The Man Who Counted
A Collection of Mathematical Adventures
by Malba Tahan
translated by Leslie Clark and Alastair Reid
illustrated by Patricia Reid Baquero
W. W. Norton and Company, 1993. First published in Portuguese in Brazil, 1972.
Review written September 14, 2021, from my own copy.
Starred Review
It was a delight to revisit this book, a tale of mathematical feats and curiosities performed in Baghdad by a man who began life as a humble shepherd.
The narrator of the story is a man traveling home to Baghdad who meets Beremiz Samir, a man who can count the number of birds in a flock as they fly by. But his mathematical agility goes beyond counting, as he solves mathematical puzzles for people and gains a post with the vizier in Baghdad.
The stories are told with middle eastern flourishes and the reader is entertained by the situation as well as the many puzzles. Here’s an example of the first puzzle solved:
We had been traveling for a few hours without stopping when there occurred an episode worth retelling, wherein my companion Beremiz put to use his talents as an esteemed cultivator of algebra.
Close to an old, half-abandoned inn, we saw three men arguing heatedly beside a herd of camels. Amid the shouts and insults, the men gestured wildly in fierce debate, and we could hear their angry cries:
“It cannot be!”
“That is robbery!”
“But I do not agree!”The intelligent Beremiz asked them why they were quarreling.
“We are brothers” the oldest explained, “and we received these 35 camels as our inheritance. According to the express wishes of my father, half of them belong to me, one-third to my brother Hamed, and one-ninth to Harim, the youngest. Nevertheless, we do not know how to make the division, and whatever one of us suggests, the other two dispute. Of the solutions tried so far, none have been acceptable. If half of 35 is 17 ½, if neither one-third nor one-ninth of this amount is a precise number, then how can we make the division?”
“Very simple,” said the Man Who Counted. “I promise to make the division fairly, but let me add to the inheritance of 35 camels this splendid beast that brought us here at such an opportune moment.”
Beremiz presents a solution, and continues to present solutions to problems that come his way. He also expounds on fascinating facts about certain numbers and provides interesting history of mathematics. There are a wide variety of problems. I am especially fond of the liars and truth-tellers puzzle at the end.
I will say that Beremiz presents his calculations as if by magic – he doesn’t really explain how the reader, too, could have gotten the solution. So the book gives the impression that magical mathematical geniuses exist. However, for anyone who enjoys mathematical puzzles, the fun in this book will make up for that.
It was a delight to revisit this classic. It’s similar to The Number Devil, by Hans Magnus Enzensberger — perfect for people who like to play with numbers.
Find this review on Sonderbooks at: www.sonderbooks.com/Childrens_Fiction/man_who_counted.html
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