The Number e

UnknownProject Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

3.0

Word count: 103K words
Chapters: 11

Summary

Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971 and his memory continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today.The Number "e" by UnknownAuthor: Unknown,Language: English, Class: QA: Science: Mathematics, Release Date: Apr 1, 1993

Editor's review

This is a short English booklet on the mathematical constant e, released by Project Gutenberg as a public-domain mathematics e-book. Its value lies not in rigorous textbook-style derivation but in gathering in a small space the origins of e, the ways it is defined, and related background, making it suitable as supplementary reading outside the classroom. For readers who have already met logarithms and limits, it helps connect scattered bits of knowledge into a single thread; for beginners, it is more like a window, suggesting that e is no arbitrary symbol but is closely tied to growth, compound interest, natural logarithms, and similar questions. Because the original is brief and the author unknown, readers should not expect a complete exercise system or the organization of a modern textbook, but should treat it as a light work of mathematical culture, to be used alongside notes and reference checks.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Middle-school and university students studying logarithms and exponential functions who want supplementary background
General readers interested in the origins of mathematical constants and fond of short popular-science works
Learners who need English mathematics reading material for both language and subject practice

Not a good fit for

Readers preparing for exams who want systematic exercise training and a complete course structure
Beginners who have not yet encountered exponential and logarithmic concepts and lack basic preparation

Reading tips

Review the basic definitions of exponential functions and natural logarithms first, then read through the whole book to lower the threshold of understanding.
Jot down the different definitions of e as you read, and after finishing, retell them in your own words.
Combine the reading with examples such as compound-interest calculations or population growth, calculating as you go to deepen your sense of what the constant means.
The English original is not long; read it through in one sitting and then revisit key passages, so that looking up every word does not interrupt the flow.

About the publisher

Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971

Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.

FAQ

Is this book suitable for someone with no calculus background at all?

It can be read, but you need basic operations with exponents and logarithms first. Where the book touches on concepts such as limits, understanding suffers without preparatory calculus, so reading it alongside a basic textbook is recommended.

Why is the author listed as Unknown?

The book was released by Project Gutenberg, and the author information for the original text could not be confirmed, hence Unknown. This does not affect the content itself, but it means the writing style cannot be judged from the author's background.

Is this a complete textbook or a short work?

From the available information, it is a mathematics e-text of limited length, closer to a short topical work than a systematic textbook with exercises and chapter summaries. It is suitable as supplementary material rather than a main textbook.

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About the author

Unknown Author

"Unknown" is not the real name of a particular author but a general label used in book cataloging and publishing for works whose authorship is unidentified or anonymous. Public information is limited, and neither nationality nor dates of birth and death can be verified. The collection contains 118 titles issued under this name, spanning a wide range of subjects: Icelandic sagas such as The Story of Burnt Njal and The Saga of Grettir the Strong, the Middle High German epic Das Nibelungenlied, the Old English religious verse manuscript Codex Junius 11, the Italian Renaissance comedy Gl'ingannati, widely circulated tales such as The Only True Mother Goose Melodies and Aladdin and the Magic Lamp, and a treatise on conjuring, Hocus Pocus Junior. These are mostly editions or translations of folklore, epics, and early drama, forming a cross-linguistic, cross-period compilation that offers readers various facets of the European narrative tradition.