Open AccessINFINITY IN MATHEMATICS: DEVELOPMENT OF PLATONIC IDEAS AND METHODS IN MATHEMATICS IN LATE ANTIQUITY AND THE MIDDLE AGES
Author(s) -
Zbigniew Król
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
humanistyka i przyrodoznawstwo
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 2956-3836
pISSN - 1234-4087
DOI - 10.31648/hip.533
Subject(s) - infinity , middle ages , euclidean geometry , development (topology) , mathematics , non euclidean geometry , space (punctuation) , geometry , philosophy , ancient history , history , mathematical analysis , linguistics
The paper is devoted to the reconstruction of some stage of the proces leading to the emergence in modern science the concept of Infinite „Euclidean” space to geometry of the Elements in late antiquity and the Middle Ages. Some historical medieval sources and views concerning Archytas, Cleomedes, Proclus, Simplicius, Aganis, al-Nayrizi and the Arabs, Boetius, Gerard of Cremona, Albertus Magnus et al., are described analyzed and compared. The small changes in the understanding of geometry in the Elements during the ages are reconstructed up to the first explicit use of the concept of infinity in geometry by Nicole Oresme