Today, while skimming through my Scripta Mathematica volume files, I discovered the poem ” Ode to an Exponential Curve” by Elmer Brill. The poem was published in Issue 2 Volume 6 of Scripta Mathematica (you can download the PDF file containing Volume 6 here). In this post I mainly want to transcribe the poem. Maybe… Continue reading Ode to e, Exponential Curves, Logarithm and the Slide Rule
Category: math history
Claudian Epigram on the Heavenly Sphere of Archimedes
Recently I discovered on Internet Archive Charles Hutton’s “A mathematical and philosophical dictionary”. Hutton’s mathematical dictionary is one of the earliest dictionaries that focused on the mathematical sciences. In this post I just want to transcribe an epigram written by Claudian about a sphere of glass created by Archimedes that showed the motions of the… Continue reading Claudian Epigram on the Heavenly Sphere of Archimedes
Symbolism: Allegory of Arithmetic by Laurent de La Hyre
In this post I want to discuss the symbolism found in the painting “Allegory of Arithmetic” by the baroque painter Laurent de La Hyre. This painting belongs to La Hyre’s series of paintings on the liberal arts. Since Martianus Capella ( 5th century AD), the seven liberal arts were divided in trivium (grammar, logic/dialectics and… Continue reading Symbolism: Allegory of Arithmetic by Laurent de La Hyre