Robert Recorde and his remarkable arithmetic
type: Item
instance of: scholarly article
zbMATH Open document ID: 1352.01008
author: John Denniss
author: Fenny Smith
publication date: 2016-10-13T00:00:00Z
Mathematics Subject Classification ID: 01A40
zbMATH DE Number: 6638585
zbMATH Keywords: Robert Recorde
zbMATH Keywords: arithmetic
zbMATH Keywords: textbook
zbMATH Keywords: \textit{The grounde of artes}
MaRDI profile type: Publication
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title: Robert Recorde and his remarkable arithmetic
review text: This article is devoted to Robert Recorde's \textit{The grounde of artes}, one of the first English textbooks of arithmetic. The textbook was probably published for the first time in 1543; it was subsequently reprinted about 45 times, and remained popular until 1700.NEWLINENEWLINEThe authors of the present text provide a nice overview of Recorde's textbook, its form and contents, and also include several excerpts from it. The book was written in the form of a dialogue between student and master, and contained almost no exercises. Of course, it covered the four basic operations of arithmetic; for example, the authors explain Recorde's methods for performing subtraction and multiplication of numbers. Some more advanced topics discussed in the book include arithmetic and geometric progressions, the rule of proportions (also known as the `rule of three'), the use of counting boards, or a system of displaying numbers using both hands. The second part of \textit{The grounde of artes}, which appeared in 1552, contained some additional material such as operations with fractions, the rule of false position, and the rule of alligation.NEWLINENEWLINEFor the entire collection see [Zbl 1309.01006].
reviewed by: Antonín Slavík
description: scientific article; zbMATH DE number 6638585