Arithmetic of the Medieval Universities

 “course material fir a master’s degree is today common knowledge for third grade school children, and although some of the more profound medieval processes of ratio and proportions are today taught in eighth-grade arithmetic classes, medieval arithmetic must not be regarded as superficial or merely elementary”

 

“ In fact, ‘computus,’ which originally meant merely computation, soon came to be associated exclusively with the technical study of Easter reckoning.”

 

“ it is known that Church councils from the time of Charlemagne demanded that the clergy have a knowledge of music and be able to compute the date of Easter.”

 

The above three quotes are not necessary three thinking points I had when reading the paper. Instead these three quotes allow me to build on my feeling/response to this paper. Firstly, it reminds me of a previous blog post we did about “apply” mathematics and “pure” mathematics. As discussed earlier, as the belief and culture changes the idea of “practical” changes. More accurately, Medieval University may see it as significant to their belief rather than “practical” to to their daily life. Secondly, the way we communicate reflects our system or belief. For example, we write from left to right, because we believe time is linear and events follow a linear timeline. The Quadrivium concerns with the use of math to reflect their religious believe and preserve related knowledge.

Comments

  1. Amanda FritzlanDecember 19, 2022 at 3:12 PM

    Practical and useful are indeed tied to belief and values.

    ReplyDelete

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