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A History Of Greek Mathematics
''A History of Greek Mathematics'' is a book by English historian of mathematics Thomas Heath (classicist), Thomas Heath about history of Greek mathematics. It was published in Oxford in 1921, in two volumes titled Volume I, From Thales to Euclid and Volume II, From Aristarchus to Diophantus. It got positive reviews and is still used today. Ten years later, in 1931, Heath published ''A Manual of Greek Mathematics'', a concise version of the two-volume ''History''. Background Thomas Heath (classicist), Thomas Heath was a British civil servant, whose hobby was Greek mathematics (he called it a "hobby" himself). He published a number of translations of major works of Euclid, Archimedes, Apollonius of Perga and others; most are still used today. Heath wrote in the preface to the book: The work was begun in 1913, but the bulk of it was written, as a distraction, during the first three years of the war, the hideous course of which seemed day by day to enforce the profound truth con ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
A History Of Greek Mathematics V1
A, or a, is the first Letter (alphabet), letter and the first vowel letter of the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''English alphabet#Letter names, a'' (pronounced ), plural ''aes''. It is similar in shape to the Ancient Greek letter alpha, from which it derives. The uppercase version consists of the two slanting sides of a triangle, crossed in the middle by a horizontal bar. The lowercase version is often written in one of two forms: the double-storey and single-storey . The latter is commonly used in handwriting and fonts based on it, especially fonts intended to be read by children, and is also found in italic type. In English, ''English articles, a'' is the indefinite article, with the alternative form ''an''. Name In English, the name of the letter is the ''long A'' sound, pronounced . Its name in most other languages matches the letter's pronunciation in open syllables. History The earliest know ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nicomedes (mathematician)
Nicomedes (; ; c. 280 – c. 210 BC) was an ancient Greek mathematician. Life and work Almost nothing is known about Nicomedes' life apart from references in his works. Studies have stated that Nicomedes was born in about 280 BC and died in about 210 BC. It is known that he lived around the time of Eratosthenes or after, because he criticized Eratosthenes' method of doubling the cube. It is also known that Apollonius of Perga called a curve of his creation a "sister of the Conchoid (mathematics), conchoid", suggesting that he was naming it after Nicomedes' already famous curve. Consequently, it is believed that Nicomedes lived after Eratosthenes and before Apollonius of Perga. Like many geometers of the time, Nicomedes was engaged in trying to solve the problems of doubling the cube and trisecting the angle, both problems we now understand to be impossible using the tools of classical geometry. In the course of his investigations, Nicomedes created the conchoid of Nicomedes; a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Menelaus Of Alexandria
Menelaus of Alexandria (; , ''Menelaos ho Alexandreus''; c. 70 – 140 CE) was a Greek mathematician and astronomer, the first to recognize geodesics on a curved surface as natural analogs of straight lines. Life and works Although very little is known about Menelaus's life, it is supposed that he lived in Rome, where he probably moved after having spent his youth in Alexandria. He was called ''Menelaus of Alexandria'' by both Pappus of Alexandria and Proclus, and a conversation of his with Lucius, held in Rome, is recorded by Plutarch. Ptolemy (2nd century CE) also mentions, in his work ''Almagest'' (VII.3), two astronomical observations made by Menelaus in Rome in January of the year 98. These were occultations of the stars Spica and Beta Scorpii by the moon, a few nights apart. Ptolemy used these observations to confirm precession of the equinoxes, a phenomenon that had been discovered by Hipparchus in the 2nd century BCE. In the 10th-century '' Kitāb al-F ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hipparchus
