From: Renaissance Quarterly | Date: March 22, 1997| Author: Ouwendijk, George | COPYRIGHT 1997 Renaissance Society of America. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan.  All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group.Copyright information

This book is the second edition of a significant work that focuses on the thought of the early seventeenth-century French mathematician, Pierre de Fermat. Mahoney's goals are twofold: to "give as full account as possible of the life and mathematical career of Pierre de Fermat," and "to make a contribution to a deeper understanding of mathematics in the seventeenth century . . . by revealing the thought of one of its foremost practitioners and . . . analyzing contemporary reaction to ...