Poor Robin's prophecies : a curious almanac, and the everyday mathematics of Georgian Britain / Benjamin Wardhaugh.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Wardhaugh, Benjamin, 1979-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Mathematics--England--History--18th century.

Mathematics.

Poor Robin.

Almanacs, English--18th century.

Almanacs, English.

Mathematics--Study and teaching--England--History--18th century.

Mathematics--England--18th century--Popular works--History.

Mathematics--Study and teaching.

History.

England.

Genre:

Popular works.

Physical Description:

viii, 248 pages : illustrations ; 23 cm

Edition:

First edition.

Place of Publication:

Oxford : Oxford University Press, 2012.

Summary:

Tells the story of how ordinary people in eighteenth-century Britain learned and applied popular practical mathematics to weighing and measuring, business, agriculture, surveying, and navigation. The annual almanac 'Poor Robin'--first published in 1663 and outliving its original creator to last until 1828--supplied the data everyone needed about the coming year's tides, equinoxes, and astronomical events. Poor Robin of Saffron Walden, a fantastical figure in British popular culture from the Restoration to the end of the Georgian period, also provided arithmetical tips and tricks as well as subversive spoof astrology and political satire.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 238-243) and index.

ISBN:

9780199605422

0199605424

OCLC:

797975138