Thomas Harriot’s Doctrine of Triangular Numbers: the ‘Magisteria Magna’
Editors
Janet Beery
University of Redlands, USAJacqueline Stedall
University of Oxford, UK
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- Review in Historia Math.“The editors, building on their extensive knowledge of Harriot and his mathematics [...] have done exemplary work researching the history and evolution of the manuscript and explaining the mathematics involved. For lovers of the history of 17th-century mathematics and algebra in particular, this book is a highly recommended addition to the mathematical literature.” — James J. Tattersall (Providence, RI)
- Review in MAA Reviews“There are far too few books that, like this one, reproduce, translate, and make accessible important mathematical works. Thomas Harriot’s Doctrine of Triangular Numbers is part of a series entitled Heritage of European Mathematics, published by EMS and distributed in the U.S. by the American Mathematical Society. I hope that this means that we will see more volumes of this kind in the future!” — Fernando Q. Gouvêa (Waterville, ME)
- Review in MathSciNet“Thomas Harriot (1560–1621) was one of the most gifted mathematicians of his generation but he was not given to blowing his own trumpet and he published very little during his lifetime. His ‘Magisteria magna (great doctrine) concerning triangular numbers’ is contained in a manuscript treatise of 38 pages, which was never published but survived among the several hundred pages of mathematical work left behind after his death. These pages are presented here in facsimile, with a commentary to help the reader follow Harriot's beautiful but almost completely non-verbal presentation.” — William R. Shea (Montreal)
- Review in Notes Rec.“Historians of mathematics will welcome this book as providing new insights into the development of mathematics before the invention of the calculus and as a model for the publication of historical sources on mathematics. Dealing with a neat, easily comprehensible aspect of mathematics in a historically exciting period, the book has the potential to raise the interest of mathematicians in history and of historians in mathematics.” — Matthias Schlemmel (Berlin)
- Review in zbMATH (in German)