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Mathematical Treasures - Mengoli's Elements of Geometry

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

Pietro Mengoli (1626–1686) was a Catholic priest and a mathematician. He studied under Bonaventura Cavalieri (1598–1647) at the University of Bologna and when his teacher died, Mengoli assumed the Chair of Mathematics held by Cavalieri. His Geometriae speciosae elementa (1659) is a study of the limits of geometrical figures. In this book, Mengoli introduced a concept of the definite integral as the area contained by a curve.

                                     

The images above are provided courtesy of Columbia University Libraries, George Arthur Plimpton Collection.

Index to Mathematical Treasures 

Frank J. Swetz (Pennsylvania State University), "Mathematical Treasures - Mengoli's Elements of Geometry," Convergence (October 2018)

Mathematical Treasures from the Smith and Plimpton Collections at Columbia University