Mathematical Treasure: Bradwardine's Arithmetic and Geometry

Thomas Bradwardine (1290-1349) was an English cleric, mathematician, theologian and philosopher. He taught at Oxford University and was the author of several books. A collection of his mathematical works entitled Preclarissimum mathematicarum opus was published in Spain in 1503. The title page is printed in an innovative form:

The first page of text discusses numeration and the “Hindu-Arabic” numerals:

Figurate numbers are discussed and illustrated by diagrams. There is a mistake in one of the number sequences: can you find it?

The images above were obtained through the courtesy of the Hispanic Society of America.

Index to Mathematical Treasures