Book VIII is the final part of the Mathematical Collection, or Synagoge, compiled by the Greek mathematician Pappus of Alexandria around AD 340. It is devoted chiefly to mechanics and the application of geometry to mechanical problems, though it also contains propositions of purely geometrical interest.

The book examines the theory of the lever, centres of gravity and mechanical advantage, drawing on the earlier work of Archimedes and Heron of Alexandria. It also treats geometric constructions carried out under restrictive conditions, such as those made with a compass fixed at a single opening. Some scholars have suggested that Book VIII may originally have been a separate introduction to mechanics.

The text is the source of the saying attributed to Archimedes, ‘Give me a place to stand, and I shall move the Earth,’ cited by Pappus while illustrating the principle of the lever. The Collection survives through a single twelfth-century manuscript.