He deciphered ancient writing on crumbling walls; scrutinized stones, tools, cylinders, and cones; and examined carved bones, elaborately knotted counting strings, and X-rays of the contents of never-opened ancient clay accounting balls. I was wrong. In The Universal History of Numbers, Ifrah, a former math teacher, traces the tortured past of our Arabic system, which denotes each number by a combination of 10 symbols. Exploring the many ways civilizations developed and changed their mathematical systems, Ifrah imparts a unique insight into the nature of human thought—and into the ways our understanding of numbers and how they shape our lives has slowly changed and grown over thousands of years. Dubbed the "Indiana Jones of numbers," Georges Ifrah traveled all over the world for ten years to uncover the little-known details of this amazing story. From India to China, and from Egypt to Chile, Ifrah talked to mathematicians, historians, archaeologists, and philosophers. Read, highlight, and take notes, across web, tablet, and phone.Dubbed the "Indiana Jones of numbers," Georges Ifrah traveled all over the world for ten years to uncover the little-known details of this amazing story. Ian Monk, cotranslator, has translated the works of Georges Perec and Daniel Pennac.A riveting history of counting and calculating from the time of the cave dwellers to the late twentieth century, The Universal History of Numbers is the first complete account of the invention and evolution of numbers the world over. For those of you who have read Georges Ifrah's first book, The Universal History of Numbers: From Prehistory to the Invention of the Computer, this is the third of a two-volume set!Just to clarify this, the first volume is being split into two and, together with this new third volume, republished as … I was particularly interested by the fact that zero and cipher come from the same root. Hardcover As different cultures around the globe struggled with problems of harvests, constructing buildings, educating their citizens, and exploring the wonders of science, each civilization created its own unique and wonderful mathematical system. The Universal History of Numbers: From Prehistory to the Invention of the ComputerWiley, 2000.

A riveting history of counting and calculating, from the time of the cave dwellers to the twentieth century, this fascinating volume brings numbers to thrilling life, explaining their development in human terms, the intriguing situations that made them necessary, and the brilliant achievements in human thought that they made possible. He traveled to the four corners of the world, read thousands of books, visited hundreds of libraries and museums and asked questions of countless scholars. Get this from a library! Published by It's a position I do not understand, but presume it is a result of the desire to have power over and control of other people.Numbers are fascinating. Exploring the many ways civilizations developed and changed their mathematical systems, Ifrah imparts a unique insight into the nature of human thought–and into how our understanding of numbers and the ways they shape our lives have changed and grown over thousands of years.The Universal History of Numbers: From Prehistory to the Invention of the ComputerThis book covered everything I was looking for and more. Among the many fascinating findings is that our modern system of decimal arithmetic, complete with positional notation, zero, and the usual algorithms for +-*/, was first discovered in India, not "Arabia", and much earlier than is often believed: Ifrah cites a large number of references that indicate that place the origin at least by 458 AD.

Then, by taking apart the counting systems of several civilizations, from the Assyro-Babylonian to the Chinese and Mayan, Ifrah shows us the logic behind them and the great purposes for which many of those cultures used them.


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