Conceptions about mathematics, its teaching and learning in Compendio Mathematico (1707) written by the Spanish Thomas Vicente Tosca (1651-1723)

Abstract

The preface of a book is one of the main examples of paratexts, defined by Gérard Genette as those devices and conventions that enable a text to become a book. It can provide information about aspects such as the author's motivation and intention, the origin of the presented ideas, the potential readers, etc. In the particular case of a mathematical text devoted to some extent to teaching, the preface can provide information about the author's conceptions and beliefs about mathematics, its teaching and learning. In this work, we analyze the preface of Compendio Mathematico written by Thomas Vicente Tosca in 1707. This approach will allow us to have a view of how the teaching and learning of mathematics as well as mathematics itself were conceived during Spanish pre-enlightenment.