By the Numbers: Numeracy, Religion, and the Quantitative Transformation of Early Modern England

During the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, English numerical practices underwent a transformation, with ordinary English people using numbers to explain abstract phenomena and participate in broader European cultural and intellectual developments.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 280 pages
Publication date: 22 April 2024
Publisher: Oxford University Press Inc

During the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, English numerical practices experienced a profound transformation, exerting far-reaching effects on English society. At the dawn of the early modern era, English individuals held the belief that God had endowed humans with universal numeracy. However, numbers played a relatively minor role in their daily lives. Nevertheless, over the course of the next two centuries, remarkable advancements in literacy rates and the widespread availability of printed books revolutionized the ways in which arithmetic was practiced and imparted in education. Ordinary English people began to employ numbers and quantitative reasoning to explain abstract concepts, ranging from the relativity of time to the likelihood of chance occurrences and the composition of human populations. These developments not only reflected their active engagement in broader early modern European cultural and intellectual movements like the Reformation and the Scientific Revolution but also showcased their growing ability to comprehend and navigate a world increasingly shaped by numerical data. By the eighteenth century, English men and women continued to hold the belief that God had created the world, while also recognizing the significance of numbers in understanding and interpreting it.

Weight: 406g
Dimension: 156 x 235 x 18 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9780197608784