Quite Right

Description

Cover -- Preface -- Contents -- 1. The Unwritten Story -- The story of mathematics -- Fairness in the age of the hunter-gatherers -- Counting without numbers -- The origins of money -- Mysterious moonshine -- 2. The Dawn of Civilization -- Writing and counting -- Operating with numbers -- Fair division in the age of arithmetic -- Measuring length and area -- Measuring quantities -- The origins of units of measurement -- The elements of finance -- 3. From Tax and Trade to Theorems -- The coming of coins -- Practical mathematics -- The new mathematics -- Problems of measurement. Cover -- Preface -- Contents -- 1. The Unwritten Story -- The story of mathematics -- Fairness in the age of the hunter-gatherers -- Counting without numbers -- The origins of money -- Mysterious moonshine -- 2. The Dawn of Civilization -- Writing and counting -- Operating with numbers -- Fair division in the age of arithmetic -- Measuring length and area -- Measuring quantities -- The origins of units of measurement -- The elements of finance -- 3. From Tax and Trade to Theorems -- The coming of coins -- Practical mathematics -- The new mathematics -- Problems of measurement. Proving results about whole numbers -- 4. The Age of Algorithms -- How to do arithmetic -- Advances in arithmetic -- The uses of arithmetic -- The north-west frontier -- The art of al-jabr -- The origins of symbolic algebra -- 5. The End of the Middle Ages -- Merchants and mathematicians -- Interest upon interest, and more ... -- Solving equations -- Counting and arranging -- How to keep a secret: the medieval way -- 6. A New World of Mathematics -- Measurement and calculation -- To the limit -- Algebra and geometry combine -- Back to the future: Archimedes -- Fermat and the new algebra. One small step ... -- More about series -- 7. Mathematics Ascending -- Calculus, coinage, and controversy -- Logarithms and exponents -- Numbers, perfect and prime -- New kinds of numbers -- All kinds of wonderful things -- To the limit, carefully -- 8. Taking a Chance -- Great expectations -- Games and strategies -- The law of large numbers -- Statistics -- 9. Modelling and Measuring -- Mathematics in context -- Measuring value and utility -- The problems of democracy -- The measure of the world -- 10. Mathematics and Money in the Age of Information -- Financial speculation. A model of how prices change -- Forms of money -- Money, information, and uncertainty -- Measuring information -- 11. Can Mathematics Keep Us Safe? -- The search for security -- Some things are easy, but some are not -- How to keep a secret: the modern way -- Can mathematics keep us safe? -- Notes -- Index.