From 0 to Infinity in 26 Centuries: The Extraordinary Story of Maths by Chris Waring (PDF)

Description

We may remember their equations and discoveries from school, but do we remember who the men behind the maths were? From the theories of Pythagoras (and did you know he ran a secret brotherhood that studied maths, music and gymnastics?) to coining the term ‘Googol’, “From 0 to Infinity in 26 Centuries: The Extraordinary Story of Maths” is packed full of fascinating stories and amazing facts from ancient times to the modern day. Do you want to know why the Greeks did so much maths? Or, why there was so little maths done in the Dark Ages? Read this fascinating book to uncover the mysteries of maths…

User’s Reviews

Reviews from Amazon users which were colected at the time this book was published on the website:

⭐This book provided an excellent if brief look at math through the centuries from Australopithecus to the future. It was fascinating even if I was often left wanting more info.

⭐Mathematics are an important intellectual development. This book traces that development in an easily readable an informative volume. If you are interested in mathematics, this is an easy choice. I don’t know where else so much information can be found in so few pages. If you are not interested in mathematics, you should be. And this short and easily accessible volume should explain why you should be interested!

⭐From 0 to Infinity in 26 Centuries: The Extraordinary Story of Maths by Chris Waring does pretty much what it says on the cover – it’s a brief (make that very brief) history of mathemtics, that one thing that invades every aspect of our lives, whether we like it or not. It was one of those random book shop finds, something that sparked my interest one day, but could have just as easily put me off on another. It’s a book that my husband groaned at when he saw me, rolling his eyes in a bored fashion, and one that my mother, upon hearing that I’d picked it up, proclaimed “what on Earth do you want to read that for?” The thing about maths is that it really is all-pervading. Its tentacles reach into pretty much every aspect of our lives from when we first start learning it in school to our work lives and beyond. It even features heavily in art and architecture. We learn a lot about maths – how to do basic arithmetic, more complex equations, working out areas and routes and so on – but we rarely learn about where it came from and who made the discoveries, the history of it all, and it’s that that left me so tempted.So yeah, I was intrigued and I was right to be, for this little unassuming book turned out to be extremely interesting. Even my doubting mother enjoyed the random facts I read out to her, such as the fact that the equals sign was invented by a Welshman (go Wales!), and that Leibniz taught himself to read Latin at the age of seven. Waring’s delightful way with words helped too – he turned what could potentially be a rather stuffy, boring topic into one that was lightly humoured, easy to read, and enjoyable. The book was so stuffed full of fascinating tidbits and written in such a pleasant way that I raced through the mere 193 pages at a rate of knots. That was one of the problems though – not so much that the book was short, but that each fact or phase in history was glanced over so briefly that you could miss it if you blinked. I suppose trying to squeeze 26 centuries into 193 pages is quite a feat – that’s almost 13 and a half years per page, after all. Still, I felt it would have been nice to have a little more detail, at least in parts. The narrative was also a little jumpy. Despite a clear attempt at a linear narrative, matheticians were mentioned on one page and then again 50 pages later, along with a handy page guide in brackets. That’s not that big a deal, of course, but following the page references (which I didn’t, by the way) could be positively dizzying. If there’s one thing for sure, it’s that this book wouldn’t be for everyone. I mean, it’s maths – just the topic is enough to instill dread and fear in some. But if you’re interested in maths, even if you can only see a tiny inkling of vague appeal, I think you’ll like this book. It’s brief enough to keep you interested while throwing up fascinating facts in a humourous and engaging manner.

⭐We can’t get away from mathematics because it is all around us, from counting our loose change to sports league tables and so much else, but the history is rarely discussed.My only previous reviews of books about mathematics were fairly light hearted books that looked at practical issues such as why buses come in threes and how long is a piece of string. This book is by a different author whose approach is necessarily more serious, although there are some lighter moments, while the bridge puzzle that appears in one of the other books gets another airing here.Among the things and people discussed (some briefly, some at greater length), you’ll find the abacus, the origin of the word algorithm (named after the Islamic mathematician Al-Khwarizmi), algebra, binary numbers, Boolean operations (named after George Boole), Archimedes, Aristotle, Charles Babbage, calculators, calculus, calendars, chaos theory, compound interest, computers, Enigma code, quadratic equations, Fibonacci, fractals, geometry, Isaac Newton, Leonardo Da Vinci, logarithms, magic squares, Napier’s bones, pi, prime numbers, probability, Pythagoras, Roman numerals, set theory, slide rules, square roots, trigonometry, turbulence, weather and zero.Another thing discussed is so-called normal distribution and its bell curve. It applies to many aspects of life, but there are exceptions that aren’t mentioned by the author. Some people have complained that star ratings on Amazon reviews don’t follow this type of distribution, but as I always explain, people mostly review stuff they expect to like. If they reviewed completely random products, the star ratings would be very different, but I have no idea whether they would then follow the bell curve. Of course I wouldn’t expect the author to know about this, or to mention it even if he did, but I mention it here to show that with practical applications of mathematics, it’s always necessary to understand the context, especially where behavior is concerned.One puzzle posed and answered in the book that could be described as light hearted is the birthday puzzle. How many people need to be in a room for there to be a 50% chance of two of them sharing a birthday? The correct answer is much lower than 183, and the author gives the answer and explains why. In fact, the author takes no account of leap years, nut I’m not sure if this affects the answer. However, the author is wrong in saying that you would need 366 people to guarantee that two of them share the same birthday. Because of those leap years; you’d need 367, although it would be a fluke if you found a group of 366 people each with a different birthday.Mathematics was my best subject at school, but I’ve forgotten a lot of the advanced stuff in the intervening 43 years plus since I left school. As such, I struggled a little when some of these aspects were raised, but overall I found this to be a fascinating look at the history of a subject that is not well known.

⭐This is a very readable book.I love mathematics, physics and scientific subjects.I recommend this to anyone interested in the history of mathematics, it is very good.

⭐Largely a series of mini biographies, giving potted accounts of the contributions made by key figures in Maths over the centuries.I found the use of graph paper background to many of the examples a bit distracting. Otherwise well illustrated with easy examples.

⭐Very, very good book. Thanks.

⭐I really like Maths, but I never thought of its story, so I hoped this book could be something special. I was disappointed because although chapters are chronological, they aren’t connected at all. Not to say this book is bad, but the title is a bit inaccurate.

⭐Bought it for a friend for Xmas. More of a stocking filler really. Really good book. Very interesting read, so I’m told.

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