Editors:
- Combines perspectives from history of mathematics, economics and administrative history with textual, and archaeological perspectives
- Offers new interpretations of administrative and economic texts, drawing on an analysis of their connections with mathematical activities
- Discusses the variety of mathematical cultures in Mesopotamia, in the South Asian subcontinent, in China and in Medieval Europe
- Sheds light on key basic mathematical concepts like area and volume
Part of the book series: Why the Sciences of the Ancient World Matter (WSAWM, volume 5)
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Table of contents (13 chapters)
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Front Matter
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Mathematical Writings, Regulations, Laws and Norms
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Front Matter
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Quantifying Spatial Extension, Quantifying Work
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Front Matter
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Quantifying Land and Surfaces
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Front Matter
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Prices, Rates, Loans and Interests
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Front Matter
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Back Matter
About this book
Reviews
“As an economist, I thoroughly enjoyed and was impressed at the many details and analysis of those examples of these activities in the varied places during these early time periods. … The is book is very comprehensive in its discussion. Math formulas explaining different ways of computing interest and many other types of financial economic analysis are given. Each chapter has an ample number of references.” (Paul Gentle, HEI History of Economic Ideas, Vol. 29 (2), 2021)
Editors and Affiliations
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CNRS, Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne, Université Paris Nanterre, Ministère de la Culture, ArScAn, UMR 7041, Nanterre, France
Cécile Michel
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CNRS, Université de Paris - Paris Diderot, SPHERE, UMR 7219, Paris, France
Karine Chemla
About the editors
Karine Chemla is a Senior Researcher at the French National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS), laboratory SPHERE (CNRS & Université de Paris. Her research focuses the historical anthropological aspects of the relationship between mathematics and the various cultures in the context of which it is practiced. Chemla published Les Neuf Chapitres (with Guo Shuchun, Dunod, 2004), and edited The History of Mathematical Proof in Ancient Traditions (Cambridge University Press, 2012); Texts, Textual Acts and the History of Science (with J. Virbel, Springer, 2015); The Oxford Handbook of Generality in Mathematics and the Sciences (with R. Chorlay and D. Rabouin, Oxford University Press, 2016); Numerical Tables and Tabular Layouts in Chinese ScholarlyDocuments (Special issues of East Asian Science, Technology and Medicine, 43 (2016, March 2017) & 44 (2016, April 2017)); and Cultures without culturalism: The making of scientific knowledge (with Evelyn Fox Keller, Duke University Press, 2017). Chemla is a member of the Deutsche Akademie der Naturforscher Leopoldina (2005), of the Academia Europaea (2013), and of the American Philosophical Society (2019).
Bibliographic Information
Book Title: Mathematics, Administrative and Economic Activities in Ancient Worlds
Editors: Cécile Michel, Karine Chemla
Series Title: Why the Sciences of the Ancient World Matter
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-48389-0
Publisher: Springer Cham
eBook Packages: History, History (R0)
Copyright Information: The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020
Hardcover ISBN: 978-3-030-48388-3Published: 30 September 2020
Softcover ISBN: 978-3-030-48391-3Published: 01 October 2021
eBook ISBN: 978-3-030-48389-0Published: 29 September 2020
Series ISSN: 2662-9933
Series E-ISSN: 2662-9941
Edition Number: 1
Number of Pages: VI, 568
Number of Illustrations: 127 b/w illustrations, 35 illustrations in colour
Topics: History of Mathematical Sciences, History of Science, History of Economic Thought/Methodology, Epistemology