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Alex Bellos tells the story of The Man Who Counted, a book of 'Arabic' mathematical tales written by middle-eastern scholar Malba Tahan. Published in Brazil in the 1930s, it became a huge success. Malba Tahan's birthday, May 6, is now celebrated as Brazil's National Day of Mathematics. But the author was not who everybody thought he was.

(Photo credit: Official family collection/malbatah.com.br)