1985 | OriginalPaper | Buchkapitel
The Beginnings
verfasst von : Winfried Scharlau, Hans Opolka
Erschienen in: From Fermat to Minkowski
Verlag: Springer New York
Enthalten in: Professional Book Archive
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The first work devoted to topics from the history of mathematics of which at least a few fragments survive is by the Greek mathematician Eudemus of Rhodes, a member of the school of Aristotle. It begins as follows (quoted from
Proclus
:
Next we must speak of the development of this science during the present era... we say, as have most writers of history, that geometry was first discovered among the Egyptians and originated in the remeasuring of their lands. This was necessary for them because the Nile overflows and obliterates the boundary lines between their properties. It is not surprising that the discovery of this and the other sciences had its origin in necessity, since everything in the world of generation proceeds from imperfection to perfection. Thus they would naturally pass from
sense-perception
to
calculation
and from
calculation
to
reason
. Just as among the Phoenicians the necessities of trade and exchange gave the impetus to the accurate study of number, so also among the Egyptians the invention of geometry came about from the cause mentioned.