Mathematical Treasures - Mathematics of Peter Ramus

Peter Ramus (1515–1572) was a French humanist, educator, and mathematician who wrote books on arithmetic and geometry. In 1580, a volume containing his work in both arithmetic and geometry was published in Basel as Arithmeticae libri duo: Geometriae septem et viginti. The title page of this book is shown above.

On page 75, Ramus provided a diagram illustrating the sighting of a cannon employing a cross-staff.

On page 77, examples are given of the use of a cross-staff in determining the unknown height of a tower and the depth of a well.

Some further illustrations from Ramus’s Way to Geometry follow.

Pages 290–291 discuss the properties of cones and cylinders.

Pages 274–275 provide insights into the Platonic solids.

Pages 268–269 consider the volume of rectangular prisms.

These images from its George Arthur Plimpton Collection are presented through the courtesy of the Columbia University Libraries.

For related works by Ramus from the Columbia University Libraries, see images from another edition of his Arithmetices libri duo (1586; original 1555) and from a 1636 edition of his Way to Geometry.

Index to Mathematical Treasures