Sincemany excellent treatises on the history ofmathemat- ics are available, there may seem little reason for writing still another. But most current works are severely techni- cal, written by mathematicians for other mathematicians or for historians of science. Despite the admirable schol- arship and often clear presentation of these works, they are not especially well adapted to the undergraduate classroom. (Perhaps the most notable exception is Howard Eves’s popular account, An Introduction to the History of Mathematics.) There seems to be room at this time for a textbook of tolerable length and balance addressed to the undergraduate student, which at the same time is accessible to the general reader.
