Museum Informatics and Calculation

At the beginning of each itinerary, hundreds of valuable original objects are on display, which take the visitor on a journey through the history of calculation and mathematics. The visitor can admire a Sumerian foundation nail and tablets dating from 4,500 years ago, Roman stone tablets and Etruscan inscriptions, abacuses, Chinese suan pan, Japanese soroban, Russian schoty, an astrolabe, a medieval counting table, Incan quipù and Peruvian chimpù, the Summa by Luca Pacioli, Napier’s cylinders and rods, proportional compasses, the Pascalina (a reconstruction), rulers and nomographs, arithmometers, and mechanical, electromechanical, electronic and programmable calculators, and computer. In many lab-rooms the visitor can experiment with the concepts and ideas of mathematics, not only to partake of knowledge but, more importantly, emotions. Observe infi nity and zero; deal with Pythagora’s theorem or immerse themselves in an exciting voyage inside a fractal; play with prime numbers and the Greek pi, or be fascinated by that little golden number which makes everything around us beautiful, and discover, bit-by-bit, that mathematics is part of our everyday lives. Piazza Garibaldi, 47864 Pennabilli (Rimini) Tel. +39 0541 928659