Model for a Proof Associated with Archytas by Richard P. Baker, Baker #485a
date: label: date made
content: ca 1920-1930
name: label: maker
content: Baker, Richard P.
notes: label: Description
content: In the fifth century B.C.E., Archytas, a friend of the philosopher Plato and a leader in the city of Tarentum (then a Greek territory, now in southern Italy), took an interest in such subjects as mathematics, astronomy, and music. One problem he addressed was that of finding the ratio of two lengths that would be the cube root of a given ratio of lengths. This would allow one to find, for example, a cube with twice the volume of a given cube.
label: Description
content: To solve this problem, Archytas devised a construction that combined three surfaces of revolution – a cone, a half-cylinder, and a half-torus with an inner diameter of zero. This wire model with a wooden base illustrates the proof underlying Archytas’ theorem.
label: Description
content: A tag on the model reads: No. 285 s (/) Archytas. The proof. One of (/) the earliest known.
label: Description
content: Heath gives a modern version of Archytas’ proof. See also MA.211257.096.
label: Description
content: References:
label: Description
content: R. P. Baker, <I>Mathematical Models</I>, Iowa City, Iowa, 1931, p. 4.
label: Description
content: Thomas Heath, <I>A History of Greek Mathematics</I>, vol. 1, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1921, pp. 213-216.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
topic: label: Subject
content: Mathematics
setName: label: See more items in
content: Medicine and Science: Mathematics
label: See more items in
content: Science & Mathematics
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Gift of Frances E. Baker
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: MA.211257.097
label: accession number
content: 211257
label: catalog number
content: 211257.097
objectType: label: Object Name
content: geometric model
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: wood (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: metal (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: paper (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: soldered.stuck into holes. (overall production method/technique)
label: Measurements
content: average spatial: 6.8 cm x 15.1 cm x 15 cm; 2 11/16 in x 5 15/16 in x 5 29/32 in