Document Type
Book Review
Publication Date
12-2025
Department
Mathematics, Statistics, and Computer Science
Keywords
book review, By the Numbers, numeracy, transformation, early modern England, history of mathematics, Hindu-Arabic numeration, arithmetic, early modern English life, religion, calendar, chance, statistics
Abstract
Reviewed Title: By the Numbers: Numeracy, Religion, and the Quantitative Transformation of Early Modern England by Jessica Marie Otis. New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 2024. 264 pp. ISBN: 9780197608777.
Source Publication Title
Perspectives on Science and Christian Faith
Publisher
American Scientific Affiliation
Volume
77
Issue
4
First Page
280
DOI
10.56315/PSCF12-25Otis
Recommended Citation
Jongsma, C. (2025). By the Numbers: Numeracy, Religion, and the Quantitative Transformation of Early Modern England (Book Review). Perspectives on Science and Christian Faith, 77 (4), 280. https://doi.org/10.56315/PSCF12-25Otis
Comments
Otis’s book tells how Hindu-Arabic numerals became more widespread in early modern English education and accounting practices and how this new written arithmetic became entrenched in the country’s social life and work, entwined with people’s sense of time and calendar reform, their religious view of chance and God’s providence, and the increased collection and use of statistical data by the government.
Online access to book review:
By the Numbers