So…one thing led to another, and here I am waiting for Amazon, or DHL, or somebody to deliver another history of mathematics to my door in the next thirty minutes. Or ninety minutes, depending on where I check the tracking.
The most unusual thing about the previous paragraph is probably not that I have ordered a history of mathematics; if you’ve been reading this blog for a while, you know that I am capable of ordering almost any book. It’s not strange that I have received different estimates on when this book will arrive; in fact, based on past experience, this book probably won’t arrive tonight and instead will travel to Watertown or back to Milwaukee to spend the night before being delivered tomorrow with the rest of my mail. That would be fine as long as it doesn’t go back to Oak Creek, the black hole of Wisconsin shipping facilities.
Doesn’t it seem odd, though, that there should be multiple histories of mathematics? Math always seemed to me like the kind of subject that was, well, just there. Five was five, two plus two was always four, and if you didn’t get the correct answer you just needed to try harder. Math wasn’t a matter of controversy or opinion. It just was.
But if you start to talk to people who study the history of mathematics and the philosophy of mathematics, you find out that it’s whole different story on the inside. To be fair, you wouldn’t want to confuse junior high school students with controversies over whether mathematics is discovered or it is created. (Eight-grader me might have responded, “If you don’t know what math is, why should I have to do my homework?”) It turns out that mathematicians can get really invested in the origin story. So one author writes a history of math and leaves out the parts he doesn’t quite agree with. Another writes a history with colorful stories about the key players in math history; this makes the people easy to remember, but it turns out that some of the stories aren’t quite factual. So another fellow writes a history of math, and so on.
Right now I’m circling one particular rabbit hole that concerns one particular history of mathematics, and if I find any interesting rabbits I’ll be sure to write about them. (You don’t have to read about these rabbits if you don’t want to. I understand.) The reason I ordered a copy of a different history of mathematics was that I wanted to understand why there were so many different histories on the market. What kind of competition was there in the publishing industry at this time (post-World War II), and why? (Like I said, these rabbits won’t be interesting to everybody.) So that’s why I’m waiting to see if a book will make it to my porch in a few minutes, later this evening, or tomorrow afternoon. If it’s not already on its way to Oak Creek.
This week I did not purchase any typewriters. I celebrate my amazing restraint. I did type up a list of tasks for my math-related project (see above) on my Smith-Corona Skyriter. It was originally on a typewriter table, but using it there made such a racket that I positioned it on my lap and typed that way.
It worked for the page that I needed to type in the writing loft, but next time I might try using a different typewriter. I do have a few options.
Knitwise, I have been making progress on the Habit-Forming Scarf. It’s now 10 inches long. The primary occupational hazard is that after about six rows of work on it my eyes start to close, which makes it difficult for me to maintain the quality of my stitches. This, in turn, might be an occupational hazard of my not knowing how to knit Continental. That’s not likely to change anytime soon, especially not in the middle of a project, where it would surely affect my gauge. So I cope by setting the work down and either (a) resting or (b) drinking several cups of coffee before starting again.
Tomorrow I’ll host a get-together of faculty and staff folks who knit and crochet. I’ll have cookies to share and some yarn to give away. And Nicole, I’ll bring the pattern for that slipper you want to make. Can’t think of a better activity on what’s expected to be quite a rainy day.
The Amazon app that I just downloaded onto my iPad now lists my order status as “was expected by Sunday.” As long as it doesn’t go to Oak Creek….
Chocolate Sheep 