Propositiones ad acuendos juvenes (“Problems to Sharpen the Young”) is a ninth-century book written by medieval teacher and scholar Alcuin of York. Today, it has become one of the foundational texts in what is commonly called recreational mathematics. The book has been translated in many languages and analysed from various mathematical angles and perspectives, from contemporary arithmetic and geometry to the nature of sequences. It is not only a collection of ingenious and challenging puzzles, but the core ideas collected in this book have become major themes and branches of mathematics. Here, Marcel Danesi revisits all fifty-three problems in Alcuin's original text, providing detailed solutions and analyses. Alcuin's Recreational Mathematics examines the problems in the Propositiones in easy-to-follow language, extracting from them the notions and techniques that today constitute basic mathematics. Each chapter discusses Alcuin's problems more broadly, and ends with ten exploratory puzzles based on Alcuin's original problems and related themes. Answers and detailed solutions are included at the back. Alcuin's Recreational Mathematics demonstrates how Alcuin's Propositiones puts basic mathematical thinking on display via ingenious problems that often require outside-of-the-box thinking, constituting an original and imaginative investigation of mathematics in its essence.
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Alcuin's Recreational Mathematics demonstrates the notions of basic mathematics using the 53 problems found in the early ninth-century text Propositiones ad acuendos juvenes ("Problems to Sharpen the Young") by the famous medieval cleric and teacher Alcuin of York.
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Introduction 1: Arithmetic 2: Countability 3: Geometry 4: Algebra 5: Diophantine Problems 6: Recreational Logic 7: River Crossing Problems 8: Sequences 9: Measurement 10: Assembly and Partitioning Problems Concluding Remarks Answers and Solutions to the Explorations Index
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Professor Marcel Danesi is Professor Emeritus of linguistic anthropology at the University of Toronto. He directed the Program in Semiotics and, together with various cognitive scientists and mathematicians, founded the CogSci Center for the study of mathematics and mind at the Fields Institute for Research in Mathematical Sciences. He has published considerably in several areas of recreational mathematics and mathematics education. His research examines the relationship between mathematical cognition, language, and the arts.
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Presents Alcuin's fifty-three original problems in contemporary language, with annotations demonstrating a comprehensive and new perspective on the problems Classifies the problems into ten thematic areas for the first time Includes puzzles that are based on Alcuin's ideas and allow the reader to explore further the core notions of mathematics
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Produktdetaljer

ISBN
9780198925309
Publisert
2024
Utgiver
Vendor
Oxford University Press
Vekt
576 gr
Høyde
240 mm
Bredde
162 mm
Dybde
16 mm
Aldersnivå
P, 06
Språk
Product language
Engelsk
Format
Product format
Innbundet
Antall sider
256

Forfatter

Om bidragsyterne

Professor Marcel Danesi is Professor Emeritus of linguistic anthropology at the University of Toronto. He directed the Program in Semiotics and, together with various cognitive scientists and mathematicians, founded the CogSci Center for the study of mathematics and mind at the Fields Institute for Research in Mathematical Sciences. He has published considerably in several areas of recreational mathematics and mathematics education. His research examines the relationship between mathematical cognition, language, and the arts.