Learn Geometry through Antiques

So I got sent an “maybe you’ll like this” type of email from an auction house.

It featured an old map.

I knew that people collected old maps but knew nothing more about them. And so I ignored this email and moved on.

But then, the crisscross diagonal pattern on the image lingered on and distracted me while I read the next few emails.

And I was compelled to go back and take a second look.

The criss-cross were too precise to just be there for art’s sake. There was logic and order in those lines with so many focii.

And I saw that all these were arranged radially around a compass-like icon.

Clearly I was looking at something very scientific without the knowledge to understand it.

But it was also obvious, given the context of the map, that this provided a frame of reference – just like the cartesian system of X & Y – that I was used to. We had also studied the “r” and “theta” system (I forget the name now) – was this that one? Or something else?

Realising that there was so much sophistication 300 years ago left me a bit alarmed … since these days we are fed the notion that everything that’s old is passe and outdated. Here we have something that would take me a day to understand, a week at least to replicate and perhaps forever to come up with as a fresh idea on my own! The fact that they made this 300 years ago without any of the computing tech that we have today is so so impressive!

And so, this is what I shall pursue along with my chai and paratha this morning!

If you have any idea what this is, do write in the comments – it will shorten my quest!

Isn’t it wonderful how the world of art & antiques teaches us totally new things!

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jm

wovensouls.com