e: The Story of a Number
Eli Maor

Book Description | Reviews
Preface | Chapter 1

TABLE OF CONTENTS:

	Preface
1	John Napier, 1614	3
2	Recognition	11
3	Financial Matters	23
4	To the Limit, If It Exists	28
5	Forefathers of the Calculus	40
6	Prelude to Breakthrough	49
7	Squaring the Hyperbola	58
8	The Birth of a New Science	70
9	The Great Controversy	83
10	e[superscript x]: The Function That Equals its Own Derivative	98
11	e[superscript theta]: Spira Mirabilis	114
12	(e[superscript x] + e[superscript -x])/2: The Hanging Chain	140
13	e[superscript ix]: "The Most Famous of All Formulas"	153
14	e[superscript x + iy]: The Imaginary Becomes Real	164
15	But What Kind of Number Is It?	183
	App. 1. Some Additional Remarks on Napier's Logarithms	195
	App. 2. The Existence of lim (1 + 1/n)[superscript n] as n [approaches] [infinity]	197
	App. 3. A Heuristic Derivation of the Fundamental Theorem of Calculus	200
	App. 4. The Inverse Relation between lim (b[superscript h] - 1)/h = 1 and lim (1 + h)[superscript 1/h] = b as h [approaches] 0	202
	App. 5. An Alternative Definition of the Logarithmic Function	203
	App. 6. Two Properties of the Logarithmic Spiral	205
	App. 7. Interpretation of the Parameter [phi] in the Hyperbolic Functions	208
	App. 8. e to One Hundred Decimal Places	211
	Bibliography	213
	Index	217

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