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Oswald Spengler (1880 -1936)

The mathematic, then, is an art. As such it has its styles and style periods. It is not, as the layman and the philosopher (who is in this matter a layman too) imagine, substantially unalterable, but subject like every art to unnoticed changes from epoch to epoch. The development of the great arts ought never to be treated without an (assuredly not unprofitable) side-glance at contemporary mathematics.

The Decline of the West.

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Loci: Convergence

Mathematical Treasures

by Frank J. Swetz and Victor J. Katz

Boethius's Arithmetic

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The Arithmetic of Boethius (480-524) dates from the early sixth century.  This page is from a mansucript (Plimpton MS 165) that dates from approximately 1294, written on vellum.  This page (f. 13) lists the powers of 2, 3, and 4 (at the bottom) and also has some other tables representing multiplication by some of these powers.  Note that the forms of the figures are not always identical to the modern form.

 

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This manuscript page (f. 15) contains illustrations of square and pentagonal numbers.


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