rent. This number is called “imaginary,” yet there is noth- ing imaginary about the electrical current it helps to eseribe. It is 2 genuine number, mathematicians assure us, although it is not real. What is the meaning of this para- dox? ‘These are some of the questions that we shall look into {in the course of this book as we take a close look at the numbers of everyday life. We shall find the answers in the fact that our number system has not been static, but has been growing, while our conception of what constitutes a number has changed. As we trace this growth, we shall dis~ cover the familiar roots of the unfamiliar concepts and terms of modern mathematics. For mathematics, one of the oldest of the sciences, is growing with the vigor and vitality of youth. It is con- stantly expanding into new areas of investigation, and works with new concepts that are the fruit of a century-old. revolution in mathematical thinking. Associated with the new ideas is a new vorabulary that gives modern mathe matical writing its charsoteristio flavor. To the mathema- tician, the new ideas expressed by the new words serve a5 1 bright light that penetrates to the core of a problem and. helps him see and understand. To the layman, the new vo- cabulary is often an opaque sereen behind which things are going on that he feels he eannot hope to understand. The [purpose of this book is to remove that screen, by introduce ing the reader to the meaning of some of the basic ideas of modern mathematics. This book is addressod to the average reader who is curke ous about the new developments in mathematics. Tt is not a refresher course in high school mathematics. Tt is not a. rehash of old ideas, but an introduction to new ideas, tradi- tionally presented only to the specialist, in advanced mathematies courses on the ecllege senior or graduate level. But, although tho idena are advanced, the presentation is elementary. Anybody who hos had high school algebra and geometry will be able to understand and enjoy this book. A typical text in advanced mathematics today bristles 8 th euch terms as group, ring, field, homomorphism, fso- morphism, and homeomorphism. These unfamiliar looking ‘words make it seem as though mathematies has abandoned its old subject matter, and is no longer concerned with the study of numbers and space. This, of course, is not true, Numbers and space sro still very much at the heart of mathematics. The new ideas and terms have arisen in eot nection with a more penetrating analysis of their properti Tnderlying the terms group, ring, and ficld, for exame plo, aro the old, familiar, simple operations of addition, sub- traction, multiplication, and division. ‘The mathematician thas discovered that these operations are not the exclusive property of numbers alone. So he studies them in their most general form, in order to discover rules that will be valid in any context in which the operations are performed. ‘The outlook of the modern mathematician is indicated in his frequent use of the word stem “morph,” meaning form, as in the words homomorphism, isomorphism, and homeomorphism. The mathematician sees the number sys- ‘each other. Tho exploration of these structures has revealed that we have, not a number system, but number systems; not algebra, but algebras; not geometry, but goometries; not space, but spaces. While the properties of numbers. and, space have been generalized, the subject matter of mathe~ ‘matics has been pluralized, ‘The central thread rou which the book is organized, is the expansion of the number system, from natural num- bers to integers to rational numbers to real numbers to complex numbers. Although this sequence of steps in the development of the number system parallels very roughly historical stages in the development of the concept of num ber, the organization of the book is not chronological or Aistorical. It isa logical organization from the modern point of view, showing how the various number systems are re- lated to each other. The development outlined here might be refered to as “operation bootstrap.” The system of 9