|
Showing 1 - 6 of
6 matches in All Departments
This volume contains the texts and translations of two Arabic
treatises on magic squares, which are undoubtedly the most
important testimonies on the early history of that science. It is
divided into the three parts: the first and most extensive is on
tenth-century construction methods, the second is the translations
of the texts, and the third contains the original Arabic texts,
which date back to the tenth century.
The science of magic squares witnessed an important development in
the Islamic world during the Middle Ages, with a great variety of
construction methods being created and ameliorated. The initial
step was the translation, in the ninth century, of an anonymous
Greek text containing the description of certain highly developed
arrangements, no doubt the culmination of ancient research on magic
squares.
This volume contains the texts and translations of two Arabic
treatises on magic squares, which are undoubtedly the most
important testimonies on the early history of that science. It is
divided into the three parts: the first and most extensive is on
tenth-century construction methods, the second is the translations
of the texts, and the third contains the original Arabic texts,
which date back to the tenth century.
This edition of Books IV to VII of Diophantus' Arithmetica, which
are extant only in a recently discovered Arabic translation, is the
outgrowth of a doctoral dissertation submitted to the Brown
University Department of the History of Mathematics in May 1975.
Early in 1973, my thesis adviser, Gerald Toomer, learned of the
existence of this manuscript in A. Gulchln-i Macanl's
just-published catalogue of the mathematical manuscripts in the
Mashhad Shrine Library, and secured a photographic copy of it. In
Sep tember 1973, he proposed that the study of it be the subject of
my dissertation. Since limitations of time compelled us to decide
on priorities, the first objective was to establish a critical text
and to translate it. For this reason, the Arabic text and the
English translation appear here virtually as they did in my thesis.
Major changes, however, are found in the mathematical com mentary
and, even more so, in the Arabic index. The discussion of Greek and
Arabic interpolations is entirely new, as is the reconstruction of
the history of the Arithmetica from Diophantine to Arabic times. It
is with the deepest gratitude that I acknowledge my great debt to
Gerald Toomer for his constant encouragement and invaluable
assistance."
The science of magic squares witnessed an important development in
the Islamic world during the Middle Ages, with a great variety of
construction methods being created and ameliorated. The initial
step was the translation, in the ninth century, of an anonymous
Greek text containing the description of certain highly developed
arrangements, no doubt the culmination of ancient research on magic
squares.
|
You may like...
Harry's House
Harry Styles
CD
(1)
R267
R237
Discovery Miles 2 370
|