Related papers: A Roman Dodecahedron for measuring distance
Recently I have proposed the Roman Dodecahedra as ancient coincidence rangefinders. Here I discuss several data and references freely available on the Web. After analysis, the common features of these artifacts allow to tell that a Roman…
Among the first devices used to measure the time we find the sundials and the water-clocks, as told by Vitruvius in his book on the Architecture. The sundials work because of the shadows cast by a rod or pole, the gnomon, on their…
We will discuss about a possible method of using the cubit rod by the architects and the surveyors of Ancient Egypt to measure and draw lengths, comparing it with the other interpretations present in Literature. Instead of the modern…
Bronze cuboctahedral weights dated to the VIII-X centuries were found in northwest Russia near Ladoga, one of the most important trading centers in Eastern Europe in the VIII-X centuries. The history of the mathematical study of…
Rangefinders are instruments used for ballistics and for surveying in general. Here a short discussion of some of them, ranging from the ancient Rome to the modern methods.
Here I suggest the use of a 3D scanning and rendering to create some virtual copies of ancient artifacts to study and compare them. In particular, this approach could be interesting for some roman marble busts, two of which are portraits of…
Distance measuring is a very important task in digital geometry and digital image processing. Due to our natural approach to geometry we think of the set of points that are equally far from a given point as a Euclidean circle. Using the…
The paper is proposing a short discussion on the ancient knowledge of Platonic solids, in particular, by Italic people.
In a recent paper, a "distance" function, \cal D, was defined which measures the distance between pure classical and quantum systems. In this work, we present a new definition of a "distance", D, which measures the distance between either…
The Clementine Gnomon is a solar meridian telescope dedicated to solar astrometry operating as a giant pinhole dark camera, being the basilica of Santa Maria degli Angeli the dark room. This instrument built in 1701-1702 by the will of pope…
The idea of measuring distance between languages seems to have its roots in the work of the French explorer Dumont D'Urville \cite{Urv}. He collected comparative words lists of various languages during his voyages aboard the Astrolabe from…
The Clementine Gnomon in the Basilica of Santa Maria degli Angeli in Rome has been realized in 1702 with the aim to measure the variation of the obliquity of the Earth axis along the forthcoming centuries. Since then the church and the…
This study is based on Roman wooden force pumps. It appears that they were used in small numbers to raise water from wells, and more commonly as portable pumps to fight fires. The force pump is attributed to Ctesibius of Alexandria (fl.…
A description is presented of apparatus used to carry out an experimental search for an electric dipole moment of the neutron, at the Institut Laue-Langevin (ILL), Grenoble. The experiment incorporated a cohabiting atomic-mercury…
I describe a simple method to calculate Earth dimensions using only local measurements and observations. I used modern technology (a digital photo camera and Google Earth) but the exact same method can be used without any aid, with naked…
A novel method is proposed for moving large, pyramid construction size, stone blocks. The method is inspired by a well known introductory physics homework problem, and is implemented by tying 12 identical rods of appropriately chosen radius…
The students build and use an old navigational tool from the Arab world of the 9th century, the kamal. After an introduction to historic seafaring and navigation, they build this simple tool and understand how it can be used to measure…
A finite subset of a Euclidean space is called an $s$-distance set if there exist exactly $s$ values of the Euclidean distances between two distinct points in the set. In this paper, we prove that the maximum cardinality among all…
Parallax is the most important astronomical method for determining the distances from the Earth to nearby stars. We present two hands-on activities that explore the concepts and practice of parallax measurement. The first activity is a…
The great meridian line in the Basilica of Santa Maria degli Angeli in Rome was built in 1701/1702 with the scope of measuring the obliquity of the Earth's orbit in the following eight centuries, upon the will of Pope Clement XI. During the…