Quote:
Originally Posted by Solitaire1
A book I'd recommend is "Zero" by Charles Seife. It covers the history of the number zero and includes its: origins, struggle for acceptance, radical and potentially dangerous nature. It takes zero from non-existance, to its function as a mere placeholder, and finally to its evolution to being a full number in its own right. In addition to the history of the number zero, it also covers the general history of mathematics.
Although it's not a book, there is a video I'd recommend: The History Of 1. It's hosted by Terry Jones (a member of Monty Python's Flying Circus) and takes us through the history of the number 1 (and the other numbers). Although the video has a great deal of humor, it also provides solid information on the history of numbers and counting systems in general. As an example, it showed that roman numerals weren't used for calculation but were just used to record the final results of calculations that were done on an abacus-like device.
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Thanks - will check out the book. And see if I can get the video / dvd as well although I prefer books.