The Works of Archimedes

Archimedes of Syracuse, revered as antiquity's great geometer, produced a vast collection of works in geometry, arithmetic, and mechanics which has proved to be a source of timeless fascination for modern mathematicians, physicists, science historians and logicians. Although credited with the invention of practical devices like the water-screw, catapults and grappling devices, compound pulley systems, and a model for explaining solar eclipses, Archimedes viewed these mechanical innovations merely as "diversions of geometry at play." In this complete works, including his renowned "Method," Archimedes addresses such topics as: the ratio of the areas of a cylinder and an inscribed sphere, the measurement of a circle, the properties of conoids, spheroids, and spirals, and the quadrature of the parabola. His ingenious work on spheres, cylinders and floating objects have gained Archimedes the recognition, along with Euclid and Apollonius, as one of the three great mathematicians of the ancient world. This volume reproduces the classic translation of Thomas Heath.