Today I would like to talk about the places mathematics and mathematical pedagogy in particular appear in the Latin writing of the medieval world.
Medieval Studies and STEM
July 26, 2015 By
Here are 15 ways that medieval studies and STEM are working together.
Mathematical games in Europe around the year 1000
April 13, 2015 By
This paper addresses the question: which board games could Gerbert have played? There are also astronomical games.
Medieval Math Problems
January 22, 2015 By
A messenger is sent to a town and advances daily by twenty miles. In how many days will another messenger, sent five days later and advancing daily by thirty miles, overtake him?
Experience and Meaning in the Cathedral Labyrinth Pilgrimage
January 15, 2014 By
A medieval design based in Sacred Geometry principles, this unicursal path through concentric circles is a metaphorical container for spiritualjourneying.
Four Medieval Manuscripts With Mathematical Games
January 9, 2014 By
Focuses on the medieval manuscripts of Bodleian Library, Sussex College, Gonville and Caius College that present mathematical games. How the Josephus Problem was presented in Bodleian Library manuscript; Explanation on symbols in Sussex College manuscript which describe the Josephus Problem; Errors of presenting the problem founded in the manuscript of Gonville and Caius College.
Literature, Logic and Mathematics in the Fourteenth Century
September 27, 2013 By
This thesis assesses the extent to which fourteenth-century Middle English poets were interested in, and influenced by, traditions of thinking about logic and mathematics.
The Transmission of Medieval Mathematics and the Origins of Gothic Architecture
August 14, 2013 By
Mathematics and art history, two seemingly separate fields, ultimately relate to and complement one another through the medium of architecture.
The Calamitous Fourteenth Century in England: All Doom and Gloom?
May 28, 2013 By
This was a fantastic paper given at the Crown and Country in Late medieval England session at KZOO. There were only two papers but both were interesting and enjoyable. This paper delved into the history of science in late medieval England and examined why the fourteenth century, a time that is usually synonymous with doom and gloom, plague and uprising, wasn’t all that bad upon closer observation.
The Scientific World of the Crown of Aragon under James I
March 3, 2013 By
This article seeks to provide a general overview of the cultural landscape during the reign of James I, with a particular focus on science.
Hidden in Plain Sight: The “Pietre di Paragone” and the Preeminence of Medieval Measurements in Communal Italy
February 11, 2013 By
Propelled by an active engagement with measurements, the medieval communes devised a revolutionary method to preserve these measurements, which I call Pietre di Paragone.
The Oxford Calculators
January 7, 2013 By
Oxford’s medieval philosophers deserve greater recognition, says Mark Thakkar
Jacopo da Firenze and the beginning of Italian vernacular algebra
December 15, 2012 By
Whatever the reason, nobody seems to have taken an interest in the treatise before Warren Van Egmond inspected it in the mid-seventies during the preparation of his global survey of Italian Renaissance manuscripts concerned with practical mathematics.
History of Mathematics Education in the European Middle Ages
August 7, 2012 By
From the point of view of mathematics education, the Dark Ages are even ‘darker’ than other aspects of literate culture.
Rithmomachia: the lost mathematical treasure of the dark ages
June 12, 2012 By
Many presume that the inventor of Rithmomachia is Boethius or perhaps even Pythagoras. The oldest piece of written evidence dating back to 1030, however, depicts the original creator to be a monk named Asilo.
Thomas Bradwardine: Forgotten Medieval Augustinian
May 20, 2012 By
In spite of this dearth of scholarly publications on Bradwardine, he deserves serious consideration. From a church historical perspective, he represents a resurgence of a relatively pure Augustinianism in the late Middle Ages.
The Alcuin number of a graph
February 28, 2012 By
A man had to transport to the far side of a river a wolf, a goat, and a bundle of cabbages. The only boat he could find was one which would carry only two of them. For that reason he sought a plan which would enable them all to get to the far side unhurt. Let him, who is able, say how it could be possible to transport them safely?
How a Medieval Troubadour Became a Mathematical Figure
December 27, 2011 By
Lyric poetry of the Middle Ages may seem far removed from subgroups of the symmetric group or primitive roots of finite fields. However, one piece of medieval poetry has led to work in these mathematical disciplines, namely a sestina written in the Romance language of Old Occitan by a troubadour named Arnaut Daniel
Of Our Own Nation: John Wallis’s Account of Mathematical Learning in Medieval England
December 11, 2011 By
In A treatise of algebra both historical and practical, John Wallis wrote the first survey of the state of mathematical learning in medieval England, and discussed with particular care the arrival and significance of the Hindu–Arabic numeral system
Mathematics at Chartres Cathedral
August 18, 2011 By
The present cathedral was built over a thirty year period, begun in 1194, almost immediately after a devastating fire destroyed most of the previous building.
Islamic tilings of the Alhambra Palace: teaching the beauty of mathematics
August 4, 2011 By
What geometry was needed by artisans in the Middle Ages to create the beautiful symmetric tilings of the Alhambra Palace in Granada, Spain?
Art, Mathematics and Architecture for Humanistic Renaissance: the Platonic Solids
April 22, 2011 By
Art, Mathematics and Architecture for Humanistic Renaissance: the Platonic Solids By Nicoletta Sala Paper given at the The Humanistic Renaissance in Mathematics Education (2002) Abstract: Platonic solids and the polyhedra have been connected with the world of art and architecture in different cultures and through many centuries. For some Renaissance artists, for example Leonardo da […]
Rare 15th century copy of Book of Calculation by Fibonacci goes up for auction
March 30, 2011 By
A fifteenth-century copy of a medieval mathematical book is expected to sell for between $120,000 and 180,000 at a New York City auction later this year. The Liber Abaci or Book of Calculation was written around the year 1202, by Leonardo Pisano Bigollo, who is better known as Fibonacci. He is widely credited with bringing […]
The Beauty of Reasoning: A Reexamination of Hypatia of Alexandra
November 2, 2010 By
The Beauty of Reasoning: A Reexamination of Hypatia of Alexandra By Bryan J. Whitfield The Mathematics Educator, Vol.6:1 (1995) No handiwork of Callimachus, Who handled marble as if it were bronze, Made draperies that seemed to rise When sea-wind swept the corner, stands. The vagaries of war, decay, accident, and time have effaced more than […]
A Mathematical Look at a Medieval Cathedral
September 5, 2010 By
Our focus here will be on the mathematics known and used by medieval stonemasons, in particular in the construction of Durham Cathedral in Northeast England.
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