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Author: Henk J.M. Bos
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 1461300878
Category : Mathematics
Languages : en
Pages : 472
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Book Description
In his "Géométrie" of 1637 Descartes achieved a monumental innovation of mathematical techniques by introducing what is now called analytic geometry. Yet the key question of the book was foundational rather than technical: When are geometrical objects known with such clarity and distinctness as befits the exact science of geometry? Classically, the answer was sought in procedures of geometrical construction, in particular by ruler and compass, but the introduction of new algebraic techniques made these procedures insufficient. In this detailed study, spanning essentially the period from the first printed edition of Pappus' "Collection" (1588, in Latin translation) and Descartes' death in 1650, Bos explores the current ideas about construction and geometrical exactness, noting that by the time Descartes entered the field the incursion of algebraic techniques, combined with an increasing uncertainty about the proper means of geometrical problem solving, had produced a certain impasse. He then analyses how Descartes transformed geometry by a redefinition of exactness and by a demarcation of geometry's proper subject and procedures in such a way as to incorporate the use of algebraic methods without destroying the true nature of geometry. Although mathematicians later essentially discarded Descartes' methodological convictions, his influence was profound and pervasive. Bos' insistence on the foundational aspects of the "Géométrie" provides new insights both in the genesis of Descartes' masterpiece and in its significance for the development of the conceptions of mathematical exactness.
Author: Henk J.M. Bos
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 1461300878
Category : Mathematics
Languages : en
Pages : 472
Get Book
Book Description
In his "Géométrie" of 1637 Descartes achieved a monumental innovation of mathematical techniques by introducing what is now called analytic geometry. Yet the key question of the book was foundational rather than technical: When are geometrical objects known with such clarity and distinctness as befits the exact science of geometry? Classically, the answer was sought in procedures of geometrical construction, in particular by ruler and compass, but the introduction of new algebraic techniques made these procedures insufficient. In this detailed study, spanning essentially the period from the first printed edition of Pappus' "Collection" (1588, in Latin translation) and Descartes' death in 1650, Bos explores the current ideas about construction and geometrical exactness, noting that by the time Descartes entered the field the incursion of algebraic techniques, combined with an increasing uncertainty about the proper means of geometrical problem solving, had produced a certain impasse. He then analyses how Descartes transformed geometry by a redefinition of exactness and by a demarcation of geometry's proper subject and procedures in such a way as to incorporate the use of algebraic methods without destroying the true nature of geometry. Although mathematicians later essentially discarded Descartes' methodological convictions, his influence was profound and pervasive. Bos' insistence on the foundational aspects of the "Géométrie" provides new insights both in the genesis of Descartes' masterpiece and in its significance for the development of the conceptions of mathematical exactness.
Author: Henk J M Bos
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781461300885
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 496
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Book Description
Author: K. Neal
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 940170077X
Category : Mathematics
Languages : en
Pages : 182
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Book Description
In the early modern period, a crucial transformation occurred in the classical conception of number and magnitude. Traditionally, numbers were merely collections of discrete units that measured some multiple. Magnitude, on the other hand, was usually described as being continuous, or being divisible into parts that are infinitely divisible. This traditional idea of discrete number versus continuous magnitude was challenged in the early modern period in several ways. This detailed study explores how the development of algebraic symbolism, logarithms, and the growing practical demands for an expanded number concept all contributed to a broadening of the number concept in early modern England. An interest in solving practical problems was not, in itself, enough to cause a generalisation of the number concept. It was the combined impact of novel practical applications together with the concomitant development of such mathematical advances as algebraic notation and logarithms that produced a broadened number concept.
Author: Vincenzo De Risi
Publisher: Springer Nature
ISBN: 3030255727
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 304
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Book Description
The book offers a collection of essays on various aspects of Leibniz’s scientific thought, written by historians of science and world-leading experts on Leibniz. The essays deal with a vast array of topics on the exact sciences: Leibniz’s logic, mereology, the notion of infinity and cardinality, the foundations of geometry, the theory of curves and differential geometry, and finally dynamics and general epistemology. Several chapters attempt a reading of Leibniz’s scientific works through modern mathematical tools, and compare Leibniz’s results in these fields with 19th- and 20th-Century conceptions of them. All of them have special care in framing Leibniz’s work in historical context, and sometimes offer wider historical perspectives that go much beyond Leibniz’s researches. A special emphasis is given to effective mathematical practice rather than purely epistemological thought. The book is addressed to all scholars of the exact sciences who have an interest in historical research and Leibniz in particular, and may be useful to historians of mathematics, physics, and epistemology, mathematicians with historical interests, and philosophers of science at large.
Author: Niccolo Guicciardini
Publisher: MIT Press
ISBN: 0262291657
Category : Mathematics
Languages : en
Pages : 449
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Book Description
An analysis of Newton's mathematical work, from early discoveries to mature reflections, and a discussion of Newton's views on the role and nature of mathematics. Historians of mathematics have devoted considerable attention to Isaac Newton's work on algebra, series, fluxions, quadratures, and geometry. In Isaac Newton on Mathematical Certainty and Method, Niccolò Guicciardini examines a critical aspect of Newton's work that has not been tightly connected to Newton's actual practice: his philosophy of mathematics. Newton aimed to inject certainty into natural philosophy by deploying mathematical reasoning (titling his main work The Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy most probably to highlight a stark contrast to Descartes's Principles of Philosophy). To that end he paid concerted attention to method, particularly in relation to the issue of certainty, participating in contemporary debates on the subject and elaborating his own answers. Guicciardini shows how Newton carefully positioned himself against two giants in the “common” and “new” analysis, Descartes and Leibniz. Although his work was in many ways disconnected from the traditions of Greek geometry, Newton portrayed himself as antiquity's legitimate heir, thereby distancing himself from the moderns. Guicciardini reconstructs Newton's own method by extracting it from his concrete practice and not solely by examining his broader statements about such matters. He examines the full range of Newton's works, from his early treatises on series and fluxions to the late writings, which were produced in direct opposition to Leibniz. The complex interactions between Newton's understanding of method and his mathematical work then reveal themselves through Guicciardini's careful analysis of selected examples. Isaac Newton on Mathematical Certainty and Method uncovers what mathematics was for Newton, and what being a mathematician meant to him.
