Table of Contents

Acknowledgments, Introduction: The Origin of the Coordinates, The Foundation Problems, The Foundations of Specific Areas, Number Theory, Algebra and Geometry: A Miscellany, The Analysis Problems, We Come to Our Census, Appendix, Mathematical Problems, Notes, Selected Bibliography, Index

About the Author

Ben Yandell

Reviews

" my mind it is one of the best popular books about mathematics and mathematicians written in the last ten years. . . clearly a labor of love. I particularly recommend The Honors Class as an outstanding achievement of mathematical exposition. Read it yourself and recommend it to all lovers of mathematics."" -- American Mathematical Monthly -November 2003
""Yandell writes well and has done a good job of researching... the resulting profiles are interesting, readable, and insightful."" -Fernando Q. Gouvoa, Science Review, May 2002
""The Honors Class, which follows the history of the Hilbert Problems, is a remarkable book and I take my hat off to its author."" -Phillip J. Davis, SIAM Book Review , June 2002
like a novel. Fascinating."" -Arnold Ostebee, Telegraphic Reviews, March 2003
""The book is not just about mathematical problems. As the title implies, it is as much about the people who solved them, and it is this aspect which distinguishes the book from other accounts of Hilbert's problems."" -George Willis, Australian Mathematical Society Gazette, October 2002
""Yandell turned his back on a mathematics to become a writer after a distinguished undergraduate career at Stanford University. This makes him an ideal author for a book of this sort, to which he brings a rare combination of mathematical and literary sophistication."" -W. Timothy Gowers, NATURE Review, June 2002
In this work, Hilbert problems serve as a motivation to present biographies of mathematicians connected with their solutions. -Jean Mahwin, Belgian Mathematical Society, February 2005
""Yandell gives us a glimpse of the mathematical culture of part of the twentieth century. He has uncovered details that would have been lost were it not for his personal efforts."" -The Review of Modern Logic, March 2007"