FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   105   106   107   108   109   110   111   112   113   114   115   >>  
& Nulla uel figura Nihili." [Scheubel, 1545, p. 1 of ch. 1.] _Nulla_ is also used by Italian writers. Thus Sfortunati (1545 ed., f. 4) says: "et la decima nulla & e chiamata questa decima zero;" Cataldi (1602, p. 1): "La prima, che e o, si chiama nulla, ouero zero, ouero niente." It also found its way into the Dutch arithmetics, e.g. Raets (1576, 1580 ed., f. A_3): "Nullo dat ist niet;" Van der Schuere (1600, 1624 ed., f. 7); Wilkens (1669 ed., p. 1). In Germany Johann Albert (Wittenberg, 1534) and Rudolff (1526) both adopted the Italian _nulla_ and popularized it. (See also Kuckuck, _Die Rechenkunst im sechzehnten Jahrhundert_, Berlin, 1874, p. 7; Guenther, _Geschichte_, p. 316.) [243] "La dixieme s'appelle chifre vulgairement: les vns l'appellant zero: nous la pourrons appeller vn Rien." [Peletier, 1607 ed., p. 14.] [244] It appears in the Polish arithmetic of K[=l]os (1538) as _cyfra_. "The Ciphra 0 augmenteth places, but of himselfe signifieth not," Digges, 1579, p. 1. Hodder (10th ed., 1672, p. 2) uses only this word (cypher or cipher), and the same is true of the first native American arithmetic, written by Isaac Greenwood (1729, p. 1). Petrus de Dacia derives _cyfra_ from circumference. "Vocatur etiam cyfra, quasi circumfacta vel circumferenda, quod idem est, quod circulus non habito respectu ad centrum." [Loc. cit., p. 26.] [245] _Opera mathematica_, 1695, Oxford, Vol. I, chap. ix, _Mathesis universalis_, "De figuris numeralibus," pp. 46-49; Vol. II, _Algebra_, p. 10. [246] Martin, _Origine de notre systeme de numeration ecrite_, note 149, p. 36 of reprint, spells [Greek: tsiphra] from Maximus Planudes, citing Wallis as an authority. This is an error, for Wallis gives the correct form as above. Alexander von Humboldt, "Ueber die bei verschiedenen Voelkern ueblichen Systeme von Zahlzeichen und ueber den Ursprung des Stellenwerthes in den indischen Zahlen," Crelle's _Journal fuer reine und angewandte Mathematik_, Vol. IV, 1829, called attention to the work [Greek: arithmoi Indikoi] of the monk Neophytos, supposed to be of the fourteenth century. In this work the forms [Greek: tzuphra] and [Greek: tzumphra] appear. See also Boeckh, _De abaco Graecorum_, Berlin, 1841, and Tannery, "Le Scholie du moine Neophytos," _Revue Archeologique_, 1885, pp. 99-102. Jordan, loc. cit., gives from twelfth and thirteenth century manuscripts the forms _cifra_, _ciffre_, _chifras_, and _cifrus_. Du Cange, _Glossarium mediae
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   105   106   107   108   109   110   111   112   113   114   115   >>  



Top keywords:

Neophytos

 

century

 

arithmetic

 

Berlin

 

Italian

 

Wallis

 

decima

 
correct
 
ecrite
 

Planudes


Maximus

 

tsiphra

 

spells

 

authority

 
reprint
 

citing

 

numeralibus

 

mathematica

 

Oxford

 

circulus


habito

 

respectu

 

centrum

 
Martin
 

Origine

 

systeme

 

Algebra

 

universalis

 

Mathesis

 

figuris


numeration
 

Ursprung

 

Scholie

 

Tannery

 

Archeologique

 

Graecorum

 

tzuphra

 

fourteenth

 
tzumphra
 

Boeckh


cifrus

 

chifras

 

mediae

 

Glossarium

 

ciffre

 
Jordan
 

twelfth

 
manuscripts
 

thirteenth

 

supposed