"It appears that here and there some of our modern ideas were anticipated by writers of the Middle Ages. Thus, Nicole Oresme... first conceived the notion of fractional powers, afterwards, rediscovered by Stevin, and suggested a notation [other than our modern notation]. Since 4^3 = 64 and 64^\frac{1}{2} = 8, Oresme concluded that 4^\frac{3}{2} = 8. Some of the mathematicians of the Middle Ages possessed some idea of a function. Oresme even attempted a graphic representation. But of a numeric dependence of one quantity upon another, as found in Descartes, there is no trace among them."
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Philosophers from FrancePhysicists from FranceEconomists from FranceRoman Catholic bishopsAstronomers from France
Original Language: English
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Sources
Florian Cajori, A History of Mathematics (1919)
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Nicole_Oresme
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Nicole Oresme
1320 – 1325
Nicole Oresme (c. 1320–1325 – July 11, 1382), also known as Nicolas Oresme, Nicholas Oresme, or Nicolas d'Oresme, was a significant philosopher of the later Middle Ages. He wrote influential works on economics, mathematics, physics, astrology and astronomy, philosophy, and theology; was Bishop of Lisieux, a translator, a counselor of King Charles V of France, and probably one of the most original thinkers of the 14th century.
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