"Had the early Greek mind been sympathetic to the algebra and arithmetic of the Babylonians, it would have found plenty to exercise its logical acumen, and might easily have produced a masterpiece of the deductive reasoning it worshipped logically sounder than Euclid's greatly overrated Elements. The hypotheses of elementary algebra are fewer and simpler than those of synthetic geometry. ...they could have developed it with any degree of logical rigor they desired. Had they done so, Apollonius would have been Descartes, and Archimedes, Newton. As it was, the very perfection... of Greek geometry retarded progress for centuries."
Quote Details
Added by wikiquote-import-bot
Unverified quote
0 likes
Original Language: English
Available Languages (1)
Sources
Eric Temple Bell, The Development of Mathematics (1940)
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Ancient_Greek_mathematics
Revision History
No revisions have been submitted for this quote.
Categories
Ancient Greek mathematics
Ancient was developed from the 7th century BC to the 4th century AD by Greek speaking peoples along the shores of the Eastern Mediterranean. The period following Alexander the Great is sometimes referred to as Hellenistic mathematics. The word "mathematics" itself derives from the ancient Greek μάθημα (mathema), meaning "subject of instruction". The use of generalized mathematical theories and proofs is the key difference between Greek mathematics and those of preceding civilizations.
57 quotes on TrueQuotesView all quotes by Ancient Greek mathematics →
Related Quotes
"The Greeks ordinarily are regarded as the founders of mathematics in the strict sense... for they emphasized the valu…"
"The Greek search for essences had led the Pythagoreans to picture the universe as a multitude of mathematical points …"
"That the discovery of incommensurability of lines made a strong impression on Greek thought is indicated by the story…"
"In mathematics... the Greek attitude differed sharply from that of the earlier potamic cultures. The contrast was cle…"
"In the Greek world mathematics was more closely related to philosophy than to practical affairs, and this kinship has…"
"These three problems—the , the duplication of the cube, and the trisection of the angle—have since been known as the …"
"Comparatively few of the propositions and proofs in the Elements are his [Euclid's] own discoveries. In fact, the pro…"
"Euclid, Archimedes, and Apollonius brought geometry to as high a state of perfection as it perhaps could be brought w…"
"Thus, it is again a conclusion to be assumed in advance, only waiting for a confirmation, that Greek mathematics had …"
"If the early Greeks were cognizant of Babylonian algebra, they made no attempt to develop or even to use it, and ther…"