Pappus wrote commentaries on Eucild's Elements and Data and on Ptole-my's
Almagestand Planispherium, but about all we know of these is through
their inrluence on the writings of later commentators. Pappus' really great work
is his Mathematical Collection, a combined commentary and guidebook of the
existing geometrical works of his time, with numerous original propositions,
improvements, extensions, and historical comments. Of the eight books, the
first and part of the second are lost. |
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Comparisons, where possible, have shown the historical comments contained in the work to be trustworthy. We owe much of our knowledge of Greek geometry to this great treatise, which cites from or refers to the works of over thirty different mathematicians of antiquity. It may be called the requiem, or the swan song, of Greek geometry.
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