Mathematics In Ancient Iraq

Author : Eleanor Robson
Publisher : Princeton University Press
ISBN 13 : 0691201404
Total Pages : 399 pages
Book Rating : 4.05/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Mathematics in Ancient Iraq written by Eleanor Robson and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2020-06-30 with total page 399 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This monumental book traces the origins and development of mathematics in the ancient Middle East, from its earliest beginnings in the fourth millennium BCE to the end of indigenous intellectual culture in the second century BCE when cuneiform writing was gradually abandoned. Eleanor Robson offers a history like no other, examining ancient mathematics within its broader social, political, economic, and religious contexts, and showing that mathematics was not just an abstract discipline for elites but a key component in ordering society and understanding the world. The region of modern-day Iraq is uniquely rich in evidence for ancient mathematics because its prehistoric inhabitants wrote on clay tablets, many hundreds of thousands of which have been archaeologically excavated, deciphered, and translated. Drawing from these and a wealth of other textual and archaeological evidence, Robson gives an extraordinarily detailed picture of how mathematical ideas and practices were conceived, used, and taught during this period. She challenges the prevailing view that they were merely the simplistic precursors of classical Greek mathematics, and explains how the prevailing view came to be. Robson reveals the true sophistication and beauty of ancient Middle Eastern mathematics as it evolved over three thousand years, from the earliest beginnings of recorded accounting to complex mathematical astronomy. Every chapter provides detailed information on sources, and the book includes an appendix on all mathematical cuneiform tablets published before 2007.

Author : Eleanor Robson
Publisher : Princeton University Press
ISBN 13 : 9780691091822
Total Pages : 482 pages
Book Rating : 4.2X/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Mathematics in Ancient Iraq written by Eleanor Robson and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2008 with total page 482 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This monumental book traces the origins and development of mathematics in the ancient Middle East, from its earliest beginnings in the fourth millennium BCE to the end of indigenous intellectual culture in the second century BCE when cuneiform writing was gradually abandoned. Eleanor Robson offers a history like no other, examining ancient mathematics within its broader social, political, economic, and religious contexts, and showing that mathematics was not just an abstract discipline for elites but a key component in ordering society and understanding the world. The region of modern-day Iraq is uniquely rich in evidence for ancient mathematics because its prehistoric inhabitants wrote on clay tablets, many hundreds of thousands of which have been archaeologically excavated, deciphered, and translated. Drawing from these and a wealth of other textual and archaeological evidence, Robson gives an extraordinarily detailed picture of how mathematical ideas and practices were conceived, used, and taught during this period. She challenges the prevailing view that they were merely the simplistic precursors of classical Greek mathematics, and explains how the prevailing view came to be. Robson reveals the true sophistication and beauty of ancient Middle Eastern mathematics as it evolved over three thousand years, from the earliest beginnings of recorded accounting to complex mathematical astronomy. Every chapter provides detailed information on sources, and the book includes an appendix on all mathematical cuneiform tablets published before 2007.

Author : Benjamin R. Foster
Publisher : Princeton University Press
ISBN 13 : 0691149976
Total Pages : 312 pages
Book Rating : 4.74/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Civilizations of Ancient Iraq written by Benjamin R. Foster and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2011-05-08 with total page 312 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In Civilizations of Ancient Iraq, Benjamin and Karen Foster tell the fascinating story of ancient Mesopotamia from the earliest settlements ten thousand years ago to the Arab conquest in the seventh century. Accessible and concise, this is the most up-to-date and authoritative book on the subject. With illustrations of important works of art and architecture in every chapter, the narrative traces the rise and fall of successive civilizations and peoples in Iraq over the course of millennia--from the Sumerians, Babylonians, and Assyrians to the Persians, Seleucids, Parthians, and Sassanians. Ancient Iraq was home to remarkable achievements. One of the birthplaces of civilization, it saw the world's earliest cities and empires, writing and literature, science and mathematics, monumental art, and innumerable other innovations. Civilizations of Ancient Iraq gives special attention to these milestones, as well as to political, social, and economic history. And because archaeology is the source of almost everything we know about ancient Iraq, the book includes an epilogue on the discovery and fate of its antiquities. Compelling and timely, Civilizations of Ancient Iraq is an essential guide to understanding Mesopotamia's central role in the development of human culture.

