The references in the German article
are apparently more impressive than in the English,
but perhaps this is an illusion.
German mathematical historians of the 1920's and 1930's
were often themselves skillful mathematicians.
They discussed Greek mathematics exhaustively,
but the amount of material they wrote
far exceeds the original material,
and should be counted largely as interesting speculation.
Summary of Wikipedia on Eudoxus:
-
Insufficient reference to best available sources,
in particular no suggestion as to what the ultimate sources are,
and how reliable they are.
-
Unlike some other well known Greek mathematicians,
Eudoxus would probably be remembered
for his construction of epicycles even if
he hadn't made major contributions to
mathematics. Still, his
mathematical contributions were, as far as we can tell,
profound. But here we have
totally inadequate mathematical explanation.
|