Abstract
The present article continues an earlier analysis of occurrences of two algebraic
unknowns in the writings of Fibonacci, Antonio de’ Mazzinghi, an anonymous
Florentine abbacus writer from around 1400, Benedetto da Firenze and another
anonymous Florentine writing some five years before Benedetto, and Luca
Pacioli. Here I investigate how in 1463 Benedetto explores the use of four or
five algebraic unknowns in symbolic calculations, describing it afterwards in
rhetorical algebra; in this way he thus provides a complete parallel to what
was so far only known (but rarely noticed) from Michael Stifel’s Arithmetica
integra (1544) and Johannes Buteo’s Logistica (1559). It also discusses why
Benedetto may have seen his innovation as a merely marginal improvement
compared to techniques known from Fibonacci’s Liber abbaci, therefore failing
to make explicit that he has created something new.
unknowns in the writings of Fibonacci, Antonio de’ Mazzinghi, an anonymous
Florentine abbacus writer from around 1400, Benedetto da Firenze and another
anonymous Florentine writing some five years before Benedetto, and Luca
Pacioli. Here I investigate how in 1463 Benedetto explores the use of four or
five algebraic unknowns in symbolic calculations, describing it afterwards in
rhetorical algebra; in this way he thus provides a complete parallel to what
was so far only known (but rarely noticed) from Michael Stifel’s Arithmetica
integra (1544) and Johannes Buteo’s Logistica (1559). It also discusses why
Benedetto may have seen his innovation as a merely marginal improvement
compared to techniques known from Fibonacci’s Liber abbaci, therefore failing
to make explicit that he has created something new.
| Originalsprog | Engelsk |
|---|---|
| Tidsskrift | Ganita Bharati |
| Vol/bind | 42 |
| Udgave nummer | 1-2 |
| Sider (fra-til) | 55-86 |
| ISSN | 0970-0307 |
| DOI | |
| Status | Udgivet - 2020 |