The historical roots of elementary mathematics

by Lucas N.H. Bunt, Phillip S. Jones, Jack D. Bedient

Exciting, hands-on approach to understanding fundamental underpinnings of modern arithmetic, algebra, geometry and number systems, by examining their origins in early Egyptian, Babylonian and Greek sources. Students can do division like the ancient Egyptians, solve quadratic equations like the Babylonians, and more.

Genres: Mathematics, History, Nonfiction

299 pages, Hardcover

First published February 1, 1988

Reviews

[Akos Hochrein · Rating 4 out of 5]

Quite a good read to learn about how people perceived math in the past. Sometimes the text can get a bit too heavy for people who are not used to math lingo, though.

[Hannah · Rating 4 out of 5]

Of the three texts we read in my history of math class, this one was my favorite. It read like a textbook, but it was pretty straightforward although some of the math was challenging. Each section had practice problems which was a nice way to check if we were learning the material. It was fun learning how to do math the way the Egyptians and Babylonians did, and the explanations of all the propositions from Euclid's Elements were very thorough.