I think I have told this before, but it links into Senofou's haggis story and her complaint about compartmentalising subjects. About two years ago I was in a fort standing next to a cannon which was pointing out to sea, intending to sink any approaching vessels. To me there was not only a cannon but a set of imperitives driving more advanced maths for the trajectory, improvements in measurements for both weights and measures, better machining and manufacture of the cannon and the ball, improved quality of the metal, improved quality regimes on the powder, more reproducable charges and on and on. My son is a historian by inclination, so he saw trade agreements, ebb and flow of commerce and who knows what else.

To me, it makes no sense to partition things so all you see is a cannon.