[EntropyIsAHoax]

I've always loved math, but one class I didn't expect to like as much as I did was The History of Mathematics. The mathematical content was usually very basic of course, but putting all the things I was learning in my other classes in a historical narrative was eye opening and magical.

It also gave me a way better understanding of why we do math the way we do today. Of course mathematical truths are the same regardless of notation and method, but even simple things like the prevalency of the "=" sign are choices we made along the way in history. Today algebra is almost synonymous with math for many people, but it didn't even exist as a branch of mathematics until al-Khwarizmi he just wrote his equations out in words! But we made a concise notation over time and we're all much better for it.

And some parts are just funny. Like math "duels" over cubic equations in 1500s Italy

[camjohnson26]

Mathematics: From the Birth of Numbers is an illustrated, well written history of mathematics, helped me see how all the different concepts came about. https://www.amazon.com/Mathematics-Birth-Numbers-Jan-Gullber...