The Triumph of Numbers

The Triumph of Numbers

Author: I. Bernard Cohen

Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company

Published: 2005

Total Pages: 222

ISBN-13: 9780393057690

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The Triumph of Numbers explores how numbers have come to assume a leading role in just about everywhere in science, in the operations and s tructure of government, in the analysis of society, in marketing, in sports, and more.


Book Synopsis The Triumph of Numbers by : I. Bernard Cohen

Download or read book The Triumph of Numbers written by I. Bernard Cohen and published by W. W. Norton & Company. This book was released on 2005 with total page 222 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Triumph of Numbers explores how numbers have come to assume a leading role in just about everywhere in science, in the operations and s tructure of government, in the analysis of society, in marketing, in sports, and more.


The Triumph of Numbers: How Counting Shaped Modern Life

The Triumph of Numbers: How Counting Shaped Modern Life

Author: I. Bernard Cohen

Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company

Published: 2006-07-17

Total Pages: 183

ISBN-13: 0393254275

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From the pyramids to mortality tables, Galileo to Florence Nightingale, a vibrant history of numbers and the birth of statistics. The great historian of science I. B. Cohen explores how numbers have come to assume a leading role in science, in the operations and structure of government, in marketing, and in many other aspects of daily life. Consulting and collecting numbers has been a feature of human affairs since antiquity—taxes, head counts for military service—but not until the Scientific Revolution in the twelfth century did social numbers such as births, deaths, and marriages begin to be analyzed. Cohen shines a new light on familiar figures such as Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, and Charles Dickens; and he reveals Florence Nightingale to be a passionate statistician. Cohen has left us with an engaging and accessible history of numbers, an appreciation of the essential nature of statistics.


Book Synopsis The Triumph of Numbers: How Counting Shaped Modern Life by : I. Bernard Cohen

Download or read book The Triumph of Numbers: How Counting Shaped Modern Life written by I. Bernard Cohen and published by W. W. Norton & Company. This book was released on 2006-07-17 with total page 183 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From the pyramids to mortality tables, Galileo to Florence Nightingale, a vibrant history of numbers and the birth of statistics. The great historian of science I. B. Cohen explores how numbers have come to assume a leading role in science, in the operations and structure of government, in marketing, and in many other aspects of daily life. Consulting and collecting numbers has been a feature of human affairs since antiquity—taxes, head counts for military service—but not until the Scientific Revolution in the twelfth century did social numbers such as births, deaths, and marriages begin to be analyzed. Cohen shines a new light on familiar figures such as Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, and Charles Dickens; and he reveals Florence Nightingale to be a passionate statistician. Cohen has left us with an engaging and accessible history of numbers, an appreciation of the essential nature of statistics.


Number Savvy

Number Savvy

Author: George Sciadas

Publisher: CRC Press

Published: 2022-12-16

Total Pages: 241

ISBN-13: 100080979X

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This book is written for the love of numbers. It tells their story, shows how they were invented and used to quantify our world, and explains what quantitative data mean for our lives. It aspires to contribute to overall numeracy through a tour de force presentation of the production, use, and evolution of data. Understanding our physical world, our economies, and our societies through quantification has been a persistent feature of human evolution. This book starts with a narrative on why and how our ancestors were driven to the invention of number, which is then traced to the eventual arrival at our number system. This is followed by a discussion of how numbers were used for counting, how they enabled the measurement of physical quantities, and how they led to the estimation of man-made and abstract notions in the socio-economic domain. As data don’t fall like manna from the sky, a unique feature of this book is that it explains from a teacher’s perspective how they’re really conceived in our minds, how they’re actually produced from individual observations, and how this defines their meaning and interpretation. It discusses the significance of standards, the use of taxonomies, and clarifies a series of misconceptions regarding the making of data. The book then describes the switch to a new research paradigm and its implications, highlights the arrival of microdata, illustrates analytical uses of data, and closes with a look at the future of data and our own role in it.


Book Synopsis Number Savvy by : George Sciadas

Download or read book Number Savvy written by George Sciadas and published by CRC Press. This book was released on 2022-12-16 with total page 241 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book is written for the love of numbers. It tells their story, shows how they were invented and used to quantify our world, and explains what quantitative data mean for our lives. It aspires to contribute to overall numeracy through a tour de force presentation of the production, use, and evolution of data. Understanding our physical world, our economies, and our societies through quantification has been a persistent feature of human evolution. This book starts with a narrative on why and how our ancestors were driven to the invention of number, which is then traced to the eventual arrival at our number system. This is followed by a discussion of how numbers were used for counting, how they enabled the measurement of physical quantities, and how they led to the estimation of man-made and abstract notions in the socio-economic domain. As data don’t fall like manna from the sky, a unique feature of this book is that it explains from a teacher’s perspective how they’re really conceived in our minds, how they’re actually produced from individual observations, and how this defines their meaning and interpretation. It discusses the significance of standards, the use of taxonomies, and clarifies a series of misconceptions regarding the making of data. The book then describes the switch to a new research paradigm and its implications, highlights the arrival of microdata, illustrates analytical uses of data, and closes with a look at the future of data and our own role in it.


