Maths + history + jokes - boring bits = A Quick History of Maths. This book begins around 43,000 years ago with a notched baboon leg, the Lebombo bone (the very first mathematical object in the world) and rushes us past Hindu numerals and the invention of zero, via Pythagoras, Pascal and probability, right up to the present day, with big data and the maths that rules our digital lives. Geometri-cool!

You will discover:

• How to count on your fingers (there are more ways than you might think!)


• Why we have 60 seconds in a minute (hint: it’s to do with the ancient Babylonians)


• How to count like an Egyptian (using hieroglyphs)


• Why it’s hip to be square using square numbers


• A Pythagorean party trick


• The naked truth of Archimedes’ bath time mathematics


• How to do matha-magic with magic squares


• …and much more.

In chronological order from pre-history to present day, this is the story of maths itself. It’s 43,000 years of human mathematical endeavor squeezed into one book for your reading pleasure. Illustrated with funny cartoons and packed with fascinating facts, you’ll be laughing and learning how to be a better mathematician.