Author : Victor J. Katz
Publisher : Princeton University Press
ISBN 13 : 9780691114859
Total Pages : 712 pages
Book Rating : 4.54/5 ( download)

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Download or read book The Mathematics of Egypt, Mesopotamia, China, India, and Islam written by Victor J. Katz and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2007-08-05 with total page 712 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In recent decades it has become obvious that mathematics has always been a worldwide activity. But this is the first book to provide a substantial collection of English translations of key mathematical texts from the five most important ancient and medieval non-Western mathematical cultures, and to put them into full historical and mathematical context. The Mathematics of Egypt, Mesopotamia, China, India, and Islam gives English readers a firsthand understanding and appreciation of these cultures' important contributions to world mathematics. The five section authors--Annette Imhausen (Egypt), Eleanor Robson (Mesopotamia), Joseph Dauben (China), Kim Plofker (India), and J. Lennart Berggren (Islam)--are experts in their fields. Each author has selected key texts and in many cases provided new translations. The authors have also written substantial section introductions that give an overview of each mathematical culture and explanatory notes that put each selection into context. This authoritative commentary allows readers to understand the sometimes unfamiliar mathematics of these civilizations and the purpose and significance of each text. Addressing a critical gap in the mathematics literature in English, this book is an essential resource for anyone with at least an undergraduate degree in mathematics who wants to learn about non-Western mathematical developments and how they helped shape and enrich world mathematics. The book is also an indispensable guide for mathematics teachers who want to use non-Western mathematical ideas in the classroom.

Author : Helaine Selin
Publisher : Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN 13 : 9401143013
Total Pages : 489 pages
Book Rating : 4.11/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Mathematics Across Cultures written by Helaine Selin and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2012-12-06 with total page 489 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Mathematics Across Cultures: A History of Non-Western Mathematics consists of essays dealing with the mathematical knowledge and beliefs of cultures outside the United States and Europe. In addition to articles surveying Islamic, Chinese, Native American, Aboriginal Australian, Inca, Egyptian, and African mathematics, among others, the book includes essays on Rationality, Logic and Mathematics, and the transfer of knowledge from East to West. The essays address the connections between science and culture and relate the mathematical practices to the cultures which produced them. Each essay is well illustrated and contains an extensive bibliography. Because the geographic range is global, the book fills a gap in both the history of science and in cultural studies. It should find a place on the bookshelves of advanced undergraduate students, graduate students, and scholars, as well as in libraries serving those groups.

Author : Annette Imhausen
Publisher : Princeton University Press
ISBN 13 : 0691209073
Total Pages : 248 pages
Book Rating : 4.74/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Mathematics in Ancient Egypt written by Annette Imhausen and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2020-10-13 with total page 248 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A survey of ancient Egyptian mathematics across three thousand years Mathematics in Ancient Egypt traces the development of Egyptian mathematics, from the end of the fourth millennium BC—and the earliest hints of writing and number notation—to the end of the pharaonic period in Greco-Roman times. Drawing from mathematical texts, architectural drawings, administrative documents, and other sources, Annette Imhausen surveys three thousand years of Egyptian history to present an integrated picture of theoretical mathematics in relation to the daily practices of Egyptian life and social structures. Imhausen shows that from the earliest beginnings, pharaonic civilization used numerical techniques to efficiently control and use their material resources and labor. Even during the Old Kingdom, a variety of metrological systems had already been devised. By the Middle Kingdom, procedures had been established to teach mathematical techniques to scribes in order to make them proficient administrators for their king. Imhausen looks at counterparts to the notation of zero, suggests an explanation for the evolution of unit fractions, and analyzes concepts of arithmetic techniques. She draws connections and comparisons to Mesopotamian mathematics, examines which individuals in Egyptian society held mathematical knowledge, and considers which scribes were trained in mathematical ideas and why. Of interest to historians of mathematics, mathematicians, Egyptologists, and all those curious about Egyptian culture, Mathematics in Ancient Egypt sheds new light on a civilization's unique mathematical evolution.

