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08496_Field_TCGG T261.txt
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16 lines
of a quality. Extension of the quality in a subject is to be
represented by a horizontal line, while the qualitative
intensities at different points in the subject are to be
represented by perpendiculars erected on the extension or
subject line. In the case of motion, the line of extension
represents time, and the line of intensity, velocity. (p. 33)
Clagett presents the treatise of Nicholas of Oresme “On
the Configurations of Qualities” in which Oresme says: “Every
measurable thing except numbers is conceived in the manner of
continuous quantity.” This recalls us to the Greek world in
which as Tobias D. Dantzig points out in his Number: The
Language of Science (pp. 141­2):
The attempt to apply rational arithmetic to a problem in
geometry resulted in the first crisis in the history of