Book ID: CBB253354203

Gnomon. Una indagine sul numero (1999)

unapi

Zellini, Paolo (Author)


Adelphi


Publication Date: 1999
Physical Details: 489 pp.
Language: Italian

Lo «gnomone» di cui si parla in questo libro è un semplice strumento matematico: una figura geometrica, piana o solida, che aggiunta a un’altra ne genera una simile. Questa tecnica, ampiamente diffusa nell’antichità, risponde all’esigenza di ingrandire o rimpicciolire una forma conservandone l’aspetto. E ciò pone una delle più ardue questioni della matematica e del pensiero in genere: quella dell’invarianza nel mutamento. Questo principio è associato, in particolare nella tradizione vedica, a un patrimonio di norme rituali da cui potrebbe aver avuto origine la matematica stessa. Nei Greci scarseggiano i riferimenti rituali, ma non mancano legami con i problemi sollevati dall’etica, dalla cosmologia e dalla metafisica. Lo gnomone non aveva dunque importanza soltanto per la geometria. Dalla semplice operazione di correzione di una figura (come un quadrato) sono infatti dipesi la nozione di numero, la definizione di vari concetti dell’analisi e alcuni tra i principali algoritmi numerici e algebrici della matematica. Studiare lo «gnomone» permette così di riflettere sull’essenza del numero, cogliendolo in un vastissimo spettro di manifestazioni, dalle origini vediche alle speculazioni greche, cinesi e mesopotamiche, per attraversare poi la matematica araba e l’algebra moderna, e arrivare infine in quel grandioso progetto che, dalla metà del XX secolo, ha visto entrare in scena la macchina come protagonista del calcolo su larga scala. [Abstract translated by Google Translate: This is the abstract in English… The "gnomon" referred to in this book is a simple mathematical tool: a geometrical figure, flat or solid, which, when added to another, generates a similar one. This technique, widely used in antiquity, responds to the need to enlarge or reduce a shape while preserving its appearance. And this poses one of the most difficult questions of mathematics and of thought in general: that of invariance in change. This principle is associated, in particular in the Vedic tradition, with a patrimony of ritual norms from which mathematics could have originated. Ritual references are scarce in the Greeks, but there is no lack of links with the problems raised by ethics, cosmology and metaphysics. The gnomon was therefore not important only for geometry. The notion of number, the definition of various concepts of analysis and some of the main numerical and algebraic algorithms of mathematics have depended on the simple operation of correcting a figure (like a square). Studying the "gnomon" allows us to reflect on the essence of the number, catching it in a vast spectrum of manifestations, from Vedic origins to Greek, Chinese and Mesopotamian speculations, to then go through Arabic mathematics and modern algebra, and finally arrive in that grandiose project that, since the mid-twentieth century, saw the machine enter the scene as the protagonist of large-scale computing.]

...More
Citation URI
https://data.isiscb.org/isis/citation/CBB253354203/

Similar Citations

Book Paolo Zellini; (2010)
Numero e logos (/isis/citation/CBB843348217/)

Book Rashed, Roshdi; Bellosta, Hélène; (2000)
Ibrāhīm ibn Sinān. Logique et Géométrie au Xe siècle (/isis/citation/CBB000111392/)

Chapter Hélène Bellosta; (2012)
La destinée arabe des Données d’Euclide (/isis/citation/CBB209738412/)

Book Giuseppe Cambiano; (2006)
Figure, macchine, sogni. Saggi sulla scienza antica (/isis/citation/CBB013124835/)

Book Luis Arturo Guichard; García Alonso, Juan Luis; María Paz Hoz (de); (2014)
The Alexandrian Tradition: Interactions between Science, Religion, and Literature (/isis/citation/CBB875455759/)

Thesis Welsh, Whitney Elizabeth; (2011)
Unthinkable: Mathematics and the Rise of the West (/isis/citation/CBB001560636/)

Book Granada, Miguel A.; (2001)
Cosmología, teología y religión en la obra y en el proceso de Giordano Bruno (/isis/citation/CBB000101281/)

Book Snezana Lawrence; Mark McCartney; (2015)
Mathematicians and their Gods: Interactions between mathematics and religious beliefs (/isis/citation/CBB748552699/)

Book Elena Anne Corie Marchisotto; Francisco Rodriguez-Consuegra; James T. Smith; (2021)
The Legacy of Mario Pieri in Foundations and Philosophy of Mathematics (/isis/citation/CBB763111584/)

Book Moltmann, Jürgen; (2003)
Science and Wisdom (/isis/citation/CBB000501167/)

Book H. Floris Cohen; (2015)
The Rise of Modern Science Explained: A Comparative History (/isis/citation/CBB557444466/)

Book Agostino Paravicini Bagliani; (2016)
The Impact of Arabic Sciences in Europe and Asia (/isis/citation/CBB069718460/)

Book Gandon, Sébastien; (2012)
Russell's Unknown Logicism: A Study in the History and Philosophy of Mathematics (/isis/citation/CBB001201203/)

Article Farhad Tehrani; Mohammad Mashayekhi; (2013)
Iterative Ratios in the Fractal Geometry of Urchīn Domes (/isis/citation/CBB405993358/)

Essay Review Michel, Alain; (2003)
Géométrie et philosophie: De Thābit ibn Qurra à ibn al-Haytham (/isis/citation/CBB000340511/)

Authors & Contributors
Bellosta, Hélène
Guichard, Luis Arturo
Farhad Tehrani
García Alonso, Juan Luis
Mohammad Mashayekhi
Zellini, Paolo
Concepts
Mathematics
Geometry
Philosophy of mathematics
Arab/Islamic world, civilization and culture
Western world, civilization and culture
Logic
Time Periods
Medieval
Ancient
Early modern
Renaissance
20th century, early
Modern
Places
Europe
Mediterranean region
China
Hellenistic world
North Africa
Italy
Comments

Be the first to comment!

{{ comment.created_by.username }} on {{ comment.created_on | date:'medium' }}

Log in or register to comment