2 Archimedes
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Squaring the Circle a Case Study in the History of Mathematics the Problem
Squaring the Circle A Case Study in the History of Mathematics The Problem Using only a compass and straightedge, construct for any given circle, a square with the same area as the circle. The general problem of constructing a square with the same area as a given figure is known as the Quadrature of that figure. So, we seek a quadrature of the circle. The Answer It has been known since 1822 that the quadrature of a circle with straightedge and compass is impossible. Notes: First of all we are not saying that a square of equal area does not exist. If the circle has area A, then a square with side √A clearly has the same area. Secondly, we are not saying that a quadrature of a circle is impossible, since it is possible, but not under the restriction of using only a straightedge and compass. Precursors It has been written, in many places, that the quadrature problem appears in one of the earliest extant mathematical sources, the Rhind Papyrus (~ 1650 B.C.). This is not really an accurate statement. If one means by the “quadrature of the circle” simply a quadrature by any means, then one is just asking for the determination of the area of a circle. This problem does appear in the Rhind Papyrus, but I consider it as just a precursor to the construction problem we are examining. The Rhind Papyrus The papyrus was found in Thebes (Luxor) in the ruins of a small building near the Ramesseum.1 It was purchased in 1858 in Egypt by the Scottish Egyptologist A. -
Plato As "Architectof Science"
Plato as "Architectof Science" LEONID ZHMUD ABSTRACT The figureof the cordialhost of the Academy,who invitedthe mostgifted math- ematiciansand cultivatedpure research, whose keen intellectwas able if not to solve the particularproblem then at least to show the methodfor its solution: this figureis quite familiarto studentsof Greekscience. But was the Academy as such a centerof scientificresearch, and did Plato really set for mathemati- cians and astronomersthe problemsthey shouldstudy and methodsthey should use? Oursources tell aboutPlato's friendship or at leastacquaintance with many brilliantmathematicians of his day (Theodorus,Archytas, Theaetetus), but they were neverhis pupils,rather vice versa- he learnedmuch from them and actively used this knowledgein developinghis philosophy.There is no reliableevidence that Eudoxus,Menaechmus, Dinostratus, Theudius, and others, whom many scholarsunite into the groupof so-called"Academic mathematicians," ever were his pupilsor close associates.Our analysis of therelevant passages (Eratosthenes' Platonicus, Sosigenes ap. Simplicius, Proclus' Catalogue of geometers, and Philodemus'History of the Academy,etc.) shows thatthe very tendencyof por- trayingPlato as the architectof sciencegoes back to the earlyAcademy and is bornout of interpretationsof his dialogues. I Plato's relationship to the exact sciences used to be one of the traditional problems in the history of ancient Greek science and philosophy.' From the nineteenth century on it was examined in various aspects, the most significant of which were the historical, philosophical and methodological. In the last century and at the beginning of this century attention was paid peredominantly, although not exclusively, to the first of these aspects, especially to the questions how great Plato's contribution to specific math- ematical research really was, and how reliable our sources are in ascrib- ing to him particular scientific discoveries. -
Unit 3, Lesson 1: How Well Can You Measure?
GRADE 7 MATHEMATICS NAME DATE PERIOD Unit 3, Lesson 1: How Well Can You Measure? 1. Estimate the side length of a square that has a 9 cm long diagonal. 2. Select all quantities that are proportional to the diagonal length of a square. A. Area of a square B. Perimeter of a square C. Side length of a square 3. Diego made a graph of two quantities that he measured and said, “The points all lie on a line except one, which is a little bit above the line. This means that the quantities can’t be proportional.” Do you agree with Diego? Explain. 4. The graph shows that while it was being filled, the amount of water in gallons in a swimming pool was approximately proportional to the time that has passed in minutes. a. About how much water was in the pool after 25 minutes? b. Approximately when were there 500 gallons of water in the pool? c. Estimate the constant of proportionality for the number of gallons of water per minute going into the pool. Unit 3: Measuring Circles Lesson 1: How Well Can You Measure? 1 GRADE 7 MATHEMATICS NAME DATE PERIOD Unit 3: Measuring Circles Lesson 1: How Well Can You Measure? 2 GRADE 7 MATHEMATICS NAME DATE PERIOD Unit 3, Lesson 2: Exploring Circles 1. Use a geometric tool to draw a circle. Draw and measure a radius and a diameter of the circle. 2. Here is a circle with center and some line segments and curves joining points on the circle. Identify examples of the following. -
Archimedes and Pi
