Background
William Oughtred was born in Eton, Buckinghamshire, England, on March 5, 1574.
( The 18th century was a wealth of knowledge, exploration...)
The 18th century was a wealth of knowledge, exploration and rapidly growing technology and expanding record-keeping made possible by advances in the printing press. In its determination to preserve the century of revolution, Gale initiated a revolution of its own: digitization of epic proportions to preserve these invaluable works in the largest archive of its kind. Now for the first time these high-quality digital copies of original 18th century manuscripts are available in print, making them highly accessible to libraries, undergraduate students, and independent scholars. Medical theory and practice of the 1700s developed rapidly, as is evidenced by the extensive collection, which includes descriptions of diseases, their conditions, and treatments. Books on science and technology, agriculture, military technology, natural philosophy, even cookbooks, are all contained here. ++++ The below data was compiled from various identification fields in the bibliographic record of this title. This data is provided as an additional tool in helping to insure edition identification: ++++ British Library T099150 London : printed for Ralph Smith, 1702. 4,208p. ; 8°
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( EARLY HISTORY OF LOGIC, SCIENCE AND MATH. Imagine holdi...)
EARLY HISTORY OF LOGIC, SCIENCE AND MATH. Imagine holding history in your hands. Now you can. Digitally preserved and previously accessible only through libraries as Early English Books Online, this rare material is now available in single print editions. Thousands of books written between 1475 and 1700 can be delivered to your doorstep in individual volumes of high quality historical reproductions. The "hard sciences" developed exponentially during the 16th and 17th centuries, both relying upon centuries of tradition and adding to the foundation of modern application, as is evidenced by this extensive collection. This is a rich collection of practical mathematics as applied to business, carpentry and geography as well as explorations of mathematical instruments and arithmetic; logic and logicians such as Aristotle and Socrates; and a number of scientific disciplines from natural history to physics. ++++ The below data was compiled from various identification fields in the bibliographic record of this title. This data is provided as an additional tool in helping to insure edition identification: ++++ Arithmeticae in numeris et speciebus institutio quae tum logisticae, tum analyticae, atque adeo totius mathematicae quasi clavis est. Clavis mathematicae Oughtred, William, 1575-1660. Date of publication from Wing. 2, 207, 1 p. : Londini : Apud Thomam Harper, sumptibus Ricardi VVhitaker, in cuius aedibus prostant prope Caemeterium Paulinum, 1647 Wing (2nd ed.) / O571A Latin Reproduction of the original in the University of Aberdeen Library ++++ This book represents an authentic reproduction of the text as printed by the original publisher. While we have attempted to accurately maintain the integrity of the original work, there are sometimes problems with the original work or the micro-film from which the books were digitized. This can result in errors in reproduction. Possible imperfections include missing and blurred pages, poor pictures, markings and other reproduction issues beyond our control. Because this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment to protecting, preserving and promoting the world's literature.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/124094893X/?tag=2022091-20
( EARLY HISTORY OF LOGIC, SCIENCE AND MATH. Imagine holdi...)
EARLY HISTORY OF LOGIC, SCIENCE AND MATH. Imagine holding history in your hands. Now you can. Digitally preserved and previously accessible only through libraries as Early English Books Online, this rare material is now available in single print editions. Thousands of books written between 1475 and 1700 can be delivered to your doorstep in individual volumes of high quality historical reproductions. The "hard sciences" developed exponentially during the 16th and 17th centuries, both relying upon centuries of tradition and adding to the foundation of modern application, as is evidenced by this extensive collection. This is a rich collection of practical mathematics as applied to business, carpentry and geography as well as explorations of mathematical instruments and arithmetic; logic and logicians such as Aristotle and Socrates; and a number of scientific disciplines from natural history to physics. ++++ The below data was compiled from various identification fields in the bibliographic record of this title. This data is provided as an additional tool in helping to insure edition identification: ++++ Trigonometrie, or, The manner of calculating the sides and angles of triangles by the mathematical canon demonstrated / by William Oughtred. Canones sinuum, tangentium, secantium et logarithmorum pro sinubus et tangentium. Oughtred, William, 1575-1660. 2nd pt. has special t.p.: Canones sinuum, tangentium, secantium et logarithmorum pro sinubus et tangentibus. Londini : Excudebat Iofephus Moxon; Impensis Thomae Iohnson, 1657. 4, 40, 240 p. : London : Printed by R. and W. Leybourn for Thomas Johnson, 1657. Wing / O590 English Reproduction of the original in the University of Michigan Libraries ++++ This book represents an authentic reproduction of the text as printed by the original publisher. While we have attempted to accurately maintain the integrity of the original work, there are sometimes problems with the original work or the micro-film from which the books were digitized. This can result in errors in reproduction. Possible imperfections include missing and blurred pages, poor pictures, markings and other reproduction issues beyond our control. Because this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment to protecting, preserving and promoting the world's literature.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1240417624/?tag=2022091-20
( EARLY HISTORY OF LOGIC, SCIENCE AND MATH. Imagine holdi...)