Author: Adi Louria Hayon
Publisher: Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG
ISBN: 3110664135
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 238
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Book Description
To date, scholars explored Bruce Nauman’s oeuvre through various perspectives, concepts and premises, including linguistics, performance, power and knowledge, sound, the political and more. Amidst this vast and rich field, Nauman’s pieces have been regarded by critics in terms of systematic skepticism, tragic skepticism, skepticism of the medium, and linguistic doubt. This book methodically analyzes the notion of performative skepticism and its relevance to various dimensions of Bruce Nauman’s post-minimalist artistic practice. It is argued that Nauman performs the perpetual failure of perception, hence, demonstrating its doubtful validity to produce certain knowledge without allowing a resolution. This kind of skepticism, here called performative skepticism, exposes the impossibility of epistemological equipment to produce knowledge, and the impossibility of attaining certainty in bridging the gap between knowledge and the real.
Author: Maria Zack
Publisher: Birkhäuser
ISBN: 3319222589
Category : Mathematics
Languages : en
Pages : 192
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Book Description
This volume contains thirteen papers that were presented at the 2014 Annual Meeting of the Canadian Society for History and Philosophy of Mathematics/La Société Canadienne d’Histoire et de Philosophie des Mathématiques, held on the campus of Brock University in St. Catharines, Ontario, Canada. It contains rigorously reviewed modern scholarship on general topics in the history and philosophy of mathematics, as well as on the meeting’s special topic, Early Scientific Computation. These papers cover subjects such as •Physical tools used by mathematicians in the seventeenth century •The first historical appearance of the game-theoretical concept of mixed-strategy equilibrium •George Washington’s mathematical cyphering books •The development of the Venn diagram •The role of Euler and other mathematicians in the development of algebraic analysis •Arthur Cayley and Alfred Kempe’s influence on Charles Peirce's diagrammatic logic •The influence publishers had on the development of mathematical pedagogy in the nineteenth century •A description of the 1924 International Mathematical Congress held in Toronto, told in the form of a “narrated slide show” Written by leading scholars in the field, these papers will be accessible to not only mathematicians and students of the history and philosophy of mathematics, but also anyone with a general interest in mathematics.
Author: Detlef D. Spalt
Publisher: Springer Nature
ISBN: 303100650X
Category : Mathematics
Languages : en
Pages : 265
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Book Description
This book explores the origins of mathematical analysis in an accessible, clear, and precise manner. Concepts such as function, continuity, and convergence are presented with a unique historical point of view. In part, this is accomplished by investigating the impact of and connections between famous figures, like Newton, Leibniz, Johann Bernoulli, Euler, and more. Of particular note is the treatment of Karl Weierstraß, whose concept of real numbers has been frequently overlooked until now. By providing such a broad yet detailed survey, this book examines how analysis was formed, how it has changed over time, and how it continues to evolve today. A Brief History of Analysis will appeal to a wide audience of students, instructors, and researchers who are interested in discovering new historical perspectives on otherwise familiar mathematical ideas.
Author: Francis Borceux
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 3319017330
Category : Mathematics
Languages : en
Pages : 430
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Book Description
This is a unified treatment of the various algebraic approaches to geometric spaces. The study of algebraic curves in the complex projective plane is the natural link between linear geometry at an undergraduate level and algebraic geometry at a graduate level, and it is also an important topic in geometric applications, such as cryptography. 380 years ago, the work of Fermat and Descartes led us to study geometric problems using coordinates and equations. Today, this is the most popular way of handling geometrical problems. Linear algebra provides an efficient tool for studying all the first degree (lines, planes) and second degree (ellipses, hyperboloids) geometric figures, in the affine, the Euclidean, the Hermitian and the projective contexts. But recent applications of mathematics, like cryptography, need these notions not only in real or complex cases, but also in more general settings, like in spaces constructed on finite fields. And of course, why not also turn our attention to geometric figures of higher degrees? Besides all the linear aspects of geometry in their most general setting, this book also describes useful algebraic tools for studying curves of arbitrary degree and investigates results as advanced as the Bezout theorem, the Cramer paradox, topological group of a cubic, rational curves etc. Hence the book is of interest for all those who have to teach or study linear geometry: affine, Euclidean, Hermitian, projective; it is also of great interest to those who do not want to restrict themselves to the undergraduate level of geometric figures of degree one or two.
Author: Ad J. Meskens
Publisher: BRILL
ISBN: 9004447903
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 307
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Book Description
This book offers an analysis of the ground breaking mathematical work of Gregorio a San Vicente and his student and shows that the Flemish Jesuit Mathematics School had profound influence on mathematics in the seventeenth century.
