77 research outputs found
Charles Hutton (1737â1823): calendar of correspondence
No full textData generated as part of biographical research project on Charles Hutton (1737â1823) carried out during 2014â2016
‘The Admonitions of a Good-Natured Reader’: marks of use in Georgian mathematical textbooks
No full textMathematical books were printed in Georgian Britain in large numbers, and they survive in large numbers. Many of the surviving copies bear evidence for the ways in which the books were used during the eighteenth century: for some, early owners can be identified; for some, detailed patterns of reading or other types of engagement can be reconstructed. This chapter mines the evidence for what it can tell about the readers or readership of mathematical books in the period. Elementary books on arithmetic, geometry, and mathematics generally are the most heavily marked. Those books intended for use in schools – the three arithmetic primers, Fisher and Ward, and Whiston’s Euclid – have together a mean rate of marking distinctly higher than the average. Practical books teaching practical mathematical techniques – measuring, surveying, fortification, navigation, and accounting – were often similar in size, price, and the quality of print and paper to the longer primers like those of Walkingame or Fisher
Introduction
No full textThis introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book addresses the questions from a variety of perspectives, deploying evidence ranging from micro-historical studies of specific artefacts to wider-ranging surveys of milieus, corpora, and libraries. It examines the reading of learned and classic mathematical texts, including those of Euclid and Tycho. The book considers the reading of mathematical diagrams in a broader perspective, discussing the changes in the nature and function of diagrams in Euclidean print which took place across the early modern period. It also addresses mathematics in the English universities in the seventeenth century. The book offers a close and insightful reading of the several layers of annotation on the copy found in the Whipple Museum in Cambridge of Leonard Digges’ Pantometria, a text which itself is characterized by a multi-layered, multi-author texture and a plurality of voices
Benjamin Wardhaugh : The COMPENDIUM MUSICAE of René Descartes : Early English Responses. Turnhout, BREPOLS (www.brepols.com), 2013
No full textWeber Edith. Benjamin Wardhaugh : The COMPENDIUM MUSICAE of René Descartes : Early English Responses. Turnhout, BREPOLS (www.brepols.com), 2013. In: Cahiers de sociologie économique et culturelle, n°56, 2013. L'insertion des jeunes. pp. 152-154
Greek Mathematics in English: The Work of Sir Thomas L. Heath (1861–1940)
No full textThis short note provides some basic information about the life and work of Sir Thomas Little Heath (1861–1940), the author of well-known English versions of ancient Greek mathematical works. It suggests some of the questions which a study of Heath might ask, and provides brief illustrations of some ways in which his work might be situated intellectually and biographically
Negotiating the Principia: the failure of Newton's arguments to persuade his readers, 1684-94
No full textWhen Isaac Newton’s 'Principia Mathematica' was published in the summer of 1687, it met with immediate acclaim. Through a close examination of contemporary reading notes, this thesis aims to establish the extent to which that acclaim was the result of his peers’ assent to the arguments contained in the book.
It will demonstrate that, so far as can be reliably inferred from the extant documentary evidence, early readers were generally not persuaded by the demonstrations in the 'Principia'. Newton’s peers commonly didn’t scrutinise the arguments in his book; when they did scrutinise them, they commonly didn’t understand them; and when they did understand them, they commonly didn’t agree with them. They frequently disputed the composition of his proofs, the validity of his methodology, and the articulation of his foundational concepts. When circumstances allowed, they communicated these misgivings back to Newton, who often altered his text in response, re-working, re-phrasing and re-structuring his demonstrations. They questioned both the formulation of his method of first and last ratios and his mathematisation of force, and none of the readers for whom there is reliable evidence assented to the entirety of Newton’s proof of the inverse-square law. To the extent that they were persuaded by the correctness of Newton’s conclusions, it was either because they were successfully able to reconstruct his arguments within their pre-existing conceptual frameworks; or because they held face-to-face conversations with the author in which they were able to query, contest and negotiate the composition of his text.
In other words, the book was very ineffective at persuading readers of the validity of the arguments it contained. This means that the acclaim 'Principia' received at the moment of publication was unwarranted: it must have had some cause other than readers’ assent to its demonstrations
The Quarrel on the Invention of the Calculus in Jean E. Montucla and Joseph Jérôme de Lalande, Histoire des Mathématiques (1758/1799–1802)
No full textThe "Epitome of Intellectual Sagacity": Biographical Treatments of Newton as a Mathematician
No full textThe Quarrel on the Invention of the Calculus in Jean E. Montucla and Joseph Jérôme de Lalande, Histoire des Mathématiques (1758/1799–1802)
No full textHow to read: historical mathematics
No full textWritings by early mathematicians feature language and notations that are quite different from what we're familiar with today. Sourcebooks on the history of mathematics provide some guidance, but what has been lacking is a guide tailored to the needs of readers approaching these writings for the first time. How to Read Historical Mathematics fills this gap by introducing readers to the analytical questions historians ask when deciphering historical texts. Sampling actual writings from the history of mathematics, Benjamin Wardhaugh reveals the questions that will unlock the meaning and significaWritings by early mathematicians feature language and notations that are quite different from what we're familiar with today. Sourcebooks on the history of mathematics provide some guidance, but what has been lacking is a guide tailored to the needs of readers approaching these writings for the first time. How to Read Historical Mathematics fills this gap by introducing readers to the analytical questions historians ask when deciphering historical texts. Sampling actual writings from the history of mathematics, Benjamin Wardhaugh reveals the questions that will unlock the meaning and sign
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