Arithmetic in the Thought of Gerbert of Aurillac

by Marek Otisk, Seweryn Blandzi (Editor)

Overview

The book deals with Gerbert of Aurillac (Pope Sylvester II) and his investigations in the field of theoretical (philosophy of numbers) and practical (counting) arithmetic. The book represents the comprehensive inquiry of both these aspects of arithmetic in his thought. The analysed sources are Gerbert’s so-called scientific letters written to his friends, colleagues or pupils, and also including some of his other texts. On this basis, attention is paid to arithmetic as the mother of all sciences and as the path to wisdom (e.g., the so-called Saltus Gerberti, relation between arithmetic and other disciplines of the quadrivium, etc.) and also to practical arithmetic (e.g., the introduction of Hindu-Arabic numerals and the re-introduction of a new form of abacus to the Latin Christian West).

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9783631858165
Publisher:	Peter Lang GmbH, Internationaler Verlag der Wissenschaften
Publication date:	02/10/2022
Series:	Philosophy and Cultural Studies Revisited / Historisch-genetische Studien zur Philosophie und Kulturgeschichte , #10
Pages:	242
Product dimensions:	5.83(w) x 8.27(h) x (d)

About the Author

Marek Otisk is Professor at the Department of Philosophy, Faculty of Arts, University of Ostrava. His research interest is focused on medieval philosophy, especially the metaphysics, dialectics (logic), mathematics or astronomy(natural philosophy) in the 10^th and 11^th centuries (for example Gerbert of Aurillac or Anselm of Canterbury).

Table of Contents

Arithmetic as the science of numbers

Theoretical arithmetic:

• The Nature of Numbers: Saltus Gerberti (Letter to Constantine)
• Figurative Numbers and Geometry (Letter to Adelbold)
• Music and Harmony (Two Letters to Constantine)
• Astronomy and Timekeeping (Letter De sphaera, Richer’s Historia, and the horological letter to Adam)

Practical arithmetic:

• Tabula abaci, decimal positional notation and ghubar numbers
• Regulae multiplicationis
• Regulae divisionis