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Mathematical Treasure: Johann Heinrich Alsted’s Methodus admirandorum mathematicorum

Author(s): 
Frank J. Swetz (The Pennsylvania State University)

Johann Heinrich Alsted (1588–1638) was a German Calvinist minister and academic. He was known as a philosopher and a theologian; however, his primary achievement was as an encyclopedist. Among his works for specific disciplines was the 1613 Methodus admirandorum mathematicorum: complectens novem libris matheseos universae (The marvelous method of mathematics: comprising nine books of universal mathematics).

Title page of Johann Heinrich Alsted's 1613 Methodus admirandorum mathematicorum.

A full digitization of the copy owned by the Bavarian State Library and initially posted in Münchener DigitalisierungsZentrum (MDZ) Digitale Bibliothek is also available from GoogleBooks.

Substantial revisions were made to the 1623 second edition:

Title page from 1623 second edition of Alsted's Methodus admirandorum mathematicorum.

Page 18 from 1623 second edition of Alsted's Methodus admirandorum mathematicorum.

Page 29 from 1623 second edition of Alsted's Methodus admirandorum mathematicorum.

Page 68 from 1623 second edition of Alsted's Methodus admirandorum mathematicorum.

Page 102 from 1623 second edition of Alsted's Methodus admirandorum mathematicorum.

Page 140 from 1623 second edition of Alsted's Methodus admirandorum mathematicorum.

A full digitization of the copy owned by the Bavarian State Library and initially posted in Münchener DigitalisierungsZentrum (MDZ) Digitale Bibliothek is also available from GoogleBooks.

Index to Mathematical Treasures

Frank J. Swetz (The Pennsylvania State University), "Mathematical Treasure: Johann Heinrich Alsted’s Methodus admirandorum mathematicorum," Convergence (January 2024)