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- Title
KASPAR SCHOTTS „ARITHMETICA PRACTICA".
- Authors
Vollrath, Hans-Joachim
- Abstract
One of the most important professors of mathematics at the University of Würzburg was Kaspar Schott, S.J. (1608-1666). He taught there from 1655 until his death in 1666. During that period he produced twelve treatises of approximately 10,000 pages. He first wrote about arithmetic in "Cursus mathematicus" (Würzburg, 1661), an encyclopedia of mathematics. A year later his "Arithmetica practica generalis ac specialis" appeared. Unlike the first this was in fact a textbook for students. At the request of the Austrian Province of the Society of Jesus, unknown adapters produced shorter, textbook versions which were published at different presses. Between 1707 and 1777, they appeared under two titles "Arithmetica practica generalis" or "Compendium arithmeticae practicae generalis," and became the standard textbook for Jesuit colleges. For a hundred years Schott's work influenced the nature and style of mathematical instruction at Jesuit colleges. These shorter editions are extremely rare. In this article the author for the first time considers the variations between different editions. Of particular importance is the 1763 edition of Tyrnau: an unknown adapter has added an extensive number of problems for resolution. The author considers how one edition influenced another, and the influence they had on other mathematicians in the Society of Jesus. In so doing one learned something about the nature of mathematical instruction in the colleges in the 18th century Austrian province. Historians of arithmetical books have paid scant attention to Schott, an omission that this research and bibliography of different editions, seeks to remedy.
- Subjects
SCHOTT, Caspar; ARITHMETICA practica generalis ac specialis (Book); ARITHMETIC; JESUIT education; MATHEMATICS textbooks; BAYERISCHE Julius-Maximilians-Universitat Wurzburg
- Publication
Archivum Historicum Societatis Iesu, 2009, Vol 78, Issue 156, p442
- ISSN
0037-8887
- Publication type
Article