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Open Daily: 10am - 10pm | Alley-side Pickup: 10am - 7pm
3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
612-822-4611
Nicomachus' Introduction to Arithmetic

Nicomachus' Introduction to Arithmetic

Paperback

Series: Texts of the Quadrivium

General MathematicsTeaching Instruction

ISBN13: 9798992945232
Publisher: New Chartres Press
Published: Nov 17 2025
Pages: 200
Weight: 0.60
Height: 0.42 Width: 6.00 Depth: 9.00
Language: English

Nicomachus was a philosopher-mathematician living circa 200 AD and originally from the city of today's Jerash, Jordan. His work was foundational both for the study of mathematics in the liberal arts curriculum and for the mathematical philosophy of the later Platonists. His work on Number ('Arithmetic') begins with a Platonic preamble exhorting the reader to lift the eyes of the soul from the world of change to the world of stable things, namely that of mathematics. The work outlines reasons why the study of Arithmetic comes prior to Geometry, Music, and Astronomy. The sections on mathematical arithmetic include an overview of number in itself and number in relation, surveying the topics of: odd and even, prime and composite, perfect numbers, ratios, planar numbers, solid numbers, progressions of ratios, and the means of progressions. Attention is particularly drawn to musical ratios. Also included are moral analogies such as a comparison between the properties of perfect numbers and the golden mean theory of virtue.

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