An Imaginary Tale: The Story of √-1 (Princeton Science Library)

The book arrived in perfect condition, sooner than expected.My only wish it that the packaging would be easier to recycle. (It's the familiar kind with yellowish paper fused to a plastic bubble liner.)

Very in depth book with excellent description and explanations. Very insightful and answered questions I had for a long time. Only downside I would point out is it is certainty not for everyone as the cover sort of misleads. Much of it is too difficult to understand unless you have a decent background in math.

As someone who has a BS in BioMedical Engineering; I found this book quite insightful in regards to some of the coursework I took in school. It allowed me to better understand the Fourier Transform, Bold Plots (Signals) and Series solutions to differential equations (singularity problems). Additionally, I very much enjoyed the chapter on Circuits.I didn’t care much for the historical aspects nor the the proofs. Although I did find some proofs conceptually useful. I thoroughly enjoyed the chapter on Complex Functions. I was afraid it would be too theoretical given my background but the author did a great job in simplifying it enough. Outstanding. I would have loved to take taken Complex Variables in school after reading this book. Having taken that course would have allowed to have deeper understanding and appreciation for Signals and Systems analysis.

Teaching mathematics is often an uphill battle against the forces of abstraction and dullness. This delightful book is a perfect antidote, weaving as it does the history, applications and actual mathematics surrounding the concept of "imaginary" and "complex" numbers. But don't get the wrong expectation -- it's a real math book, with equations, proofs, etc, varying in level from high-school algebra and geometry to college calculus and physics.I myself bought it in a search for material to motivate a bright 11-year-old that I am tutoring. I introduced imaginary and complex numbers to him, but all of the actual applications seemed far out of his reach. So now when I mention imaginary numbers he screws up his face and asks for more boolean algebra instead. But with this book, I now have a number of examples and historical anecdotes to motivate and fascinate him, particularly geometric interpretations and applications.Here, for example, is one extremely elementary application that I did not know about. Prove: the product of two sums of squares is itself the sum of two squares in two different ways. Symbolically, given any integers a, b, c, d, there are integers p, q, r, s with...(a^2 + b^2)(c^2 + d^2) = p^2 + q^2 = r^2 + s^2This was demonstrated by mathematicians a long time ago, but not particularly easily. Using complex numbers, it's almost trivial to see, however, certainly within reach of a student of Algebra I. (There's an even simpler version of the proof that Nahin presents, but it's a bit messy to write without properly typeset mathematics.) This also makes the important point that complex numbers are very useful to help understand non-complex mathematical phenomena, a point Nahin makes throughout the book.This also illustrates that this is a real math book, not simply a popularization piece ~about~ mathematics and mathematicians. It's really too bad that reviewers who expected the latter are downgrading their ratings of the book, because if you understand and accept what it is trying to be, it's a gem!Much of this material is, of course, available by searching the internet. But it's not easy to find, and of highly variable quality. So Nahin's book is a real service to teachers and students at all levels.

I loved reading this book. It is exactly what it states that it is, a story of imaginary numbers. A loving story. A history. Imaginary numbers have a facinating history of very slow adoption through the centuries, a history that wonderfully facilitates a certain love and joy of mathematics and better understanding of our struggles as humans to improve ourselves and better understand the language of the physical universe: mathematics.I did not find this book too tedious at all. Nothing run into the ground at all. If you encounter sections of this book with math too tedious for you, or if you are simply a more casual reader or don't have the time to go deeper, then do as I did, skip those sections. The vast majority of the book is text. The author is a mathematician, so he used mathematical examples, it is not a course book. I assert that the only way to do justice to math history is to include some math.Understanding imaginary numbers by the broader historical view offered in this book allowed me deeper insight and the ability to see deeper parallels with other areas of mathematics. Just as there were eons where people had no use for negative numbers, but where negative numbers were found convenient for arithmetic operations and so put into common everyday usage, so it goes for imaginary numbers.One of the reviewers wrote that this book is an excellent introductory treatment of complex analysis. I believe that reviewer to be a mathematician. I believe that the comment gives the wrong impression. This book is a historical story telling, not at all a text book This book is great for a fun casual read by any curious person.There was lots of new and insightful stuff in this book for me. Highly recommended. A fun read.

Having completed many mathematics courses over the years, and quite a few on complex analysis, I thought I knew a lot about 'i'. BUT reading this book has opened my eyes to many more things I found intriguing and amazing, with quite a few 'ah' moments.Yes, this book isn't for the faint-hearted, but if you do work at it and work through the maths, it is amazing what you pick up.The updated paperback book does still have a few typo's and 'missing' values in equations, but that's part of the fun isn't it ? (lol)I would totally recommend this book to undergraduate and graduate students, and probably a lot of academics too! Loved it. 5/5

no puedo opinar, me censuran los censores de amazon.es

Arrived in excellent condition. The book is accessible to those with a high school mathematics education.

This is, of course, not just a history of i ( = sqrt(-1) ), but of many consequences that the discoveries of its properties have engendered.Nahin's text is easily readable, and the step-by-step derivations of remarkable algebraic identities is well don. This implies, however, that the reader has experience (and knows how to) read texts that include mathematical exposes and mathematics as part of the text. If not, the text will probably be overwhelming. That said: there should be books like Nahin's, and his is an excellent one about the topic.

It is nice to see a beautifully presented actual view of an "Imaginary thing")... Sq rt of -1.I am an mathematis amatuer interested in basics, basically a Diploma & B.E Mech ,passed out with Ranking 50 years agoSearched throgh the Book store .I want to buy some titles which are available at pracically throw away prices ,on amezon.com but by sea-mail since I do not mind sacrificing time ,the present shipment rates are too much to bear.Thanks a lot. Look forward to more purchases through you. Best Wishes!