This book tells its story in a way to be of use not only to mathemati-
cians and historians in their professional capacities, but also to teachers of
courses in the histories of the topics covered. It appeared first in 1980
when such interest was still limited; for example, the British publisher
could not find an American house to issue it in the USA.
In the intervening 20 years however, work in history and the connec-
tions between history and education h'as increased greatly. The growth is
evident both at meetings such as the annual gatherings of the American
Mathematical Society and the Mathematical Association of America, and
in the numbers of notices and reviews published in Mathematical reviews,
Zentralblatt fur Mathematik, Historia mathematica and the history of sci-
ence journal Isis. Many new contributions have been made to the history
described here, and interested readers should consult these sources for de-
tails. The account in this book deliberately does not enter into fine histori-
cal detail, and seems to have stood the test of time; thus the reprint is
warranted. It is very pleasing to me and my colleague authors that it
should be made available again.