How do you solve a problem like solids, mathematically speaking? Well, you could use this rather fascinating resource provided by the Convergence magazine. Offered as an educational resource by the Mathematical Association of America (MAA), this particular resource brings together the work of the Franciscan friar Luca Pacioli (c.1445-1509) and the geometric sketches of Leonardo Da Vinci. Both men were interested in geometry, and this piece offers up a number of plate facsimiles of illustrations created by Da Vinci. Here visitors will find an introduction to this educational resource, along with illustrations of cubes, octahedrons, and cylinders. The accompanying article was written by Frank J. Swetz, and it is easy to see how these materials could be incorporated into a classroom discussion about the history of mathematics.
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