WE EIGHT THE MICHIGAN DAILY F-)CTNDAY, MAY 30, 1937 LGE EIGHT SUNDAY, MAY 30, 1937 IN THE WORLD OF BOOKS MATH: Two Reviews MEN OF MATHEMATICS, by E. T. Bell. Simon and Schuster, New York. $5.50. MATHEMATICS FOR THE MIL- LION, by Lancelot Hogben, F.R.S. W. W. Norton and Company, New York. $3.75 By EDWARD BEGLE Professor Bell's purpose m Men of Mathematics was to do for mathe- mhatics what Paul de Kruif did for bacteriology in Microbe Hunters. It must be conceded that Bell chose the considerably more difficult task. Mathematics has much less appeal for most people than the more exciting and more practical business of medi- cine, and also mathematics is a great deal more difficult to explain than is bacteriology. In spite of these dif- iculties, Bell has written a remark- Pbly fine and interesting book. Bell considers about 30 of the great- est mathematicians of all time and tells, in a chapter apiece, something about their lives and something about what they have contributed to math- ematics. He has chosen these men chiefly on the basis of the importance of their work to modern mathematics. He starts with Zeno (fifth century B.C.) and takes in chronological or- der almost all the great mathemati- clans, winding up with Henri Poin- care (1854-1912), a cousin of Ray- niond Poincare, president of France during the World War., These short biographies turn out to be more interesting than might be expected. There are probably very few people who still think of mathe- maticians as absent-minded, eccen- tric gentlemen, but here the finishing touches are put on the explosion of that notion, and we see that they are just like other people, with the one exception that they like to do math- ematics. Mathematicians have been drawn from many walks of life, and many of them have been quite successful in other fields than those in which they gained their fame. Cayley and Sylvester, for example, spent a num- her of years as lawyers. Fermat was a government official most of his life, iMathematics being merely a hobby with him. Kronecker entered into a business career and amassed a com- fortable fortune before he did his most important work in mathematics. Leibnitz spent the last half of his life as the official historian of the Bruns- wick family and also acted as their somewhat shady but very efficient diplomat. There are not many of these men who biographies do not make interesting reading. The most valuable parts of, this book, however, are the parts which deal with the work that these men have done in mathematics. It is very difficult to explain mathematics to the average man because in the first place he has almost no background in the subject, so that the explainer finds it necessary to start from scratch, and in the second place be- cause the technical terms, while not as, difficult as they may look, are HAM AND EGGS D'AMOUR In his new book, "Dine at Home With Rector," George Rector, cele- brated chef, tells the following story: "When Death.Valley Scbtty barged into Rector's leaking gold pieces all over the place, Paul, our maitre d'ho- tel, spread himself to suggest the finest dinner that ever a heavy spender paid for. After he'd listed off petite marmite and filet of sole Marguery and chicken sous cloche, and all the rest of it, Scotty's guests breathed hard and allowed as how it sounded all right to them, what- ever it meant. But Scotty had got all tangled up in" the bill of fare like a cow in harness. 'None of them a la things for me, pardner,' he said; I'm playing safe. Bring me twenty dollars' worth of ham and eggs and dollars' worth of ham and eggs." and throughout the world. One of Forthcoming Books I NAPOLEON ON PUBLISHING the host astonishing chapters in the _Napoleon I once toos i minda off I story is that dealing with Cla ksn 's I corresponecit He Cris CALL IT FREEDOM, by Marian Sims. battles long enough to express him - ___ ope c ety HeJ. B. Lippincott Co. $2.50. self on the subject of publishing, a IL \/IT IC-- t ophe, "Black Majesty" of Hayti. Hei follows: "The art of bok pinting Clarkson's Propaganda sympathized with Christophe's at- SONG OF THE WINDS, by Alexan- is like an arsenal filled ih dn- language arose and how it developed. tempts to educate the liberated Ne- der Abbey Piper. $1.25. neverthelss quite terrifying to most ie does this by giving a long histor- Effective Aga nst groes of Hayti, advised him lengthily POLITICS FROM INSIDE, by Si gerous weapons, which one does not people. Bell overcomes this first dic- ical introduction to each chapter, SlaveIon matters of practical policy, and Austen Chamberlain. Yale Univer e to see in t hands of the frt ficulty by takg these men n chron- etin which incidentally adds even cherished a plan of proposing sity Press. $5 comes. o prining is no clogical order, showing what each greatly to the interest of the book. He to the United States government that branch of commerce, for which man did and how it depended on shows how certain problems arose, TiOMAS CLARKSON: THE it purchase the Spanish part of the THE SELECTED WORKS OF V. I. reason certain simple privileges what went before and how it laid the how they were first solved, how meth- I END OF SLAVES, by El+arl island, cede it to Christophe and ship LENIN, volume VII. International are insufficient to organize it. It is foundation for what was to follow. ods of solution were improved, and Leslie Griggs, Allen & Unwin, she liberated