Perspective

Dunham is a college professor, and he writes from the perspective of an historian and educator. His goal is not to instruct in mathematics, but to place math in a historical context and treat it as other themes that are traditionally followed in historical research such as art, music and science.

Dunham clearly believes mathematics deserves equal examination in a historical context, and he structures his book to emphasize how each theorem he demonstrates is a unique product of its author and its time. He is almost reverential toward some of his subjects such as Leonhard Euler, Georg Cantor and Archimedes, all of whom are given large portions of the book.

Dunham is also writing from the perspective of a modern mathematician who has the benefit of the intervening years of study since the theorems he describes first appeared. He is able to identify where earlier mathematicians made...