Fink K. A Brief History of Mathematics

Chicago: The Open Court Publishing Company, 1900. — 345 p.
Translated by Beman W.W., Smith. D.E.If the history of a science possesses value for every one whom calling or inclination brings into closer relations to it,— if the knowledge of this history is imperative for all who have influence
in the further development of scientific principles or the methods of employing them to advantage, then acquaintance with the rise and growth of a branch of science is especially important to the man who wishes to teach the elements of this science or to penetrate as a student into its higher realms.The following history of elementary mathematics is intended to give students of mathematics an historical survey of the elementary parts of this science and to furnish the teacher of the elements opportunity, with little expenditure of time, to review connectedly points for the most part long familiar to him and to utilise them in his teaching in suitable comments. The enlivening influence of historical remarks upon this elementary instruction has never been disputed. Indeed there are text-books for the elements of mathematics (among the more recent those of Baltzer and Schubert) which devote considerable space to the history of the science in the way of special notes. It is certainly desirable that instead of scattered historical references there should be offered a connected presentation of the history of elementary mathematics, not one intended for the use of scholars, not as an equivalent for the great works upon the history of mathematics, but only as a first picture, with fundamental tones clearly sustained, of the principal results of the investigation of mathematical history.In this book the attempt has been made to differentiate the histories of the separate branches of mathematical science. There by going into the recent history of the science. The results of
such investigations are here presented with perhaps greater fullness than seems necessary for the main purpose of the book or justified by its title. But in default of such a digest, a first experiment may lay claim to a friendly judgment, in spite of the continually increasing subdivisions of the science; nor will such an attempt be thought inappropriate, inasmuch as it does not seem possible to draw a sharp line of demarcation between the elementary and higher mathematics. For on the one hand certain problems of elementary mathematics have from time to time furnished the occasion for the development of higher branches, and on the
other from the acquisitions of these new branches a clear light has fallen upon the elementary parts. Accordingly it may be gratifying to many a student and teacher to find here at least that which is fundamental.The exceedingly rich literature, especially in German, at the disposal of the author is referred to in the footnotes. He has made free use of the excellent Jahrbuch über die Fortschritte der Mathematik, which with clear and systematic arrangement enumerates and discusses the most recent mathematical literature.