Read The Great Books

Francois Viète, wrote Introduction to the Analytical Art as a summary on mathematics and the study of such.

While a lawyer, Viète wrote this with tremendous skill and delved deep into the theory and reasoning behind many algebraic and geometric equations. Much of his work is still regarded my mathematicians and scientists ad one of the foundations of their ongoing work. It is an interesting read for anyone in these fields or just plainly interested in historic texts.

The best edition currently out there for this work is that of Dover’s. it does a great job of not only translating but explaining the principles at hand, which is definitely necessary for a piece this complex. Especially if you aren’t a die hard mathematician or scientist. There are footnotes that explain some concepts that were a bit hard when it cam to translation. The real big thing this one has that makes it stand out is the use of modern algebraic expressions to explain that of Viète’s own era.