Number : The Language of Science by Tobias Dantzig (US edition, paperback) - 9780452288119

Beyond doubt the most interesting book on the evolution of mathematics which has ever fallen into my hands.--Albert Einstein Number is an eloquent, accessible tour de force that reveals how the concept of number evolved from prehistoric times through the twentieth century. Renowned professor of mathematics Tobias Dantzig shows that the development of math--from the invention of counting to the discovery of infinity--is a profoundly human story that progressed by "trying and erring, by groping and stumbling." He shows how commerce, war, and religion led to advances in math, and he recounts the stories of individuals whose breakthroughs expanded the concept of number and created the mathematics that we know today.