![]() ![]() "O for a muse of fire, that would ascend / The brightest heaven of invention: / A kingdom for a stage, princes to act, / And monarchs to behold the swelling scene / may we cram / Within this wooden O the very casques / That did affright the air at Agincourt? / O pardon: since a crookèd figure may / Attest in little place a million, / And let us, ciphers to this great account, / On your imaginary forces work. The opening chorus of Henry V displays Shakespeare's interest in proportion and the concept of zero through its repeated "O" and references to contemporary mathematical thought: This includes his history play Henry V and tragedy Troilus and Cressida. The struggle to come to terms with the entanglement of the very large and the very small is splendidly displayed in many of Shakespeare's works. Then referred to as "broken numbers", they stirred up great angst among those who clung to classical models of number theory. This was happening both in modes of calculation (which used proportion) and in the practice of writing mathematical symbols.įor example, during the 16th and early 17th centuries, the equals, multiplication, division, root, decimal, and inequality symbols were gradually introduced and standardized.Īlongside this came the work of Christopher Clavius-a German Jesuit astronomer who helped Pope Gregory XIII to introduce the Gregorian calendar-and other mathematicians on fractions. With the growing influence of neoclassical ideas in England, small, insignificant figures had begun to be used to represent very large concepts. ![]() Moreover, scientist Robert Hooke didn't discover microorganisms until 1665, meaning the idea that life could exist on a micro level remained something of fantasy. But it wasn't until philosopher René Descartes and mathematicians Sir Isaac Newton and Gottfried Leibniz developed calculus in the late 16th and early 17th centuries that "zero" started to figure prominently in society. Thinkers like Italian mathematician Fibonacci, who lived in the 13th century, helped to introduce the concept of zero-known then as a "cipher"-into the mainstream. In fact, the first recorded English use of the word "zero" wasn't until 1598. But they were much less used to the inverse idea that the very small (and even nothingness) could be expressed by mathematical axioms. People in Shakespeare's time were used to the idea of the infinite: the planets, the heavens, the weather.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
Details
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |