Numerical Notation: A Comparative History

Citation

Hutton, D.M. (2012), "Numerical Notation: A Comparative History", Kybernetes, Vol. 41 No. 7/8, pp. 1160-1160. https://doi.org/10.1108/k.2012.41.7_8.1160.1

This is an enormous text on a subject which has a fascination for all who must use numerical notations and, of course, in numerical notation systems. lt is in consequence an historical text and is one of great merit. Although for many it will be seen as a reference book to be consulted from a library shelf. It also, chapter by chapter, provides a readable text. Prepared, of course, to cover some 100 numerical systems of different compositions which have been developed over, as the author writes, some 5,000 years. Hence the enormity of his task.

To do this Stephan Chrisomalis needed a structure for ordering and classifying numerical systems. He chose to do this by defining themes to categorise them into eight major phylogenies which means, according to the Oxford Dictionary: “a term used in the evolutionary development and diversification of groups of organisms or particular features of organisms”. This means that the systems were not only introduced as mathematical or linguistic creations but also in their anthropological and historical contexts. All the systems were clearly described and set out.

The work is of interest to anyone with a background in anthropology and also, of course, in the history of mathematics and/or that of the sciences.