希腊数学和数学天文学.doc

PAGE 1 PAGE 13 希臘數學和數學天文學 一、希臘的純數學(Greek’s pure mathematics) 算術Arithmetic (From A Brief History of Science, pp.34-35) 1. 巴比倫人和埃及人的「數學」與希臘人的「數學」有根本性的差異。前兩個民族的數學家是優秀的計算家，他們設計數目系統以用來計算並解決實際的問題（如測量田畝、建築、分配財物等等）。但希臘人首度從抽象的眼光來看待「數目」，並處理「數學」。 Nothing shows more vividly the difference between the “mathematics” of Babylonia or Egypt and that of Greece than what each culture chose to do with number. Babylonian and Egyptian mathematicians were calculators and manipulators, devising number system suitable for computation and problem solving. 2. For everyday affairs, the Greeks used an abacus (西洋算盤), which was probably a Greek invention. The abacus uses the principle of positional, decimal numeration; only the result needs to be written down, and the kinds of numerals used have nothing to do with the mechanics of calculation. Anyone could learn to calculate with an abacus; so reckoning was no longer a learned art as it had been to Egyptian and Babylonian scribes. 3. What interested Greek thinkers were the abstract properties of numbers, and their arithmetic (number theory) was a highly developed branch of mathematics. They discovered the properties of odd and even; square, cube, and triangular numbers (reflecting their representation by dots) and perfect number (those, like 6, which are the sum of their factors). 4. The Pythagoreans were keenly interested in the theory of proportion, that is in the ratios between various numbers, and were in time led to the discovery of irrational numbers. （據說，無理數的發現，破壞了畢氏學派的兄弟情誼） 幾何Geometry: 1. Except for some parts of number theory, Greek mathematics was entirely geometrical. Here again the Greeks were primarily interested in abstract concepts about ideal figures of circles, triangles and parallelograms, and very little interested in solving problems of areas. 2. The different between Egyptian and Greek geometry: Thales is said to have stated a circle is bisected by its diameter, and that the base angles of an isosceles triangle are equ