Description
Book SynopsisAlgorithmic Modernity brings together experts in the history of mathematics to create an informed history for readers interested in the social and cultural implications of today's pervasive digital algorithm.
Trade ReviewAlgorithms are both centuries old and central to today's hopes and fears. In this compelling book, ten first-rate historians of science and mathematics trace the genealogy of algorithmic practices and ideas that play a crucial role in the modern world. * Donald MacKenzie, University of Edinburgh *
Table of ContentsIntroduction Morgan G. Ames and Massimo Mazzotti Chapter 1: Algorithm and Demonstration in the Sixteenth-Century Ars Magna Abram Kaplan Chapter 2: "Some call it Arsmetrike, and some Awgryme": Misprision and Precision in Algorithmic Thinking and Learning in 1543 and Beyond Michael J. Barany Chapter 3: The Orderly Universe: How the Calculus Became an Algorithm Amir Alexander Chapter 4: The Algorithmic Enlightenment J.B. Shank Chapter 5: Capitalism by Algorithm: Numbers for the Innumerate in the 18th and 19th Century Atlantic World Caitlin C. Rosenthal Chapter 6: Material Mathematics: British Algebra as Algorithmic Mathematics Kevin Lambert Chapter 7: "For Computing is Our Duty": Algorithmic Workers, Servants, and Women at the Harvard Observatory Andrew Fiss Chapter 8: Seeds of Control: Sugar Beets, Control Algorithms, and New Deal Data Politics Theodora Dryer Chapter 9: Inference Rituals: Algorithms and the History of Statistics Christopher J. Phillips Chapter 10: Decision Trees, Random Forests, and the Genealogy of the Black Box Matthew L. Jones Index
