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Finding Zero: A Mathematician's Odyssey to Uncover the Origins of Numbers

by Amir D. Aczel
$4.90
Compare to estimated retail price: S$26.00  

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Finding Zero: A Mathematician's Odyssey to Uncover the Origins of Numbers
Finding Zero: A Mathematician's Odyssey to Uncover the Origins of Numbers

Mathematician's quest unravels numerals' mystifying origins.

If you revel in numbers and their hidden history, "Finding Zero" could captivate your imagination. Amir Aczel doesn't just talk math; he takes you on a historical thrill ride, searching for the roots of the numerals we use every day. It's like Indiana Jones for mathematics, bridging dusty scholarship with jungle adventure, you'll find both the academic and the explorer in you thoroughly engaged.

Note: While we do our best to ensure the accuracy of cover images, ISBNs may at times be reused for different editions of the same title which may hence appear as a different cover.
New

Finding Zero: A Mathematician's Odyssey to Uncover the Origins of Numbers

by Amir D. Aczel
$4.90
Compare to estimated retail price: S$26.00  

The item you've got your eye on is secondhand. You probably already know that, but just in case!

The estimated retail price shown next to any listed item represents the first-hand prices we've seen elsewhere, or the estimated original retail price of a comparable item of the same quality, construction and material offered elsewhere in new condition.

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ISBN: 9781250084910
Authors: Amir D. Aczel
Publisher: Griffin
Date of Publication: 2016-02-02
Format: Paperback
Related Collections: Science, Travel, Biographies & Memoirs, History
Related Topics: Asia, Biography, Adventure, History, Memoir, Travelogue, Mathematics
Goodreads rating: 3.59
(rated by 951 readers)

Description

The invention of numerals is perhaps the greatest abstraction the human mind has ever created. Virtually everything in our lives is digital, numerical, or quantified. The story of how and where we got these numerals, which we so depend on, has for thousands of years been shrouded in mystery. Finding Zero is an adventure-filled saga of Amir Aczel's lifelong obsession: to find the original sources of our numerals. Aczel has doggedly crisscrossed the ancient world, scouring dusty, moldy texts, cross-examining so-called scholars who offered wildly differing sets of facts, and ultimately penetrating deep into a Cambodian jungle to find a definitive proof. Here, he takes the reader along for the ride. The history begins with the early Babylonian cuneiform numbers, followed by the later Greek and Roman letter numerals. Then Aczel asks the key question: where do the numbers we use today, the so-called Hindu-Arabic numerals, come from? It is this search that leads him to explore uncharted territory, to go on a grand quest into India, Thailand, Laos, Vietnam, and ultimately into the wilds of Cambodia. There he is blown away to find the earliest zero—the keystone of our entire system of numbers—on a crumbling, vine-covered wall of a seventh-century temple adorned with eaten-away erotic sculptures. While on this odyssey, Aczel meets a host of fascinating characters: academics in search of truth, jungle trekkers looking for adventure, surprisingly honest politicians, shameless smugglers, and treacherous archaeological thieves—who finally reveal where our numbers come from.
 

Mathematician's quest unravels numerals' mystifying origins.

If you revel in numbers and their hidden history, "Finding Zero" could captivate your imagination. Amir Aczel doesn't just talk math; he takes you on a historical thrill ride, searching for the roots of the numerals we use every day. It's like Indiana Jones for mathematics, bridging dusty scholarship with jungle adventure, you'll find both the academic and the explorer in you thoroughly engaged.

Note: While we do our best to ensure the accuracy of cover images, ISBNs may at times be reused for different editions of the same title which may hence appear as a different cover.