- Henricus Grammateus
Henricus Grammateus (also known as Henricus Scriptor, Heinrich Schreyber or Heinrich Schreiber) (1495 - 1525 or 1526 [ [http://www.erfurt-web.de/SchreyberHeinrich "Schreyber, Heinrich", short biography at erfurt-web.de] ] ) was a German
mathematician . In 1518 he published details of a newmusical temperament [ [http://www.hpschd.nu/index.html?nav/nav-4.html&t/welcome.html&http://www.hpschd.nu/tech/tmp/grammateus.html "Temperaments III: Grammateus", Technical Library, Carey Beebe Harpsichords] ] , which is now named after him, for theharpsichord . It was a precursor of theequal temperament .Biography
Henricus Grammateus was born in
Erfurt , Germany, studied inVienna andCracow , and died inVienna .Works
* "Algorithmus proportionum una cum monochordi generalis dyatonici compositione", pub. Volfgangvm De Argentina, Cracow, 1514
* "Libellus de compositione regularum pro vasorum mensuratione. Deque arte ista tota theoreticae et practicae", Vienna, 1518
* "Ayn new Kunstlich Buech" ("A New Skill Book"), Vienna 1518, Nuremberg 1521 - contains the earliest-known use of theplus and minus signs for addition and subtraction [ [http://members.aol.com/jeff570/operation.html Miller, J. et al. "Earliest Uses of Symbols of Operation"] after Cajori, F. "A History of Mathematical Notations"] and is the earliest German text on bookkeeping [ [http://homepage2.nifty.com/dear-inoue/eng/enggra/eng.html Inoue, K. "The Neglected Contribution of Grammateus to Bookkeeping History"] ]References
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