PEANO, G. (GUISEPPE). - THE "FORMULARIO-PROJECT"

Formulaire de Mathématiques.

Paris, Georges Carré et C. Naud, 1901. Royal8vo. Contemp. hcalf. Spine gilt and with gilt lettering. Small stamp at foot of titlepage and last leaf. VIII,230,(2) pp. With the ownership-signature of the noted Danish logician Jørgen Jørgensen to front free endpaper. Clean and fine.

First edition of Peano's third version - the third volume - of his Formulario-project aiming at presenting all mathematical axioms and results in a clear form always using his five axioms and thereby rewrites all known mathematics in a symbolic form and thus provide a key to a satisfactory solution to the questions of the foundations of mathematics. The logical notations used by Peano were used and developed by Whitehead and Russell in their "Principia Mathematica" of 1910.

"In 1892 he announced in the Rivista the Formulario project, which was to take much of his mathematical and editorial energies for the next sixteen years. He hoped that the result of this project would be the publication of a collection of all known theorems in the various branches of mathematics. The notations of his mathematical logic were to be used, and proofs of the theorems were to be given. There were five editions of the Formulario (the offered item being the third). The first appeared in 1895; the last was completed in 1908, and contained some 4,200 theorems (the item offered). But Peano was less interested in logic as a science per se than in logic as used in mathematics. (For this reason he called his system "mathematical logic.") Thus the last two editions of the Formulario introduce sections on logic only as it is needed in the proofs of mathematical theorems." (DSB).

The famous Italian mathematician, logical philosopher, pioneer of symbolic logic, and a founder of mathematical logic and set theory, Giuseppe Peano (1858 -1932) studied mathematics at the University of Turin, where he was employed just after graduating (1880), and where he stayed almost all of his life, devoting this to mathematics. After having graduated with honours, he was employed to assist first Enrico D'Ovidio, and then the renowned Angelo Genocchi, who possessed the chair of Infinitesimal calculus. In 1890 Peano became extraordinary professor, and in 1895 ordinary professor, of infinitesimal calculus at the Unversity of Turin.

Order-nr.: 48350