Campanus of Novara and Euclid's Elements, Volume 1

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Franz Steiner Verlag, 2005 - History - 768 pages
Euclid's Elements is acknowledged as the most influential writing on mathematics in the West at least till the end of the Middle Ages. Over the last thirty-six years several of the most important medieval Latin texts of the Elements have been edited. The most frequently used compilation remained, i.e. that of Campanus of Novara of the thirteenth century (before 1259). This version dominated Latin mathematics until printed editions were made from the Greek manuscripts in the sixteenth century. In 1482 the first printed edition of Euclid's Elements appeared in the redaction of Campanus, which was also the first printed mathematical book of any importance.

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About the author (2005)

Little is known about the life of Euclid, an important Greek mathematician. He lived at Alexandria, in the time of the first Ptolemy, 323-283 B.C. He was the founder of a school of mathematics there. Euclid's compilation of the major results of ancient geometry in a comprehensive axiomatic framework remains a classic and easily the most influential scientific work of all time. Beginning with definitions, axioms, and postulates, the Elements deduces hundreds of general theorems about plane and solid geometry, including the famous Pythagorean theorem. It is claimed that, when asked by King Ptolemy if he could make his solutions easier to follow, Euclid said, "There is no royal road to geometry," In 1570, Sir Henry Billingsley first translated the Elements into English.