The Bone-Setters

The Bone-Setters

Author: MATHEMATICS / Algebra / General

Publisher: Troubador Publishing Ltd

Published: 2019

Total Pages: 336

ISBN-13: 1789016169

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In pre-Revolutionary France, geometry merged with algebra to form the basis of the Calculus. But the journey algebra had taken to this pivotal moment could not have been more different to that of geometry. In The Bone-Setters, J.F. Riley traces algebra’s roots from the searing sun of the Indian sub-continent, to the Middle East where it was gifted to the Arabs in AD773. When developed and transported to the West, it met the established Christian Church head-on not only because it heralded from the East but was also written in strange, if not demonic symbols that ... was dangerous Saracen magic. As the mathematics of anything ‘unknown’, algebra found many applications in the age of exploration and the mathematical adventures of artists, sculptures and architects. Not least to take advantage were the accountants and bankers ever watchful of their red columns. Renaissance algebraists accepted the many challenges the new mathematics presented, but not without their fair share of ongoing feuds that seemed to be the hallmark of any new discovery. Algebra’s cloak of respectability finally came to rest in early 17th century France when it emerged as the all-powerful uniting discipline that destiny had long reserved for it.


Book Synopsis The Bone-Setters by : MATHEMATICS / Algebra / General

Download or read book The Bone-Setters written by MATHEMATICS / Algebra / General and published by Troubador Publishing Ltd. This book was released on 2019 with total page 336 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In pre-Revolutionary France, geometry merged with algebra to form the basis of the Calculus. But the journey algebra had taken to this pivotal moment could not have been more different to that of geometry. In The Bone-Setters, J.F. Riley traces algebra’s roots from the searing sun of the Indian sub-continent, to the Middle East where it was gifted to the Arabs in AD773. When developed and transported to the West, it met the established Christian Church head-on not only because it heralded from the East but was also written in strange, if not demonic symbols that ... was dangerous Saracen magic. As the mathematics of anything ‘unknown’, algebra found many applications in the age of exploration and the mathematical adventures of artists, sculptures and architects. Not least to take advantage were the accountants and bankers ever watchful of their red columns. Renaissance algebraists accepted the many challenges the new mathematics presented, but not without their fair share of ongoing feuds that seemed to be the hallmark of any new discovery. Algebra’s cloak of respectability finally came to rest in early 17th century France when it emerged as the all-powerful uniting discipline that destiny had long reserved for it.


Statistics and the Public Sphere

Statistics and the Public Sphere

Author: Tom Crook

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2012-03-15

Total Pages: 306

ISBN-13: 1136737804

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Contemporary public life in Britain would be unthinkable without the use of statistics and statistical reasoning. Numbers dominate political discussion, facilitating debate while also attracting criticism on the grounds of their veracity and utility. However, the historical role and place of statistics within Britain’s public sphere has yet to receive the attention it deserves. There exist numerous histories of both modern statistical reasoning and the modern public sphere; but to date, there are no works which, quite pointedly, aim to analyse the historical entanglement of the two. Statistics and the Public Sphere: Numbers and the People in Modern Britain, c.1800-2000 directly addresses this neglected area of historiography, and in so doing places the present in some much needed historical perspective.


Book Synopsis Statistics and the Public Sphere by : Tom Crook

Download or read book Statistics and the Public Sphere written by Tom Crook and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2012-03-15 with total page 306 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Contemporary public life in Britain would be unthinkable without the use of statistics and statistical reasoning. Numbers dominate political discussion, facilitating debate while also attracting criticism on the grounds of their veracity and utility. However, the historical role and place of statistics within Britain’s public sphere has yet to receive the attention it deserves. There exist numerous histories of both modern statistical reasoning and the modern public sphere; but to date, there are no works which, quite pointedly, aim to analyse the historical entanglement of the two. Statistics and the Public Sphere: Numbers and the People in Modern Britain, c.1800-2000 directly addresses this neglected area of historiography, and in so doing places the present in some much needed historical perspective.


