Comparative analysis in Greek geometry

DOI10.1016/J.HM.2011.09.002MaRDI QIDQ656709zbMATH OpenOpenAlexFDO

Authors Nathan Sidoli, Ken Saito

Publication date 13 January 2012

Published in Historia Mathematica (Search for Journal in Brave)

Full work available at URL https://doi.org/10.1016/j.hm.2011.09.002

Mathematics Subject Classification ID

History of Greek and Roman mathematics (01A20) History of mathematics in the Golden Age of Islam (01A30)

Review text

The authors point out that in addition to the geometric analysis known from Euclid and other classical authors in some works (they point to Apollonius's Cutting off a ratio and certain parts of Books vi and vii of Pappus) where analysis is used to determine relations which are not equalities or identities. They elucidate the structure of these texts, which differ from classical analysis. They conclude with some arguments that seek to indicate that these texts should be regarded as evidence for a body of heuristic techniques. In addition to the topic as described above, the paper merits attention for some technical details. I do not know whether much can be concluded from the involved argument of Pappus vii Prop. 26 since in the following Prop. 27 he gives a very simple proof of the same proposition. It looks more that Prop. 26 is copied from an unknown source and Prop. 28 his own proof. This naturally would reinforce the authors' thesis that at least for Pappus this kind of reasoning was used as heuristic inspiration. Since Apollonius's Cutting off has not survived in Greek and is known to us only in an Arabic translation of unknown authorship (edited and translated by Rashed and Bellosta), the authors also make an effort to determine the Greek words underlying the Arabic technical terms. On p. 15 they note that the editors preferred an Arabic expression which would mean ``we limit this question (problem) that differs from the manuscript. But among the many meanings of a contained word -- ``to be serious about, unsuitable for a mathematical text, in addition to ``to try hard -- one finds (Syrian) ``to be new used instead of this. The latter seems better suited than the authors' nondescript ``to find as introducing a problem to treated heuristically.

Recommendations

• Greek Geometrical Analysis
• ANALYSIS IN GREEK GEOMETRY
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• Greek geometrical analysis: method and methodology in Pappus' \textit{Collectio}.
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Cited in

(14)

• Sophistic aspects of Pappus \textit{Collection}.
• Federico Commandino and the Latin edition of Pappus' \textit{Collection}
• The role and development of geometric analysis and synthesis in ancient Greece and Medieval Islam
• Greek geometrical analysis: method and methodology in Pappus' \textit{Collectio}.
• Exceeding and Falling Short: Elliptical and Hyperbolical Application of Areas
• scientific article; zbMATH DE number 26174 (Why is no real title available?)
• scientific article; zbMATH DE number 1943950 (Why is no real title available?)
• Composition and removal of ratios in geometric and logistic texts from the Hellenistic to the Byzantine period
• ANALYSIS IN GREEK GEOMETRY
• The function of diorism in ancient Greek analysis
• Aristotle and Greek geometrical analysis
• Analysis, si uti scias, potens est. Reappraisal of heuristic power of Greek geometrical analysis
• Rigorous purposes of analysis in Greek geometry
• The problem of Apollonius in the Urbino School

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