Archimedous tou Syrakousiou Psammites, kai Kyklou Metresis. Eutokiou Askalonitou eis Auten Hypomnema = Archimedis Syracusani Arenarius, et Dimensio Circuli. Eutocii Ascalonitæ, in hanc Commentarius
by Archimedes
| Archimedous tou Syrakousiou Psamites | ||
 at the College of William & Mary. |
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| Author | Archimedes | |
| Published | Oxonii: e Theatro Sheldoniano | |
| Date | 1676 | |
Archimedes was a famous mathematician, scholar, and inventor, known for his works in geometry, physics, and hydrostatics.[1] There is scarce information on Archimedes’s early life, but based on the writings of twelfth-century historian Tzetzes, it is thought that he was born in 287 [2] in Syracuse, a city on the southern coast of Sicily.[3] He was the son of Phidias, an astronomer whose work is virtually unknown. [4] Archimedes spent time in Egypt and maintained ties with other scholars in Alexandria, then known as the “centre of Greek science.”[5] He carried out numerous experiments, for example when he determined the amount of gold used in a wreath commissioned by King Hiero II (from which the famous phrase “Eureka!” derives).[6] Archimedes was also credited with a number of inventions such as the planetarium.[7] Most famous were his war machines, which ranged from ballistic machines to ward off invading Romans[8] to a supposed “heat ray” made using burning mirrors (the likelihood of which is still debated even in the modern day).[9] He died in 212 B.C. during the Roman invasion of Syracuse, killed while drawing diagrams in the sand by a Roman soldier despite explicit orders that he not be harmed.[10] Upon his tomb is etched a cylinder circumscribing a sphere and the ratio between the volumes of the two bodies.[11]
Measurement of a Circle is a short treatise that consists of three propositions by Archimedes. It is written in the form of a correspondence with Dositheus of Pelusium, who was a student of Conon of Samos. The treatise is only a fraction of what was a longer work. [12] This work contains a deduction of the constant ratio of a circle's circumference to its diameter. [13] This approximates what we now call the mathematical constant π. He found these bounds on the value of π by inscribing and circumscribing a circle with two similar 96-sided regular polygons [14]
Evidence for Inclusion in Wythe's Library
See also
References
- ↑ Glen Van Brummelen, “Precursors,” in The Mathematics of the Heavens and the Earth: The Early History of Trigonometry, (Princeton University Press, 2009) 26.[1]
- ↑ Sherman Stein, Archimedes: What Did He Do Besides Cry Eureka?, (Mathematical Association of America, 199), 3.
- ↑ David Frye, Archimedes' Engines of War, Military History, 10, 2004, 50-56, https://www.proquest.com/magazines/archimedes-engines-war/docview/212607296/se-2 (accessed October 15, 2025).
- ↑ Eduard Jan Dijksterhuis, C. Dikshoorn, and Wilbur R. Knorr, "The Life of Archimedes," in Archimedes, (Princeton University Press, 1987), 10.[2]
- ↑ Dijksterhuis, Archimedes, 11.
- ↑ Dijksterhuis, Archimedes, 18-19.
- ↑ Dijksterhuis, Archimedes, 23.
- ↑ Dijksterhuis, Archimedes, 27.
- ↑ Thomas W. Africa, “Archimedes through the Looking-Glass,” The Classical World 68, no. 5 (1975): 305.[3]
- ↑ Dijksterhuis, Archimedes, 30-31.
- ↑ Dijksterhuis, Archimedes, 32.
- ↑ Thomas Little Heath, A Manual of Greek Mathematics, (Mineola, N.Y.: Dover Publications, 1931) 146, ISBN 0-486-43231-9.
- ↑ Heath, A Manual of Greek Mathematics.
- ↑ Heath, A Manual of Greek Mathematics.