Saturday, April 18, 2009

Concerning Mathematicians and Soothsayers and Kindred Evildoers

before 547

The study and teaching of the science of geometry are in the public interest, but whosoever practices the damnable art of mathematical divination, shall be put to the stake.

Corpus Juris Civilis, Codex Justinianus,
Book IX, XVIII, 2, 3 (AD circa 650)

Taken from Jan Gullberg's wonderful Mathematics: From the Birth of Numbers.

The Dismal Science was much more dismal back then (tongue firmly planted in cheek).... ;)

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

you're aliveeeeeee XD

what is mathematical divination? O_o

Jason Tseng said...

The post is a snarky comment about Economists and the financial quants who practice financial prediction, or basically "mathematical divination".

The actual law by Emperor Justinian was probably about fortune telling with numbers, for example like the "I Ching"....

DeuterO said...

Whoa, weird, you made a post. =)