The Earliest Arithmetics in English

Step into a world where numbers first found their English voice. This listening experience brings to life two rare fifteenth‑century treatises that translate and expand medieval Latin arithmetic for merchants and astronomers alike. You’ll hear the quirks of Middle English spelling, the occasional yogh and long s, and the way scribes marked “0” with a Greek phi, all while the narrator explains the practical needs that drove early calculations.

Beyond the quirks of typography, the work reveals how trade, bookkeeping, and the heavens shaped the demand for clear computation long before modern bookkeeping. Listeners learn why most everyday calculations stayed simple, yet scholars of astronomy required precise tables and methods that these texts preserve. The introduction places the manuscripts in their historical setting, detailing the surviving copies and their ties to key medieval scholars, making the evolution of English arithmetic vivid and accessible.