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8|ography of neron
Sometimes called Hero, Heron of Alexandria was an important geometer and worker in
mechanics. Perhaps the Iirst comment worth making is how common the name Heron was
around this time and it is a diIIicult problem in the history oI mathematics to identiIy which
reIerences to Heron are to the mathematician described in this article and which are to others oI
the same name. There are additional problems oI identiIication which we discuss below.
A major diIIiculty regarding Heron was to establish the date at which he lived. There were two
main schools oI thought on this, one believing that he lived around 150 BC and the second
believing that he lived around 250 AD. The Iirst oI these was based mainly on the Iact that
Heron does not quote Irom any work later than Archimedes. The second was based on an
argument which purported to show that he lived later that Ptolemy, and, since Pappus reIers to
Heron, beIore Pappus.
Both oI these arguments have been shown to be wrong. There was a third date proposed which
was based on the belieI that Heron was a contemporary oI Columella. Columella was a Roman
soldier and Iarmer who wrote extensively on agriculture and similar subjects, hoping to Ioster in
people a love Ior Iarming and a liking Ior the simple liIe. Columella, in a text written in about 62
AD :-
... gave measurements of plane figures which agree with the formulas used by Heron, notably
those for the equilateral triangle, the regular hexagon in this case not only the formula but the
actual figures agree with Herons and the segment of a circle which is less than a semicircle ...
However, most historians believed that both Columella and Heron were using an earlier source
and claimed that the similarity did not prove any dependence. We now know that those who
believed that Heron lived around the time oI Columella were in Iact correct, Ior Neugebauer in
1938 discovered that Heron reIerred to a recent eclipse in one oI his works which, Irom the
inIormation given by Heron, he was able to identiIy with one which took place in Alexandria at
23.00 hours on 13 March 62.
From Heron's writings it is reasonable to deduce that he taught at the Museum in Alexandria. His
works look like lecture notes Irom courses he must have given there on mathematics, physics,
pneumatics, and mechanics. Some are clearly textbooks while others are perhaps draIts oI lecture
notes not yet worked into Iinal Iorm Ior a student textbook.
Pappus describes the contribution oI Heron in Book VIII oI his Mathematical Collection. Pappus
writes see Ior example :-
The mechanicians of Herons school say that mechanics can be divided into a theoretical and a
manual part, the theoretical part is composed of geometry, arithmetic, astronomy and physics,
the manual of work in metals, architecture, carpentering and painting and anything involving
skill with the hands.
... the ancients also describe as mechanicians the wonder-workers, of whom some work by means
of pneumatics, as Heron in his Pneumatica, some by using strings and ropes, thinking to imitate
the movements of living things, as Heron in his Automata and Balancings, ... or by using water to
tell the time, as Heron in his Hydria, which appears to have affinities with the science of
sundials.
A large number oI works by Heron have survived, although the authorship oI some is disputed.
We will discuss some oI the disagreements in our list oI Heron's works below. The works Iall
into several categories, technical works, mechanical works and mathematical works. The
surviving works are:
On the dioptra dealing with theodolites and surveying. It contains a chapter on astronomy giving
a method to Iind the distance between Alexandria and Rome using the diIIerence between local
times at which an eclipse oI the moon is observed at each cities. The Iact that Ptolemy does not
appear to have known oI this method led historians to mistakenly believe Heron lived aIter
Ptolemy;
The pneumatica in two books studying mechanical devices worked by air, steam or water
pressure. It is described in more detail below;
The automaton theatre describing a puppet theatre worked by strings, drums and weights;
Belopoeica describing how to construct engines oI war. It has some similarities with work by
Philon and also work by Vitruvius who was a Roman architect and engineer who lived in the 1
st

