Abstract

BRITO, Arlete dede Jesus  and  SCHUBRING, Gert. Varenius e o conhecimento matemático do século XVII. Ciência educ. [online]. 2009, vol.15, n.01, pp.139-153. ISSN 1516-7313.

In this paper, we discuss the context of the development of geography until the seventeenth century when it became liberated from its function in the service of the different Christian faiths; we discuss the importance of the division of the Protestant confession into the Lutheran and the Reformed one for the process of secularization and for the establishment of geography as a modern science. We analyze the fundamental contribution by the Lutheran Bernhard Varen, whose volume General Geography constitutes the paradigm for this new science. In that time, Geography was considered to be a branch of mathematics, and this book offers us insights into both, mathematical notations and mathematical procedures. We analyze, in particular, the use of the decimal number notation for nonintegral numbers and also some applications of trigonometry, comparing the original edition with the major re-editions of this seminal work.

Keywords : History; Mathematical Education; Mathematical Notations; Geography; Modern Science.

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