The History of Mathematical Tables
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| Publisher | Oxford University Press |
|---|---|
| ISBN | 978-0198508410 |
The History of Mathematical Tables: from Sumer to Spreadsheets is an edited volume in the history of mathematics on mathematical tables. It was edited by Martin Campbell-Kelly, Mary Croarken, Raymond Flood, and Eleanor Robson, developed out of the presentations at a conference on the subject organised in 2001 by the British Society for the History of Mathematics,[1][2] and published in 2003 by the Oxford University Press.
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.[2] Following this, the contributions to the book include articles on the following topics:[1][2][3]
- Tables of data in Babylonian mathematics, administration, and astronomy, by Eleanor Robson
- Early tables of logarithms, by Graham Jagger
- Life tables in actuarial science, by Christopher Lewin and Margaret de Valois
- The work of Gaspard de Prony constructing mathematical tables in revolutionary France, by Ivor Grattan-Guinness
- Difference engines, by Michael Williams
- The uses and advantages of machines in table-making, and error correction in mechanical tables, by Doron Swade
- Astronomical tables, by Arthur Norberg
- The data processing and statistical analyses used to produce tables of census data from punched cards, by Edward Higgs
- British table-making committees, and the transition from calculators to computers, by Mary Croarken
- The Mathematical Tables Project of the Works Progress Administration, in New York during the Great Depression of the 1930s and early 1940s, by David Alan Grier
- The work of the British Nautical Almanac Office, by George A. Wilkins
- Spreadsheets, by Martin Campbell-Kelly.
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.[1]