Encyclopedia of Early Modern History Online

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Mathematical instruments
(845 words)

The use of equipment to measure and calculate has accompanied the mathematical sciences and practices of calculation and draftsmanship since Grec-Roman antiquity, when drawing instruments – the ruler and the dividers – began to be used in astronomy along with various devices for measuring angles. The development of mathematical instruments for astronomy intensified greatly during the heyday of Arabian Islamic science (10th-13th centuries). The great Arabian observation centers like Maragha (13th-14th centuries) had their own …

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Epple, Moritz, “Mathematical instruments”, in: Encyclopedia of Early Modern History Online, Editors of the English edition: Graeme Dunphy, Andrew Gow. Original German Edition: Enzyklopädie der Neuzeit. Im Auftrag des Kulturwissenschaftlichen Instituts (Essen) und in Verbindung mit den Fachherausgebern herausgegeben von Friedrich Jaeger. Copyright © J.B. Metzlersche Verlagsbuchhandlung und Carl Ernst Poeschel Verlag GmbH 2005–2012. Consulted online on 26 March 2023 <http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/2352-0272_emho_SIM_023788>
First published online: 2015
First print edition: 20190801



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