Fun with Numbers

Provides facts about the different ways we count, measure, write out numbers, and solve number problems

Gr 2-4-A lighthearted explanation of how numbers are used. Beginning with the endpapers, numerals of all shapes, sizes, and personalities flow across the pages. Readers must pay attention; the text begins on the facing title page. If that section is skipped, one misses the introduction to the book's guides, a boy and his dog. Phil and Pippo travel through Egypt, Mesopotamia, ancient Rome, Mexico, India, and Europe, tracing the development of different counting and measuring systems. This title's French origin does not diminish its usefulness to an American audience. The U.S. system of inches, feet, yards, and miles is discussed, albeit as one of several methods of measurement. The format is appealing to a young audience-lots of open space; large, cartoonstyle pictures; and relatively small blocks of text. The information presented is interesting but not detailed. For reports on any particular topic, e.g., Roman numerals, Archimedes, Sumerian mathematicians, etc., children will have to go to other sources.-Lucinda Snyder Whitehurst, St. Christopher's School, Richmond, VA

Copyright 1996 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

The French graphic artist Massin and a trio of illustrators take a selective, somewhat arbitrary look at how various civilizations have worked with numbers. In sprightly, conversational tones, Massin explains how some peoples used pictures to represent numbers: for example, in ancient Egypt, the symbol for 1,000,000 was a "man with his arms flung up, as if expressing astonishment at such a large number." Also included are anecdotes tracing our method of counting minutes and seconds to the Sumerian practice of basing sets on multiples of 60; crediting zeroes to the mathematicians of China and India (others left an empty space to keep track of missing units); and showing how Arabic numbers came to replace Roman numerals. In a low-key palette of rusts, charcoals and sepias, whimsical illustrations introduce a parade of people and animals fashioned out of numbers. The information here doesn't add up to a comprehensive history, but many passages make for prime reading. All ages.

Copyright 1995 Cahners Business Information, Inc.