Principia Mathematica - Volume Two

As I said in my review of  Volume One  of this reproduction by Merchant Books, the Principia Mathematica is a towering classic in the history of mathematical foundations.  Volume Two  of this Merchant Books reproduction is at the same high standard of printing quality and binding.Volume 2 contains the second half of the presentation of the theory of cardinal numbers, followed by the theory of relations, and the first half of the treatment of series which is continued in  Volume Three .It is Volume 2 which made me realise that I really needed to get my own copy of the Principia Mathematica for my investigation of the axiom of choice. (This wasn't original research. I was just trying to make sense of the countable axiom of choice for some applications in the topology of sequential compactness.) The particular topic of interest to me was "mediate cardinals", a term which has its origin in Volume 2 on page 288. These are essentially sets which are not finite, but do not have a subset which can be brought into a bijective relation with the set of integers. It was only in 1963 that  Cohen  proved that the existence of such mediate cardinals cannot be excluded within Zermelo-Fraenkel set theory.Anyone who finds the Whitehead/Russell Principia Mathematica too difficult to read could try the Rosser book " Logic for Mathematicians ", which covers much of the same material, in much the same order, in a more modern and more digestible form. But most mathematical logic and set theory books of the 20th century refer to this monumental Whitehead/Russell 3-volume series. So it's a good idea to have a copy handy for reference.

First, you really need the set, and specifically volume 1.The table of contents is very clear on where to find everything. This volume covers basic mathematical operations, and limits.Even if you do not ever have the energy to follow the logic, it is still a worthwhile exercise to read the text. Their discussion's in the text are instructive and definitive.As far as being a reprint, it is better than most of the reprints and is readable. Figuring out the notation of propositional logic does require the first volume.

We bought the three volume set of Principia Mathematica for the math genius son of one of our closest friends as a college graduation gift. After all, what do I know about gifts for math genius's. Apparently it was a very impressive gift and the WOW effect was achieved. The books arrived in truly "like new" condition (I think they were) and in the prescribed delivery time. What more can you ask for. Five star performance without reservation.

I bought this as a gift for my husband who has wanted this set for a long time and we were both surprised and thrilled with the quality. I was worried when other reviewers has stated that the print was somewhat smudged or looked scanned. However, at least in our set, we did not experience this. Well worth the price!

Great book slot more of math hieroglyphics to understand. This book looks like Egyptian math. All symbology you have to understand I put this Persian math but can't wait to get the third volume.

Great Wedding Gift for a good friend

I am happy to have this book. I have read through volume one and this volume is very important in understanding its development into a theory of arithmetic.

La serie de tres volúmenes que constituye Principia Mathematica habla por sí misma. Ésta reimpresión, está tomada de la primera edición publicada entre 1910-1913 y no incluye, por lo tanto, las modificaciones que se integraron a la segunda edición 1925 (Vol. I) y 1927(Vol. Il y III) como la introducción, los apéndices o la lista de erratas. Se trata pues de una obra monumental. Tan vasta y variada es la obra que los teoremas deducidos en ella pueden usarse consultarse como si se tratase de un manual de tautologías.