''The History of Mathematical Tables: from Sumer to Spreadsheets'' is an

edited volume An edited volume or edited collection is a collection of scholarly or scientific chapters written by different authors. The chapters in an edited volume are original works (not republished works). Alternative terms for edited volume are ''contribut ...

in the

history of mathematics The history of mathematics deals with the origin of discoveries in mathematics and the mathematical methods and notation of the past. Before the modern age and the worldwide spread of knowledge, written examples of new mathematical developments ...

on mathematical tables. It was edited by

Martin Campbell-Kelly Martin Campbell-Kelly is an Emeritus Professor at the University of Warwick who has specialised in the history of computing. Campbell-Kelly has served on the editorial board of the ''IEEE Annals of the History of Computing'' journal. He is a com ...

, Mary Croarken, Raymond Flood, and

Eleanor Robson Eleanor Robson, (born 1969) is a British Assyriologist and academic. She is Professor of Ancient Middle Eastern History at University College London. She is a former chair of the British Institute for the Study of Iraq and a Quondam fellow of A ...

, developed out of the presentations at a conference on the subject organised in 2001 by the

British Society for the History of Mathematics The British Society for the History of Mathematics (BSHM) was founded in 1971 to promote research into the history of mathematics at all levels and to further the use of the history of mathematics in education. The BSHM is concerned with all peri ...

, and published in 2003 by the

Oxford University Press Oxford University Press (OUP) is the university press of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world, and its printing history dates back to the 1480s. Having been officially granted the legal right to print books ...

Topics

An introductory chapter classifies tables broadly according to whether they are intended as aids to calculation (based on mathematical formulas) or as analyses and records of data, and further subdivides them according to how they were compiled. Following this, the contributions to the book include articles on the following topics: *Tables of data in

Babylonian mathematics Babylonian mathematics (also known as ''Assyro-Babylonian mathematics'') are the mathematics developed or practiced by the people of Mesopotamia, from the days of the early Sumerians to the centuries following the fall of Babylon in 539 BC. Babyl ...

, administration, and astronomy, by

*Early tables of

logarithm In mathematics, the logarithm is the inverse function to exponentiation. That means the logarithm of a number to the base is the exponent to which must be raised, to produce . For example, since , the ''logarithm base'' 10 o ...

s, by Graham Jagger *

Life table In actuarial science and demography, a life table (also called a mortality table or actuarial table) is a table which shows, for each age, what the probability is that a person of that age will die before their next birthday ("probability of deat ...

s in actuarial science, by Christopher Lewin and Margaret de Valois *The work of

Gaspard de Prony Baron Gaspard Clair François Marie Riche de Prony (22 July 1755 – 29 July 1839) was a French mathematician and engineer, who worked on hydraulics. He was born at Chamelet, Beaujolais, France and died in Asnières-sur-Seine, France. Educati ...

constructing mathematical tables in revolutionary France, by

Ivor Grattan-Guinness Ivor Owen Grattan-Guinness (23 June 1941 – 12 December 2014) was a historian of mathematics and logic. Life Grattan-Guinness was born in Bakewell, England; his father was a mathematics teacher and educational administrator. He gained his bac ...

Difference engine A difference engine is an automatic mechanical calculator designed to tabulate polynomial, polynomial functions. It was designed in the 1820s, and was first created by Charles Babbage. The name, the difference engine, is derived from the method ...

s, by Michael Williams *The uses and advantages of machines in table-making, and error correction in mechanical tables, by

Doron Swade Doron Swade MBE is a museum curator and author, specialising in the history of computing. He is especially known for his work on the computer pioneer Charles Babbage and his Difference Engine. Swade was originally from South Africa. He has s ...

Astronomical tables In astronomy and celestial navigation, an ephemeris (pl. ephemerides; ) is a book with tables that gives the trajectory of naturally occurring astronomical objects as well as artificial satellites in the sky, i.e., the position (and possibly vel ...

, by Arthur Norberg *The data processing and statistical analyses used to produce tables of census data from

punched card A punched card (also punch card or punched-card) is a piece of stiff paper that holds digital data represented by the presence or absence of holes in predefined positions. Punched cards were once common in data processing applications or to di ...

s, by Edward Higgs *British table-making committees, and the transition from calculators to computers, by Mary Croarken *The

Mathematical Tables Project The Mathematical Tables Project was one of the largest and most sophisticated computing organizations that operated prior to the invention of the digital electronic computer. Begun in the United States in 1938 as a project of the Works Progress Admi ...

of the

Works Progress Administration The Works Progress Administration (WPA; renamed in 1939 as the Work Projects Administration) was an American New Deal agency that employed millions of jobseekers (mostly men who were not formally educated) to carry out public works projects, i ...

, in New York during the

Great Depression The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagio ...

of the 1930s and early 1940s, by

David Alan Grier David Alan Grier (born June 30, 1956) is an American actor and comedian. He is best known for his work as Bernard on '' Damon'' (1998), as David Bellows on ''Life with Bonnie'' (2002–2004), as Joe Carmichael on ''The Carmichael Show'' (2015� ...

*The work of the British Nautical Almanac Office, by George A. Wilkins *

Spreadsheet A spreadsheet is a computer application for computation, organization, analysis and storage of data in tabular form. Spreadsheets were developed as computerized analogs of paper accounting worksheets. The program operates on data entered in cel ...

s, by

. The work is presented on VIII + 361 pages in a unified format with illustrations throughout, and with the historical and biographical context of the material set aside in separate text boxes.

Audience and reception

Reviewer Paul J. Campbell finds it ironic that, unlike the works it discusses, "there are no tables in the back of the book". Reviewer Sandy L. Zabell calls the book "interesting and highly readable". Both Peggy A. Kidwell and

Fernando Q. Gouvêa Fernando Quadros Gouvêa is a Brazilian number theorist and historian of mathematics who won the Lester R. Ford Award of the Mathematical Association of America (MAA) in 1995 for his exposition of Wiles's proof of Fermat's Last Theorem. He also w ...

note several topics that would have been worthwhile to include, including tables in

mathematics in medieval Islam Mathematics during the Golden Age of Islam, especially during the 9th and 10th centuries, was built on Greek mathematics (Euclid, Archimedes, Apollonius of Perga, Apollonius) and Indian mathematics (Aryabhata, Brahmagupta). Important progress wa ...

or other non-Western cultures, the book printing industry that provided inexpensive books of tables in the 19th century, and the development of mathematical tables in Germany. As Kidwell writes, "like most good books, this one not only tells good stories, but leaves the reader hoping to learn more". Gouvêa evaluates the book as being useful in its coverage of a topic often missed in broader surveys of the history of mathematics, of interest both to historians of mathematics and to a more general audience interested in the development of these topics, and "a must-have for libraries".

References

External links

''The History of Mathematical Tables''
on the

Internet Archive The Internet Archive is an American digital library with the stated mission of "universal access to all knowledge". It provides free public access to collections of digitized materials, including websites, software applications/games, music, ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:History of Mathematical Tables, The Mathematical tables Books about the history of mathematics 2003 non-fiction books