(Article II.13.) Hesitating Progress–The Slow Development Toward Algebraic Symbolization in Abbacus - and Related Manuscripts, C. 1300 to C. 1550

Jens Høyrup ()
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Jens Høyrup: Roskilde University, Section for Philosophy and Science Studies

Chapter Chapter 30 in Selected Essays on Pre- and Early Modern Mathematical Practice, 2019, pp 823-876 from Springer

Abstract: Abstract From the early 14th century onward, some Italian abbacus manuscripts begin to use particular abbreviations for algebraic operations and objects and, to be distinguished from that, examples of symbolic operation. The algebraic abbreviations and symbolic operations we find in German Rechenmeister writings can further be seen to have antecedents in Italian manuscripts. This might suggest a continuous trend or perhaps even an inherent logic in the process. Without negating the possibility of such a trend or logic, the paper will show that it becomes invisible in a close-up picture, and that it was thus not understood - nor intended - by the participants in the process.

Date: 2019
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DOI: 10.1007/978-3-030-19258-7_30

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