Pappus

Pappus , fl. c.300, Greek mathematician of Alexandria. He recorded and enlarged on the results of his predecessors, including Euclid and Apollonius of Perga, in his Mathematical Collection (8 books; date conjectural). The six and a half extant books, edited and translated into Latin by Commandinus (1588), stimulated a revival of geometry in the 17th cent.; Descartes expounded several of his problems. The collection was reedited by Frederick Hultsch (1876-78). Pappus' other works include a commentary on Ptolemy's Almagest.

Bibliography: See T. L. Heath, A Manual of Greek Mathematics (1931).

pappus A tuft of hairs or bristles, derived from the calyx, that terminates the fruit of many Compositae and Valerianaceae.

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