Archimedes and Pi Burton Rosenberg September 7, 2003 Introduction Proposition 3 of Archimedes’ Measurement of a Circle states that π is less than 22/7 and greater than 223/71. The approximation πa ≈ 22/7 is referred to as Archimedes Approximation and is very good. It has been reported that a 2000 B.C. Babylonian approximation is πb ≈ 25/8. We will compare these two approximations. The author, in the spirit of idiot’s advocate, will venture his own approximation of πc ≈ 19/6. The Babylonian approximation is good to one part in 189, the author’s, one part in 125, and Archimedes an astonishing one part in 2484. Archimedes’ approach is to circumscribe and inscribe regular n-gons around a unit circle. He begins with a hexagon and repeatedly subdivides the side to get 12, 24, 48 and 96-gons. The semi-circumference of these polygons converge on π from above and below. In modern terms, Archimede’s derives and uses the cotangent half-angle formula, cot x/2 = cot x + csc x. In application, the cosecant will be calculated from the cotangent according to the (modern) iden- tity, csc2 x = 1 + cot2 x Greek mathematics dealt with ratio’s more than with numbers. Among the often used ratios are the proportions among the sides of a triangle. Although Greek mathematics is said to not know trigonometric functions, we shall see how conversant it was with these ratios and the formal manipulation of ratios, resulting in a theory essentially equivalent to that of trigonometry. For the circumscribed polygon We use the notation of the Dijksterhuis translation of Archimedes. -
Archimedes Palimpsest a Brief History of the Palimpsest Tracing the Manuscript from Its Creation Until Its Reappearance Foundations...The Life of Archimedes
Archimedes Palimpsest A Brief History of the Palimpsest Tracing the manuscript from its creation until its reappearance Foundations...The Life of Archimedes Birth: About 287 BC in Syracuse, Sicily (At the time it was still an Independent Greek city-state) Death: 212 or 211 BC in Syracuse. His age is estimated to be between 75-76 at the time of death. Cause: Archimedes may have been killed by a Roman soldier who was unaware of who Archimedes was. This theory however, has no proof. However, the dates coincide with the time Syracuse was sacked by the Roman army. The Works of Archimedes Archimedes' Writings: • Balancing Planes • Quadrature of the Parabola • Sphere and Cylinder • Spiral Lines • Conoids and Spheroids • On Floating Bodies • Measurement of a Circle • The Sandreckoner • The Method of Mechanical Problems • The Stomachion The ABCs of Archimedes' work Archimedes' work is separated into three Codeces: Codex A: Codex B: • Balancing Planes • Balancing Planes • Quadrature of the Parabola • Quadrature of the Parabola • Sphere and Cylinder • On Floating Bodies • Spiral Lines Codex C: • Conoids and Spheroids • The Method of Mechanical • Measurement of a Circle Problems • The Sand-reckoner • Spiral Lines • The Stomachion • On Floating Bodies • Measurement of a Circle • Balancing Planes • Sphere and Cylinder The Reappearance of the Palimpsest Date: On Thursday, October 29, 1998 Location: Christie's Acution House, NY Selling price: $2.2 Million Research on Palimpsest was done by Walter's Art Museum in Baltimore, MD The Main Researchers Include: William Noel Mike Toth Reviel Netz Keith Knox Uwe Bergmann Codex A, B no more Codex A and B no longer exist. -
Apollonius of Pergaconics. Books One - Seven
APOLLONIUS OF PERGACONICS. BOOKS ONE - SEVEN INTRODUCTION A. Apollonius at Perga Apollonius was born at Perga (Περγα) on the Southern coast of Asia Mi- nor, near the modern Turkish city of Bursa. Little is known about his life before he arrived in Alexandria, where he studied. Certain information about Apollonius’ life in Asia Minor can be obtained from his preface to Book 2 of Conics. The name “Apollonius”(Apollonius) means “devoted to Apollo”, similarly to “Artemius” or “Demetrius” meaning “devoted to Artemis or Demeter”. In the mentioned preface Apollonius writes to Eudemus of Pergamum that he sends him one of the books of Conics via his son also named Apollonius. The coincidence shows that this name was traditional in the family, and in all prob- ability Apollonius’ ancestors were priests of Apollo. Asia Minor during many centuries was for Indo-European tribes a bridge to Europe from their pre-fatherland south of the Caspian Sea. The Indo-European nation living in Asia Minor in 2nd and the beginning of the 1st millennia B.C. was usually called Hittites. Hittites are mentioned in the Bible and in Egyptian papyri. A military leader serving under the Biblical king David was the Hittite Uriah. His wife Bath- sheba, after his death, became the wife of king David and the mother of king Solomon. Hittites had a cuneiform writing analogous to the Babylonian one and hi- eroglyphs analogous to Egyptian ones. The Czech historian Bedrich Hrozny (1879-1952) who has deciphered Hittite cuneiform writing had established that the Hittite language belonged to the Western group of Indo-European languages [Hro]. -
On Archimedes' Measurement of a Circle, Proposition 3
