Pappus of Alexandria and the mathematics of late antiquity

"This book is at once an analytical study of the Mathematical Collection of the fourth-century A.D. mathematician Pappus of Alexandria, and an examination of the work's wider cultural setting. This is one of very few books to deal extensively with the mathematics of late antiquity. It sees Pappus' text as part of a wider context and relates it to other contemporary cultural practices, opening new avenues to research into the public understanding of mathematics and mathematical disciplines in antiquity."--Jacket.