Measured Words: Computation and Writing in Renaissance Italy (Toronto Italian Studies)

__Measured Words__ investigates the rich commerce between computation and writing that proliferated in fifteenth- and sixteenth-century Italy. Measured Words Investigates The Rich Commerce Between Computation And Writing That Proliferated In Fifteenth- And Sixteenth-century Italy. Arielle Saiber Explores The Relationship Between Number, Shape, And The Written Word In The Works Of Four Exceptional Thinkers: Leon Battista Alberti's Treatis On Cryptography, Luca Pacioli's Ideal Proportions For Designing Roman Capital Letters, Niccol�o Tartaglia's Poem Embedding His Solution To Solving Cubic Equations, And Giambattista Della Porta's Curious Study On The Elements Of Geometric Curves. Although They Came From Different Social Classes And Practiced The Mathematical And Literary Arts At Differing Levels Of Sophistication, They Were All Guided By A Sense That There Exist Deep Ontological And Epistemological Bonds Between Computational And Verbal Thinking And Production. Their Shared View That A Network Or Continuity Exists Between The Arts Yielded Extraordinary Results. Through Measuring Their Words, Literally And Figuratively, They Are Models Of What The Very Best Interdisciplinary Work Can Offer Us. Introduction : Well-versed Mathematics -- Cryptographica : Leon Battista Alberti's De Componendis Cifris (1466) -- The Calculated Alphabet : Luca Pacioli's Degno Alphabeto Anticho (1509) -- Word Problems : Niccol�o Tartaglia's Quando Chel Cubo (1546) -- Hidden Curves : Giambattista Della Porta's Elementorum Curvilineorum Libri Tres (1601/10). Arielle Saiber. Includes Bibliographical References (pages 175-246) And Index.

Measured Words explores the rich commerce between computation and writing that proliferated in fifteenth- and sixteenth-century Italy. In this captivating and generously illustrated work, Arielle Saiber studies the relationship between number, shape, and the written word in the works of four exceptional thinkers of the time: Leon Battista Alberti, Luca Pacioli, Niccolò Tartaglia, and Giambattista Della Porta.

Although these Renaissance humanists came from different social classes and practised the mathematical and literary arts at varying levels of sophistication, they were all guided by a sense that there exist deep ontological and epistemological bonds between computational and verbal thinking and production. Their shared view that a network or continuity exists between the literary arts and mathematics yielded extraordinary results, from Alberti’s treatise on cryptography and Pacioli’s design calculations for the Roman alphabet to Tartaglia’s poetic solutions of cubic equations and Della Porta’s dramatic applications of geometry. Through lively, cogent analysis of these and other related texts of the period, Measured Words presents, literally and figuratively, brilliant examples of what interdisciplinary work can offer us.

"Measured Words investigates the rich commerce between computation and writing that proliferated in fifteenth- and sixteenth-century Italy. Arielle Saiber explores the relationship between number, shape, and the written word in the works of four exceptional thinkers: Leon Battista Alberti's treatis on cryptography, Luca Pacioli's ideal proportions for designing Roman capital letters, Niccolò Tartaglia's poem embedding his solution to solving cubic equations, and Giambattista Della Porta's curious study on the elements of geometric curves. Although they came from different social classes and practiced the mathematical and literary arts at differing levels of sophistication, they were all guided by a sense that there exist deep ontological and epistemological bonds between computational and verbal thinking and production. Their shared view that a network or continuity exists between the arts yielded extraordinary results. Through measuring their words, literally and figuratively, they are models of what the very best interdisciplinary work can offer us."-- Résumé de l'éditeur Contents List of Figures Acknowledgments Introduction: Well-Versed Mathematics CHAPTER ONE. Cryptographica: Leon Battista Alberti’s De componendis Cifris (1466) CHAPTER TWO. The Calculated Alphabet: Luca Pacioli’s “degno alphabeto Anticho” (1509) CHAPTER THREE. Word Problems: Niccolò Tartaglia’s “Quando chel cubo” (1546) CHAPTER FOUR. Hidden Curves: Giambattista Della Porta’s Elementorum curvilineorum libri tres (1601/10) Notes Bibliography Index