On 1/26/2022 10:23 AM, Jean-Pierre Delange via ntg-context wrote:
In line with what Otared writes about the measurement of distances in the context of Persia and ancient Rome, I am always very surprised to see the precision of the measurements in the evaluation of the circumference of the earth by Eratosthenes of Cyrene. What intrigues me is not really the geometry calculations involved, but the calculation of the distance between Aswan and Alexandria. There is little information on the taking of this measurement: is it Egyptian surveyors (bematists: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bematist) or the use of an instrument equivalent to a pedometer? see here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eratosthenes Eratosthenes of Cyrene was a Greek polymath ...
Ah ... that makes a great subtitle for Mikaels upcoming math manual: "A manual for polymathematicians" A polymath (Greek: πολυμαθής, polymathēs, "having learned much"; and then we can talk 'polymathematical typesetting' and such (I'm sure that Arthur can come up with a reflective historical tex-talk.) Hans ----------------------------------------------------------------- Hans Hagen | PRAGMA ADE Ridderstraat 27 | 8061 GH Hasselt | The Netherlands tel: 038 477 53 69 | www.pragma-ade.nl | www.pragma-pod.nl -----------------------------------------------------------------