The Descent of Artificial Intelligence

The Descent of Artificial Intelligence

Author: Kevin Padraic Donnelly

Publisher: University of Pittsburgh Press

Published: 2024-07-15

Total Pages: 503

ISBN-13: 0822990113

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The idea that a new technology could challenge human intelligence is as old as the warning from Socrates and Plato that written language eroded memory. With the emergence of generative artificial intelligence programs, we find ourselves once again debating how a new technology might influence human thought and behavior. Researchers, software developers, and “visionary” tech writers even imagine an AI that will equal or surpass human intelligence, adding to a sense of technological determinism where humanity is inexorably shaped by powerful new machines. But among the hundreds of essays, books, and movies that approach the question of AI, few have asked how exactly scientists and philosophers have codified human thought and behavior. Rather than focusing on technical contributions in machine building, The Descent of Artificial Intelligence explores a more diverse cast of thinkers who helped to imagine the very kind of human being that might be challenged by a machine. Kevin Padraic Donnelly argues that what we often think of as the “goal” of AI has in fact been shaped by forgotten and discredited theories about people and human nature as much as it has been by scientific discoveries, mathematical advances, and novel technologies. By looking at the development of artificial intelligence through the lens of social thought, Donnelly deflates the image of artificial intelligence as a technological monolith and reminds readers that we can control the narratives about ourselves.


Book Synopsis The Descent of Artificial Intelligence by : Kevin Padraic Donnelly

Download or read book The Descent of Artificial Intelligence written by Kevin Padraic Donnelly and published by University of Pittsburgh Press. This book was released on 2024-07-15 with total page 503 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The idea that a new technology could challenge human intelligence is as old as the warning from Socrates and Plato that written language eroded memory. With the emergence of generative artificial intelligence programs, we find ourselves once again debating how a new technology might influence human thought and behavior. Researchers, software developers, and “visionary” tech writers even imagine an AI that will equal or surpass human intelligence, adding to a sense of technological determinism where humanity is inexorably shaped by powerful new machines. But among the hundreds of essays, books, and movies that approach the question of AI, few have asked how exactly scientists and philosophers have codified human thought and behavior. Rather than focusing on technical contributions in machine building, The Descent of Artificial Intelligence explores a more diverse cast of thinkers who helped to imagine the very kind of human being that might be challenged by a machine. Kevin Padraic Donnelly argues that what we often think of as the “goal” of AI has in fact been shaped by forgotten and discredited theories about people and human nature as much as it has been by scientific discoveries, mathematical advances, and novel technologies. By looking at the development of artificial intelligence through the lens of social thought, Donnelly deflates the image of artificial intelligence as a technological monolith and reminds readers that we can control the narratives about ourselves.


Florence Nightingale and the Medical Men

Florence Nightingale and the Medical Men

Author: Lynn McDonald

Publisher: McGill-Queen's Press - MQUP

Published: 2022-07-15

Total Pages: 202

ISBN-13: 0228013208

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Florence Nightingale is known as a hospital reformer, a social reformer, and the founder of professional nursing; few realize that she worked closely with doctors on these issues. As Nightingale’s first supporters and colleagues, doctors contributed to reducing the high death rates in Crimean War hospitals and learned from the consequential reforms. Beginning with an overview of Nightingale’s life and continuing with an exploration of her Crimean War work with army doctors, her post-Crimea work with civilian doctors, and her collaborations with the peacetime army and with army doctors in later wars, Lynn McDonald details the involvement of doctors in Nightingale’s legacy. At a time when hospitals’ death rates were universally high (including at top teaching hospitals), Nightingale formed connections with leading public health doctors and produced heavily cited work on safer hospital design. Her later writings cover her relations with early women doctors and the controversy over state regulation of nurses, bacteriology, and germ theory; here, McDonald argues against flawed secondary literature and the myth of Nightingale’s lifelong opposition to germ theory. The final chapter discusses the legendary nurse’s enduring legacy. Florence Nightingale and the Medical Men provides timely insight into Nightingale’s principles of disease prevention, data visualization, and the impacts of high disease and death rates – issues that persist in the global health crises of the twenty-first century.


Book Synopsis Florence Nightingale and the Medical Men by : Lynn McDonald

Download or read book Florence Nightingale and the Medical Men written by Lynn McDonald and published by McGill-Queen's Press - MQUP. This book was released on 2022-07-15 with total page 202 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Florence Nightingale is known as a hospital reformer, a social reformer, and the founder of professional nursing; few realize that she worked closely with doctors on these issues. As Nightingale’s first supporters and colleagues, doctors contributed to reducing the high death rates in Crimean War hospitals and learned from the consequential reforms. Beginning with an overview of Nightingale’s life and continuing with an exploration of her Crimean War work with army doctors, her post-Crimea work with civilian doctors, and her collaborations with the peacetime army and with army doctors in later wars, Lynn McDonald details the involvement of doctors in Nightingale’s legacy. At a time when hospitals’ death rates were universally high (including at top teaching hospitals), Nightingale formed connections with leading public health doctors and produced heavily cited work on safer hospital design. Her later writings cover her relations with early women doctors and the controversy over state regulation of nurses, bacteriology, and germ theory; here, McDonald argues against flawed secondary literature and the myth of Nightingale’s lifelong opposition to germ theory. The final chapter discusses the legendary nurse’s enduring legacy. Florence Nightingale and the Medical Men provides timely insight into Nightingale’s principles of disease prevention, data visualization, and the impacts of high disease and death rates – issues that persist in the global health crises of the twenty-first century.


