Mathematics in Jewish Sources

Online animation of the calculation of the area of the disc

All papers below were jointly written with David Garber of my department.
Note. The files in this page are available in several formats. The postscript and pdf formats are well known and may be already installed in your computer. The Zagit format is less well-known, click here for details.

1. Every [Circle] whose Circumference, Higayon 3 (1995), Department of Mathematics, Bar-Ilan University, Ramat-Gan, pp. 103--131. [in Hebrew]

2. A Circular Booth, Magal 10 (1994), The Institute for Advanced Torah Studies, Bar-Ilan University, Ramat-Gan, pp. 117--134.
Available formats:

3. A Circular Booth II, Magal 11 (1995), pp. 127--134. [in Hebrew]
Available formats:

4. Caveret (A Beehive), HaMa'ayan 35 (1995), pp. 57--69. [in Hebrew]
Available formats:

5. On the Ratio of the Circumference of a Circle to its Diameter, Sinai 117 (1996), pp. 186--191. [in Hebrew]

6. The Sathon Method for Exstracting Square Roots, MacroMathematics 2, pp. 29--34. [in Hebrew]
Available formats:

7. Geometric discussions in Rabbinical writings, Higayon 4 (1998), Department of Mathematics, Bar-Ilan University, Ramat-Gan, pp. 4--17. [in Hebrew]
Available formats: This paper has won the 1998 Brechfeld Prize for studies in Rabbinical logic.

8. On the Rabbinical Approximation of Pi, Historia Mathematica 25 (1998), pp. 75-84. [in English]
Available formats:

You may also enjoy reading the Texas Mathematics Teacher issue on Pi.

9. A mechanical derivation of the area of the sphere, to appear in The American Mathematical Monthly. [in English]
Available formats:

10. The Proof of Rabbi Abraham Bar Hiya Hanasi, in preparation. [in English]

11. A laid down pillar, preprint. [in Hebrew]
Available in Zagit format.

12. An early source for a mathematical method appearing in the TASHBETS responsa book, Moria, in press. [in Hebrew]
Available formats:

13. Mathematical appendix to the TASHBETS responsa, preprint. [in Hebrew]
Available formats:

Short papers in Hebrew

1. Exact values of Pi in Jewish sources, preprint. [in Hebrew]
Available formats:

2. The slope of the altar's ramp (?), preprint. [in Hebrew]
Available in postscript and pdf formats.

3. Pi and a laid down pillar, preprint. [in Hebrew]
Available in postscript and pdf formats.

Related papers by other authors

Harir Shlomo (Z"L), Using mathematical Talmudic discussions in teaching, PhD thesis, Israrl Institute of Technology, 1999.

Rabbi Daniel Hershkovitz, Mathematical problems in the Halacha and in Jewish sources

Chidushei Tora@NDS: Volumes 5 and 6 of this journal, online.

Edward Shlomo G. Belaga, On the Rabbinical exegesis of an enhanced biblical value of p, available in postscript and pdf formats.

Imber David, A mathematical discussion in Section Succah, available in pdf format.

Michael A. B. Deakin and Hans Lausch, The Bible and Pi, The Mathematical Gazette 82 (1998), 162-166. Available online [pdf].

Binomial coefficients in Ben-Ezra's writings, by Yuval Roichman.

The mathematics of Levi Ben Gershon, The Ralbag, by Shai Simonson.

Book of Numbers: Exploring Jewish Mathematics and Culture at a Jewish High School, by Lawrence Mark Lesser.

Do Scripture and Mathematics Agree on the Number pi?, by Isaac Elishakoff and Elliot Pines, published in B’Or Ha’Torah 17 (2007).

Truth of land: Contains several interesting papers on mathematics and Jewish sources.

More papers

From the sages: Papers on mathematics in Jewish sources, which were published in Aleph Ephes.

Hidushei Tora @ NDS

A nice journal published by NDS, dealing with various topics related to Tora and Science. Issues 5+6+7 are available here.

Astronomy and Judaism

Wise Observatory's cite in Tel-Aviv University.

Mathematics in Islamic era: A comprehensive bibliography of papers on the subject including papers related to Jewish mathematicians.

Recommended book

Victor J. Katz, A History of Mathematics: An Introduction, a beautiful book with a mutlicultural approach. It also has a brief version.
Boaz Tsaban Last modified: Sun Sep 29 11:58:10 IDT 2002
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