Galileo Galilei's Compass
February 25, 2005 1:18 PM Subscribe
Galileo's compass (with sound). Galileo Galilei's compass resembles a calculator. In Le Operazioni del Compasso Geometrico e Militare (Padua, 1606), Galileo describes over 40 operations that can be carried out with this instrument. Try using the compass yourself.
Hey, that's really cool! Thanks.
posted by whatnotever at 2:36 PM on February 25, 2005
posted by whatnotever at 2:36 PM on February 25, 2005
That is really cool. But when you follow the flash walk-through of the military uses of the compass, it tells you a square of 3,136 soldiers should have 56 soldiers on each side. I don't get it.
posted by atchafalaya at 4:32 PM on February 25, 2005
posted by atchafalaya at 4:32 PM on February 25, 2005
Uh... 562 = 3136 is too hard?
posted by flabdablet at 6:38 AM on February 26, 2005
posted by flabdablet at 6:38 AM on February 26, 2005
Incredible instrument... where can I get one? (And I thought these were nice compasses.)
posted by Zurishaddai at 8:46 AM on February 26, 2005
posted by Zurishaddai at 8:46 AM on February 26, 2005
OK, by now you've all had your fun with Galileo's tool & I'm sure you're inscribing heptagons in circles & who knows what kind of deviltry. Amid all this excitement, something must be said about old-school compassin'. And when I say old-school, I mean downright primitive. All of Euclidean geometry can be constructed—you don't need Euclid's collapsing compass and a straightedge—with only
posted by Zurishaddai at 6:37 AM on March 8, 2005
- compass alone
- an arbitrarily short straightedge + an arbitrarily short arc (+ center point)drawn on the page with a rusty compass
- an arbitrarily short double straightedge (the two edges don't have to be parallel)
- origami
posted by Zurishaddai at 6:37 AM on March 8, 2005
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posted by matteo at 1:19 PM on February 25, 2005