On Archimedes’ Measurement of a circle, Proposition 3 Mark Reeder February 2 1 10 The ratio of the circumference of any circle to its diameter is less than 3 7 but greater than 3 71 . Having related the area of a circle to its perimeter in Prop. 1, Archimedes next approximates the circle perimeter with circumscribed and inscribed regular polygons and then finds good rational estimates for these polygon perimeters, thereby approximating the ratio of circumference to diameter. The main geometric step is to see how the polygon perimeter changes when the number of sides is doubled. We will consider the circumscribed case. Let AC be a side of a regular circumscribing polygon, and let AD be a side of a regular polygon with the number of sides doubled. C D θ O A θ B To make Archimedes’ computation easier to follow, let x = AC, y = AD, r = OA, c = OC, d = OD. We want to express the new ratio y/r in terms of the old ratio x/r. But these numbers will be very small after a few subdivisions, so they will be difficult to estimate. Instead, we will express r/y in terms of r/x. These are big numbers, which can be estimated by integers. 1 From Euclid VI.3, an angle bisector divides the opposite side in the same ratio as the other two sides of a triangle. Hence CD : DA = OC : OA. In our notation, this means x − y c x c + r r r c = , or = , or = + . y r y r y x x From Euclid I.47, we have r c r2 = 1 + , x x2 so that r r r r2 = + 1 + (1) y x x2 Thus, the new ratio r/y is expressed in terms of the old ratio r/x, as desired. -
MAT 211 Biography Paper & Class Presentation
Name: Spring 2011 Mathematician: Due Date: MAT 211 Biography Paper & Class Presentation “[Worthwhile mathematical] tasks should foster students' sense that mathematics is a changing and evolving domain, one in which ideas grow and develop over time and to which many cultural groups have contributed. Drawing on the history of mathematics can help teachers to portray this idea…” (NCTM, 1991) You have been assigned to write a brief biography of a person who contributed to the development of geometry. Please prepare a one-page report summarizing your findings and prepare an overhead transparency (or Powerpoint document) to guide your 5-minute, in-class presentation. Please use this sheet as your cover page. Include the following sections and use section headers (Who? When? etc.) in your paper. 1. Who? Who is the person you are describing? Provide the full name. 2. When? When did the person live? Be as specific as you can, including dates of birth and death, if available. 3. Where? Where did the person live? Be as specific as you can. If this varied during the person’s lifetime, describe the chronology of the various locations and how they connected to significant life events (birth, childhood, university, work life). 4. What? What did he or she contribute to geometry, mathematics, or other fields? Provide details on topics, well-known theorems, and results. If you discover any interesting anecdotes about the person, or “firsts” that he or she accomplished, include those here. 5. Why? How is this person’s work connected to the geometry we are currently discussing in class? Why was this person’s work historically significant? Include mathematical advances that resulted from this person’s contributions. -
Post-Euclid Greek Mathematics
Archimedes Apollonius and the Conics How Apollonius described and classified the conic sections Some high points of Greek mathematics after Euclid Algebra Through History October 2019 Algebra Through History Greek Math Post Euclid Archimedes Apollonius and the Conics How Apollonius described and classified the conic sections Outline 1 Archimedes 2 Apollonius and the Conics 3 How Apollonius described and classified the conic sections Algebra Through History Greek Math Post Euclid Archimedes Apollonius and the Conics How Apollonius described and classified the conic sections Who was Archimedes? Lived ca. 287 - 212 BCE, mostly in Greek city of Syracuse in Sicily Studied many topics in what we would call mathematics, physics, engineering (less distinction between them at the time) We don’t know much about his actual life; much of his later reputation was based on somewhat dubious anecdotes, e.g. the “eureka moment,” inventions he was said to have produced to aid in defense of Syracuse during Roman siege in which he was killed, etc. Perhaps most telling: we do know he designed a tombstone for himself illustrating the discovery he wanted most to be remembered for (discussed by Plutarch, Cicero) Algebra Through History Greek Math Post Euclid Archimedes Apollonius and the Conics How Apollonius described and classified the conic sections Figure: Sphere inscribed in cylinder of equal radius 3Vsphere = 2Vcyl and Asphere = Acyl (lateral area) Algebra Through History Greek Math Post Euclid Archimedes Apollonius and the Conics How Apollonius described and classified the conic sections Surviving works On the Equilibrium of Planes (2 books) On Floating Bodies (2 books) Measurement of a Circle On Conoids and Spheroids On Spirals On the Sphere and Cylinder (2 books) Algebra Through History Greek Math Post Euclid Archimedes Apollonius and the Conics How Apollonius described and classified the conic sections Surviving works, cont. -
Archimedes and Liu Hui on Circles and Spheres Joseph W
