Wow! eBook
Numbers: Computers, Philosophers, and the Search for Meaning
Author(s): John Tabak (Author)
- Publisher: Facts On File Inc
- Publication Date: 1 Jun. 2004
- Language: English
- Print length: 240 pages
- ISBN-10: 0816049556
- ISBN-13: 9780816049554
Book Description
One of the most fundamental concepts influencing the development of human civilization is numbers. While societies today rely on their understanding of numbers for everything from mapping the universe to running word processing programs on computers to buying lunch, numbers are a human invention. Babylonian, Roman, and Arabic societies devised influential systems for representing numbers, yet the story of how numbers developed is far more complicated. Concepts such as zero, negative numbers, fractions, irrational numbers, and roots of numbers were often controversial in the past. Numbers deals with the development of numbers from fractions to algebraic numbers to transcendental numbers to complex numbers and their uses. The book also examines in detail the number pi, the evolution of the idea of infinity, and the representation of numbers in computers. The metric and American systems of measurement as well as the applications of some historical concepts of numbers in such modern forms as cryptography and hand calculators are also covered. Illustrations, thought-provoking text, and other supplemental material cover the key ideas, figures, and events in the historical development of numbers.
Editorial Reviews
About the Author
John Tabak, Ph.D., performed graduate work at Suny at Stony Brook and received a degree in mathematics from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. He is the author of A Look at Earth and A Look at Neptune, two astronomy titles for middle school readers. He is presently writing a history of American sign language.
