From our distant ancestors, who used sticks for counting, to the theory of fractals in mathematics and the theory of chaos in the natural sciences, numbers run through our culture as an integral part of the human experience.
Calvin Clouson explores the fascinating history of numbers as a journey intertwined with the adventure of human existence. He wonders how old counting is and how it was first recorded. He describes rods with notches, ropes with knots, and clay marks used by farmers for measurement. He refers to the earliest number records by the inhabitants of Mesopotamia and the Egyptians, and presents the Indo-Arabic numbering system. He starts with natural numbers and reaches the concept of infinity. He describes the most important developments in the field of mathematics and analyzes their relationship with other sciences. Finally, he wonders how far human intelligence can go in discovering new, more advanced mathematics.
In this exciting journey into the world of numbers, which reads like a novel, one does not need to be a professional mathematician to wonder: can numbers exist independently of humans?