Capitalism and Arithmetic: The New Math of the 15th Century, Including the Full Text of the Treviso Arithmetic of 1478, Translated by David Eugen

A great discourse on why society could not progress until the number "zero" was used as a place-holder.

The advent of Hindu/Arabic numbers in Europe made possible "algorithmic" calculation. Math schools were established where parents sent their sons to prepare for jobs with merchants, where ability to calculate was a requirement. Curiously, there were many different ways of setting up problems for solution with pencil and paper, and only later on did we agree on the standard "algorithms" for addition, subtraction, etc. that are now taught to children. The ability to compute proportionality, the basis of the money changer's art, was regarded as amazing.