The History of Mathematical Tables: From Sumer to Spreadsheets

The History of Mathematical Tables: From Sumer to Spreadsheets
Format
Hardback
Publisher
Oxford University Press
Country
United Kingdom
Published
1 August 2003
Pages
372
ISBN
9780198508410

The History of Mathematical Tables: From Sumer to Spreadsheets

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.\n\nThe 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.\n\nThe 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\”.

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