[NTG-context] OT world history: other measuring systems?
Hans Hagen
j.hagen at xs4all.nl
Wed Jan 26 10:36:21 CET 2022
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
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