The Eclectic Content and Sources of Christopher Clavius's Geometria Practica
John B. Little

TL;DR
This paper analyzes the eclectic sources and unique treatment of practical geometry in Clavius's 1604 textbook, highlighting four sections with distinctive source usage and approach.
Contribution
It uncovers the diverse sources and innovative methods in Clavius's Geometria Practica, especially in four key sections, revealing his eclectic scholarly approach.
Findings
Clavius's use of sources varies across sections.
He employs innovative methods for geometric constructions.
The textbook includes unique algorithms for root calculations.
Abstract
We consider the Geometria Practica of Christopher Clavius, S.J., a suprisingly eclectic and comprehensive textbook of practical geometry, whose first edition appeared in 1604. Our focus is on four particular sections from Books IV and VI where Clavius has either used his sources in an interesting way or where he has been uncharacteristically reticent about them. These include the treatments of Heron's Formula, Archimedes' Measurement of the Circle, four methods for constructing two mean proportionals between two lines, and finally an algorithm for computing nth roots of numbers.
Peer Reviews
No public reviews on file for this paper yet. If you reviewed it on a platform where reviews are public (OpenReview, ICLR, NeurIPS, ICML), you can paste yours below so the community can read it here.
Videos
No videos yet. Explain this paper in a talk, walkthrough, or lecture? Add one.
Taxonomy
TopicsHistory and Theory of Mathematics · Mathematics and Applications · Historical and Literary Studies
