flooded fields or the hold of a ship. Archimedes devised
propositions to determine AREAs (CIRCLEs, PARABOLA) and
RATIOs, and worked on PARALLEL LINES,TRIANGLEs, SPHEREs,
and cylinders. While taking a bath, he formulated the principle
of buoyancy, and the story goes that in his excitement he
jumped up and ran naked through the streets of Syracuse,
shouting “Eureka!” over his discovery.Archytas of Tarentum(ca. 428–350 B.C.E.) This Greek
mathematician was a follower of PYTHAGORAS OF SAMOS, and
believed that mathematics was the foundation for everything.
He studied the four branches of mathematics—geometry,
arithmetic, astronomy, and music—and his work was the basis
of Plato’s writings on sound theory. He found a SOLUTIONto
the Delian Problem of duplicating the CUBE, and stated that
there is no geometric MEANbetween two numbers in the RATIO
n+ 1 :n,which is agreed to be the foundation of EUCLID OF
ALEXANDRIA’s work in his ElementsBook VIII.
Aristarchus of Samos(ca. 310–230 B.C.E.) Called “Aristarchus the
mathematician” by the Greeks, he is more commonly known
for his work in astronomy, and is sometimes called “the
Ancient Copernicus.” But his observations of astronomy were
based on his original mathematical calculations. Aristarchus’
diagram showing the triangular relationship between the Sun,
the Earth, and the Moon, was an attempt to calculate the
DISTANCEs based on RATIOs (geometry and trigonometry). He
invented a bowl-shaped sundial to more accurately tell time,
and through his computations determined that the Sun, not the
Earth, was the center of the universe. Despite the mathematical
soundness, this was of course contrary to Aristotle’s teachings,
and did not catch on until Copernicus came along.
Aryabhata II(ca. 920–1000) Like most Indian mathematicians of this
period, much of Aryabhata II’s computations were dedicated to
astronomy. His extensive work Mahasiddhantaalso covered
algebra and geometry, specifically giving rules for solving the
indeterminate EQUATIONby=ax+c,and calculating CUBE
ROOTs.
Babbage, Charles (1791–1871) This British mathematician invented
a small mechanical calculator in 1812. He published a table of
Archytas of Tarentum – Babbage BIOGRAPHIES
Archytas of Tarentum – Babbage BIOGRAPHIES