Cultural History of Mathematics in the Eighteenth Century

Maarten Bullynck studied mathematics, Germanic languages and media theory in Gent and Berlin. His PhD focussed on the shifting structures of scientific discourse under the influence of changing communication patterns in the 18th century. He is currently Maître de Conférences (Associate Professor) at the Department of Mathematics and History of Sciences of the University Paris 8, and member of IDHE.S (Institutions et Dynamiques Historiques de l' Économie et de la Société, UMR 8533). His research interests are the history of mathematics and computing in the 18th and 20th century, focusing on computational and information processing practices and on how the everyday work of the mathematician is shaped and slowly changes through time. He recently published on the use of paper tools in mathematics, and on the early history of operating systems.

“Numeracy is as fundamental as literacy in modern cultures and, as this readable and often surprising survey of Enlightenment mathematics in its broadest sense shows, almost no area of human endeavour was left untouched by mathematical thinking.”

• Edited by Maarten Bullynck, Université Paris 8, FranceIntroduction, Maarten Bullynck1. Everyday Numeracy, Maarten Bullynck2. Practice and Profession, Maarten Bullynck3. Inventing Mathematics, Jeanne Peiffer4. Mathematics and Worldviews, David Bellhouse and Jip van Besouw5. Describing and Understanding the World, Helmut Pulte6. Mathematics and Technological Change, Jane Wess7. Representing Mathematics, Franziska BomskiNotesBibliographyIndex