9 February 2026
Al-Kūhī on geometrical constructions and mathematical beauty
Abū Sahl al-Kūhī, regarded by contemporaries as the ‘Master of his age in the art of geometry’, wrote about beauty as a motivation for considering a problem.
8 February 2026
Abū’l-Wafāʾ al-Būzjānī and magic squares
Abū’l-Wafāʾ al-Būzjānī wrote one of the earliest extant treatises dedicated to magic squares, focused on constructions. He repeatedly referred to the aesthetic value of the methods of he described.
7 February 2026
Fibonacci, Archimedes, π, beauty, proof, and misunderstanding
Leonardo Pisano, dubbed ‘Fibonacci’, thought that Archimedes’ calculation of bounds on the value of π was beautiful [pulcra].
6 February 2026
Pythagoras, Thomas Bradwardine, and the beauty of the circle
According to the biography by Diogenes Laertius, Pythagoras ‘held that the most beautiful figure is the sphere among solids, and the circle among plane figures’.
5 February 2026
Circular numbers in antiquity and the middle ages
In later antiquity and the middle ages, a ‘circular number’ was one that reappeared in its own powers: $5$ and $6$ were circular numbers since their powers ($25, 125, 625, \ldots$; $36, 216, 1296, \ldots$) always end in $5$ or $6$.
4 February 2026
Nicon, the sphere, the cylinder, and the Pantheon
Architecture and Archimedes’ result on the ratio of the volumes of the sphere, cylinder, and cone.
3 February 2026
Archimedes on the sphere and cylinder
Max Dehn said that Archimedes’ discovery that the surface area of a sphere was four times its great circle was the one of the most beautiful results of Greek mathematics.
2 February 2026
Apollonius of Perga on beautiful theorems
The Conics of Apollonius of Perga contains the unique instance of an ancient Greek mathematician calling theorems beautiful.
1 February 2026
Perfect numbers and aesthetics
February has $28$ days, and $28$ is the second perfect number, so let’s start there.
31 December 2025
A correspondent with a bookbinding hobby emailed to say that they had printed and hand-bound the entire work.