Conics Books I-III

A completely new edition of Taliaferro's translation of the first three books of Apollonius's Conics with all new diagrams. It is the only English translation of these books other than Heath's out-of-print version which is a modernized retelling rather than a true translation. This 3rd Century BCE work displays astonishing virtuosity in the treatment of conic sections in the classical synthetic geometrical manner. It is the culmination of Greek geometry and, in turn, provided a basis for the work of modern mathematicians and scientists such as Vieta, Descartes, Kepler, and Newton. Includes many corrections to the old edition's text, translation, and notes, all new diagrams, an index, a bibliography, and an introductory essay by Harvey Flaumenhaft. Design and layout make it easy to read and work with, with diagrams repeated on every spread, adequate space for notes, and high quality paper to prevent show-through.