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The Method Treating of Mechanical Problems
- GenresScience
Hardcover
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About the author
Archimedes
158 books125 followersborn perhaps 287 BC
died 212 BC
Greek mathematician, engineer, and physicist Archimedes among the most important intellectuals of antiquity discovered the principle of buoyancy and formulae for the area and volume of various figures, applied geometry to hydrostatics and mechanics, and devised the numerous ingenious screw.
Archimedean screw, an ancient apparatus, consisted of a spiral tube around an inclined axis and raised water, or inclined tube contained a tight-fitting, broad-threaded screw.
Archimides first described faces, regular polygons of at least two different types, and identical vertices of Archimedean solid, a polyhedron.
Archimedes, an astronomer of Syracuse, invented.
Although a few details of his life are known, he is regarded as one of the leading classical scientists. Among his advances are the foundations and an explanation of the principle of the lever. He is credited with designing innovative machines, including siege machines and the pump that bears his name. Modern experiments have tested claims that Archimedes designed machines capable of lifting attacking ships out of the water and setting ships on fire using an array of mirrors.
People generally consider Archimedes among the greatest of all time. He used the method of exhaustion to calculate under the arc of a parabola with the summation of an infinite series and gave a remarkably accurate approximation of pi. He also defined the spiral that bears his name, surfaces of revolution, and a system for expressing very large numbers.
He proved the relation between the sphere and surface, including the bases, of the cylinder and regarded this greatest achievement. Despite orders not to harm Archimedes, a Roman soldier killed him during the siege of Syracuse, and he then died. Marcus Tullius Cicero describes visiting a sphere, inscribed within a cylinder, which surmounts tomb of Archimedes.
People little knew the writings unlike inventions of Archimedes. From Alexandria, people read and quoted him, but Isidore of Miletus made the first comprehensive compilation not until 530; Eutocius in the sixth century wrote commentaries that opened the works of Archimedes to wider readership for the first time. The relatively few copies of written work of Archimedes survived through the Middle Ages, but this source of ideas influenced scientists during the Renaissance. In 1906, previously unknown works in the Archimedes Palimpsest provided new insights into obtaining his results.
died 212 BC
Greek mathematician, engineer, and physicist Archimedes among the most important intellectuals of antiquity discovered the principle of buoyancy and formulae for the area and volume of various figures, applied geometry to hydrostatics and mechanics, and devised the numerous ingenious screw.
Archimedean screw, an ancient apparatus, consisted of a spiral tube around an inclined axis and raised water, or inclined tube contained a tight-fitting, broad-threaded screw.
Archimides first described faces, regular polygons of at least two different types, and identical vertices of Archimedean solid, a polyhedron.
Archimedes, an astronomer of Syracuse, invented.
Although a few details of his life are known, he is regarded as one of the leading classical scientists. Among his advances are the foundations and an explanation of the principle of the lever. He is credited with designing innovative machines, including siege machines and the pump that bears his name. Modern experiments have tested claims that Archimedes designed machines capable of lifting attacking ships out of the water and setting ships on fire using an array of mirrors.
People generally consider Archimedes among the greatest of all time. He used the method of exhaustion to calculate under the arc of a parabola with the summation of an infinite series and gave a remarkably accurate approximation of pi. He also defined the spiral that bears his name, surfaces of revolution, and a system for expressing very large numbers.
He proved the relation between the sphere and surface, including the bases, of the cylinder and regarded this greatest achievement. Despite orders not to harm Archimedes, a Roman soldier killed him during the siege of Syracuse, and he then died. Marcus Tullius Cicero describes visiting a sphere, inscribed within a cylinder, which surmounts tomb of Archimedes.
People little knew the writings unlike inventions of Archimedes. From Alexandria, people read and quoted him, but Isidore of Miletus made the first comprehensive compilation not until 530; Eutocius in the sixth century wrote commentaries that opened the works of Archimedes to wider readership for the first time. The relatively few copies of written work of Archimedes survived through the Middle Ages, but this source of ideas influenced scientists during the Renaissance. In 1906, previously unknown works in the Archimedes Palimpsest provided new insights into obtaining his results.
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
December 7, 2024
Dealing with Gravity
30 November 2024
The odd thing with this work is that there seems to be some reference to the centre of gravity. This intrigued me because I know that our modern understanding of gravitation, namely that it is a force that is exerted by objects with a mass, was developed by Isaac Newton. However, it turns out that the idea was around for a lot longer than that, though the theory back then was that gravity existed because the Earth was at the centre of the universe and that objects would automatically fall towards the centre.
Anyway, that is beside the point because this is another work that is full of proofs. Like, it is always interesting to see how they conducted maths back in those days, and how that proved things, despite the fact that they were based on flawed premises. However, this work also seems to involve mechanics, though it turns out that maths plays a very important role in mechanics, so of course the ancients, particularly Archimedes, who is well known for his mechanical inventions, would do a lot with maths.
These works are somewhat interesting, though I end up finding them rather hard to follow. They are certainly not something for casual reading (which is basically what I am doing, since I’m not doing any work that involves reading and interpreting the works of ancient engineers – then again I suspect that there would be very few jobs involving that out there, particularly since I suspect that everything that is known about Archimedes is already known).
Okay, if you do happen to be a maths geek, and an ancient history geek, then maybe this book would be worth reading. I suspect it really isn’t for everybody though. However, I will still continue to read the rest of the entries in this volume, since I do happen to be a sucker for punishment.
30 November 2024
The odd thing with this work is that there seems to be some reference to the centre of gravity. This intrigued me because I know that our modern understanding of gravitation, namely that it is a force that is exerted by objects with a mass, was developed by Isaac Newton. However, it turns out that the idea was around for a lot longer than that, though the theory back then was that gravity existed because the Earth was at the centre of the universe and that objects would automatically fall towards the centre.
Anyway, that is beside the point because this is another work that is full of proofs. Like, it is always interesting to see how they conducted maths back in those days, and how that proved things, despite the fact that they were based on flawed premises. However, this work also seems to involve mechanics, though it turns out that maths plays a very important role in mechanics, so of course the ancients, particularly Archimedes, who is well known for his mechanical inventions, would do a lot with maths.
These works are somewhat interesting, though I end up finding them rather hard to follow. They are certainly not something for casual reading (which is basically what I am doing, since I’m not doing any work that involves reading and interpreting the works of ancient engineers – then again I suspect that there would be very few jobs involving that out there, particularly since I suspect that everything that is known about Archimedes is already known).
Okay, if you do happen to be a maths geek, and an ancient history geek, then maybe this book would be worth reading. I suspect it really isn’t for everybody though. However, I will still continue to read the rest of the entries in this volume, since I do happen to be a sucker for punishment.
Displaying 1 of 1 review