Degree Department
1 Matching Results
Results open in a new window/tab. Unexpected Results? Search the Catalog Instead.
Results:
1 - 1 of
1
Understanding Ancient Math Through Kepler: A Few Geometric Ideas from The Harmony of the World
Euclid's geometry is well-known for its theorems concerning triangles and circles. Less popular are the contents of the tenth book, in which geometry is a means to study quantity in general. Commensurability and rational quantities are first principles, and from them are derived at least eight species of irrationals. A recently republished work by Johannes Kepler contains examples using polygons to illustrate these species. In addition, figures having these quantities in their construction form solid shapes (polyhedra) having origins though Platonic philosophy and Archimedean works. Kepler gives two additional polyhedra, and a simple means for constructing the “divine” proportion is given.
Date:
August 2002
Creator:
Arthur, Christopher
System:
The UNT Digital Library