Southern slaves there. Publishers, $2.75. a progression, in whose prosperity the The second difficulty is perhaps hard- what the best and easiest method of London. Had Christophe lived a little longer, THE BEST SHORT STORIES OF er to overcome, but Bell has done very solution is. Along with this h shows By PROF. JOE LEE DAVIS it is possible that Clarkson could have 1937, edited by Edward J. O'Brien. which reason the state should have well with it. He finds it necessary to how various terms and notations were (Of the Englsh Department) won support for his plan by his vig-t Houghton, Mifflin Co. $2.50T a use some equations and diagrams, but introduced into mathematics and The present volume, not yet pub- orous propaganda methods, and the FROM LENIN TO STALIN, by Victor e bookarner may be illed none of them are very complicated how they have come to mean lished in this country, is Professor course of American history would eRM LIN T SLIN, by ctor even a learned man, but he is no coursehof mericanohitory woul Serge. Pioner Publishers. 50 cents. merchant or manufacturer. As su- and some of them can be skipped. what they now muan. The reading is Griggs' second venture into the field have been profoundly altered. Most of this can be understood with slow and sometimes difficult, but at f biography.CIn view of the friend- Another value of Professor Griggs'.. VT n & obert Cn c edentu dpend onhi, but little careful reading. H-owever, even thsndagodwrkipbta of the Clarksons and the Col- ..rg W. W. Norton & Co. $2. on intellectual speculation, only a the end a good workmg grasp of ship biography is that it furnishes a basis Tlimited number of book printers can though the reader may not under elementary mathematics can bei eridges, it may be regarded as com- for a re-evaluation of humanitarian- THE DANCE GOES ON, by .Lou exist. If the state does not limit stand everything here, he will be able mntary agmtd can be plementary to his Hartley Coleridge ism as an approach to social problems. Golding. Farrar & Rinehart. $2.50. Iestel i to gain some idea of what mathema- ganeth pral a godl ore in adding to our knowledge of the By two schools of thought that have TEN MILLION AMERICANS HAVE their n se y will fe ds oinsomeyidadof at mthe a-n t theu avrae pmnt will ever need. olrsigg cirl.hhl engadwit considerable influence in our time, IT! by S. William Becker, M.D. J. able to depend on their integrity." ticians ttryavtogdoananiuneerstanding itress. Consequently one will not be which, unfortunately ,is very rare.h MtstGrirgsainate esac tha led humanitarianism has been flouted. B. Lippencott. $1.35. Mahmtc o h ilo saiferent these two books are. In thie'to their valuable editions of the let-' TeNe-Huanissidntiyitwith--_ Mathematics for the Million is a teso oeig n ate o-JThe Neo-Humanists identify it with ._________________ very different type of book. It is' latter the emphasis is on the practical ters of Coleridge and Hartley Co n the Rousseauist sentimental natural- most powerfully affecting the roman- INSTRUCTIONS ridge, Professor Griggs became in-moismpofewhichyatheytsog strenuouslyNSdis-Ttic meant for those people who want to Iaspects of mathematics. In fact, rested in Clarkson and recogn ism of which they so strenuously dis tic movement in English literature. gain a working knowledge of elemen- mathematics is treated merely as a the need for a biography that would approve. The Marxists regard it as It is to be hoped that Professor Griggs Every form of dancing. tary applied mathematics, and for useful tool. From the former, how- clarify his significance as one of the an ineffective andborois muddled ralsmmanife- will investigate further this impor-COren0td1.Tec these people it should prove a very , i leading exponents of early 19th cen- tant question so provocatively raised Theatre Bldg. Ph. 9695 wrthwhile investment. Mr. Hogben ever, we see that mathematicians in tury humanitarianism. fessor Griggs shows clearlythat ereative research upon Clark- oor uses a rather ingenious and effective general do not hold this viewbu One value of this biography is that humanitarianism of which Clarkson son. method for presenting elementary consider that mathematics in itself is it provides for the first time a vivid, anti-slavery agitation was merely one mteaisthtitosygoerfar more interesting than any of its dtieatetcadasriga-phase must not be confused with -__________________________ mathematics, that is to say geometry, f detailed, authentic, and absorbing ac- sentimentalism. By clarifying the arithmetic, algebra, trigonometry, applications. The first view is of count of the career of the first master magnitude of Clarkson's actual calculus and statistics, in a form course the usual one, and for the of reform propaganda in modern achievements, he suggests that hu- which makes it interesting and not purposes of Hogben's book, it is the times. Research for a Cambridge manitarianism is still a more effec- too hard to understand and learn best one. But in order. to gain even prize essay caused Clarkson in 1785 tive agent of social progress than Fo1I -s how to use. He takes the point of a faint understanding of modern to dedicate his life to the ameliora- revolution can ever be. Finally, Pro- view that mathematics is merely al mathematics, we must realize how ticn and abolition of the abuses of fessor Griggs shows that Clarkson is O u hs R ee s new language to be learned; he