Ebook: The Shaping of Deduction in Greek Mathematics: A Study in Cognitive History

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Over 180 puzzles involve inference and interpretation, algebra, dissection of plane figures, geometry, properties of numbers, decimation, permutations and probability. Try your hand at The Spider's Cousin, Jack O'Lantern, The Battle of Hastings, The Missing Penny, and scores more. Over 100 pages of detailed solutions This book provides a way into understanding a momentous development in human intellectual history: the phenomenon of deductive argument in classical Greek mathematics. The argument rests upon a close description of the practices of Greek mathematics, principally the use of lettered diagrams and the regulated, formulaic use of language. Preliminaries; Contents; Preface; Abbreviations; The Greek alphabet; Note on the figures; Introduction; A specimen of Greek mathematics; CHAPTER 1 The lettered diagram; CHAPTER 2 The pragmatics of letters; CHAPTER 3 The mathematical lexicon; CHAPTER 4 Formulae; CHAPTER 5 The shaping of necessity; CHAPTER 6 The shaping of generality; CHAPTER 7 The historical setting; APPENDIX The main Greek mathematicians cited in the book; Bibliography; Index; Ideas in Context