ID: 2699
Factor Tables Giving The Complete Decomposition Into Prime Factors of All Numbers up to 256,000
KAVAN, George (Jiří Kaván)
Category: Science
Place/Publisher/Date:
London, Macmillan and Co. 1937.
Description:
First English edition; square quarto, original red cloth; printed by the State Observatory, Stara Dala. With a preface by Dr B Šternberk and an introduction by Arthur Beer. Jiří Kaván (1877–1933) was a Czech astronomer and mathematical scholar who trained in mathematics, physics, and astronomy and served as chief assistant at the Astronomical Institute of the Czech University in Prague before becoming director of the astrophysical observatory at Stará Ďala in 1919. In 1917 he began compiling this table giving the complete prime factorisation of every integer from 1 up to 256, 000, a monumental manual calculation project undertaken with colleagues. The work was first published in Czech in 1934, and after his death in 1933 his wife, oversaw the final proof reading and preparation of the English edition, which appeared in 1937. At the time, it was one of the first complete factor tables extending beyond 100, 000 and became a standard reference number theory tables. Before modern computing made prime factorisation instantaneous via online tools, these massive tables were the primary way for mathematicians to find prime factors without manual factor tree calculations. The English translation is extremely rare, with no records of it appearing at auction. Very good, some some light shelf wear.
Price £2000.00
