The greate invention of algebra : Thomas Harriot's treatise on equations

Bibliographic Information

The greate invention of algebra : Thomas Harriot's treatise on equations

Jacqueline A. Stedall

Oxford University Press, 2003

Available at  / 4 libraries

Search this Book/Journal

Note

Includes bibliographical references and index

Description and Table of Contents

Description

The Greate Invention of Algebra' casts new light on the work of Thomas Harriot (c.1560-1621), an innovative thinker and practitioner in several branches of the mathematical sciences, including navigation, astronomy, optics, geometry, and algebra. Although on his death Harriot left behind over four thousand manuscript sheets, much of his work remains unpublished. This book focuses on one hundred and forty of Harriot's manuscript pages, those concerned with the structure and solution of equations. The original material has been carefully ordered, translated, and annotated to provide the first complete edition of his work on this subject, and an extended introduction provides the reader with a lucid background to the work and explains its contents. Illustrations from the manuscripts provide fascinating reference material. The appendix discusses correlations between Harriot's manuscripts and the texts of his contemporaries Viete, Warner, and Torporley. The clear and concise exposition makes this an excellent reference volume for historians of mathematics and those interested in the history of science. This is an important new resource for understanding the development of algebra in seventeenth-century England.

Table of Contents

  • I. THE TREATISE ON EQUATIONS
  • OPERATIONS OF ARITHMETIC IN LETTERS

by "Nielsen BookData"

Details

Page Top