The Triumph Of Numbers: How Counting Shaped Modern Life

I. Bernard Cohen

W W Norton & Company Incorporated, 2005 - Mathematics - 209 pages

In The Triumph of Numbers, his last work, I. B. Cohen explores how numbers have come to assume a leading role just about everywhere in science, in the operations and structure of government, in the analysis of society, in marketing, in sports, and more. Cohen shows how, not so long ago, the problems of government, science, and engineering led to the invention of the computer. It has been a long journey. Starting with true revolutionaries like Kepler and Galileo, Cohen introduces many players in the ascent of numbers, some barely remembered. On his way he shines a new light on familiar figures like Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, and Charles Dickens (an avid statistician), and he reveals Florence Nightingale as one who thought through numbers and transformed British military medical practices. In this work, Cohen has left us with an accessible history, and an appreciation and understanding of the essential nature of statistics.

What people are saying

Review: The Triumph of Numbers: How Counting Shaped Modern Life

User Review  - Jo Oehrlein - Goodreads

This book is about how numbers, especially statistics, came to importance in every day life. It follows the history of numbers as they grow to importance. There's not a lot of actual math here, but the history itself is fairly interesting, although it took me a while to get into the book.

Review: Triumph Of Numbers

User Review - Goodreads

It's amazing but this book just opens our consciousness to the realization that our world has been ruled by numbers and we have been unconsciously dealing with them.

About the author

Born in Far Rockaway, New York, I. Bernard Cohen earned degrees from Harvard University. He holds the distinction of being the first person in the United States to earn a Ph.D. in the history of science. Later, Cohen established the History of Science Department at Harvard. Cohen has received many fellowships and has won the George Sarton Medal, awarded by the History of Science Society. Cohen is an author and editor, known for his books about Sir Isaac Newton and Benjamin Franklin.

Bibliographic information

• Title: The Triumph Of Numbers: How Counting Shaped Modern Life
• Author: I. Bernard Cohen
• Edition: illustrated
• Publisher: W W Norton & Company Incorporated, 2005
• ISBN: 0393057690, 9780393057690
• Length: 209 pages
• Subjects: Mathematics / History & Philosophy; Mathematics / Probability & Statistics / General; Science / History