detail in explaining concepts that pertain to today's mathematicians.
