Calvin C. Clawson

Delightful (except for the pre-metric units, overleaf figures, and typos) discussion of math's essence, including technical but clear and gentle intros to such topics as analytic geometry, conic sections, infinite series, functions, matrix theory, and calculus.

A very interesting book whose only shortcoming would be being a bit too long, the feeling of linguistic respiratory breathing becomes apparent towards the end. Prior knowledge in higher mathematics is not necessary as the author guides the reader through even the most complex theorems.

Recommended as an introductory text to anyone interested in the history of not only mathematics but numbers in general.