Método sobre os Teoremas Mecânicos - Unicamp

Abstract
We present the main aspects of the life and works of Archimedes. We include some important
topics in the history of his work The Method of Mechanical Theorems, addressed to Eratostenes,
from the period in which Archimedes wrote it up to the modern times. We emphasize the physical
aspects contained in his book including the center of gravity and the law of the lever. We present
the mathematical topics which are required in order to follow Archimedes’s demonstrations:
geometric algebra, application of areas, theory of proportions and conic sections (parabola, ellipse
and hyperbola). We discuss at length the physical essence of Archimedes’s method. To this end
we include the physical demonstrations of his theorems in which he utilized levers in equilibrium
under the gravitational action of the Earth. We make a complete Portuguese translation from the
Greek of his book The Method of Mechanical Theorems. We include comments, some technical
and mathematical Appendices, together with a large Bibliography at the end of the thesis.
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