Arithmetic’s Published In Spain In The 18th Century

Abstract

Background:Every day is more appreciate the recognition of the importance of knowing the history of mathematics and taking advantage of that knowledge to popularize, make public and use it in educational processes related to the teaching of mathematics. We present a study on printed arithmetic books published in Spain during the 18th century. Materials and Methods: In this descriptive study, a documentary content analysis was carried out. To obtain the data, the bibliographic repositories of several Spanish universities and the National Library of Spain, the Miguel de Cervantes Virtual Library, the Digital Library of Madrid were consulted. Results: Fifty arithmetic books printed in different Spanish cities were found. Some groups of authors who worked in professions other than teaching or mathematics were also identified. Conclusion: It is known that there was an increase in this production compared to the previous century. Most of the books were published in Madrid and it is evident among the authors that there was a great variety of different professions and interests to carry out the work of write and publishing a work on arithmetic at that time.