A comprehensive history of numbers and mathematics, in a three-volume set. Georges Ifrah, a maths teacher, gave up his job and travelled around the world to assemble a complete answer to the question, "Where do numbers come from?" This work covers the art and science of numeration from Magnon Man to the electronic spreadsheet; from Scandinavia to China, via the Classical World, Mesopotamia, the Arab lands, India and South America. Ifrah looks at the metric system, the binary system, all the methods, many of the false starts, and addresses the intriguing question: how did they manage all those centuries without a zero? The text is aided with figures and tables throughout.