No label defined (Q4040087)

[The articles of this volume will not be indexed individually.] The book represents the collection of 18 lectures given at the conference which took place in Oxford in 1984 and was dedicated mainly to Renaissance mathematics. It contains 4 parts: I. Italian and Provençal mathematics (2 lectures), II. Nicolas Chuquet and French mathematics (6 lectures), III. Mathematics in the 16th century (3 lectures), IV. Mathematics and its ramifications (7 lectures). Especially in part I and II newly discovered manuscripts and new interpretations are introduced. The different authors refer especially to Italian, French and Dutch sources; German and English sources are excluded. The center of discussion is Nicolas Chuquet whose quincentenary was celebrated during this conference. Details of his life and work are investigated, especially Chuquet's relationship to Estienne de La Roche is clarified. Also the significance of Baldassare Boncompagni is treated at some length as well as the role that plays his ``Bullettino di bibliografia...''. The historical background is illustrated with recreational and magic mathematics, the early probability theory and the discovery of the perspective. The last lecture is dedicated to the question ``Why did mathematics begin to take off in the sixteenth century?''. The volume is edited by Cynthia Hay who contributed the introduction and a lecture on the valuation, i.e. reliability of translations. The book really offers an excellent access to Renaissance mathematics.