[Avodah] The Chanukah Musings of a Mathematician

[Prof. Levine]

At 09:15 AM 12/4/2007, J. Rich wrote:

>iiuc there are 2 answers generally given to this type of question 
>for those who reject any study outside of traditional torah.
>
>The 1st is that all this knowledge can be gained from traditional torah study.

If so, then will someone please tell me know how and where one 
derives the formula 1+2+3+....+n=n(n+1)/2 from Torah study.

The GRA wrote the sefer Ayil Meshulash. According to friend of mine 
who has made a study of the GRA's attitude toward secular subjects, 
this is the only sefer of his that was published during his lifetime. 
The sefer deals with standard geometry, analytic geometry, solid 
geometry and other math topics. In the parts that I have looked at, I 
saw no derivation of any of the concepts from Torah sources. The GRA 
starts with the definition of a point, line, etc. He gives no Torah 
sources. If all of this can be gained from traditional Torah study, 
then why didn't he present the mathematics from this standpoint?


>The 2nd is that the investment in time is not worth the return.

The GRA obviously did not agree with this, otherwise, he would not 
have spent the time writing the Ayil Meshulash.




>Ktjoel rich

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