The Norse treatise Algorismus : Preserved in manuscript GKS 1812 4to

Abstract

The treatise Algorismus is a complete prose translation of the Latin hexameter Carmen de Algorismo into the medieval Old Norse language. Carmen is dated in 1202, written by the French canon Alexander de Villa-Dei. The treatise explains for the first time the Hindu-Arabic decimal place value numeral notation and calculation methods to the Norse people, Icelanders and Norwegians. Algorismus also relates the four Elements: Earth, Water, Air and Fire to cubic numbers and ratios. The treatise exists in four manuscripts, one of them only a fragment. The four manuscripts are compared by digital methods to show that the two oldest of them are quite similar and possibly copies of the same copy of the original translation. This paper focuses on the version in Ms GKS 1812 4to. It is a pedogogical study of the algorithms presented in the treatise, contrasting them with current day methods and the presentation in Carmen.