Clegg Brian. Are numbers real? The uncanny relationships between maths and the physical world

Robinson, St. Martin's Press, 2017. — 303 p. — ISBN 9781250081049, 1472139771.Have you ever wondered what humans did before numbers existed? How they organized their lives, traded goods, or kept track of their treasures? What would your life be like without them?
Numbers began as simple representations of everyday things, but mathematics rapidly took on a life of its own, occupying a parallel virtual world. In Are Numbers Real? Brian Clegg explores the way that maths has become more and more detached from reality, yet despite this is driving the development of modern physics.
From devising a new counting system based on goats, through the weird and wonderful mathematics of imaginary numbers and infinity to the debate over whether mathematics has too much influence on the direction of science, this fascinating and accessible book opens the reader's eyes to the hidden reality of the strange yet familiar world of numbers.Counting Sheep
Counting Goats
All Is Number
Elegant Perfection
Counting Sand
The Emergence of Nothing
He Who Is Ignorant
All in the Imagination
The Amazing Mechanical Mathematical Universe
The Mystery of “Maybe”
Maxwell’s Mathematical Hammer
Infinity and Beyond
Twentieth-century Mathematical Mysteries
Symmetry Games
Cargo Cult Science?
Notes