The village master taught his little school

The village all declared how much he knew,

‘Twas certain he could write, and cipher too;

Lands he could measure, times and tides presage,

And e’en the story ran that he could gauge

Oliver Goldsmith – The Deserted Village

As I have commented on a number of occasions in the past, although most people only know Johannes Kepler, if they have heard of him at all, as the creator of his eponymous three laws of planetary motion in fact he published more than eighty books and pamphlets in his life covering a very wide range of scientific and mathematical subjects. One of those publications, which often brings a smile to the faces of those not aware of its mathematical significance, is his Nova stereometria doliorum vinariorum (which translates as The New Art of Measuring the Contents of Wine Barrels) published in 1615. A…