A History of Mathematics Bibliography for Teachers

This bibliography was originally prepared for a talk I gave to high school teachers about using the history of mathematics in the classroom. I thought it might be of interest to others.

The literature on the history of mathematics is immense and most bibliographies tend to be so large as to be hard to use. This one has been pared to the bone and only includes items which have immediate usefulness in the classroom.

  1. Historical Topics for the Mathematics Classroom, 31st NCTM yearbook, 1969. Contains overviews on numerals, computation, geometry, algebra, trigonometry, and the calculus, plus 120 capsuls on individual topics.

  2. Eves, Howard, An Introduction to the History of Mathematics, 5th edition, Saunders, 1983. A standard textbook with the emphasis on elementary mathematics. You will find the history of most topics in the curriculum in this book.

  3. Bunt, L.N.H., Jones, P.S., and Bedient, J.D., The Historical roots of Elementary Mathematics, Prentice-Hall, 1976. More elementary and less comprehensive than Eves, but contains many useful ideas.

  4. Eves, Howard, In Mathematical Circles, Mathematical Circles Revisited, and Mathematical Circles Squared, Prindle, Weber and Schmidt, 1969, 1971, 1972 resp. These volumes are the best colections of anecdotes about mathematics and mathematicians. They are a delight to read.

  5. Moritz, Robert E., On Mathematics and Mathematicians, Dover, 1958. Originally published as Memorabilia Mathematica. This collection of anecdotes and quoations is old but there is little here that overlaps Eves.

  6. Bell, E.T., Men of Mathematics, Simon and Schuster, 1937. The lives of the great mathematicians. The style is lively, the prejudices many. Although not always historically accurate, it is delightful reading, is the best available, and has influenced many to study mathematics.

  7. Perl, Teri, Math Equals, Biographies of Women Mathematicians + related activities, Addison-Wesley, 1978. Very good. Contains information about the mathematics of the women that is readable by high-school students.
    There will always be question that you can't find the answers to, so let me suggest several reference works:

  8. The Mathematics Teacher. Cummulative Index, Volumes 1-58(1908-65), and 59-68(1966-75). Look under history of mathematics.

  9. Dictionary of Scientific Biography, edited by C. C. Gillispie. A truly superb source of accurate biographical information about mathematicians and their work. This is a vey high level reference book.

  10. May, Kenneth O., Bibliography and Research Manual of the History of Mathematics, University of Toronto Press, 1973. Contains 31,000 references under 3700 headings by mathematician and mathematical topic. Only useful in conjunction with a good library.

  11. Dauben Joseph W. (editor), The History of Mathematics from Antiquity to the Present. A Selective Bibliography, Garland Publishing Co., NY, 1984. An annotated list of some of the best sources arranged by topic.
P.S. If you still can't find it, write a friend.

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If you have comments, send email to V. Frederick Rickey at fred-rickey@usma.edu
Posted 14 December 1996.