EARLY HISTORY OF LOGIC, SCIENCE AND MATH. Imagine holding history in your hands. Now you can. Digitally preserved and previously accessible only through libraries as Early English Books Online, this rare material is now available in single print editions. Thousands of books written between 1475 and 1700 can be delivered to your doorstep in individual volumes of high quality historical reproductions. The "hard sciences" developed exponentially during the 16th and 17th centuries, both relying upon centuries of tradition and adding to the foundation of modern application, as is evidenced by this extensive collection. This is a rich collection of practical mathematics as applied to business, carpentry and geography as well as explorations of mathematical instruments and arithmetic; logic and logicians such as Aristotle and Socrates; and a number of scientific disciplines from natural history to physics. ++++ The below data was compiled from various identification fields in the bibliographic record of this title. This data is provided as an additional tool in helping to insure edition identification: ++++ The description and use of the double horizontall dyall Oughtred, William, 1575-1660. Dedication (from t.p.): To the most noble, and hopeful gentleman, Sr. William Hovvard Knight of the Bath, and sonne to the right honorable and illustrious lord, Thomas, Earle of Arundel and Surrey, Earle Marshal of England, &c. Signatures: A8. 16 p. London : Printed by M. Flesher, M DC XXXII 1632 STC (2nd ed.) / 18899c.5 English Reproduction of the original in the Harvard University Library ++++ This book represents an authentic reproduction of the text as printed by the original publisher. While we have attempted to accurately maintain the integrity of the original work, there are sometimes problems with the original work or the micro-film from which the books were digitized. This can result in errors in reproduction. Possible imperfections include missing and blurred pages, poor pictures, markings and other reproduction issues beyond our control. Because this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment to protecting, preserving and promoting the world's literature.
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(This scarce antiquarian book is a facsimile reprint of th...)
This scarce antiquarian book is a facsimile reprint of the original. Due to its age, it may contain imperfections such as marks, notations, marginalia and flawed pages. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment for protecting, preserving, and promoting the world's literature in affordable, high quality, modern editions that are true to the original work.
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(This scarce antiquarian book is a facsimile reprint of th...)
This scarce antiquarian book is a facsimile reprint of the original. Due to its age, it may contain imperfections such as marks, notations, marginalia and flawed pages. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment for protecting, preserving, and promoting the world's literature in affordable, high quality, modern editions that are true to the original work.
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William Oughtred was born in Eton, Buckinghamshire, England, on March 5, 1574.
His father, Benjamin Oughtred, was a scholar who taught writing at Eton School, and through Benjamin's connections the younger Oughtred was educated as a king's scholar at Eton.
At age 15 he entered King's College of Cambridge University and became a fellow there in 1595.
Oughtred went on to receive his bachelor's degree from King's College, Cambridge, in 1596, followed by a masters of arts degree four years later.
As a college student, he had built on the rudimentary mathematical study provided to him at Eton, studying late into the night after completing his required regular studies.
Although William Oughtred was by profession an Anglican clergyman, he devoted many years of his life to expanding human understanding in the areas of algebra and calculus as well as to teaching mathematics to gifted students.
Although never formally trained in mathematics, Oughtred clearly had a genius for the subject.
Through his writings, he quickly gained renown as a mathematician and soon began to divide the time left to him after his church duties between personal study and the instruction of others.
During the 1620's he began to take on as private pupils young men interested in the study of mathematics.
These students—among whom were future mathematicians Richard Delamain and John Wallis as well as Christopher Wren, the future architect of St. Paul's Cathedral—shared the home and hospitality of their teacher during their mathematical studies.
Desiring a suitable text to supplement his instruction of the young aristocrat, Oughtred wrote out, in summary form, all that was currently known about arithmetic and algebra.
Pleased by the mathematician's efforts on behalf of his son, the earl of Arundel became a patron of Oughtred's and encouraged the rector of Albury to publish his work.
The 88-page Arithmeticae in numeris et speciebus instituto … quasi clavis mathematicae est —known more commonly as Clavis mathematicae —was first published in Latin in 1631.
