-§6.2.2 Quick Answers

Pacioli's quote about cubics:

"But of number, cosa, and cubo, however, they are compounded …, nobody until now has formed general rules, because they are not proportional among them … And therefore, until now, for their equations, one cannot give general rules except that, sometimes, by trial, … in some particular cases.  And therefore when in your equations you find terms with different intervals without proportion,  you shall say that the art, until now, has not given the solution in this case … even if the case may be possible."

Either Trebizond's translation had obvious errors, or someone told Bessarion of the faults in it.  Clearly it needed repairing.  I will presume there was more interest in setting the facts correct than in damaging Terbizond.  I'm guessing translators were highly regarded if they did good work.  If it is established that you don't, you probably need to find another career.  

A court astrologer is the one who has the dubious responsibility of predicting the future for the king.  There's a good question as to when people stopped seriously pursuing astrology.  I think it must happen within 200 years or so.  Maybe by 1700?  Watch out for it no longer being mentioned.    Also chapter 7 will start with our most famous predictor.  This is definitely not the first we've seen of astrology - it goes back at least 1500 years before this.  Caesar had astrologers.  
The calendar problem, worked again by Regiomontanus =  Johann Mu:ller, would wait another century before being fixed up.  _On triangles_ was more carefully done and justified than previous trigonometry.  

Vlad here is the dracula.  

Sounds to me as if John of Gmunden just did good astronomical research.  The main way to make something is to be the catalyst  yourself.  

As before, I think we're still in a time of uncertain ownership of ideas.  I would not make a big deal about such things.  

The printing press has movable type, so that letters can be rearranged to form a new page.  This different from its predecessors for which an entire page would need to be cut on the woodblock.  This was the big accomplishment of movable type.  I think the Gutenberg bible had 42 lines per page, not a total of 42 lines.  

Durer's magic square is the first we have record of in Europe, not in the world.  There are lots of things one could say or study about magic squares.  Like most topics that are asked about, but not included in Suzuki, you can easily go and learn more about them.  

It's my impression that Widman was the first not only to print, but to use +/-.   

I think the decks of cards are now at least vaguely similar to what we have.  There are suits and numbers, at least.  For more information,, search for history of playing cards.  

Long ago topics:

Diophantus, quadrivium, date of Eastre