Mathematical Treasures

Read about Mathematical Treasures in the December 2012/January 2013 issue of MAA FOCUS, the newsmagazine of the Mathematical Association of America. 

http://mathtreasures.blogspot.com/2012/12/enjoy-mathematical-treasures.html

This is a page from a manuscript of the Lilavati of Bhaskara II (1114-1185).  This manuscript dates from 1650.  The rule for the problem illustrated here is in verse 151, while the...

http://mathtreasures.blogspot.com/2012/12/lilavati-of-bhaskara.html

                    These pages are from the 1552 edition of the Practica d'Arithmetica of Francesco Ghaligai (d. 1536). On these pages, Ghaligai proposes a new notation for pow...

http://mathtreasures.blogspot.com/2012/12/francesco-ghaligais-practica.html

Nest of Austrian weights of the 18th century. Selected by D.E.Smith for his collection to illustrate the ancient, “Problem of Weights”. One example of this problem is given by Clau...

http://mathtreasures.blogspot.com/2012/11/austran-weights.html

This is the title page  of A Geometrical Practise Named Pantometria, a guide to applied geometry published by Thomas Digges  (1546-1595) in 1571. Pantometria was completed by Thomas from ...

http://mathtreasures.blogspot.com/2012/11/thomas-digges-pantometria.html

This is the frontispiece of Procli Diadochi by Francesco Barozzi, published in Venice, 1560. Barozzi (1537 - 1604) was a Venetian nobleman, a mathematician, astronomer and humanist. A corres...

http://mathtreasures.blogspot.com/2012/09/francesco-barozzis-procli-diadochi.html

These pages are from the brief work On the Transformation of Curves into Straight Lines, by Hendrick van Heuraet (1634 - 1660), published in the 1659 Latin edition of Descartes's Geometry, ed...

http://mathtreasures.blogspot.com/2012/06/van-heuraets-rectification-of-curves.html

This pages is from the Zhoubi suanjing (Arithmetical Classic of the Gnomon and the Circular Paths of Heaven), a Chinese book on astronomy and mathematics dated to approximately 100 BCE. Th...

http://mathtreasures.blogspot.com/2012/06/zhoubi-suanjing.html

Euclid’s propositions I-46 and I-47 as given in Christopher Clavius’ ( 1538-1612) Elements published in Rome in 1574. Note that Clavius indicates his volume contains 15 books of Euclid....

http://mathtreasures.blogspot.com/2012/06/christopher-claviuss-edition-of-euclids.html

This image is page 263 of Elements of Linear Curves by Jan de Witt  (1625 - 1672). De Witt was a student of Frans van Schooten, who published this work in his 1661 edition of Descartes' Geom...

http://mathtreasures.blogspot.com/2012/06/jan-de-witts-elements-of-curves.html

This page is from the 1536 edition of the Libro di Arithmetica i Geometria of Francesco Feliciano (first half of 16th century). Not much is known about Feliciano, except that he was born in Laz...

http://mathtreasures.blogspot.com/2012/06/francisco-felicianos-libro-di.html

This is the title page of Ain neu geordnet Rechenbiechlin (1514) by Johann Böschenstein (1472-1540). Böschenstein was best known as a professor of Hebrew in several German universities. I...

http://mathtreasures.blogspot.com/2012/05/johann-boschensteins-rechenbuch.html

Pages 202-203 (click to enlarge) of Christian Wolff's Treatise of Algebra . On these pages, Wolff discusses some elements of the theory of equations. Note that he mentions Descartes' rule of sig...

http://mathtreasures.blogspot.com/2012/05/christian-wolffs-treatise-of-algebra.html

This diagram from Michael Stifel's Arithmetica Integra  represents the solution to the pair of simultaneous equations x2 + y2 - (x + y) = 78, xy + (x + y) = 39. Here, the two unknowns are...

http://mathtreasures.blogspot.com/2012/05/michael-stifels-arithmetica-integra.html

A New Treatise of Algebra by Richard Sault  (d. 1702).  Not much is known about Sault, except that he ran a mathematical school in London in the 1690s near the Royal Exchange and was an edit...

http://mathtreasures.blogspot.com/2012/05/richard-saults-new-treatise-of-algebra.html

This is the title page of the Oeuvres Mathematiques of Simon Stevin (1548-1620), edited by Albert Girard (1595 - 1632) and published in 1634. More pages are available on MathDL . Simon St...

http://mathtreasures.blogspot.com/2012/04/simon-stevins-oeuvres-mathematiques.html

This is the title page of the Practica Arithmetice of Gerolamo Cardano (1501-1576), published in 1539.  It was a comprehensive work on arithmetical questions, with numerous practical probl...

http://mathtreasures.blogspot.com/2012/04/gerolamo-cardanos-practica-arithmetice.html

This is the title page of A Compendium of Algebra (1724), written by John Ward, an English mathematicians about whom very little is known.  He was born in 1648 and died sometime around 1730....

http://mathtreasures.blogspot.com/2012/04/john-wards-compendium-of-algebra.html

An example of the use of double false position to solve a problem in two unknowns found in the Arithmeticae Practicae Methodus Facilis (1540), by Gemma Frisius (originally Regnier Gemma) (150...

http://mathtreasures.blogspot.com/2012/04/gemma-frisiuss-arithmeticae-methodus.html

One of two illustrations from the fourteenth century Italian codex,  Antichissimo di Algorismo . This is one of many algorisms written at this time. They were arithmetics designed to introduce t...

http://mathtreasures.blogspot.com/2012/03/antichissimo-di-algorismo.html

Brass protractor from about 1700 of German manufacture. Its base plate contains some Baroque decoration. Note its similarity to a present day student protractor.  German protractor

http://mathtreasures.blogspot.com/2012/03/german-protractor.html

This is the title page of the "New and Fully Revised" Rechenbuch of Simon Jacob (d. 1564), one of the best-known Rechenmeisters of the sixteenth century.  The book was first published in 1...

http://mathtreasures.blogspot.com/2012/03/simon-jacobs-rechenbuch.html

Notched pieces of wood or bone were used by many ancient peoples to record numbers. The most common type of these “tally sticks” was made of wood. Tally sticks served as records or rec...

http://mathtreasures.blogspot.com/2012/03/english-tally-sticks.html

This set of late 19th century sangi, wooden computing rods, originated in Korea. They are contained in their cloth carrying case. Sangi were also used in Japan up until about 1700. These c...

http://mathtreasures.blogspot.com/2012/03/korean-sangi-rods.html

An armillary sphere is a mechanical model of the universe. The metal bands within the spheres represented the circular orbits of the planets revolving around a central Earth or the sun, de...

http://mathtreasures.blogspot.com/2012/02/italian-armillary-sphere.html