041516494X.Routledge.Ancient.Mathematics.Sep.2001.pdf

ANCIENT MATHEMATICS

The theorem of Pythagoras, Euclid’s Elements , and Archimedes’ method to

find the volume of a sphere are all parts of the invaluable legacy of ancient

mathematics. Its discoveries and insights continue to amaze and fascinate

the modern reader. But ancient mathematics was also about counting and

measuring, surveying land and attributing mystical significance to the

number six.

This volume offers the first accessible survey of the discipline in all its

variety and diversity of practices. The period covered ranges from the fifth

century BC to the sixth century AD , with the focus on the Mediterranean

region. Topics include:

• mathematics and politics in classical Greece

• the formation of mathematical traditions

• the self-image of mathematicians in the Graeco-Roman period

• mathematics and Christianity

• the use of the mathematical past in late antiquity

There are also segments on historiographical issues – such as the nature

of the evidence on early Greek mathematics, or the problem of the authentic

text of the Elements – as well as individual sections on ancient mathematicians

from Plato and Aristotle to Pappus and Eutocius. Fully illustrated with

plates, drawings and diagrams, and with an extensive bibliography, Ancient

Mathematics will be a valuable reference tool for non-specialists, as well as

essential reading for those studying the history of science.

S. Cuomo is a lecturer at the Centre for the History of Science, Technology

and Medicine, Imperial College, London. She is the author of a book on

Pappus, and of articles on Hero and Frontinus.

SCIENCES OF ANTIQUITY

Series Editor: Roger French

Director, Wellcome Unit for the History of Medicine,

University of Cambridge

Sciences of Antiquity is a series designed to cover the subject matter of what

we call science. The volumes discuss how the ancients saw, interpreted and

handled the natural world, from the elements to the most complex of living

things. Their discussions on these matters formed a resource for those who

later worked on the same topics, including scientists. The intention of this

series is to show what it was in the aims, expectations, problems and

circumstances of the ancient writers that formed the nature of what they

wrote. A consequent purpose is to provide historians with an understanding

of the materials out of which later writers, rather than passively receiving

and transmitting ancient ‘ideas’, constructed their own world view.

ANCIENT ASTROLOGY

Tamsyn Barton

ANCIENT NATURAL HISTORY

Histories of nature

Roger French

COSMOLOGY IN ANTIQUITY

M.R. Wright

ANCIENT MATHEMATICS

S. Cuomo

ANCIENT

MATHEMATICS

S. Cuomo

London and New York

iii

First published in 2001

by Routledge

11 New Fetter Lane, London EC4P 4EE

Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada

by Routledge

29 West 35th Street, New York, NY 10001

Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group

This edition published in the Taylor and Francis e-Library, 2005.

“To purchase your own copy of this or any of Taylor & Francis or Routledge’s

collection of thousands of eBooks please go to www.eBookstore.tandf.co.uk.”

utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now

known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in

any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing

from the publishers.

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data

Cuomo, S. (Serafina)

Ancient mathematics / S. Cuomo.

p. cm. – (Sciences of antiquity)

Includes bibliographical references and index.

1 Mathematics, Ancient. I. Title. II Series.

QA22 .C85 2001

2001019499

ISBN 0-203-99573-2 Master e-book ISBN

ISBN 0–415–16494–X (hbk)

ISBN 0–415–16495–8 (pbk)

510 ′ .93–dc21

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