Essays on Cosimo

Cosimo di Giovanni de Medici was given the title Pater Patriae of Italy at his death and was also known as the primus inter pares. He was the founder of the Medici dynasty, who were during the Renaissance the de facto rulers of Florence. Even though Cosimo Medici was a powerful man, he was not an official ruler. Medici’s government also consisted of a council who would many times resist the laws that Medici put forth. This paper will look at the accomplishments of Cosimo di Medici. Cosimo di Medici was born on the 10th of April, 1389 ...

(College/University/Institute)

Leonardo Pisa

Prior to the introduction of modern concepts for calculation, various mathematical operations would have required proficiency in the use of the abacus. However, in 1202, Leonardo da Pisa, an Italian math expert, released a book entitled “Liber Abaci,” or “Book for Calculation.” The book revolutionized the methods of calculating figures by establishing useful approaches in using the Arabic numbers 0 to 9 to the Western world. Though the book did not find immediate acceptance in the West, in the end it revolutionized the areas of commerce, finance, research, science and technology. Furthermore, da Pisa’s work laid the ...

Leonardo Pisa of Italy

Leonardo Pisano (Fibonacci) (1170 – 1250) was a popular Italian mathematician of the Medieval Period that made significant contributions to the history of finance. He was the first person to develop the value analysis concept (retracement) that compares the economic value and the contractual cash flow. Influenced by the economic evolution in the Mediterranean, he made lifetime discoveries that had a profound impact on public finance and capital enterprise in Europe. In his arithmetic book, ‘Liber Abaci’, Fibonacci expressed his discoveries of the mathematical concepts in commercial trade. He developed mathematical concepts of interest rates, calculation of profits, conversion of ...

Introduction

Before the Protestant Reformation and the Enlightenment, though, the field of inquiry was completely different than it would be afterward. There was only one religious establishment during that time period, and that establishment had the power of eternal fear over everyone and everything. The fact that the Roman Catholic Church had the power to ban someone not just from church but from any chance of salvation radically altered the calculus of anyone interested in pursuing any sort of intellectual endeavor. Remember, this is the same institution that sought to excommunicate Galileo and Copernicus because of their claims that the ...