Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Recommended Resources Need a recommendation: Math history?

Hey, friends!

DS7 is fascinated by origins right now, so I'm trying to start more or less at the beginning of many of the subjects we'll be studying to make a sort of unit study out of the beginning of things. I was hoping to find a fairly child-friendly book on the history/origins of numbers and mathematics, but I'm not finding much.

Does anyone know of any good books on the history of numbers/math for a child reading at the 7th grade level or below? Easier is fine.

I am checking out a number of adult books on the topic (I hope! At least in some tangential way...) and I have some Internet resources from www.livingmath.net. But I'd love a book or two we could read and discuss.

Thanks for any help you can offer!

How The Story of Science Aristotle Leads the Way by Joy Hakin? It's about history of science and math. I haven't read it yet, but I have it at home. Let me know if you need more details.

The Teaching Company has A history of Mathematics course on sale. Can you tell I happen to browse their catalog today?

I started reading "Zero: The Biography of a Dangerous Idea", it was really interesting. But, like most of the really good books these days, I didn't have enough spare brain cells to finish it, lol. It's not a kids book, but I think it would give you lots of topics for discussion.

There is a time warp trio book on Mayans which focuses on their numbering system, including zero and its advantages - could be a cool one if he hasnt already blasted through that series.
I remember when I read this one to ds in 1st grade, the teacher reported having to ask him not to write his math work in mayan...again, I am the crazy mom who thinks we should be encouraging these sorts of explorations - LOL!

You might find a chapter or two in books on Eyptian or Mayan culture and history which might suit.

I'd definitely start w/ www.livingmath.net. That's where I got the books I"ve used. I have Julie's Primary lesson plans. We've read "the History of Counting" among others.

I'm trying to do a timeline of our history along with science and math but doing it afterschooling is tough.

BTW, in case anyone else is following the leads they find here, the last name of the author of the book LMom suggested is actually Hakim. Of course, it's not available at my library, though it's in their catalog.

<grumble, grumble>

I'm still looking...

Thanks for pointing it out. It's not like I didn't have the book right in front of me when I was typing the post. Oh well, may be I need glasses too

I wanted to edit my original post, but it won't let me

LOL! No worries. Let she who has never made a typo or misspelled an author's name cast the first stone.

You'll note that no stones are coming your way from me!

I just appreciate the tips! Thanks!

I'm debating about the Teaching Company DVDs. Even on sale, it's a pretty big investment for something I'm not sure DS7 will like. Have you used them with your DS, LMom? Do they work well for kids like ours? Is it mostly a guy lecturing, or is it visually interesting?

Hi Kriston,

I really enjoyed Isaac Asmimov's nonfiction writings on science when I was 7-12 years of age. I'd poke around on wikipedia to get the book list then go to amazon and look up the titles. He has a lot of math in all of the books.

Almost all of this stuff is available at our local used book stores for $1-2$.

The complete set of his non fiction stuff would be a very good basis for any kid ( or adult) to learn about the world.

To answer your question, I really liked this book so far as a readable and technical discusion of numbers and their use over time.

http://www.amazon.com/Universal-History-Numbers-Prehistory-Invention/dp/0471375683

DS6 got "The Joy of Mathematics" for his birthday. We've seen only a little bit of it so far, but DS was fascinated and so was I. But then the course is highly recommended for gt math kid and it's taught by Arthur Benjamin who is a very good lecturer (as you can remember ) I will have to write about it once we get a little bit farther in the series.

This is the only course I got from the Teaching Company so far. If it goes well, I may try others. I know nothing about the History of Math though. Any chance your library would carry it? Try asking on the Davidson list about math history books.