Number: From Ancient Civilisations to the Computer - Hardcover

McLeish, John

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0747509212 ISBN 13: 9780747509219

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing PLC, 1991

Synopsis

"Number" reassesses conventional views of civilization. It seeks to challenge, provoke and fascinate as it takes the mystery out of the world of number. Ranging from prehistoric times through the world's main civilizations, John McLeish demonstrates that one of the main skills which marks out humans from animals is their ability to calculate. We visit the bed-chambers of the Chinese Emperor as his officials allocate his bed-mate according to a strict mathematical rota. We get to know the people who have shaped numbers - world famous mathematicians such as Pythagoras and Newton, and the lesser known Greek woman mathematician Hypatia who was martryred for her views on logic. The book also looks at the development of the computer and the people behind it, and reassesses today's society in terms of the numbers which rule our lives. John McLeish has taught at the universities of Glasgow, Leeds, Bradford and Cambridge. He is now Emeritus Professor of the University of Victoria, British Columbia, Canada.

Edition details

• Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
• Publication date: 1991
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0747509212
• ISBN 13: 9780747509219
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 256