Hipparchus (; , ; BC) was a Ancient Greek astronomy, Greek astronomer, geographer, and mathematician. He is considered the founder of trigonometry, but is most famous for his incidental discovery of the precession of the equinoxes. Hipparchus was born in Nicaea, Bithynia, and probably died on the island of Rhodes, Greece. He is known to have been a working astronomer between 162 and 127 BC. Hipparchus is considered the greatest ancient astronomical observer and, by some, the greatest overall astronomer of classical antiquity, antiquity. He was the first whose quantitative and accurate models for the motion of the Sun and Moon survive. For this he certainly made use of the observations and perhaps the mathematical techniques accumulated over centuries by the Babylonians and by Meton of Athens (fifth century BC), Timocharis, Aristyllus, Aristarchus of Samos, and Eratosthenes, among others. He developed trigonometry and constructed trigonometric tables, and he solved se ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Trigonometry
Trigonometry () is a branch of mathematics concerned with relationships between angles and side lengths of triangles. In particular, the trigonometric functions relate the angles of a right triangle with ratios of its side lengths. The field emerged in the Hellenistic world during the 3rd century BC from applications of geometry to astronomical studies. The Greeks focused on the calculation of chords, while mathematicians in India created the earliest-known tables of values for trigonometric ratios (also called trigonometric functions) such as sine. Throughout history, trigonometry has been applied in areas such as geodesy, surveying, celestial mechanics, and navigation. Trigonometry is known for its many identities. These trigonometric identities are commonly used for rewriting trigonometrical expressions with the aim to simplify an expression, to find a more useful form of an expression, or to solve an equation. History Sumerian astronomers studied angle me ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Theon Of Smyrna
Theon of Smyrna ( ''Theon ho Smyrnaios'', ''gen.'' Θέωνος ''Theonos''; fl. 100 CE) was a Greek philosopher and mathematician, whose works were strongly influenced by the Pythagorean school of thought. His surviving ''On Mathematics Useful for the Understanding of Plato'' is an introductory survey of Greek mathematics. Life Little is known about the life of Theon of Smyrna. A bust created at his death, and dedicated by his son, was discovered at Smyrna, and art historians date it to around 135 CE. Ptolemy refers several times in his ''Almagest'' to a Theon who made observations at Alexandria, but it is uncertain whether he is referring to Theon of Smyrna.James Evans, (1998), ''The History and Practice of Ancient Astronomy'', New York, Oxford University Press, 1998, p. 49 The lunar impact crater Theon Senior is named for him. Works Theon wrote several commentaries on the works of mathematicians and philosophers of the time, including works on the philosophy of Plato. Most of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nicomachus
Nicomachus of Gerasa (; ) was an Ancient Greek Neopythagorean philosopher from Gerasa, in the Roman province of Syria (now Jerash, Jordan). Like many Pythagoreans, Nicomachus wrote about the mystical properties of numbers, best known for his works ''Introduction to Arithmetic'' and ''Manual of Harmonics'', which are an important resource on Ancient Greek mathematics and Ancient Greek music in the Roman period. Nicomachus' work on arithmetic became a standard text for Neoplatonic education in Late antiquity, with philosophers such as Iamblichus and John Philoponus writing commentaries on it. A Latin paraphrase by Boethius of Nicomachus's works on arithmetic and music became standard textbooks in medieval education. Life Little is known about the life of Nicomachus except that he was a Pythagorean who came from Gerasa. His ''Manual of Harmonics'' was addressed to a lady of noble birth, at whose request Nicomachus wrote the book, which suggests that he was a respected schola ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cleomedes
Cleomedes () was a Greek astronomer who is known chiefly for his book ''On the Circular Motions of the Celestial Bodies'' (Κυκλικὴ θεωρία μετεώρων), also known as ''The Heavens'' (). Placing his work chronologically His birth and death dates are not known—historians have suggested that he wrote his work sometime between the mid-1st century BC and 400 AD. The earlier estimates rely on the fact that Cleomedes refers extensively in his writing to the work of mathematician and astronomer Posidonius of Rhodes (c. 135 – c. 51 BC), and yet seemingly not at all to the work of Ptolemy (c. 100 – c. 170 AD). (Cleomedes also refers to Aristotle (384–322 BC), Pytheas of Massalia (310–306 BC), Aratus (c. 315/310 BC – 240 BC), Eratosthenes (276–195 BC), and Hipparchus (c. 190 – c. 120 BC). These conclusions have been challenged on the grounds that Cleomedes' work was in relatively elementary astronomy, and that reference to Ptolemy would no ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Geminus
