The Transformation of Mathematics in the Early Mediterranean World
From Problems to Equations

An interesting interpretation of the historical trajectory of pre-modern mathematics.

Reviel Netz (Author)

9780521829960, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 10 June 2004

210 pages
22.4 x 15.4 x 1.7 cm, 0.41 kg

"...recommended reading--for its thought-provoking ideas and lively writing--for those with a serious interest in the mathematics of ancient Greece and medieval Islam." - Mathematical Reviews, J.L. Berggren

The transformation of mathematics from ancient Greece to the medieval Arab-speaking world is here approached by focusing on a single problem proposed by Archimedes and the many solutions offered. In this trajectory Reviel Netz follows the change in the task from solving a geometrical problem to its expression as an equation, still formulated geometrically, and then on to an algebraic problem, now handled by procedures that are more like rules of manipulation. From a practice of mathematics based on the localized solution (and grounded in the polemical practices of early Greek science) we see a transition to a practice of mathematics based on the systematic approach (and grounded in the deuteronomic practices of Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages). With three chapters ranging chronologically from Hellenistic mathematics, through late Antiquity, to the medieval world, Reviel Netz offers an alternate interpretation of the historical journey of pre-modern mathematics.

Acknowledgements
Introduction
1. The problem in the world of Archimedes
2. From Archimedes to Eutocius
3. From Archimedes to Khayyam
Conclusion
References
Index.

Subject Areas: Mathematics & science [P], Western philosophy: Ancient, to c 500 [HPCA]