Summary By Loretta Kelley

Introduction
From the opening line, author Loretta Kelley shows not only her passion for mathematics, but also how she feels mathematics is not being taught properly by most instructors. Kelly’s appeals to her audience by telling how many current math teachers do not include the history of math in their curriculum. Kelly feels this is an area where instructors can help to make math interesting to the masses. Without seeming overly critical, Kelly does a wonderful job getting her point across by showing which specific areas math can correlate with history. In doing so, Kelley presents the idea teaching mathematical history can capture the attention and imagination of students.
Examples
One of the first points Kelley makes is how students may be able to remember the material, if they are able to correlate it with a historical event or person. She begins by explaining the story of Descartes, the French philosopher famous for the Latin term, Cogito ergo sum or better known by its translation, “I think, therefore I am”, and his relationship with the Queen of Sweden, Christina. This can be used when teaching the Cartesian coordinate system.
Additionally,
She addresses the cross over between early art and mathematics. The symmetry of a piece of Native American pottery, the congruence found in African baskets or the mosaics from the Middle Eastern areas. Additionally she highlights some other times in history where mathematics has played its part. Specifically, she speaks about the 15th century artist, architect, and engineer Filippo Brunelleschi. The advances he made helped create, grow and contrast the Renaissance period. Kelley goes on to speak about numerals used in Florence, symbols still used today in the Hindu-Arabic system, and how Thomas Harriott used the Native American symbols (-- removed HTML --) , to mean greater than and less