The Invention of Infinity: Mathematics and Art in the Renaissance - Hardcover

Field, Judith Veronica

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0198523947 ISBN 13: 9780198523949

Verlag: Oxford University Press, 1997

Inhaltsangabe

As any student of art will tell you, one of the chief accomplishments of the Renaissance was the development of perspective in painting--the introduction of spatial perception that led to the legendary beauty and majesty of works by Giotto, Botticelli, and da Vinci. In The Invention of
Infinity, Dr. J. V. Field, a noted historian on math and the arts, tells the remarkable story of how the "practical" mathematics of Renaissance artists actually influenced the development of "proper" mathematics--a true story of life imitating art.

Here is the fascinating history of the emergence of modern mathematics during the Renaissance, and its intimate relationship with the artisan and artistic traditions of the time. The book covers the period from 1300 to 1650, when craftsmen were educated in "practical mathematics," and when the
field of mathematics was gradually taking up a more significant place on the intellectual landscape. Field traces the influence of the mathematics of perspective in the arts, and shows how this led to the invention of a new kind of geometry in the 17th century--the new projective geometry of
Desargues--which proved to be a highly significant contribution to the development of modern mathematics. Additionally, the author explores the 14th and 15th-century "abacus" schools popular among merchants and craftsmen, and the contrast between these practical, widely used tools and the abstract
arithmetic and geometry taught in the universities of the time, and their application in the theory of music and elementary astronomy.

Extensively illustrated with superb color and black and white plates, and including selected extracts from the original mathematical texts, this clear and entertaining account will delight anyone interested in the history of mathematics and art, as well as in the multi-layered social history of the
Renaissance.

Über diesen Titel

Über die Autorin bzw. den Autor

About the Author:
Dr. J.V. Field is a Research Fellow in the Department of the History of Art at Birkbeck College, University of London.

Details zur Ausgabe

• Verlag: Oxford University Press
• Erscheinungsdatum: 1997
• Sprache: Englisch
• ISBN 10: 0198523947
• ISBN 13: 9780198523949
• Einband: Gebundene Ausgabe
• Anzahl der Seiten: 250
• Kontakt zum Hersteller: Nicht verfügbar
• Verantwortliche Person: Penguin Random House Ireland Limited; productsafety@penguin.co.uk; ; Morrison Chambers, 32 Nassau Street; Dublin; Irland