Since its publication, C.F. Gauss's Disquisitiones Arithmeticae (1801) has acquired an almost mythical reputation, standing as an ideal of exposition in notation, problems and methods; as a model of organisation and theory building; and as a source of mathematical inspiration. Eighteen authors - mathematicians, historians, philosophers - have collaborated in this volume to assess the impact of the Disquisitiones, in the two centuries since its publication.

I. A Book¿s History. ¿ C. Goldstein, N. Schappacher. II. Algebraic Equations, Quadratic Forms, Higher Congruences: Key Mathematical Techniques of the Disquistiones. - O. Neumann: The Disquisitiones Arithmeticae and the Theory of Equations.- H.M. Edwards: Composition of Binary Quadratic Forms and the Foundations of Mathematics.- D. Fenster, J. Schwermer: Composition of Quadratic Forms: An Algebraic Perspective.- G. Frei: Gauss¿s Unpublished Section Eight: On the Way to Function Fields over a Finite Field.- III. The German Reception of the Disquisitiones Arithmeticae: Institutions and Ideas. ¿ H. Pieper: A Network of Scientific Philanthropy: Humboldt¿s Relations with Number Theorists.- J. Ferreirós: The Rise of Pure Mathematics as Arithmetic after Gauss.- IV. Complex Numbers and Complex Functions in Arithmetic.- R. Bölling: From Reciprocity Laws to Ideal Numbers: An (Un)Known 1844 Manuscript by E.E. Kummer.- C. Houzel: Elliptic Functions and Arithmetic. V. Numbers as Model Objects of Mathematics.- J. Boniface: The Concept of Number from Gauss to Kronecker.- B. Petri, N. Schappacher: On Arithmetization. VI. Number Theory in France in the Second Half of the Nineteenth Century.- C. Goldstein: Hermitian Forms of Reading the Disquisitiones Arithmeticae.- A.-M. Décaillot: Number Theory at the Association francaise pour l¿avancement des sciences.- VII. Spotlighting Some Later Reactions.- A. Brigaglia: An Overview on Italian Arithmeitc after the Disquistiones Arithmeticae. P. Piazza: Zolotarev¿s Theory of Algebraic Numbers.- D. Fenster: Gauss Goes West: The Reception of the Disquistiones Arithmeticae in the USA. VIII. Gauss¿s Theorem in the Long Run: Three Case Studies.- J. Schwermer: Reduction Theory of Quadratic Forms: Toward Räumliche Anschauung in Minkowski¿s Early Work.- S. J. Patterson: Gauss Sums.- F. Lemmermeyer: The Principal Genus Theorem.- List of Illustrations.- Index.- Author¿s Addresses.