century BC;
The cheirobalistra about catapults is thought to be part oI a dictionary oI catapults but was
almost certainly not written by Heron;
Mechanica in three books written Ior architects and described in more detail below;
Metrica which gives methods oI measurement. We give more details below;
Definitiones contains 133 deIinitions oI geometrical terms beginning with points, lines etc. In
Knorr argues convincingly that this work is in Iact due to Diophantus;
Geometria seems to be a diIIerent version oI the Iirst chapter oI the Metrica based entirely on
examples. Although based on Heron's work it is not thought to be written by him;
Stereometrica measures three-dimensional objects and is at least in part based on the second
chapter oI the Metrica again based on examples. Again it is though to be based on Heron's work
but greatly changed by many later editors;
Mensurae measures a whole variety oI diIIerent objects and is connected with parts oI
Stereometrica and Metrica although it must be mainly the work oI a later author;
Catoptrica deals with mirrors and is attributed by some historians to Ptolemy although most now
seem to believe that this is a genuine work oI Heron. In this work, Heron states that vision results
Irom light rays emitted by the eyes. He believes that these rays travel with inIinite velocity.
Let us examine some oI Heron's work in a little more depth. Book I oI his treatise Metrica deals
with areas oI triangles, quadrilaterals, regular polygons oI between 3 and 12 sides, surIaces oI
cones, cylinders, prisms, pyramids, spheres etc. A method, known to the Babylonians 2000 years
beIore, is also given Ior approximating the square root oI a number. Heron gives this in the
Iollowing Iorm see Ior example:-
Since 720 has not its side rational, we can obtain its side within a very small difference as
follows. Since the next succeeding square number is 729, which has 27 for its side, divide 720 by
27. This gives 26
2
/
3
. Add 27 to this, making 53
2
/
3
, and take half this or 26
5
/
6
. The side of 720
will therefore be very nearly 26
5
/
6
. In fact, if we multiply 26
5
/
6
by itself, the product is 720
1
/
36
,
so the difference in the square is
1
/
36
. If we desire to make the difference smaller still than
1
/
36
, we
shall take 720
1
/
36
instead of 729 or rather we should take 26
5
/
6
instead of 27, and by
proceeding in the same way we shall find the resulting difference much less than
1
/
36
.
Heron also proves his Iamous Iormula in Book I oI the Metrica :
if A is the area of a triangle with sides a, b and c and s a b c/2 then
A
2
s s - as - bs - c.
In Book II oI Metrica, Heron considers the measurement oI volumes oI various three
dimensional Iigures such as spheres, cylinders, cones, prisms, pyramids etc. His preIace is
interesting, partly because knowledge oI the work oI Archimedes does not seem to be as widely
known as one might expect see Ior example:-
After the measurement of surfaces, rectilinear or not, it is proper to proceed to solid bodies, the
surfaces of which we have already measured in the preceding book, surfaces plane and
spherical, conical and cylindrical, and irregular surfaces as well. The methods of dealing with
these solids are, in view of their surprising character, referred to Archimedes by certain writers
who give the traditional account of their origin. But whether they belong to Archimedes or
another, it is necessary to give a sketch of these results as well.
Book III oI Metrica deals with dividing areas and volumes according to a given ratio. This was a
problem which Euclid investigated in his work On divisions of figures and Heron's Book III has
a lot in common with the work oI Euclid. Also in Book III, Heron gives a method to Iind the
cube root oI a number. In particular Heron Iinds the cube root oI 100 and the authors oI give a
general Iormula Ior the cube root oI N which Heron seems to have used in his calculation:
a b d/b d aDb - a,
where a
3
N b
3
, d N - a
3
, D b
3
- N.
In it is remarked that this is a very accurate Iormula, but, unless a Byzantine copyist is to be
blamed Ior an error, they conclude that Heron might have borrowed this accurate Iormula
without understanding how to use it in general.
The Pneumatica is a strange work which is written in two books, the Iirst with 43 chapters and
the second with 37 chapters. Heron begins with a theoretical consideration oI pressure in Iluids.
Some oI this theory is right but, not surprisingly, some is quite wrong. Then there Iollows a
description oI a whole collection oI what might best be described as mechanical toys Ior children
:-
Trick fars that give out wine or water separately or in constant proportions, singing birds and
sounding trumpets, puppets that move when a fire is lit on an altar, animals that drink when they
are offered water ...
Although all this seems very trivial Ior a scientist to be involved with, it would appear that Heron
is using these toys as a vehicle Ior teaching physics to his students. It seems to be an attempt to
make scientiIic theories relevant to everyday items that students oI the time would be Iamiliar
with.
There is, rather remarkably, descriptions oI over 100 machines such as a Iire engine, a wind
organ, a coin-operated machine, and a steam-powered engine called an aeolipile. Heron's
aeolipile, which has much in common with a jet engine, is described in |2| as Iollows:-
The aeolipile was a hollow sphere mounted so that it could turn on a pair of hollow tubes that
provided steam to the sphere from a cauldron. The steam escaped from the sphere from one or
more bent tubes profecting from its equator, causing the sphere to revolve. The aeolipile is the
first known device to transform steam into rotary motion.
Heron wrote a number oI important treatises on mechanics. They give methods oI liIting heavy
weights and describe simple mechanical machines. In particular the Mechanica is based quite
closely on ideas due to Archimedes. Book I examines how to construct three dimensional shapes
in a given proportion to a given shape. It also examines the theory oI motion, certain statics
problems, and the theory oI the balance.
In Book II Heron discusses liIting heavy objects with a lever, a pulley, a wedge, or a screw.
There is a discussion on centres oI gravity oI plane Iigures. Book III examines methods oI
transporting objects by such means as sledges, the use oI cranes, and looks at wine presses.
Other works have been attributed to Heron, and Ior some oI these we have Iragments, Ior others
there are only reIerences. The works Ior which Iragments survive include one on Water clocks in
Iour books, and Commentary on Euclids Elements which must have covered at least the Iirst
eight books oI the Elements. Works by Heron which are reIerred to, but no trace survives,
include Camarica or On vaultings which is mentioned by Eutocius and Zygia or On balancing
mentioned by Pappus. Also in the Fihrist, a tenth century survey oI Islamic culture, a work by
Heron on how to use an astrolabe is mentioned.
The decipherment of the mathematical cuneiform texts made it clear that much of the "Heronic"
type of Greek mathematics is simply the last phase of the Babylonian mathematical tradition
which extends over 1800 years.
Some have considered Heron to be an ignorant artisan who copied the contents oI his books
without understanding what he wrote. This in particular has been levelled against the Pneumatica
but Drachmann, writing in , says:-
... to me the free flowing, rather discursive style suggests a man well versed in his subfect who is
giving a quick summary to an audience that knows, or who might be expected to know, a good
deal about it.
Heron's Formula states:
Given the lengths a, b, and c oI the three sides oI a triangle...

