The Formulario between Mathematics and History

This paper will highlight the genesis and the aims of the project of the "Formulaire de Mathématiques" edited by G. Peano, the main sources of inspiration (among which Leibniz's characteristica universalis), the stages of realisation (from 1888 to 1908) and some differences among the five editions, the difficulties and the limits remarked by Peano himself in the course of his work, the controversies and debates on the front of research and teaching, and finally some of the cultural influences and repercussions. Chronological scanning of the contents and the indication of the contributions of the various authors and of the main novelties and the references to the historical sources can be seen in Tables 1-5. They summarise also the information obtained from the marginalia and from the galley proofs (now in Peano-Vacca Archive, at the Turin University, Dept. of Mathematics G. Peano).