Blog Response 9

“Considering specifically the field of mathematics, it is known that Church councils from the time of Charlemagne demanded that the clergy have a knowledge of music and be able to compute the date of Easter” (266). I find this quote to be surprising because I had expected neither of these to be that important compared to the expected theological knowledge. I also find this interesting because information is readily available if we look for it, but the people from back then had to use a method to determine the date of Easter.


“He ends with a naively pious interpretation of the first seven digits: one God, two Testaments, three Persons in the Trinity, four Gospels, five books of Moses, six days of Creation, seven Gifts of the Holy Spirit” (268). I reflect back on a previous blog post where I was asked to explain any significant number that I had, and I had said none besides information about myself such as my birthday. From this quote, I wonder if these numbers were actually planned or if they were just pure coincidence.


“In the fifteenth century, Oxford mathematics declined so that between 1449 and 1463, all the mathematics required for the Master’s degree was the first two books of Euclid and Ptolemy’s astronomy, either in the original or in commentary” (273). While reading this quote, it gave me a sense of constraint that students were only allowed to study from Euclid’s and Ptolemy’s works. This also gives me an appreciation of how mathematics grew into many disciplines today beyond geometry and astrology. 


Schrader, D. V. (1967). THE ARITHMETIC OF THE MEDIEVAL UNIVERSITIES. The Mathematics Teacher, 60(3), 264–278. http://www.jstor.org/stable/27957550

Comments

  1. Amanda FritzlanDecember 19, 2022 at 2:59 PM

    Determining the date of Easter was vital!! And not many could do it in the days of Charlemange.

    ReplyDelete

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