www.ontologia.net/studies Ontology Studies 10, 2010 21-38 Archimedes and Liu Hui on Circles and Spheres Joseph W. Dauben Department of History Herbert H. Lehman College and Ph.D. Program in History The Graduate Center The City University of New York Reception date / Fecha de recepción: 27-05-2009 Acceptation date / Fecha de aceptación: 22-06-2009 Abstract This article describes the mystery of a long lost codex of Archimedes that resurfaced briefly at the turn of the last century by Johan Ludwig Heiberg. Long enough for the Danish historian of mathematics Heiberg to identify, photograph and eventually transcribe “The Method” and several other works by Archimedes of considerable mathematical interest. In 1879 Heiberg completed his dissertation, Quaestiones Archimedeae, devoted to Archimedes’ life, works, and transmission of his texts. Keywords: Archimedes, Ephodos, Method, Johan Ludwig Heiberg. Resumen. Arquímedes y Hui Liu en torno a círculos y esferas. Este artículo describe el misterio de un códice de Arquímedes perdido hace mucho tiempo que reapareció brevemente a principios del siglo pasado de la mano de Johan Ludwig Heiberg. Tiempo suficiente para que el historiador danés de las matemáticas Heiberg pudiese identificar, fotografiar y, finalmente, transcribir “El Método” y varias otras obras de Arquímedes de interés matemático considerable. En 1879 Heiberg completó su tesis doctoral, Quaestiones Archimedeae, dedicado a la vida de Arquímedes, las obras, y la transmisión de sus textos. Palabras clave: Arquímedes, ephodos, método, Johan Ludwig Heiberg. This story begins with a mystery—the mystery of a long lost codex of Archimedes that resurfaced briefly at the turn of the last century, long enough for the Danish historian of mathematics Johan Ludwig Heiberg to identify, photograph and eventually transcribe “The Method” and several other works by Archimedes of considerable mathematical 22 Ontology Studies 10, 2010 Joseph W. -
A Short History of Greek Mathematics
Cambridge Library Co ll e C t i o n Books of enduring scholarly value Classics From the Renaissance to the nineteenth century, Latin and Greek were compulsory subjects in almost all European universities, and most early modern scholars published their research and conducted international correspondence in Latin. Latin had continued in use in Western Europe long after the fall of the Roman empire as the lingua franca of the educated classes and of law, diplomacy, religion and university teaching. The flight of Greek scholars to the West after the fall of Constantinople in 1453 gave impetus to the study of ancient Greek literature and the Greek New Testament. Eventually, just as nineteenth-century reforms of university curricula were beginning to erode this ascendancy, developments in textual criticism and linguistic analysis, and new ways of studying ancient societies, especially archaeology, led to renewed enthusiasm for the Classics. This collection offers works of criticism, interpretation and synthesis by the outstanding scholars of the nineteenth century. A Short History of Greek Mathematics James Gow’s Short History of Greek Mathematics (1884) provided the first full account of the subject available in English, and it today remains a clear and thorough guide to early arithmetic and geometry. Beginning with the origins of the numerical system and proceeding through the theorems of Pythagoras, Euclid, Archimedes and many others, the Short History offers in-depth analysis and useful translations of individual texts as well as a broad historical overview of the development of mathematics. Parts I and II concern Greek arithmetic, including the origin of alphabetic numerals and the nomenclature for operations; Part III constitutes a complete history of Greek geometry, from its earliest precursors in Egypt and Babylon through to the innovations of the Ionic, Sophistic, and Academic schools and their followers. -
What Does Euclid Have to Say About the Foundations Of
WHAT DOES EUCLID HAVE TO SAY ABOUT THE FOUNDATIONS OF COMPUTER SCIENCE? D. E. STEVENSON Abstract. It is fair to say that Euclid's Elements has b een a driving factor in the developmentof mathematics and mathematical logic for twenty-three centuries. The author's own love a air with mathematics and logic start with the Elements. But who was the man? Do we know anything ab out his life? What ab out his times? The contemp orary view of Euclid is much di erent than the man presented in older histories. And what would Euclid say ab out the status of computer science with its rules ab out everything? 1. Motivations Many older mathematicians mayhave started their love a air with mathematics with a high scho ol course in plane geometry. Until recently, plane geometry was taught from translations of the text suchasby Heath [5]. In myown case, it was the neat, clean picture presented with its neat, clean pro ofs. I would guess that over the twenty-three hundred year history of the text, Euclid must be the all-time, b est selling mathematics textb o ok author. At the turn of the last century, David Hilb ert also found a love of Euclid. So much so that Hilb ert was moved to prop ose his Formalist program for mathematics. Grossly over-simpli ed, Hilb ert prop osed that mathematics was a \meaningless game" in that the rules of logic preordained the results indep endent of any interpretation. Hilb ert was rather vehemently opp osed by L. E.