Numbers
eBook - ePub

Numbers

A Cultural History

  1. 368 pages
  2. English
  3. ePUB (mobile friendly)
  4. Available on iOS & Android
eBook - ePub

Numbers

A Cultural History

About this book

Numbers: 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.

This work seeks to place the history of mathematics into a broad cultural context. While it treats mathematical material in detail, it also relates that material to other subject matter: science, philosophy, navigation, commerce, religion, art, and architecture. It examines how mathematical thinking grows in specific cultural settings and how it has shaped those settings in turn. It also explores the movement of ideas between cultures and the evolution of modern mathematics and the quantitative, data-driven world in which we live.

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Yes, you can access Numbers by Robert Kiely in PDF and/or ePUB format, as well as other popular books in History & Ancient History. We have over one million books available in our catalogue for you to explore.

Information

Publisher
ABC-CLIO
Year
2022
Print ISBN
9781440869334
eBook ISBN
9798216124092
Edition
1
Topic
History
Index
History

Table of contents

  1. Cover
  2. Title Page
  3. Copyright
  4. Contents
  5. Preface
  6. Introduction
  7. Chapter 1: Numbers in Ancient Mesopotamia
  8. Chapter 2: Numbers in Ancient Egypt
  9. Chapter 3: Numbers in Ancient Greece
  10. Chapter 4: Numbers in the Hellenistic Mediterranean
  11. Chapter 5: Numbers in Traditional China
  12. Chapter 6: Numbers and the Classical Maya
  13. Chapter 7: Numbers in Ancient and Medieval India
  14. Chapter 8: Numbers in the Medieval Arabic World
  15. Chapter 9: Numbers in Medieval Europe
  16. Chapter 10: Numbers in Early Modern Europe
  17. Chapter 11: Numbers in 18th- and 19th-Century Europe
  18. Chapter 12: Women and Numbers
  19. Chapter 13: Numbers in the 20th Century
  20. Appendix: A Brief Look at Navigation
  21. Bibliography
  22. Index