The Language of Mathematics

The Language of Mathematics - Raúl Rojas ***

One of the biggest developments in the history of maths was moving from describing relationships and functions with words to using symbols. This interesting little book traces the origins of a whole range of symbols from those familiar to all, to the more obscure squiggles used in logic and elsewhere.

On the whole Raúl Rojas does a good job of filling in some historical detail, if in what is generally a fairly dry fashion. We get to trace what was often a bumpy path as different symbols were employed (particularly, for example, for division and multiplication, where several still remain in use), but usually, gradually, standards were adopted.

This feels better as a reference, to dip into if you want to find out about a specific symbol, rather than an interesting end to end read. Rojas tells us the sections are designed to be read in any order, which means that there is some overlap of text - it feels more like a collection of short essays or blog posts that he couldn't be bothered to edit into a consistent whole.

There are a couple of historical points I would raise an eyebrow at. At one point we are told 'While Europe groped through the darkness of the Middle Ages, the Arabs rescued the scientific legacy of the Greeks.' This is not to minimise the huge Arabic contribution to maths in this period, but there was a significant account of mathematical activity in the Middle Ages, which running through to the end of the fifteenth century would include, for instance, the Oxford Calculators, Fibonacci, Oresme and more.

There was also an odd statement that the Romans had no year zero because zero 'simply could not be expressed with Roman notation.' While it's true that it couldn't be expressed it wouldn't have been meaningful anyway. Years aren't a number line, and it seems perfectly logical to go from the first year before Christ to the first year of his life, if you aren't mentally boxed in by current mathematics.

Because it doesn't really work well as a book to read end to end I can't give it more than three stars, but there's plenty to catch the attention of someone with an interest in mathematics and a curiosity as to how our weird and wonderful symbols came into use.

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