Books in the History of Mathematics Subseries series

Providing the first comprehensive account of the widely unknown cooperation and friendship between Emmy Noether and Helmut Hasse, this book contains English translations of all available letters which were exchanged between them in the years 1925-1935. It features a special chapter on class field theory, a subject which was completely renewed in those years, Noether and Hasse being among its main proponents. These historical items give evidence that Emmy Noether's impact on the development of mathematics is not confined to abstract algebra but also extends to important ideas in modern class field theory as part of algebraic number theory. In her letters, details of proofs appear alongside conjectures and speculations, offering a rich source for those who are interested in the rise and development of mathematical notions and ideas. The letters are supplemented by extensive comments, helping the reader to understand their content within the mathematical environment of the 1920s and 1930s.

This book considers the manifold possible approaches, past and present, to our understanding of the natural numbers. They are treated as epistemic objects: mathematical objects that have been subject to epistemological inquiry and attention throughout their history and whose conception has evolved accordingly. Although they are the simplest and most common mathematical objects, as this book reveals, they have a very complex nature whose study illuminates subtle features of the functioning of our thought. Using jointly history, mathematics and philosophy to grasp the essence of numbers, the reader is led through their various interpretations, presenting the ways they have been involved in major theoretical projects from Thales onward. Some pertain primarily to philosophy (as in the works of Plato, Aristotle, Kant, Wittgenstein...), others to general mathematics (Euclid''s Elements, Cartesian algebraic geometry, Cantorian infinities, set theory...). Also serving as an introduction to the works and thought of major mathematicians and philosophers, from Plato and Aristotle to Cantor, Dedekind, Frege, Husserl and Weyl, this book will be of interest to a wide variety of readers, from scholars with a general interest in the philosophy or mathematics to philosophers and mathematicians themselves.