Summary and Concluding Remarks

The present chapter summarizes the discussion presented in the previous chapters concerning the contributions of sixteenth- and seventeenth-century British mathematicians to the longue durée development of the Euclidean tradition, with a focal point on the relationship between geometry and arithmetic, and the eventual incorporation of proto-algebraic and algebraic methods. Particular attention is devoted to Book II and, more specifically, to the prism offered by propositions II.5-II.6 and related results. A connection is made to previously existing scholarship, in particular to the work of Jacqueline Stedall.