Applicazioni di Aritmetica e Geometria nella trattatistica militare

Abstract

We will also talk about the work of Captain Serafino Burali, a military of Arezzo experienced during the XVII century in some coastal strongholds of the Grand Duchy of Tuscany. During his stay at the Elba and Giglio Islands, from 1662 to 1972 Burali devoted himself to the writing of a treatise on military art, consisting of four books. We have already stressed how much such a work is similar to a form of treaty, that is, militarily, fully consolidated in the course of the previous century: the same contents of the aforementioned books prove it. If the design of fortresses and the management of the militias occupy the last two of them, this phase of our study focuses on the earlier books, whose pages skillfully deal with arithmetic definitions and problems and then geometry. This research seeks to deepen Burali's sophisticated skills in these subjects, emphasizing its origins from secular Abachist culture; in particular, he notes that while proposing procedures traditionally of a pragmatic nature, he notes the need to proceed, however, towards an increasingly organic and systematic elaboration of the subjects under consideration.