Hypatia: Pioneer of Mathematics(part-2)

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Offline tanvir28

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Hypatia: Pioneer of Mathematics(part-2)
« on: March 04, 2015, 11:50:05 AM »
There is no evidence that Hypatia undertook original mathematical research. However she assisted her father Theon of Alexandria in writing his eleven part commentary on Ptolemy's Almagest. It is also thought that she also assisted her father in producing a new version of Euclid's Elements which has become the basis for all later editions of Euclid. 
In addition to the joint work with her father, we are informed by Suidas that Hypatia wrote commentaries in Diophantus's Arithmetica, on Apollonius's Conics and on Ptolemy's astronomical works. The passage in Suidas is far from clear and most historians doubt that Hypatia wrote any commentaries on Ptolemy other than the works which she composed jointly with her father.
All Hypatia's work is lost except for its titles and some references to it. However no purely philosophical work is known, only work in mathematics and astronomy. Based on this small amount of evidence Deakin argues that Hypatia was an excellent compiler, editor, and preserver of earlier mathematical works.
As mentioned above, some letters of Synesius to Hypatia exist. These ask her advice on the construction of an astrolabe and a hydroscope.
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