The Relationship Between Mathematics and Political Power

The Roman view then was that the Greeks are more abstract, they're more interested in theory and the Romans are kind of down to earth. The fact that this is not necessarily a reflection of what was going on could be seen in the very figure of Archimedes. In so far as mathematics is connected to ideas of accuracy, fairness, transparency even, we find it as a thread running through political discourse. It's very interesting that in the Roman Republic for instance, generals who won big victories and were awarded a triumph had to display the account for the campaign during the triumph of our procession. So it sends a message about transparency, good government fairness and so on.