What is "ars magna"

Ars magna may refer to:

• Ars Magna (Gerolamo Cardano), a 16th-century book on algebra
• Ars Magna (Ramon Llull), a philosophical work

The Ars Magna ( Latin: "The Great Art") is an important book on algebra written by Girolamo Cardano. It was first published in 1545 under the title Artis Magnæ, Sive de Regulis Algebraicis Liber Unus (Book number one about The Great Art, or The Rules of Algebra). There was a second edition in Cardano's lifetime, published in 1570. It is considered one of the three greatest scientific treatises of the early Renaissance, together with Copernicus' De revolutionibus orbium coelestium and Vesalius' De humani corporis fabrica. The first editions of these three books were published within a two-year span (1543–1545).