Dec 2 - Medieval Mathematics

 

Three quotes:

“Among the Greeks computation or reckoning, the arithmetic of business, was called logistic and was considered to be entirely different from the study of number as such, which philosophical study was called arithmetic.” (266)

I find it interesting that over time this meaning was lost. We now use arithmetic to refer to the written computational work students do when solving problems. For example, in the context of making a simply arithmetic mistake, not a conceptual one.

“To do this, one must know the vernal equinox, the day of the following full moon, and the method of correcting the error in the metonic cycle. (The metonic cycle is a period of nineteen years, after which the full moon falls on the same day of the year)” (269)

I had never of the metonic cycle, and evidently neither have Microsoft Word or Blogger, since the word is underlined in red by both. It is fascinating to me how important the date of Easter was (is?), in combination with how difficult it was for them to calculate. The process described in the article is algorithmic, and I wonder if those clerics performing the calculation understood the "why".

“Paris, Oxford, and Cambridge "systematically discouraged all technical instruction, holding that a university education should be general and not technical."” (271)

What a stark contrast to our recent classroom discussions this quote presents. A lot of our focus in 342 and 450 has been on ensuring students understand applications of math and why they need to learn various topics. Our educational system seems increasingly focused on teaching skills and knowledge which will be directly applicable to job tasks, as opposed to teaching knowledge for knowledge's sake.