The Secret Lives of Numbers: A Global History of Mathematics & its Unsung Trailblazers

Author(s): Kate Kitagawa; Timothy Revell

General

A revisionist, completely accessible and radically inclusive history of maths. 


Mathematics shapes almost everything we do. But despite its reputation as the study of fundamental truths, the stories we have been told about it are wrong.


In The Secret Lives of Numbers, historian Kate Kitagawa and journalist Timothy Revell introduce readers to the mathematical boundary-smashers who have been erased by history because of their race, gender or nationality.


From the brilliant Arabic scholars of the ninth-century House of Wisdom, and the pioneering African American mathematicians of the twentieth century, to the 'lady computers' around the world who revolutionised our knowledge of the night sky, we meet these fascinating trailblazers and see how they contributed to our global knowledge today.


Along the way, the mathematics itself is explained extremely clearly, for example, calculus is described using the authors' home baking, as they pose the question: how much cake is in our cake? This revisionist, completely accessible and radically inclusive history of mathematics is as entertaining as it is important.


Product Information

Tomoko L. Kitagawa (Author) Dr Tomoko L. Kitagawa is a historian specialising in the mathematical cultures of Europe, East Asia, and South Africa at Oxford University. After a stint as a diplomat at the United Nations in New York, she received her PhD in history from Princeton University. She has taught at Harvard University and held research positions at UC Berkeley, University of Cambridge and the Max Planck Institute. Her first book, Japanese History Abroad (2012), was a national bestseller in Japan. She was selected as one of the '100 most influential people in Japan' by Nikkei Business Publishing and one of the '100 most amazing Japanese women' by Japan's leading publisher, Shincho. Based in Oxford, she works as an occasional broadcaster, with appearances on Netflix, CNN, the History Channel, and the BBC. Timothy Revell (Author) Dr Timothy Revell is a science journalist and lapsed mathematician. He currently works as Culture and Comment Editor at New Scientist. As a reporter and editor, he specialises in technology and mathematics, covering everything from artificial intelligence to the Abel prize. He also currently runs New Scientist's diversity internship scheme. He often appears on the BBC radio show 'The Naked Scientists', including in a slot answering listener's questions about mathematics.

General Fields

  • : 9780241544129
  • : Penguin Books India PVT, Limited
  • : Penguin Books India PVT, Limited
  • : 0.396
  • : 30 September 2023
  • : 4 Centimeters X 15.3 Centimeters X 23.4 Centimeters
  • : books

Special Fields

  • : Kate Kitagawa; Timothy Revell
  • : Paperback
  • : English
  • : 510.9
  • : 320