Preface 1 John Napier, 1614 3 2 Recognition 11 3 Financial Matters 23 4 To the Limit, If It Exists 28 5 Forefathers of the Calculus 40 6 Prelude to Breakthrough 49 7 Squaring the Hyperbola 58 8 The Birth of a New Science 70 9 The Great Controversy 83 10 e[superscript x]: The Function That Equals its Own Derivative 98 11 e[superscript theta]: Spira Mirabilis 114 12 (e[superscript x] + e[superscript -x])/2: The Hanging Chain 140 13 e[superscript ix]: "The Most Famous of All Formulas" 153 14 e[superscript x + iy]: The Imaginary Becomes Real 164 15 But What Kind of Number Is It? 183 App. 1. Some Additional Remarks on Napier's Logarithms 195 App. 2. The Existence of lim (1 + 1/n)[superscript n] as n [approaches] [infinity] 197 App. 3. A Heuristic Derivation of the Fundamental Theorem of Calculus 200 App. 4.

The Inverse Relation between lim (b[superscript h] - 1)/h = 1 and lim (1 + h)[superscript 1/h] = b as h [approaches] 0 202 App. 5. An Alternative Definition of the Logarithmic Function 203 App. 6. Two Properties of the Logarithmic Spiral 205 App. 7. Interpretation of the Parameter [phi] in the Hyperbolic Functions 208 App. 8.

e to One Hundred Decimal Places 211 Bibliography 213 Index 217.