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1. The Long Legacy of Ptolemy.

Author

Lennart Berggren, J.

Subjects
*ASTROLOGY, *HISTORY of astronomy, *OUTER planets, *MATHEMATICAL proofs, *PHYSICS, *GEOMETRICAL constructions
Abstract

There is no reference to a ninth sphere in the I Almagest i but a number of Arabic and Jewish scholars believed that Ptolemy thought there were nine spheres. In his lead-in paper, "The Ancient Ptolemy", Alexander Jones seeks to present Ptolemy "in the round" and begins by asking which "Ptolemaic" works Ptolemy wrote. But when Ptolemy criticizes some astrological theories Pico uses Ptolemy the astronomer to add weight to the criticisms. The section on Greek and Near Eastern Traditions closes with Boyadar Dimitrov's "'Fort.recte': Witnesses to the Text of Ptolemy's I Tetrabiblos i in Its Near Eastern Transmission", which considers a "fragmentarily preserved, possibly pre-Islamic Syriac translation" of Ptolemy's classic work on astrology (p. 97). [Extracted from the article]

Published
2022
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2. Reading Mathematics in Early Modern Europe: Studies in the Production, Collection, and Use of Mathematical Books.

Author

Otis, Jessica

Subjects
*MATHEMATICS education, *MATHEMATICS, *MATHEMATICAL proofs, *COLLECTIONS, *WITCHCRAFT, *READING
Abstract

Benjamin Wardhaugh starts this section with an examination of the use of marks and more deliberate marginalia in 366 copies of eighteenth-century mathematical books; he finds approximately 85% of books bore varying evidence of use, which is likely an I under i count, particularly with respect to heavily annotated books, which are less likely to have been preserved than cleaner books. Together, these chapters expand our understanding of how university students and scholars - particularly those who would not go on to become professional mathematicians - encountered mathematics and engaged with mathematical books during the early modern period. Overall, this book is a thought-provoking collection of case studies that fulfills its subtitle's promise to explore the production, collection, and - most of all - use of early modern mathematical books. [Extracted from the article]

Published
2021
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