e - The Story of a Number

2Recognition113Financial Matters234To the Limit, If It Exists285Forefathers of the Calculus406Prelude to Breakthrough497Squaring the Hyperbola588The Birth of a New Science709The Great Controversy8310e[superscript x]: The Function That Equals its Own Derivative9811e[superscript theta]: Spira Mirabilis11412(e[superscript x] + e[superscript -x])/2: The Hanging Chain14013e[superscript ix]: "The Most Famous of All Formulas"15314e[superscript x + iy]: The Imaginary Becomes Real16415But What Kind of Number Is It?183App. 1. Some Additional Remarks on Napier's Logarithms195App. 2. The Existence of lim (1 + 1/n)[superscript n] as n [approaches] [infinity]197App. 3. A Heuristic Derivation of the Fundamental Theorem of Calculus200App. 4. The Inverse Relation between lim (b[superscript h] - 1)/h = 1 and lim (1 + h)[superscript 1/h] = b as h [approaches] 0202App. 5. An Alternative Definition of the Logarithmic Function203App. 6. Two Properties of the Logarithmic Spiral205App. 7. Interpretation of the Parameter [phi] in the Hyperbolic Functions208App. 8. e to One Hundred Decimal Places211Bibliography213

Eli Maor is a former professor of the history of mathematics at Loyola University Chicago. His books include the internationally acclaimed To Infinity and Beyond, e: The Story of a Number, The Pythagorean Theorem: A 4,000-Year History, and Music by the Numbers (all Princeton).