A History of Algorithms : From the Pebble to the Microchip

This is a source book for the history of mathematics, but one which offers a different perspective by focusing on algorithms.

With the development of computing has come an awakening of interest in algorithms.

Often neglected by historians and modern scientists, more concerned with the nature of concepts, algorithmic procedures turn out to have been instrumental in the development of fundamental ideas: practice led to theory just as much as the other way round.

The purpose of this book is to offer a historical background to contemporary algorithmic practice.