Skip to main content
  • Book
  • © 2007

The Shaping of Arithmetic after C.F. Gauss's Disquisitiones Arithmeticae

Buy it now

Buying options

eBook USD 84.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book USD 109.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book USD 109.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Other ways to access

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check for access.

Table of contents (20 chapters)

  1. Front Matter

    Pages i-xi
  2. A Book’s History

    1. Front Matter

      Pages 1-1
    2. A Book in Search of a Discipline (1801–1860)

      • Catherine Goldstein, Norbert Schappacher
      Pages 2-65
    3. Several Disciplines and a Book (1860–1901)

      • Catherine Goldstein, Norbert Schappacher
      Pages 66-103
  3. Algebraic Equations, Quadratic Forms, Higher Congruences: Key Mathematical Techniques of the Disquisitiones Arithmeticae

    1. Front Matter

      Pages 105-105
  4. Algebraic Equations, Quadratic Forms, Higher Congruences: Key Mathematical Techniques of the Disquisitiones Arithmeticae

    1. Composition of Quadratic Forms: An Algebraic Perspective

      • Della D. Fenster, Joachim Schwermer
      Pages 145-158
  5. The German Reception of the Disquisitiones Arithmeticae: Institutions and Ideas

    1. Front Matter

      Pages 199-199
  6. Complex Numbers and Complex Functions in Arithmetic

    1. Front Matter

      Pages 269-269
    2. Elliptic Functions and Arithmetic

      • Christian Houzel
      Pages 291-312
  7. Numbers as Model Objects of Mathematics

    1. Front Matter

      Pages 313-313
    2. The Concept of Number from Gauss to Kronecker

      • Jacqueline Boniface
      Pages 314-342
    3. On Arithmetization

      • Birgit Petri, Norbert Schappacher
      Pages 343-374
  8. Number Theory and the Disquisitiones in France after 1850

    1. Front Matter

      Pages 375-375
    2. The Hermitian Form of Reading the Disquisitiones

      • Catherine Goldstein
      Pages 376-410

Reviews

From the reviews:

"A book that traces the profound effect Gauss’s masterpiece has had on mathematics over the past two centuries. … The shaping of arithmetic is a major accomplishment, one which will stand as an important reference work on the history of number theory for many years. … The editors and authors deserve our thanks for their efforts." (Victor J. Katz, Mathematical Reviews, Issue 2008 h)

“It’s a big book, with eighteen authors and almost six hundred pages, and it mixes the work of well-established scholars with that of recent Ph.D.’s. … This volume deserves a wide audience, both among the mathematically able and among historians of nineteenth-century science.” (Thomas Archibald, Institute for Science and International Security, Vol. 102 (2), June, 2011)

Editors and Affiliations

  • Histoire des sciences mathématiques, Institut de mathématiques de Jussieu, Paris, France

    Catherine Goldstein

  • UFR de mathématique et d’informatique / IRMA, Strasbourg Cedex, France

    Norbert Schappacher

  • Fakultät für Mathematik, Universität Wien, Wien, Austria

    Joachim Schwermer

About the editors

Catherine Goldstein is Directrice de recherches du CNRS and works at the Institut de mathématiques de Jussieu (Paris, France). She is the author of "Un théorème de Fermat et ses lecteurs" (1995) and a coeditor  of "Mathematical Europe: History, Myth, Identity"(1996). Her research aims at developing a social history of mathematical practices and results, combining close readings and a network analysis of texts. Her current projects include the study of mathematical sciences through World War I and of experimentation in XVII th-century number theory.

Norbert Schappacher is professor of mathematics at Université Louis Pasteur, Strasbourg.His mathematical interests relate to the arithmetic of elliptic curves.But his current research projects lie in the history of mathematics. Specifically, he focuses on the intertwinement of philosophical and political categories with major junctures in the development of mathematical disciplines in the XIX\up{th} and XX\up{th} centuries. Examples include number theory and algebraic geometry, but also medical statistics.

 Joachim Schwermer is professor of mathematics at University of Vienna. In addition, he serves as scientific director at the Erwin-Schroedinger International Institute for Mathematical Physics, Vienna. His research interests lie in number theory and algebra, in particular, in questions arising in arithmetic algebraic geometry and the theory of automorphic forms. He takes a keen interest in the mathematical sciences in the XIX\up{th} and XX\up{th} centuries in their historical context.

Bibliographic Information

  • Book Title: The Shaping of Arithmetic after C.F. Gauss's Disquisitiones Arithmeticae

  • Editors: Catherine Goldstein, Norbert Schappacher, Joachim Schwermer

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-34720-0

  • Publisher: Springer Berlin, Heidelberg

  • eBook Packages: Mathematics and Statistics, Mathematics and Statistics (R0)

  • Copyright Information: Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2007

  • Hardcover ISBN: 978-3-540-20441-1Published: 09 January 2007

  • Softcover ISBN: 978-3-642-05802-8Published: 12 February 2010

  • eBook ISBN: 978-3-540-34720-0Published: 03 February 2007

  • Edition Number: 1

  • Number of Pages: XII, 578

  • Number of Illustrations: 36 b/w illustrations

  • Topics: Number Theory, Algebra, History of Mathematical Sciences

Buy it now

Buying options

eBook USD 84.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book USD 109.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book USD 109.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Other ways to access