Description
Book SynopsisNumbers: A Cultural History provides students with a compelling interdisciplinary view of the development of mathematics and its relationship to world cultures over 4,500 years of human history.Mathematics is often referred to as a universal language, and that is a fitting description. Many cultures have contributed to mathematics in fascinating ways, but despite its universal character, mathematics is also a human endeavor. It has played pivotal roles in societies at particular times; and it has influenced, and been influenced by, a wide range of ideas and institutions, from commerce to philosophy. Ancient Egyptian views of mathematics, for example, are tied closely to engineering and agriculture. Some European Renaissance views, on the other hand, relate the study of number to that of the natural world.
Numbers, A Cultural History seeks to place the history of mathematics into a broad cultural context. While it treats mathematical material in detail, it also relat
Table of ContentsPreface Introduction Chapter Numbers in Ancient Mesopotamia Chapter Numbers in Ancient Egypt Chapter Numbers in Ancient Greece Chapter Numbers in the Hellenistic Mediterranean Chapter Numbers in Traditional China Chapter Numbers and the Classical Maya Chapter Numbers in Ancient and Medieval India Chapter Numbers in the Medieval Arabic World Chapter Numbers in Medieval Europe Chapter Numbers in Early Modern Europe Chapter Numbers in 18th- and 19th-Century Europe Chapter 12 Women and Numbers Chapter Numbers in the 20th Century Appendix: A Brief Look at Navigation Bibliography Index
