Man and Number

This exploration of how people came to appreciate numbers chronicles the social and practical factors that made numbers increasingly important in everyday life. An informative introduction to modern number systems and their ancient roots, it also offers a fascinating portrait of human development. Man and Numbertraces the ways in which early humans gradually evolved methods for recording numerical data and performing simple calculations. It profiles ancient systems of recording numbers--Egyptian, Maya and Aztec, Chinese, Greek, and the techniques of other cultures--and defines how our modern system grew to its present complexity. This highly readable book requires only a familiarity with elementary mathematical ideas. 1974 edition.Smeltzer, Donald is the author of 'Man and Number' with ISBN 9780486432762 and ISBN 0486432769.