Marin Getaldić's application of algebra to geometry
Aplicación del álgebra a la geometría de Marin Getaldić
- Date
- 1630 (póstumo) · confidence medium
- Place
- Dubrovnik, Croatia
- Credited to
- Marin Getaldić (Marino Ghetaldi)
- Field
- Knowledge & symbols
⚠️ Disputed: the sources disagree.
What was discovered
In De resolutione et compositione mathematica, published posthumously in Rome in 1630, Getaldić treats geometrical problems with Viète's algebra. It is a precursor of Descartes's analytic geometry.
It is a prior and partial contribution: it applies Viète's algebra to construction problems, without developing a coordinate system. Getaldić died in 1626; the book appeared in 1630. His Promotus Archimedes (1603) also contains measured specific weights.
What it led to
- the tradition of algebraic analysis of geometry in the 17th century
- diffusion of Viète's work on the Adriatic