Los dos libros de la Geometría Práctica by Fineo translated by Girava and supervised by Lastanosa

Abstract

The translation of the two manuscript books by Fineo on Practical Geometry (1553) can be found in the National Library of Madrid, the autorship of this translation has traditionally been attributed to Pedro Juan de Lastanosa, and its organization and structure to Jerónimo Girava. Againts some authors' opinion, Pedro Juan de Lastanosa was neither a mathematician nor a cosmographer but the engineer and architect of fortifications in the service of Philip II. It was actually Girava who translated Practical Geometry, in virtue of his charge as the cosmographer and the engineer of Charles I. Lastanosa simply collected and structured the manuscript in order to publish it, but it didn't come to an end. The misunderstanding comes from the addition of a cover which was made for the manuscript a century later. This article tries to clarify these subjects, and analyze the content of this Practical Geometry and its influence on other Spanish mathematicians.