calls mathematicians feel about their work, slavery. Virtually single-handed and an important link-figure between the Col Vu i nN s, Keview s it the language of size. Now to learn even though we may not agree with at an enormous expense of energy literati of his period and the human- a language one must learn its vo- them. One of the greatest virtues of and time, he gathered evidence that itarian movement generally, whichB A Books, A ll Afes cabulary and its grammar. To sim- Bell's book is that it makes this at- made England conscious of the bar- included agitation for the ameliora-BE B ol i plify matters, Hogben shows how this titude clear. barities of the slave trade, that en- tion of wage-slavery under nascent abled Wilberforce to lead an effec- industrialism, and thus suggests that FOUNTAIN PENS, iNKS, SUPPLIES. tive parliamentary attack upon it, humanitarianism is one of the forces and that resulted in the passage of - ---Order your Visiting Cards and Stationery Now! Lon- elt antW illBe E dedthe bill of 1807 prohibiting British b ships from engaging further in the ytraffic. Not content with this vie-\ EStudents Store B Student Book Loan Proect ,ory, Clarkson sought to accomplish Ktill more ambitious aims-the pro- 11 oUAT E nTREETiv yA _______ - --- - - ----- -- -_--_--- hibition of the slave trade by other I E 1111S ._vesty__V__ 8688 nations and the abolition of slavery EiW le L -R-_______ It's a pretty well substantiated fact a plan is being put in effect calculated nns WATCH & JEWELRY REPAIRING th ta thecre~ are stuidents in the Uni- Ito bring the oft-enunciated principle a nisiuini rts oiin AC EER EARN uas an istitutio in British domm-ions versity who not only have difficulty scraping up money for tuition, room and board but actually find it hard to purchase text books. College text books are not very cheap as a rule. Many "must" vol- umes even in non-technical courses run to prohibitive prices, and the item of texts has always filled a substan- tial place in student budgets. The' University catalogue quotes $25 a se- mester as minimum allowance for the purpose. Even though a large part of this fee may be avoided by' the not-very-satisfactory expedient' of borrowing from the library and using the branch study halls and reading rooms, there is always a heavy tax left for the student. A chief subsidiary complaint on the part of the less financially fortunate is that text books once bought im- mediately suffer a tremendous depre - ciation, for not only are book store prices en used books extremely low, and perhaps necessarily so, but the greater part of the books purchased by the average student for his courses in botany, mathematical statistics and beginning Russian are not always the type he is likely to want to retain and cherish throughout his life. The fact that students must part with their texts for whatever they can get for them is suggested by some as a partial explanation of the prevailing low prices on used books. Many stu- dents who might otherwise keep their books are forced to get rid of them because they have no satisfactoryl way of taking them home, since they are reduced to the expedient of hitch- hiking in lieu of Pullman fare. The expense of books unfortunately falls indiscriminately on rich and poor student alike. There are many of the strong aiding the weak into practice on the campus. The project, devised by a committee headed by Prof. Erich A. Walter of the English Department, calls for a fund of text books to be established by contribu- tions from the general student body. which will then be made available to students in genuine need. The pro- cedure will be approximately that of the Loring W. Andrews Library of Yale University; students will be able to obtain texts on presentation of of - ders from the loan committee, issued only on assurance of the actual need of the applicant for assistance. The order will generally be given upon advice of an academic counselor or adviser. According to recent polls conduct- ed by faculty members in different parts of the school, about one student in every three is willing to cooperate in the plan. This would more thar 1 provide for the basic supply of 1,00C volumes considered satisfactory foi putting the project in motion. Students who have text books tc donate to the fund may leave them at any branch library unit in the University. The book loan corninitte' deserves the whole-hearted suppor of everyone in a position to help--t give a break to fellow-students whc are less fortunate than their com- panions-they want an education too BIOGRAPHY OF A SPIRE OWNER Among the fantastic near-geniuse who flourished in England during th( early decades of the nineteenth cen- tury, one of the most spectacular wa- William Beckford, according to a bi ography by Guy Chapman which ap- peared recently. people on the campus whoc the cost of a $12.50 referencec book without feeling it veryc but up to now this fact has utilized to offer any relief hundreds who will feel the very strongly indeed. Up to now-but beginning can bear or source strongly, not been to those pressure next fall BUS FA RES Greyhound _a_ , i . A Seniors, Graduate Students lI' f .' New York Chicago . Cleveland Buffalo . . Dayton . . Columbus ..$10.65 ... .3.75 . . . . 2.90 .... 5.90 ... .3.50 . 3.55 I 11 Fort Wayne . . .3.00 Phone your orders at once for CAPS and GOWNS m ft ®k ! Pittsburgh .. 4.90 I 11 f! Mi c h in I I I