• Journal for History of Mathematics
• /
• v.22 no.1
• /
• pp.41-52
• /
• 2009

Dutch mathematician Simon Stevin published De Thiende(The Tenth) in 1583. In that book Stevin suggested new numerical notation which could express all numbers. That new notation was decimal fraction system. In this article I will argue that Stevin invented new decimal fraction system with two main purposes. The explicit purpose was to invent a new system which could be used easily by practical mathematicians. The implicit purpose which cannot be found in De Thiende alone but in his other writings was to break the Aristotelian tradition which separated geometry and arithmetic which dealt continuous magnitude and discrete numbers respectively.

• Korean Journal of Logic
• /
• v.12 no.2
• /
• pp.141-170
• /
• 2009

We can witness the recent surge of interest in the controversy over the scientific status of mathematics among Jesuit Aristotelians around 1600. Following the lead of Wallace, Dear, and Mancosu, I propose to look into this controversy in more detail. For this purpose, I shall focus on Biancani's discussion of scientiae mediae in his dissertation on the nature of mathematics. From Dear's and Wallace's discussions, we can gather a relatively nice overview of the debate between those who championed the scientific status of mathematics and those who denied it. But it is one thing to fathom the general motivation of the disputation, quite another to appreciate the subtleties of dialectical strategies and tactics involved in it. It is exactly at this stage when we have to face some difficulties in understanding the point of Biancani's views on scientiae mediae. Though silent on the problem of scientiae mediae, Mancosu's discussions of the Jesuit Aristotelians' views on potissima demonstrations, mathematical explanations, and the problem of cause are of utmost importance in this regard, both historically and philosophically. I will carefully examine and criticize some of Mancosu's interpretations of Piccolomini's and Biancani's views in order to approach more closely what was really at stake in the controversy.

• The Journal of the Convergence on Culture Technology
• /
• v.6 no.1
• /
• pp.255-261
• /
• 2020

Versatile and innovative interdisciplinary professionals refer to those who can engage in an efficient cooperation with experts in other fields or to those who can themselves put knowledge of different fields together. This article aims to look into Galileo Galilei as an example of historic figure that made remarkable achievements by merging knowledge in multiple fields of study. It also shows that Galileo, who had active exchange with painters during the Renaissance, presented the findings from his telescope observations in the form of drawings and that he used them to build core logics that criticizes the traditional Aristotelian cosmology. Galileo drew the critical logics, hardly achievable from a simple observation report or mathematical demonstration, from his hand drawing. The Galileo case well proposes the goals and direction of how the modern society should nurture its interdisciplinary professionals today.