Previous edition: 1994.

Includes bibliographical references (pages 217-219) and index.

1. John Napier, 1614 -- 2. Recognition -- 3. Financial Matters -- 4. To the Limit, If It Exists -- 5. Forefathers of the Calculus -- 6. Prelude to Breakthrough -- 7. Squaring the Hyperbola -- 8. The Birth of a New Science -- 9. The Great Controversy -- 10. e[superscript x]: The Function That Equals its Own Derivative -- 11. e[superscript theta]: Spira Mirabilis -- 12. (e[superscript x] + e[superscript -x])/2: The Hanging Chain -- 13. e[superscript ix]: "The Most Famous of All Formulas" -- 14. e[superscript x + iy]: The Imaginary Becomes Real -- 15. But What Kind of Number Is It? -- App. 1. Some Additional Remarks on Napier's Logarithms -- App. 2. The Existence of lim (1 + 1/n)[superscript n] as n [approaches] [infinity] -- App. 3. A Heuristic Derivation of the Fundamental Theorem of Calculus -- App. 4. The Inverse Relation between lim (b[superscript h] -- 1)/h = 1 and lim (1 + h)[superscript 1/h] = b as h [approaches] 0 -- App. 5. An Alternative Definition of the Logarithmic Function -- App. 6. Two Properties of the Logarithmic Spiral -- App. 7. Interpretation of the Parameter [phi] in the Hyperbolic Functions -- App. 8. e to One Hundred Decimal Places.

"The interest earned on a bank account, the arrangement of seeds in a sunflower, and the shape of the Gateway Arch in St. Louis are all intimately connected with the mysterious number e. In this informal and engaging history, Eli Maor portrays the curious characters and the elegant mathematics that lie behind the number. Designed for a reader with only a modest background in mathematics, this biography of e brings out that number's central importance in mathematics and illuminates a golden era in the age of science."--Book cover

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