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Description
John B. Little is the translator.
This is a Greek-to-English translation of one section or chapter of a larger ancient Greek work called the Mathematical Collectionby Pappus of Alexandria (ca. 290 - 350 CE). Specifically, this is “Book VIII”' of that work. To date and to the translator’s knowledge, no complete English translation of Book VIII has been published.
Pappus was very influential as a bridge between the knowledge that had been preserved from ancient mathematics and European mathematicians in the Renaissance. This specific part of Pappus' work deals with applications of geometry to questions in mechanics.
The format includes an introductory essay, followed by the translated text, with numerous footnotes giving context, annotations, etc. The translator used of a number of figures from a scanned version of the classic scholarly edition of the Greek text of Pappus (and a Latin translation) edited by Friedrich Hultsch and published in the 1870's. These come from gallica.bnf.fr, the digital library of the Bibliothèque Nationale de France and its partners.
Publication Date
9-2023
Keywords
Mathematics, Greek--Early works to 1800; Mathematics--Early works to 1800; Mathematicae collectiones; Mechanics
Disciplines
Classics | Mathematics
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Repository Citation
Pappus of Alexandria and Little, John B., "Pappus of Alexandria, Book VIII of the Mathematical Collection" (2023). Holy Cross Bookshelf. 62.
https://crossworks.holycross.edu/hc_books/62