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

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Wardhaugh, Benjamin, 1979-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Poor Robin.

Almanacs, English.

Mathematics--Great Britain--History.

Mathematics.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (257 p.)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Oxford : Oxford University Press, 2012.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

Author, astrologer, journalist, satirist, and 'well-willer to the mathematics', Poor Robin of Saffron Walden was a fantastic, yet invented, figure of British popular culture from the Restoration to the end of the Georgian period. Poor Robin's Almanac first appeared in 1662, developing an enthusiastic following and long outliving its original creator to last until 1828.Benjamin Wardhaugh tells the great story of Georgian popular mathematics - through Poor Robin's remarkable life, from his humble beginnings as an almanac-writer through to best-selling stardom, controversy, and decline. Using the

Contents:

Cover; Contents; List of illustrations; Chapter 1 'Doctor Faustus' day': Making it fun; Chapter 2 'The dismal and long expected morning': Gett ing it wrong; Chapter 3 'Fitted to the meanest capacity': Learning it; Chapter 4 'My Scarbrough expenses': Using it; Chapter 5 'Close and demonstrative reasoning': Beautifying the mind; Chapter 6 'An universal Mathesis ': Ordering the world; Chapter 7 'A compleat Officer of Artillery': Getting it right; Chapter 8 'The terrible pons asinorum ': Playing with it; Acknowledgements; Notes on sources; Index; A; B; C; D; E; F; G; H; J; K; L; M; N; P; R; S; T

UW

Notes:

Description based upon print version of record.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Description based on metadata supplied by the publisher and other sources.

ISBN:

0-19-164457-9

1-283-60967-3

9786613922120

0-19-164456-0

OCLC:

811576302