...and aIter Iinding the semiperimeter, s, oI the triangle,...

...the area oI the triangle can be Iound using this Iormula:


As in the above Iigure, given a triangle, let the three sides have lengths a, b, and c. Construct the
altitude to side c, and let that altitude have length h. Let the distance Irom the Ioot oI the altiude
to the other endpoint oI side a be d, and let the distance Irom the Ioot oI the altitude to the other
endpoint oI side b be e.
By segment addition, it can be stated that c d e. Using the resulting right triangles and the
Pythagorean Theorem, it can be stated that d
2
h
2
a
2
and e
2
h
2
b
2
.
By the subtraction property oI equality, d
2
h
2
- e
2
h
2
a
2
- b
2
. It Iollows that d
2
- e
2
a
2
- b
2
.
Using the division property oI equality, since c d e, then d
2
- e
2
/ d e a
2
- b
2
/ c, which
implies that d - e a
2
- b
2
/ c. Using the addition property oI equality and c d e gives d - e
d e |a
2
- b
2
/ c| c. Then 2d a
2
- b
2
c
2
/ c. Solving Ior d gives d a
2
- b
2
c
2
/ 2c.
Using the traditional Iormula to Iind the area oI a triangle, the given triangle has area A hc/ 2.
Since d
2
h
2
a
2
, then h a
2
- d
2

1/2
. AIter substituting into the area Iormula, A 1/ 2ca
2
-
d
2

1/2
1/ 2a
2
c
2
- d
2
c
2

1/2
1/ 2|ac
2
- dc
2
|
1/2
. Plugging in the above value Ior d gives A
1/ 2|ac
2
- a
2
- b
2
c
2
/ 2cc
2
|
1/2
1/ 2|ac
2
- a
2
- b
2
c
2
/ 2
2
|
1/2
.
The above equation is equivalent to the equation A 1/ 2|4ac
2
- a
2
- b
2
c
2

2
/ 4|
1/2
.
Factoring out 1/ 4 gives A 1/ 21/ 2|2ac
2
- a
2
- b
2
c
2

2
|
1/2
. So it can be stated that 4A
|2ac
2
- a
2
- b
2
c
2

2
|
1/2
; squaring both sides gives 16A
2
2ac
2
- a
2
- b
2
c
2

2
.
Factoring the right side oI the equation gives 16A
2
|2ac a
2
- b
2
c
2
||2ac - a
2
- b
2
c
2
|.
AIter some regrouping, 16A
2
|a
2
2ac c
2
- b
2
||b
2
- a
2
- 2ac c
2
|. Factoring again, 16A
2

|a c
2
- b
2
||b
2
- a - c
2
|. Finally, Iactoring once more gives 16A
2
|a c b||a c -
b||b a - c||b - a - c| a b ca - b ca b - c-a b c.
Since the semiperimeter oI the above triangle is deIined as s a b c/ 2, it Iollows that 2s
a b c, and so 2s - a b c. Adding -a to both sides oI the equation gives 2s - 2a -a b c.
ThereIore, 2s - a -a b c. Similar algebra steps give 2s - b a - b c and 2s - c a
b - c.
II Iollows by substitution that 16A
2
2s|2s - b||2s - c||2s - a|. A little rearranging gives
16A
2
16ss - as - bs - c, which implies A
2
ss - as - bs - c. Thus, A |ss - as - bs
- c|
1/2
, which was to be proved. QED