Children’s books on the history of mathematics

In Spring and Fall 2019 students in The History of Mathematics (Math 108 PZ) researched, wrote, and illustrated children’s books on a wide variety of topics. These books combine illuminating illustrations, motivating plots, and carefully annotated endnotes. With the students’ permission, a subset of these books are available for download as pdfs below. If you are interested in a higher quality pdf, please let me know.

Algebra through its history (Spring 2017)

In Spring 2017, I taught a history of algebra course that culminated in writing scripts designed to introduce algebra concepts through history. With the students' permission, these are available for teachers and students of algebra to learn more about the context in which concepts were developed and evolved. Each is accompanied by an introduction that discusses relevant common core algebra standards and a conclusion that provides a few sample problems connecting the historical material to practicing algebra today and suggestions for further reading.

Algebraic symbols and Diophantus

The Babylonian algorithm

Coordinate geometry with Descartes

Finding maxima with Descartes and Fermat

Irrational numbers with Euclid and Hippasus

Probability with Pascal and Fermat

Quadratic equations through history