Mayan 273

number symbols and 182–3, 184, 230

Sumerian 73, 81, 83, 86

Yup’ik and 261

beads 4, 7, 61, 62, 64, 73, 82, 181, 253, 276, 285, 287, 289

Blombos Cave and origin of counting with 31, 32–7, 33, 39, 48, 58

Pomo bead money 262–9

shell beads 32, 34–5, 39, 48, 58, 232, 264, 266, 287, 288

suanpan/soroban and 196–203, 198

Bear River people 266

Bede, Venerable: The Reckoning of Time 113, 116–17

bees 28

Bering Strait 253, 256

Bhaskara II 136–7, 142–7, 151, 156, 163, 170, 181; Lilavati 143–7, 144, 145

binary 135, 185, 186, 219, 220, 221

birds 11, 15, 19, 20, 20, 24, 25, 28

Blanche of Castile 121–5, 123, 125, 129, 131, 132

Blombos Cave, South Africa 32, 33, 34–7, 39, 58

board arithmetic 150

boards, counting 6, 82, 99–100, 118–33, 158, 184, 196–7, 288

Chinese 141

‘exchequer’ and 129

first printed descriptions of 127–9, 128

Gerbert of Aurillac’s 158–9, 164

Indian 136

jetons (counters specially struck for use on) 125–6, 125, 129–32

literary references 125

Mayan 273

origins 118–25, 122

place-value system and 158–9, 164

Roman 198

Bodega Bay 264, 265

body-tally systems 235–43, 237

bones 31, 32–3, 34, 35, 38–44, 41, 46, 61, 74, 191, 232, 236, 261, 287

bookkeeping 164–5, 217, 272

Brahmi numerals 136–41, 145, 145, 147–9, 155, 160, 183, 193

branches, story of counting 5–6, 67–285

Buddhism 140, 148

butchery marks 31, 32–3, 38–44, 41

Byzantine empire 106, 148, 149

calculus 120

calendars 42, 116, 174, 230, 260, 273–4, 275, 278

Arabic 160, 161

astrological 138

fertility 46

Gregorian 160

Latin 160

‘long count’ 274

lunar 44, 46

Mayan 273–4, 275, 278