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BibTeX entry
@Book{Aczel:2015:FZM,
author = "Amir D. Aczel",
title = "Finding zero: a mathematician's odyssey to uncover the
origins of numbers",
publisher = "Palgrave Macmillan",
address = "New York City, NY, USA",
pages = "x + 242",
year = "2015",
ISBN = "1-137-27984-2 (hardcover)",
ISBN-13 = "978-1-137-27984-2 (hardcover)",
LCCN = "QA141.2 .A29 2015",
bibdate = "Fri Feb 13 17:57:48 MST 2015",
bibsource = "http://www.math.utah.edu/pub/tex/bib/sciam2010.bib;
z3950.loc.gov:7090/Voyager",
URL = "http://www.netread.com/jcusers2/bk1388/842/9781137279842/image/lgcover.9781137279842.jpg",
abstract = "The invention of numerals is perhaps the greatest
abstraction the human mind has ever created. Virtually
everything in our lives is digital, numerical, or
quantified. The story of how and where we got these
numerals, which we so depend on, has for thousands of
years been shrouded in mystery. \booktitle{Finding
Zero} is an adventure filled saga of Amir Aczel's
lifelong obsession: to find the original sources of our
numerals. Aczel has doggedly crisscrossed the ancient
world, scouring dusty, moldy texts, cross examining
so-called scholars who offered wildly differing sets of
facts, and ultimately penetrating deep into a Cambodian
jungle to find a definitive proof. Here, he takes the
reader along for the ride. The history begins with the
early Babylonian cuneiform numbers, followed by the
later Greek and Roman letter numerals. Then Aczel asks
the key question: where do the numbers we use today,
the so-called Hindu-Arabic numerals, come from? It is
this search that leads him to explore uncharted
territory, to go on a grand quest into India, Thailand,
Laos, Vietnam, and ultimately into the wilds of
Cambodia. There he is blown away to find the earliest
zero --- the keystone of our entire system of numbers
on a crumbling, vine-covered wall of a seventh-century
temple adorned with eaten-away erotic sculptures. While
on this odyssey, Aczel meets a host of fascinating
characters: academics in search of truth, jungle
trekkers looking for adventure, surprisingly honest
politicians, shameless smugglers, and treacherous
archaeological thieves --- who finally reveal where our
numbers come from.",
acknowledgement = ack-nhfb,
subject = "Numerals; History; Zero (The number); MATHEMATICS /
History and Philosophy.; SCIENCE / History.",
}
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- Aczel, Amir D.,
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- history,
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- honest,
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- mathematician,
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- number,
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- odyssey,
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