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The History of Mathematical Tables
From Sumer to Spreadsheets
First Edition
Edited by Martin Campbell-Kelly, Mary Croarken, Raymond Flood, and Eleanor Robson
372 pages
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numerous halftones and figures
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234x156mm
978-0-19-850841-0
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Hardback
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02 October 2003
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This item is printed to order and supplied on a firm sale basis. Items which are printed to order are normally despatched and charged within 5-10 days.
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- First ever comprehensive account of the history of mathematical tables
- Comprehensive coverage with international scope and interest
- Scholarly yet accessible articles by world-renowned researchers
- Highly illustrated
The oldest known mathematical table was found in the ancient Sumerian city of Shuruppag in southern Iraq. Since then, tables have been an important feature of mathematical activity; table making and printed tabular matter are important precursors to modern computing and information processing. This book contains a series of articles summarising the technical, institutional and intellectual history of mathematical tables from earliest times until the late twentieth century. It covers mathematical tables (the most important computing aid for several hundred years until the 1960s), data tables (eg. Census tables), professional tables (eg. insurance tables), and spreadsheets - the most recent tabular
innovation.
The book is presented in a scholarly yet accessible way, making appropriate use of text boxes and illustrations. Each chapter has a frontispiece featuring a table along with a small illustration of the source where the table was first displayed. Most chapters have sidebars telling a short "story" or history relating to the chapter.
The aim of this edited volume is to capture the history of tables through eleven chapters written by subject specialists. The contributors describe the various information processing techniques and artefacts whose unifying concept is "the mathematical table".Readership: Aimed at science and art historians, mathematicians, computer
scientists, linguists, and engineers at all levels.
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Edited by Martin Campbell-Kelly, Department of Computer Science, University of Warwick, Mary Croarken, Visiting Fellow, Department of Computer Science, University of Warwick, Raymond Flood, University Lecturer in Computing Studies and Mathematics, Oxford University Department for Continuing Education; Fellow of Kellog College, and Eleanor Robson, Fellow of All Souls College, Oxford Contributors:
Eleanor Robson
Graham Jagger
Ivor Grattan-Guinness
Michael R. Williams
Doron Swade
Arthur L. Norberg
Edward Higgs
Mary
Croarken
David Alan Grier
George A. Wilkins
Martin Campbell-Kelly
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"The book itself is the fruit of a very good idea of the British Society for the History of Mathematics, which was to have a conference and then a book on the theme of mathematical tables, and the editors are to be congratulated on a handsome volume on the social history of mathematics." - Notes and Records of The Royal Society
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Introduction
Eleanor Robson: Table and tabular formatting in Sumer, Babylonia and Assyria, 2500 BCE - 50 CE
Graham Jagger: The making of logarithm tables
Ivor Grattan-Guinness: The computation factory: de Prony's project for making tables in the 1790's
Michael R. Williams: Difference engines: from Muller to Comrie
Doron Swade: The 'unerring certainty of mechanical agency': machines and table making in the nineteenth century
Arthur L. Norberg: Table making in astronomy
Edward Higgs: The General Registry Office and the tabulation of data, 1837 - 1939
Mary Croarken: Table making by committee; British table maker 1871 - 1965
David Alan Grier: Table making for the relief of labour
George A. Wilkins: The making of astronomical tables in H.M. Nautical Almanac Office
Martin Campbell-Kelly: The rise and rise of the spreadsheet
Biographical Notes
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