https://doi.org/10.31261/SPiP.2015.11.01
This article discusses the abacus from the pre-scholastic medieval period. Based on two descriptions dating from around 1000 (one is contained in the third volume of the Histories by Richer of Reims, and the other in the first volume of the Liber Abaci by Bernelius the younger of Paris), and mainly based on nine depictions of this counting instrument preserved in manuscripts from the late 10th to early 12th centuries (the so-called. Abacus of Echternach and the abacus of Bern - each from the late 10th century; the abacus of Paris from the early 11th century; the abacus from the work of the so-called Pseudo-Boetius, entitled Geometry II, from the mid-11th century; the abacus of the Vatican, the abacus of Rouen and the abacus of Paris - all from the 11th century; the abacus of Oxford from the early 12th century and the so-called abacus of the Abbon of Fleury), the author presents the aforementioned arithmetical device in detail. He mainly focuses on reconstructing its form based on the preserved representations and their comparison. He describes and analyzes in detail the various parts of the abacus (columns, arcs, etc.) and also presents and explains additional mathematical information appearing in the aforementioned manuscript representations of this instrument (e.g., calculator symbols, and the names of numerators, abacus column markings and fraction symbols and the relationship between them).
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Vol. 7 (2015)
Published: 2015-12-31
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