The Man Who Counted: A Collection of Mathematical Adventures

152 Pages·1993·3.99 MB·English

by  Malba Tahan

The man
who counted
a collection of mathematical adventurer
Malba Tahan
Illustrated by Patricia Reid Baqueroe &
Translated by Leslie Clark and Alastair Reid
W. W. Norton & Company New York London
To the memory of seven great geometrists,
Christian or agnostic:
Descartes, Pascal, Newton
Leibniz, Euler, Lagrange, Comte
Allah take pity on these infidels!
and to the memory of the unforgettable mathematician, astronomer,
and Muslim philosopher
Abu Jafar Muhammad ibn-Musa al-Khwarizmi
Allah preserve him in his glory!
and also to all who study, teach, or admire the prodigious science of
scale, form, numbers, measures, functions, movement, and the laws
of nature.
I, pilgrim, descended from the Prophet
Ali Iezid Izz-Edim ibn-Salim Hanak
Malba Tahan
believer in Allah
and in Muhammad, his sacred Prophet
dedicate these pages of legend and fantasy.
—Baghdad, nineteenth day of the moon of Ramadan, 1321
Contents
CHAPTER 1 A meeting of the minds
CHAPTER 2 Someone to count on
CHAPTER 3 Beasts of burden
CHAPTER 4 Food for thought
CHAPTER 5 In so many words
CHAPTER 6 Trial by numbers
CHAPTER 7 Going to market
CHAPTER 8 Seventh heaven
CHAPTER 9 In the stars
CHAPTER 10 Bird in the hand
CHAPTER 11 For good measure
CHAPTER 12 Circular reasoning
CHAPTER 13 Friendship knows no bounds
CHAPTER 14 An eternal truth
CHAPTER 15 Squared away
CHAPTER 16 The game plan
CHAPTER 17 Of apples and ants
CHAPTER 18 A perilous pearl
CHAPTER 19 Sailor’s choice
CHAPTER 20 The power of ten
CHAPTER 21 The writing on the wall
CHAPTER 22 Half and half
CHAPTER 23 All is relative
CHAPTER 24 Eureka!
CHAPTER 25 The questions commence
CHAPTER 26 One for the book
CHAPTER 27 History in the making
CHAPTER 28 False hopes
CHAPTER 29 Single-handed success
CHAPTER 30 Three of a kind
CHAPTER 31 In black and white
CHAPTER 32 A balancing act
CHAPTER 33 Eye to eye
CHAPTER 34 Of life and love
The man who counted

Of the amusing circumstances of my encounter with a strange
traveler on the road from Samarra to Baghdad.
I
n the name of Allah, the All-Merciful!
My name is Hanak Tade Maia. Once I was returning, at my camel’s slow pace, along the road to
Baghdad after an excursion to the famous city of Samarra, on the banks of the Tigris, when I saw a
modestly dressed traveler who was seated on a rock, apparently resting from the fatigue of the
journey.
I was about to offer the perfunctory salaam of travelers when, to my great surprise, he rose and
said ceremoniously, “One million, four hundred and twenty-three thousand, seven hundred and forty-
five.” He quickly sat down and lapsed into silence, his head resting in his hands, as if he were
absorbed in profound meditation. I stopped at some distance and stood watching him, as if he were a
historic monument to the legendary past.
A few moments later, the man again rose to his feet and, in a clear, deliberate voice, called out
another, equally fabulous number, “Two million, three hundred and twenty-one thousand, eight
hundred and sixty-six.”
Several times more the strange traveler rose and uttered a number in the millions, before sinking
down again on the rough stone by the roadside. Unable to restrain my curiosity, I approached the
stranger and, after greeting him in the name of Allah, asked him the meaning of these fantastic sums.
“Stranger,” replied the Man Who Counted, “I do not disapprove of this curiosity that disturbs the
peace of my thoughts and calculations. And now that you have spoken to me with such courtesy and
graciousness, I am going to accede to your wishes. But first I must tell you the story of my life.”
And he told me the following, which, for your entertainment, I transcribe exactly as I heard it.

In which Beremiz Samir, the Man Who Counted, tells the story
of his life. How I learned of the brilliance of his calculations,
and how we became traveling companions.
M
y name is Beremiz Samir. I was born in the little village of Khoi, in Persia, in the
shadow of the huge pyramid of Mount Ararat. While still very young, I began work as a shepherd in
the service of a rich gentleman from Khamat.
“Every day, at first light, I took the vast flock of sheep to graze and was required to bring them
back to their fold before nightfall. For fear of losing a stray lamb and being severely punished as a
consequence, I counted them several times a day.
“I became so good at counting that I could sometimes count the whole flock correctly at a glance. I
went on to count, for practice, flights of birds in the sky. Little by little, I began to develop a great
skill in this art. After a few months— thanks to new and continuing practice counting ants and other
insects—I performed the remarkable feat of counting all the bees in a swarm. This prodigious
calculation, however, was as nothing compared with the many others I later achieved. My generous
master owned, in two or three far-off oases, huge date plantations, and, informed of my mathematical
agility, he charged me with overseeing the sale of his fruit, which I counted in clusters, one by one. I
worked thus, under the date palms, for almost ten years. Pleased with the profits I secured for him, my
good master rewarded me with four months of rest, and I am now on my way to Baghdad to visit some
of my family and to see the beautiful mosques and sumptuous palaces of the famous city. And, so as
not to waste time, I have practiced throughout my journey counting the trees in this region, the flowers
that perfume it, and the birds that fly among its clouds.”
And, pointing to an old fig tree quite close, he went on, “That tree, for example, has two hundred
and eighty-four branches. Given that each branch has, on the average, three hundred and forty-seven
leaves, it is easy to conclude that that tree has a total of ninety-eight thousand, five hundred and forty-
eight leaves. Well, my friend?”
“Wonderful!” I cried in astonishment. “It is incredible that a man can count, at a glance, all the
branches in a tree, all the flowers in a garden. That skill can bring immense riches to anyone.”
“Do you think so?” exclaimed Beremiz. “It has never occurred to me that counting millions of
leaves and swarms of bees could make money. Who could possibly be interested in how many
branches there are in a tree, how many birds in a flight that crosses the sky?”
“Your wondrous skill,” I explained, “could be used in twenty thousand different ways. In a great
capital like Constantinople, or even in Baghdad, you would be of invaluable help to the government.