Geminus of Rhodes (), was a Greek astronomer and mathematician, who flourished in the 1st century BC. An astronomy work of his, the ''Introduction to the Phenomena'', still survives; it was intended as an introductory astronomy book for students. He also wrote a work on mathematics, of which only fragments quoted by later authors survive. Life Nothing is known about the life of Geminus. It is not even certain that he was born in Rhodes, but references to mountains on Rhodes in his astronomical works suggests that he worked there. His dates are not known with any certainty either. A passage in his works referring to the ''Annus Vagus'' (Wandering Year) of the Egyptian calendar of 120 years before his own time, has been used to imply a date of c. 70 BC for the time of writing, which would be consistent with the idea that he may have been a pupil of Posidonius, but a date as late as 50 AD has also been suggested. The crater Geminus on the Moon is named after him. Astronomy The ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Posidonius
Posidonius (; , "of Poseidon") "of Apameia" (ὁ Ἀπαμεύς) or "of Rhodes" (ὁ Ῥόδιος) (), was a Greeks, Greek politician, astronomer, astrologer, geographer, historian, mathematician, and teacher native to Apamea (Syria), Apamea, Syria. He was considered the most learned man of his time and, possibly, of the entire Stoicism, Stoic school. After a period learning Stoicism, Stoic philosophy from Panaetius in Athens, he spent many years in travel and scientific researches in Spain, Africa, Italy, Gaul, Liguria, Sicily and on the eastern shores of the Adriatic. He settled as a teacher at Rhodes where his fame attracted numerous scholars. Next to Panaetius he did most, by writings and personal lectures, to spread Stoicism to the Roman world, and he became well known to many leading men, including Pompey and Cicero. His works are now lost, but they proved a mine of information to later writers. The titles and subjects of more than twenty of them are known. In common w ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dionysodorus
Dionysodorus of Caunus (, c. 250 BC – c. 190 BC) was an ancient Greek mathematician. Life and work Little is known about the life of Dionysodorus. Pliny the Elder writes about a Dionysodorus who measured the Earth's circumference, however he is probably the one from Melos and different both from the one from Caunus and from Dionysodorus of Amisene; Strabo differentiates between the latter two mathematicians. Dionysodorus is remembered for solving the cubic equation by means of the intersection of a rectangular hyperbola and a parabola. Eutocius credits Dionysodorus with the method of cutting a sphere into a given ratio, as described by him. Heron mentions a work by Dionysauras entitled ''On the Tore'', in which the volume of a torus is calculated and found to be equal to the area of the generating circle multiplied by the circumference of the circle created by tracing the center of the generating circle as it rotates about the torus's axis of revolution. Dionysodorus used A ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hypsicles
Hypsicles (; c. 190 – c. 120 BCE) was an ancient Greek mathematician and astronomer known for authoring ''On Ascensions'' (Ἀναφορικός) and possibly the Book XIV of Euclid's ''Elements''. Hypsicles lived in Alexandria. Life and work Although little is known about the life of Hypsicles, it is believed that he authored the astronomical work ''On Ascensions''. The mathematician Diophantus of Alexandria noted on a definition of polygonal numbers, due to Hypsicles: On Ascensions In ''On Ascensions'' (Ἀναφορικός and sometimes translated ''On Rising Times''), Hypsicles proves a number of propositions on arithmetical progressions and uses the results to calculate approximate values for the times required for the signs of the zodiac to rise above the horizon. It is thought that this is the work from which the division of the circle into 360 parts may have been adopted since it divides the day into 360 parts, a division possibly suggested by Babylonian astronom ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
