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From Napier to Lucas: The Use of Napier's Bones in Calculating Instruments

1983; Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers; Volume: 5; Issue: 3 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1109/mahc.1983.10080

1934-1547

Michael R. Williams,

History and Theory of Mathematics

The paper surveys the development of different types of calculating machines that have used the idea of John Napier's After showing how to use the bones, the paper discusses the machines of such mathematicians as Wilhelm Schickard, Samuel Morland, Gaspard Schott, Athanasius Kircher, Edouard Lucas, and Henri Genaille. A newly discovered manuscript by Rene Grillet (from the late seventeenth century) provided the base for a study of Grillet's work and a remarkable arithmetic instrument he invented in 1678, using the idea of Napier's bones.