An introduction to the History of the Encyclopedias

the Christian Wolff’s Mathematical Encyclopedia from 1716

Abstract

Through the History of the encyclopedias, the main topic of this text is to establish a relation between the
appearance of the Mathematical Encyclopedias and the process of popularization of the mathematics that had begun with Renaissance and has strengthened with the first philosophical movements that culminated in European Enlightenment. Christian Wolff, Philosopher of German Enlightenment, participated in that process inaugurating the series of Mathematical Encyclopedias that appeared in Germany in the 18th century and introduced terms in the German mathematical language that have been used until nowadays.