Because evolution endowed humans with a complement of ten fingers, a grouping size of ten seems natural to us, perhaps even ideal. But from the perspective of mathematics, groupings of ten are arbitrary, and can have serious shortcomings. Twelve would be better for divisibility, and eight is smaller and well suited to repeated halving. Grouping by two, as in binary code, has turned out to have its own remarkable advantages. Paul Lockhart reveals arithmetic not as the rote manipulation of numbers?a practical if mundane branch of knowledge best suited for balancing a checkbook or filling out tax forms?but as a set of ideas that exhibit the fascinating and sometimes surprising behaviors usually reserved for higher branches of mathematics. The essence of arithmetic is the skillful arrangement of numerical information for ease of communication and comparison, an elegant intellectual craft that arises from our desire to count, add to, take away from, divide up, and multiply quantities of important things. Over centuries, humans devised a variety of strategies for representing and using numerical information, from beads and tally marks to adding machines and computers. Lockhart explores the philosophical and aesthetic nature of counting and of different number systems, both Western and non-Western, weighing the pluses and minuses of each. A passionate, entertaining survey of foundational ideas and methods, Arithmetic invites readers to experience the profound and simple beauty of its subject through the eyes of a modern research mathematician.
Product Identifiers
Publisher
Harvard University Press
ISBN-13
9780674972230
eBay Product ID (ePID)
5046413902
Product Key Features
Author
Paul Lockhart
Publication Name
Arithmetic
Format
Hardcover
Language
English
Subject
Mathematics
Publication Year
2017
Type
Textbook
Number of Pages
240 Pages
Dimensions
Item Height
210mm
Item Width
140mm
Additional Product Features
Title_Author
Paul Lockhart
Country/Region of Manufacture
United States
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