Bunny Crumpacker
Since the beginning of civilization, numbers have been more than just a way to keep count. ,Perfect Figures,Â tells the stories of howÂ each number came to beÂ and what incredible associations and superstitions have been connectedÂ to them ever since.Â Along the way areÂ some of the great oddities of numbers' past as:,-a timeÂ when finger-counting was a sign of intelligence (the Venerable BedeÂ couldÂ count to a million on his hands),-the medieval Algorists, who were burnt at the stake for their use of ArabicÂ rather thanÂ Roman numerals,-the Bank of England, which stubbornly kept accountsÂ on notchedÂ wooden sticks until 1826,FilledÂ with Crumpacker's eloquent wit and broad intelligence, ,Perfect Figures ,brings the history of numbers to life just as Bill Bryson did for the English language in ,The Mother Tongue,.
Science,Science,Mathematics,Nonfiction
Perfect Figures: The Lore of Numbers and How We Learned to Count