E: The Story of a Number

Beautiful book describing everything about the number 'e'. Lots of historical descriptions all along the book, which will make the readers to understand the way mathematics evoloved.

The media could not be loaded. I'm sure the book content are good. I received a blank book though. Seems to be not genuine... however the blank pages are of good quality. So 2 points for that

Excellent 👌👌👌

good book to read...

OK, where to start…the book is simply amazing. It covers any mathematical concept where the number e appears – from logarithms to calculus to functions of complex variable and number theory.The author explains intricate concepts of mathematics in easy to understand way, although some preliminary mathematical training is necessary. The author claims that even person with a little knowledge of mathematics can read the book, however, I think that a good knowledge of high school math allows you to enjoy the book more. Besides nice explanation of math, I really enjoyed historical notes and stories which accompany any discovery in science.The book is also very well organized. Every chapter is supplied with additional texts related to main subject of the chapter – for example another historical notes, practical application of explained concepts or interesting formulas and relations. There is also list of additional sources for further study at the end of each chapter. For readers more interested or trained in the subjects, some proofs are included in the appendix.To conclude, I would recommend the book to anybody interested in history of mathematics, students going for their first course in calculus (how much easy my life would have been if I had read the book before my first year at the university) and even anybody with deep training in mathematics (in my case, I refreshed my knowledge, as I use rather linear algebra and statistics in my profession than the calculus).

It was a great a book!! Initially I bought just cause I wanted to know more about the number e, but it helped me build my mathematical basics and fill the gaps in my education very efficiently!! And it really helped answer a lot of the questions I was having on other topics. Very good book, recommended if you wanna learn about the number e, and deepen your mathematical understanding.

Having read this book, I can say that the historical treatment was very interesting, putting flesh and bones to the finished product we all learn something about in Science and Engineering programs in school. The math for the most part was very easy to follow.In the appendices, the proof of the constant angle between the radius and tangent for the logarithmic spiral is solved using complex numbers and conformal mapping. This is elegant in its simplicity but may be far from intuitive for many. An alternative method is to use rectangular coordinates with y = exp(a.theta)sin(theta), and x = exp(a.theta)cos(theta), and then expressing the tangent at a point on the curve with the derivative (dy/dtheta)/(dx/dtheta) and calling it tan(phi). The radius has angle theta, so we have tan(theta). Then we use the well-known identity for tan(phi - theta). Its a bit more lengthy but its also more intuitive to my way of thinking.I found also, that the rectangular coordinate approach to the spiral length being equal to the tangential line segment from the tangent point to the vertical axis is a good alternative to the proof given in the appendices. It takes a bit more manipulation but is more intuitive for us with rectangular coordinate thinking. Its amazing how all the mess factors out when this approach is used.Overall, I would highly recommend this book for those who would like to learn both the history, the significance, and the remarkable applications that spun out of this most important number we nowadays call "e". Many kudos to the author for stimulating my mind and making me aware of both the historical and the theoretical aspects of "e" that I never knew before. Well done!

I was reluctant at first, thought what, it's the trend now, a book for every number?! but then i got hooked on it for weeks. it's insightful and original, i enjoyed every chapter of it.

I loved this book. It goes through the history of e in chronological order, starting with the discovery / invention of logarithms, and proceeding to all the other contexts in which e kept cropping up (limit of compound interest paid continuously, the curve which differentiates to itself, the equation of a hanging chain, its relation to pi in the context of imaginary numbers).The main proofs were sent to appendices at the back, so you can go through the details of the algebra of you want, but if you don't want to then you can skip the proofs without disrupting the flow of the story. I'd say an A-level knowledge of maths is required to understand what it's on about, but if you don't have the equivalent of an A-level then you probably aren't considering buying this book!One of the last chapters discusses e^i pi + 1 = 0 in a philosophical way, which was nice. I knew the results already but it was great to see how the story of e unravelled over the centuries, get to know some of the mathematicians who were involved, and the material is well presented in an interesting way.