A Brief History of Mathematics
An Authorized Translation of Dr. Karl Fink's Geschichte Der Elementar-Mathematik (Classic Reprint)

Excerpt from A Brief History of Mathematics: An Authorized Translation of Dr. Karl Fink's Geschichte Der Elementar-Mathematik

The translator feel that no apology for any reasonable effort to encourage the study of mathematics. The clearer view of the science thus afforded the teacher, the inspiration to improve his methods of presenting it, the increased interest in the class-work, the tendency of the subject to combat stagnation of curricula, - these are a few of the reasons for approving the present renaissance of the study.

This phase of scientific history which Montucla brought into such repute - it must be confessed rather by his literary style than by his exactness - and which writers like De Morgan in England, Chasles in France, Quetelet in Belgium, Hankel and Baltzer in Germany, and Boncompagni in Italy encouraged as the century wore on, is seeing a great revival in our day. This new movement is headed by such scholars as Gnther, Enestrm, Loria, Paul Tannery, and Zeuthen, but especially by Moritz Cantor, whose Vorlesungen ber Geschichte der Mathematik must long remain the world's standard.

In any movement of this kind compendia are always necessary for those who lack either the time or the linguistic power to read the leading treatises. Several such works have recently appeared in various languages. But the most systematic attempt in this direction is the work here translated. The writers of most hand books of this kind feel called upon to collect a store of anecdotes, to incorporate tales of no historic value, and to minimize the real history of the science. Fink, on the other hand, omits biography entirely, referring the reader to a brief table in the appendix or to the encyclopedias.

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