(Download) "Mathematics in Ancient Iraq: A Social History (Book Review)" by The Journal of the American Oriental Society # eBook PDF Kindle ePub Free
eBook details
- Title: Mathematics in Ancient Iraq: A Social History (Book Review)
- Author : The Journal of the American Oriental Society
- Release Date : January 01, 2009
- Genre: Social Science,Books,Nonfiction,
- Pages : * pages
- Size : 185 KB
Description
Mathematics in Ancient Iraq: A Social History. By ELEANOR ROBSON. Princeton: PRINCETON UNIVERSITY PRESS, 2008. Pp. xxiii + 441, illus. $49.50. "The cuneiform mathematics of ancient Iraq," writes Eleanor Robson, "... can be divided into three phases: numerate apprenticeship, metrological justice, and divine quantification" (p. 263). Indeed, Robson's authoritative pen, with its characteristic flourish and flair, has undertaken the task of assembling into a single definitive work a new perspective on the mathematics of ancient Iraq that has been growing in recent decades. Responding to the standard accounts of the mathematics in this area that have been largely entrenched in three aspects--the sexagesimal system of numeration, the ingenious approximation to the square-root of two, and the famous mathematical tablet Plimpton 322--Robson presents an irresistible challenge to this orthodoxy. She insists upon a revitalization of the field by broadening the scope of inquiry and demands that this earliest mathematical culture be contextualized by locating it in its wider social and intellectual setting. Robson's stewardship in a burgeoning field is none too soon. The result, a study of impressive scope and quality.