Oberto Cantone

Oberto Cantone, who came from Genoa and lived in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, was an Italian mathematician who became a professor in Naples. He is well known for his writings on the use of mathematics in business, in particular his manual of practical arithmetic printed at Naples in 1599, which was inspired by the work of Pietro Borghi. A later book that added geometry to arithmetic under a similar title was issued by the same Naples printer, Tarquinio Longo, in 1606. Both works are in Italian and are practical in aim, written for readers who needed calculation for trade rather than theory.