The Great Rift

The Great Rift

Author: Michael E. Hobart

Publisher: Harvard University Press

Published: 2018-04-16

Total Pages: 520

ISBN-13: 0674985168

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In their search for truth, contemporary religious believers and modern scientific investigators hold many values in common. But in their approaches, they express two fundamentally different conceptions of how to understand and represent the world. Michael E. Hobart looks for the origin of this difference in the work of Renaissance thinkers who invented a revolutionary mathematical system—relational numeracy. By creating meaning through numbers and abstract symbols rather than words, relational numeracy allowed inquisitive minds to vault beyond the constraints of language and explore the natural world with a fresh interpretive vision. The Great Rift is the first book to examine the religion-science divide through the history of information technology. Hobart follows numeracy as it emerged from the practical counting systems of merchants, the abstract notations of musicians, the linear perspective of artists, and the calendars and clocks of astronomers. As the technology of the alphabet and of mere counting gave way to abstract symbols, the earlier “thing-mathematics” metamorphosed into the relational mathematics of modern scientific investigation. Using these new information symbols, Galileo and his contemporaries mathematized motion and matter, separating the demonstrations of science from the linguistic logic of religious narration. Hobart locates the great rift between science and religion not in ideological disagreement but in advances in mathematics and symbolic representation that opened new windows onto nature. In so doing, he connects the cognitive breakthroughs of the past with intellectual debates ongoing in the twenty-first century.


Book Synopsis The Great Rift by : Michael E. Hobart

Download or read book The Great Rift written by Michael E. Hobart and published by Harvard University Press. This book was released on 2018-04-16 with total page 520 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In their search for truth, contemporary religious believers and modern scientific investigators hold many values in common. But in their approaches, they express two fundamentally different conceptions of how to understand and represent the world. Michael E. Hobart looks for the origin of this difference in the work of Renaissance thinkers who invented a revolutionary mathematical system—relational numeracy. By creating meaning through numbers and abstract symbols rather than words, relational numeracy allowed inquisitive minds to vault beyond the constraints of language and explore the natural world with a fresh interpretive vision. The Great Rift is the first book to examine the religion-science divide through the history of information technology. Hobart follows numeracy as it emerged from the practical counting systems of merchants, the abstract notations of musicians, the linear perspective of artists, and the calendars and clocks of astronomers. As the technology of the alphabet and of mere counting gave way to abstract symbols, the earlier “thing-mathematics” metamorphosed into the relational mathematics of modern scientific investigation. Using these new information symbols, Galileo and his contemporaries mathematized motion and matter, separating the demonstrations of science from the linguistic logic of religious narration. Hobart locates the great rift between science and religion not in ideological disagreement but in advances in mathematics and symbolic representation that opened new windows onto nature. In so doing, he connects the cognitive breakthroughs of the past with intellectual debates ongoing in the twenty-first century.


Wise Management in Organisational Complexity

Wise Management in Organisational Complexity

Author: M. Thompson

Publisher: Springer

Published: 2013-03-18

Total Pages: 218

ISBN-13: 1137002654

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Provides a resource of wise praxis and reflection in the context of organisational complexity for managers, researchers and teachers in management education. Offers various explications and applications of Aristotle's notion of phronèsis (practical wisdom) and reflects on the responsibilities of companies and education institutions towards society.


Book Synopsis Wise Management in Organisational Complexity by : M. Thompson

Download or read book Wise Management in Organisational Complexity written by M. Thompson and published by Springer. This book was released on 2013-03-18 with total page 218 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Provides a resource of wise praxis and reflection in the context of organisational complexity for managers, researchers and teachers in management education. Offers various explications and applications of Aristotle's notion of phronèsis (practical wisdom) and reflects on the responsibilities of companies and education institutions towards society.


Measure What Matters to Customers

Measure What Matters to Customers

Author: Ronald J. Baker

Publisher: John Wiley & Sons

Published: 2007-01-29

Total Pages: 210

ISBN-13: 0470056274

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Measure What Matters to Customers reveals how to capitalize on Key Predictive Indicators (KPIs), the innovative measures that define the success of your enterprise as your customers do. If you want to increase your company's profits by working smarter, this is the book for you.


Book Synopsis Measure What Matters to Customers by : Ronald J. Baker

Download or read book Measure What Matters to Customers written by Ronald J. Baker and published by John Wiley & Sons. This book was released on 2007-01-29 with total page 210 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Measure What Matters to Customers reveals how to capitalize on Key Predictive Indicators (KPIs), the innovative measures that define the success of your enterprise as your customers do. If you want to increase your company's profits by working smarter, this is the book for you.