Reviews for Nominalism and constructivism in seventeenth-century mathematical philosophy

The average rating for Nominalism and constructivism in seventeenth-century mathematical philosophy based on 2 reviews is 3 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2019-03-23 00:00:00 James Culverhouse Detailed and time consuming but certainly worth the time. By my reckoning a book that shared wisdom and shared techniques that actually changed the world. Often people think what we know now is recent knowledge and that we , as current custodians of the world are so clever, and getting cleverer. Well that maybe, however having read Liber Abaci (as a novice in mathematical historical development), there has clearly been great wisdom right back beyond my reckoning. We are only able to read about those wise souls that gained such prominence and/or wealth, if their wisdom was able to go to print.

Review # 2 was written on 2020-06-29 00:00:00 Azali Sukimi Whew. I am finished. Some very interesting algebraic problems towards the end there. I liked the geometrical solutions, but I did find that some were flawed. As such, I applied Al-Khwarizmi's method to many of them, as he did not, and I found the correct answer to some where he actually had an answer significantly different than the correct solution. That being said, I will definitely keep this book with me. At times, I realize now how important the two major different options (Almuchabala and proportional substitution) can be because sometimes they can help solve for unknowns where the equation would have 3 or 4 different exponents (and therefore very difficult to solve without a calculator via algebra). Very important to even know about these different methods, as I had applied Algebra to some of these proportional problems and substitution and algebra both gave me different answers. Beneath the surface of an otherwise perfunctory trading manual lies a treasure trove of philosophy behind mathematics itself. It isn't spoken on the surface, obviously (he leaves that for his Book of Squares), but the problems/equations themselves are Diophantine, and both determinate and indeterminate. Some have only one solution, some have many, some have implications that can make you just put the book down and stare into space. This is a book written by a mathematician for a mathematician. Heavy recommend. 4/5 though because it did drag on and was extremely dry.