Arithmetic Spiral-Bound |

Paul Lockhart

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“Inspiring and informative…deserves to be widely read.”
Wall Street Journal


“This fun book offers a philosophical take on number systems and revels in the beauty of math.”
Science News


Because we have ten fingers, grouping by ten seems natural, but twelve would be better for divisibility, and eight is well suited to repeated halving. Grouping by two, as in binary code, has turned out to have its own remarkable advantages.

Paul Lockhart presents arithmetic not as rote manipulation of numbers—a practical if mundane branch of knowledge best suited for filling out tax forms—but as a fascinating, sometimes surprising intellectual craft that arises from our desire to add, divide, and multiply important things. Passionate and entertaining, Arithmetic invites us to experience the beauty of mathematics through the eyes of a beguiling teacher.

“A nuanced understanding of working with numbers, gently connecting procedures that we once learned by rote with intuitions long since muddled by education… Lockhart presents arithmetic as a pleasurable pastime, and describes it as a craft like knitting.”
—Jonathon Keats, New Scientist

“What are numbers, how did they arise, why did our ancestors invent them, and how did they represent them? They are, after all, one of humankind’s most brilliant inventions, arguably having greater impact on our lives than the wheel. Lockhart recounts their fascinating story… A wonderful book.”
—Keith Devlin, author of Finding Fibonacci

Publisher: Harvard University Press
Original Binding: Paperback
Pages: 240 pages
ISBN-10: 067423751X
Item Weight: 0.6 lbs
Dimensions: 5.5 x 0.6 x 8.2 inches
Today’s world is more dependent on numbers than at any time in human history, yet with the ready availability of cheap, reliable devices that handle computation, we have never had less need to master arithmetic. Our newfound freedom from the chore of hand computation makes it both possible and, Paul Lockhart argues in this wonderful new book, desirable to step back and reflect on the entire development of arithmetic over several millennia. What are numbers, how did they arise, why did our ancestors invent them, and how did they represent them? They are, after all, one of humankind’s most brilliant inventions, arguably having greater impact on our lives than the wheel. Lockhart recounts their fascinating story. -Keith Devlin, mathematician, author of The Man of Numbers and Finding Fibonacci
Paul Lockhart teaches mathematics at Saint Ann's School in Brooklyn, New York. He is the author of Arithmetic, Measurement, and the essay A Mathematician's Lament.