Author : David Reimer
Publisher : Princeton University Press
ISBN 13 : 0691160120
Total Pages : 250 pages
Book Rating : 4.22/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Count Like an Egyptian written by David Reimer and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2014-04-27 with total page 250 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A lively collection of fun and challenging problems in ancient Egyptian math The mathematics of ancient Egypt was fundamentally different from our math today. Contrary to what people might think, it wasn't a primitive forerunner of modern mathematics. In fact, it can’t be understood using our current computational methods. Count Like an Egyptian provides a fun, hands-on introduction to the intuitive and often-surprising art of ancient Egyptian math. David Reimer guides you step-by-step through addition, subtraction, multiplication, and more. He even shows you how fractions and decimals may have been calculated—they technically didn’t exist in the land of the pharaohs. You’ll be counting like an Egyptian in no time, and along the way you’ll learn firsthand how mathematics is an expression of the culture that uses it, and why there’s more to math than rote memorization and bewildering abstraction. Reimer takes you on a lively and entertaining tour of the ancient Egyptian world, providing rich historical details and amusing anecdotes as he presents a host of mathematical problems drawn from different eras of the Egyptian past. Each of these problems is like a tantalizing puzzle, often with a beautiful and elegant solution. As you solve them, you’ll be immersed in many facets of Egyptian life, from hieroglyphs and pyramid building to agriculture, religion, and even bread baking and beer brewing. Fully illustrated in color throughout, Count Like an Egyptian also teaches you some Babylonian computation—the precursor to our modern system—and compares ancient Egyptian mathematics to today’s math, letting you decide for yourself which is better.

Author : Georges Roux
Publisher :
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 0 pages
Book Rating : 4.44/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Ancient Iraq written by Georges Roux and published by . This book was released on 1969 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Author : Karine Chemla
Publisher : Cambridge University Press
ISBN 13 : 1108839576
Total Pages : 475 pages
Book Rating : 4.70/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Mathematical Commentaries in the Ancient World written by Karine Chemla and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2022-06-09 with total page 475 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Comparative analysis of the techniques and procedures of important mathematical commentaries in five ancient cultures from China to Greece.

Author : Martin Campbell-Kelly
Publisher : OUP Oxford
ISBN 13 : 019154521X
Total Pages : 372 pages
Book Rating : 4.14/5 ( download)

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Download or read book The History of Mathematical Tables written by Martin Campbell-Kelly and published by OUP Oxford. This book was released on 2003-10-02 with total page 372 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The oldest known mathematical table was found in the ancient Sumerian city of Shuruppag in southern Iraq. Since then, tables have been an important feature of mathematical activity; table making and printed tabular matter are important precursors to modern computing and information processing. This book contains a series of articles summarising the technical, institutional and intellectual history of mathematical tables from earliest times until the late twentieth century. It covers mathematical tables (the most important computing aid for several hundred years until the 1960s), data tables (eg. Census tables), professional tables (eg. insurance tables), and spreadsheets - the most recent tabular innovation. The book is presented in a scholarly yet accessible way, making appropriate use of text boxes and illustrations. Each chapter has a frontispiece featuring a table along with a small illustration of the source where the table was first displayed. Most chapters have sidebars telling a short "story" or history relating to the chapter. The aim of this edited volume is to capture the history of tables through eleven chapters written by subject specialists. The contributors describe the various information processing techniques and artefacts whose unifying concept is "the mathematical table".