Shakespeare's era was abuzz with mathematical progress, from the new concept of "zero" to Galileo's redraft of the heavens. Now, Rob Eastaway uncovers the many surprising ways math shaped Shakespeare's plays--and his world--touring astronomy, code-breaking, color theory, navigation, music, sports, and more.
- How reliable was a pocket sundial?
- Was math illusionist John Dee the real-life Prospero?
- How long was a Scottish mile, and what could you buy for a groat?
- Do Jupiter's moons have a cameo in Cymbeline?
- How did ordinary people use numbers day-to-day?
- And might Shakespeare have tried that game-changing invention--the pencil?
Full of delights for devotees of both Tudor history and the Bard, Much Ado About Numbers is proof that the arts and sciences have always danced together.
2024 Mathical Book Award for Grades 9-12
A Bloomberg Best Book of 2024
Table of Contents:
Prologue
-
Shakespearean Numbers
A Playfulness with Numbers
Huge Numbers
Much Ado About Nothing -
School Life
Math at Grammar School
The Book of Arithmetic
The Seven Liberal Arts
Girls and Math -
Sport and Games
Anyone for Tennis? Or Football?
Hazard and Risk
Nine Men's Morris
Noddy, Primero, and Other Card Games -
Money
Shakespearean Currency
Shakespeare the Accountant?
Borrowing, Lending, and Interest -
Measure for Measure
An Era of Imprecise Measurements
Length and Distance
Telling the Time
Navigation and Maps -
Music, Rhythm, and Dance
The Measure of Dance
Patterns of Verse
Rhyming Patterns
Music as a Mathematical Subject
The Music of the Spheres -
Astronomy and Astrology
Telescopes and Horoscopes
Ruled by the Seven Planets
The Science of Astronomy
The New Calendar -
Colors and the Rainbow
Rainbows in Shakespeare's World
Shakespeare's Colors
The Emerging Math of Color
Putting Ink to Paper
Writing with a Quill
Writing with Ink
Arrival of the Pencil
Printing and Publishing -
Mathematics, Magic, and Witchcraft
John Dee, Mathematician and Magician
The Book of Magic
Think of a Number -
Codes and Conspiracy
Secret Messages and Chronograms
Acrostics and Other Hidden Words
Numerology and Codes
Shakespeare's Calculator
Appendix: Mathematical Asides
Tactics for Winning at Three Men's Morris
The Pythagorean Octave and Dorian Mode
Shakespeare, Orange, and Sir Isaac Newton
Philip Henslowe's Diary
Francis Bacon's Cipher System
A Shakespeare/Historic Event Timeline
Timeline of Shakespeare's Plays and Poems
Bibliography
Acknowledgments
Picture Credits
Index
Review Quotes:
"Presents the Bard's characters as calculating in a way you probably never considered.-- "The Washington Post"
An entertaining look at what really counts in the tragedies, comedies and histories.-- "Boston Herald"
As Eastaway explains, Shakespeare's works are richly adorned with numbers.-- "Financial Times"
This entertaining history . . . succeeds in outlining the mathematical and scientific ideas that trickled into the Bard's plays.-- "Publishers Weekly"
A fascinating and hugely entertaining guide to Shakespearean mathematics.--Sarah Hart, author of Once Upon A Prime
You can count on both Rob Eastaway and Shakespeare to make mathematics entertaining.--Sir Tim Rice
Highly readable. . . . Shakespeare's surprising yet unsurprising mathematical sophistication led to some of his most creative feats.--A Bloomberg Best Book of 2024, selected by Chris Flowers
A spectacular journey. . . . Highly recommended!--Dr. Simon Smith, The Shakespeare Institute
Rob Eastaway has authored and coauthored several bestselling books that connect math with everyday life, including Why Do Buses Come in Threes? and How Many Socks Make a Pair? He is the director of Maths Inspiration, an interactive lecture program that has reached over 250,000 teenagers in the United Kingdom, New York, and Sydney. In 2017, he received the Zeeman Medal for excellence in the public communication of mathematics, and in 2025, he delivered the BSHM Gresham College Lecture on the subject of Shakespeare and mathematics. He lives in London.
Target Age: 15-18
Experiment
Pub Date: September 10, 2024
0.8" H x 8.1" L x 5.3" W
224 Pages
Hardcover