Elizabethan era mathematics?

Question

what kind of math did they have/use for that era?

Answer 1

Hey LoveHateA...,

"Dr. John Dee was one of the most fascinating characters of the Elizabethan period. The events of his life are filled with science, experiments, astrology and mathematics which he aligned with magic, the supernatural and alchemy! He was fascinated by the 'Dark Side'. His name, strangely enough, even reflects the life he would lead. The surname 'Dee' derives from the Welsh Celtic word 'du' which means black. John Dee was a brilliant scholar. Interested in Mathematics, physics and astrology which he studied at Cambridge and in Europe. The Elizabethan era was the age of the Renaissance and new thinking and ideas. It was also the age of Nostradamus, Marsilio Ficino and Trithemius and the Renaissance fusion of Christianity, Hermetic Philosophy and its attendant sciences of magic, astrology and alchemy. His interest in science and mathematics led John Dee to a particular interest in astrology and all of its associated supernatural subjects. John Dee was well travelled was obsessive in collecting books and manuscripts. He collected so many books that he created the greatest personal library in England, which he housed at his mother's residence at Mortlake. John Dee and his extensive library attracted visits from the foremost scholars in England. His knowledge extended to Navigation and during his early travels to Europe he was associated with the great cartographer Gerardus Mercator. His knowledge of navigation and maps was an invaluable source of information to the Elizabethan Explorers such as Raleigh and Drake. His interest moved on to all subjects relating to the occult and he started working with a highly skilled Medium called Edward Kelley. Kelley used Chrystal balls and his skill in scrying and as a Medium to contact angels and spirits. The Enochian script was said to have been revealed to John Dee by the angels who were conjured by Kelley. John Dee became obsessed with the occult and spent most of his later life in search of its secrets..."

Answer 2

Pretty dismal. Although Cardano and Tartaglia had found the general solutions of some quartic and cubic equations, all the work of Descartes and Fermat, which we now teach to schoolchildren, was still in the future. Hindu-Arabic numerals were not yet in full use, and even Copernicus' 1543 book on the solar system mixed them along with Roman numerals and fully spelled-out numbers. Robert Recorde's 1540 book "The Ground of Artes" was about how to do Arithmetic, and no comparable book existead at the time. He produced another book which was an abridgement of Euclid. It was only in the later 1500's that Western Europe could cope with the rest of Euclid and with the advanced work of Diophantos.

Answer 3

Children would play hide-and-seek, Blindman's Buff, and chasing and catching games like Prisoner's Base, Barley Break, or Last-in-Hell. Boys would sometimes play football, although football games were discouraged as they tended to become very violent. Hand-ball, a game rather like fives, was popular, and tennis was popular with the upper classes. Skittles and bowls were games that were popular with everyone. Board games like chess, draughts, backgammon and nine-men's morris were popular with adults and children. Shove-groat and Troll-My-Dame were other popular games. Bagatelle and billiards were also played, possibly by children as well as adults.