Can I read Pappus of Alexandria and the Mathematics of Late Antiquity (Cambridge Classical Studies) on EtoBox?

Pappus of Alexandria and the Mathematics of Late Antiquity (Cambridge Classical Studies) by Serafina Cuomo is a nonfiction available to read on EtoBox.

What is Pappus of Alexandria and the Mathematics of Late Antiquity (Cambridge Classical Studies) about?

This predictable book betrays the author's eagerness to conform to the academic fashions of the day. Its predictable thesis is that "Pappus was not operating in a vacuum" (pp. 89-90); rather he had an "agenda" (e.g., p. 169) to "augment his prestige" (p. 200), etc., etc. In other words, the usual staple thesis of the pomo generation of historians. One impatiently awaits the day when the sterility and mediocrity of such flavour-of-the-month scholarship will be recognised. A typical passage may illustrate its futility: "It is remarkable, I think, that in the case of book 4 the reader is left to fend for himself through a text difficult to understand even for skilled mathematicians ... while, in the case of book 5, the reader is not even expected to be acquainted with one of Archimedes' most famous discoveries ... These marked double standards ... can only be explained on the basis of two different kinds of intended readership." (p. 73) There you have it---groundbreaking revelations of cutting-edge science studies research: some guy wrote for different audiences in different styles. If you find this "remarkable" then you're in for a treat. As an additional illustration of Cuomo's tast

Who reads Pappus of Alexandria and the Mathematics of Late Antiquity (Cambridge Classical Studies)?

Author

Serafina Cuomo

Publisher

Cambridge University Press (Virtual Publishing)

Published

2000

Language

EN

ISBN

9780521036894

Category

nonfiction

Subjects

Mathematics, Anthropology, Stem