A Cultural History of Mathematics in Antiquity

A Cultural History of Mathematics in Antiquity covers the period from 3000 BCE to 500 CE, exploring the great richness and diversity of mathematical thought and activity across the ancient world. Our modern notion of mathematics - and the word itself - was established by Greco-Roman culture. However, sophisticated forms of what we should call mathematics - number systems, ways of measurement, notation, and formulae - were developed millennia earlier by scribes in ancient Egypt, Mesopotamia, and Iraq. Mathematics proved just as invaluable in trade, taxation, astronomy, engineering, war, and agriculture in antiquity as it does now.

The six volume set of the Cultural History of Mathematics explores the value and impact of mathematics in human culture from antiquity to the present. The themes covered in each volume are everyday numeracy; practice and profession; inventing mathematics; mathematics and worldviews; describing and understanding the world; mathematics and technological change; representing mathematics.

Michael N. Fried is Associate Professor and Chair of the Program for Science and Technology Education in the School of Education at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Israel.

Volume 1 in the Cultural History of Mathematics set. General Editors: David E. Rowe, Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz, Germany, and Joseph W. Dauben, City University of New York, USA.