Empire of the Sum: The Rise and Reign of the Pocket Calculator

Empire of the Sum: The Rise and Reign of the Pocket Calculator
Author :
Publisher : W. W. Norton & Company
Total Pages : 283
Release :
ISBN-13 : 9780393882155
ISBN-10 : 0393882152
Rating : 4/5 (52 Downloads)

Book Synopsis Empire of the Sum: The Rise and Reign of the Pocket Calculator by : Keith Houston

Download or read book Empire of the Sum: The Rise and Reign of the Pocket Calculator written by Keith Houston and published by W. W. Norton & Company. This book was released on 2023-08-22 with total page 283 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The hidden history of the pocket calculator—a device that ushered in modern mathematics, helped build the atomic bomb, and went with us to the moon—and the mathematicians, designers, and inventors who brought it to life. Starting with hands, abacus, and slide rule, humans have always reached for tools to simplify math. Pocket-sized calculators ushered in modern mathematics, helped build the atomic bomb, took us to the bottom of the ocean, and accompanied us to the moon. The pocket calculator changed our world, until it was supplanted by more modern devices that, in a cruel twist of irony, it helped to create. The calculator is dead; long live the calculator. In this witty mathematic and social history, Keith Houston transports readers from the nascent economies of the ancient world to World War II, where a Jewish engineer calculated for his life at Buchenwald, and into the technological arms race that led to the first affordable electronic pocket calculators. At every turn, Houston is a scholarly, affable guide to this global history of invention. Empire of the Sum will appeal to math lovers, history buffs, and anyone seeking to understand our trajectory to the computer age.


Empire of the Sum: The Rise and Reign of the Pocket Calculator Related Books

Empire of the Sum: The Rise and Reign of the Pocket Calculator
Language: en
Pages: 283
Authors: Keith Houston
Categories: Technology & Engineering
Type: BOOK - Published: 2023-08-22 - Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

The hidden history of the pocket calculator—a device that ushered in modern mathematics, helped build the atomic bomb, and went with us to the moon—and the
Shady Characters: The Secret Life of Punctuation, Symbols, and Other Typographical Marks
Language: en
Pages: 353
Authors: Keith Houston
Categories: Design
Type: BOOK - Published: 2013-09-24 - Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Revealing the secret history of punctuation, this tour of two thousand years of the written word, from ancient Greece to the Internet, explores the parallel his
Empire of the Sun
Language: en
Pages: 288
Authors: J. G. Ballard
Categories: Fiction
Type: BOOK - Published: 2013-03-19 - Publisher: Simon and Schuster

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

The classic, award-winning novel, made famous by Steven Spielberg's film, tells of a young boy's struggle to survive World War II in China. Jim is separated fro
The Book: A Cover-to-Cover Exploration of the Most Powerful Object of Our Time
Language: en
Pages: 517
Authors: Keith Houston
Categories: History
Type: BOOK - Published: 2016-08-22 - Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

"Everybody who has ever read a book will benefit from the way Keith Houston explores the most powerful object of our time. And everybody who has read it will ag
Seven Games: A Human History
Language: en
Pages: 326
Authors: Oliver Roeder
Categories: History
Type: BOOK - Published: 2022-01-25 - Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

A group biography of seven enduring and beloved games, and the story of why—and how—we play them. Checkers, backgammon, chess, and Go. Poker, Scrabble, and