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Mathematical Treasures - De Divina Proportione, by Luca Pacioli

Author(s): 
Frank J. Swetz and Victor J. Katz

This is the Tree of Proportions and Proportionality from the De Divina Proportione of Luca Pacioli (1445 - 1509), published in 1509.  (Convergence has published Leonardo's woodcuts, taken from this book.)  Some of the terms in Pacioli's tree are familiar today; some are taken originally from the study of proportions by Nicomachus in his Arithmetic; but the meaning of some other terms are not generally known.  It would be a worthwhile project to go through the tree and decipher the meanings of all of the terms in it.

 

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One image from the book of a stellated dodecahedron.

Frank J. Swetz and Victor J. Katz, "Mathematical Treasures - De Divina Proportione, by Luca Pacioli," Loci (January 2011)

Dummy View - NOT TO BE DELETED

Mathematical Treasures