Throughout the work he incorporates a number of mathematical shorthand notations he had devised as a way to denote powers, relationships, ratios, and the like.
Although Oughtred utilized the notation π as one of his symbols, its use signified only the circumference of a circle, not the ratio of the circumference to the diameter as it has come to denote.
The logarithmic slide rule was designed in response to the demands of the scientific renaissance that overtook Europe during Oughtred's lifetime.
The astronomical calculus that grew from the work of such men as German astronomer Johann Kepler (1571 - 1630) and which would appear throughout the work of English scientist Sir Isaac Newton (1624 - 1727) demanded a means by which the multiplication and division of both extremely small and extremely large numbers could be performed quickly.
These scientific and technical calculations were performed with ease using logarithms, which raise or reduce one number to an abbreviated form through the use of exponents. The invention of logarithms is usually credited to Scottish mathematician and inventor John Napier, baron of Merchiston (1550 - 1617), who described his invention in 1614 in Logarithmorum canonis descriptio, although Swiss watchmaker and mathematician Justus Byrgius (1552 - 1633) also compiled such a system of mathematical shorthand.
Napier's invention was simplified by a colleague at the University of London, professor Henry Briggs (1561 - 1631), who suggested that the system be designed in base 10 rather than Napier's base "e. "
Logarithms paved the way for the expanded scientific revolution that followed, allowing that complex operations of products and quotients be completed using simpler additions and subtractions.
Their use continued until the advent of the digital calculator and the electronic computer of the twentieth century. The use of logarithms immediately suggested an instrument that could speed calculations, and that instrument was the slide rule, an analogic calculator that through its mechanism allows for the processing of the variable data represented by logarithms.
In 1620 astronomer and mathematician Edmund Gunter (1581 - 1626) devised "Gunter's Line, " a two-foot-long ruler marked with a logarithmic scale.
Oughtred is believed to have designed the first linear slide rule after less than a year spentwrestling with Gunter's Line and its calipers.
Using two rules placed parallel to one another and connected, the position of the numbers relative to each other could now be used to calculate the desired results.
By discarding the calipers, Oughtred created the prototype of the modern slide rule. In its earliest manufactured form slide rules were made of wood, ivory, and even bamboo.
However, it was not until the end of the eighteenth century that its importance was made clear by inventor James Watt (1736 - 1819), who revalued it as a tool of the Industrial Revolution.
In 1850 French army officer Victor Mayer Amdée Mannheim (1831 - 1906) introduced a transparent slab movable cursor; other modifications and improvements continued to be introduced in the decades that followed, resulting in the slide rule of the twentieth century.
Later Career Overshadowed by Controversy
The positive reception of his Clavis mathematicae within the scientific community prompted Oughtred to write several other books on mathematics.
His 1632 work, titled Circles of Proportion and the Horizontal Instrument, described both a sundial and a circular form of slide rule that operated like Oughtred's linear slide rule: it was constructed using two concentric rings, one seated inside the other and both of which were inscribed with calibrated logarithmic scales.
Ironically, this concentric slide rule, which Oughtred designed for use as a navigational instrument, had been described in a book titled Grammelogia; or, The Mathematical Ring published in 1630 by Oughtred's former student, Richard Delamain.
A staunch supporter of the English crown, he was shocked by the execution of the unpopular King Charles I in January of 1649.
During the English Civil War (1642 - 1646) Oughtred was sequestered and scheduled for trial before Cromwell's puritanical commissioners.
Due to the quick action of the astrologer Lilly and the insistence of influential friends, however, the mathematician and teacher was spared.
Tradition holds that he died of joy at learning that King Charles II had returned to England from Scotland and been restored to the English throne.
( The 18th century was a wealth of knowledge, exploration...)
(This scarce antiquarian book is a facsimile reprint of th...)
(This scarce antiquarian book is a facsimile reprint of th...)
( EARLY HISTORY OF LOGIC, SCIENCE AND MATH. Imagine holdi...)
( EARLY HISTORY OF LOGIC, SCIENCE AND MATH. Imagine holdi...)
( EARLY HISTORY OF LOGIC, SCIENCE AND MATH. Imagine holdi...)
A small man with black hair and a quick, penetrating gaze, he became known for impatiently etching mathematical diagrams in the dust that settled on tables and floors.
During his first years at Albury Oughtred married and set about tending to his parish.
Scholar
On 20 February 1606, he married Christsgift Caryll, (niece) of the Caryll family of Tangley Hall at Wonersh, of which Lady Elizabeth Aungier (daughter of Sir Francis), wife of Simon Caryll 1607-1619, was matriarch and then dowager until her death c.1650.
