Ow (reprise)

This blasted cold, which had faded to an intermittent cough, has suddenly resurged; the cough has worsened and now my ear seems to be involved. I'm staying home again today, with the assurance that someone will be found to cover my calculus class tonight. I'm just hoping I'll feel better tomorrow.

The enforced leisure does, at least, give me an opportunity to compose the next installment of the Ramble, hopefully to be posted sometime later today.

Ramble, Part 2: Eudoxus Explains

Eudoxus of Cnidus is not one of the better-known mathematicians of the classical era. Euclid and Archimedes left behind extensive writings which have survived to the present; Eudoxus did not. Pythagoras gathered a school of ardent, even fanatical, disciples; Eudoxus did not. Thales was named one of the Seven Wise Men of Greece; Eudoxus came too late for that. But, in my estimation, Eudoxus ranks second among the mathematicians of that era, behind only Archimedes (who has no peers, then or ever). In addition to several major contributions to astronomy, laying the groundwork for Ptolemy, he came up with two crucial mathematical ideas, without which the work of Euclid and Archimedes might not have been possible. One of those, which resolved the problem left by the failure of the Pythagorean approach, is the subject of this post.

( The Theory of Proportionality )

Ramble Contents