AHistoryofMathematics 10463423

A H IS TO RY OF
A T H E M A T IC S
FL OR IA N C AJO R I , PH D . .
P RO F E SS OR O F H I ST ORY O F M ATHE MATIC S I N
U NI VE R SITY O F C AL I F OR NIA
by
I
an y
a m
a tt e
s u re
mp t
tha t no j
s u b ec t l ose s more t ha n ma t hema t i c s
t o d i sso c ia t e i t f ro m i t s hi s t o ry .
”
—J . W . L .
G L A IS H E R
S E C O N D E D ITIC N , R E V I S E D AN D E N LAR G E D
Na n finrk
THE M AC M I L L AN C O M P ANY
L O ND O N M AC M I LL A N
: C0 L m .
A ll r i g hts res erved

C O P Y RIG HT 1 8 93 , ,
BY M AC M IL LAN AN D CO .
S et u p a nd el ec t ro typ ed Jan uary , 1 8 94 . Rep r i nt ed M arc h ,
1 8 95 ; Oc t o be r , 1 89 7 ; N ov e mber , 1 90 1 ; Jan uary , 1 90 6 ; J ul y , 1 909
Febru ary , 1 91 1 .
S econd Edi t ion , Rev i sed and Enl arg ed
C OP Y RI GHT 1 9 1 9 ,
BY THE M AC M I LLAN C O M PANY

Set u p a n d el ec t ro type d . P ubl ished J u ly ,
1 9 19
9 7 5 03
P REFA C E TO TH E S E C ON D ED I TI ON
IN preparing this second edition the earlier portions of the book

have been partly r e written while the chapters on recent mathematics
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are greatly enlarged and al most Wholly new The desirability of .
having a reliable one volume history for the use of readers who cannot
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devote the mselves to an intensive study of the history of mathe matics

is generally recogniz ed On the other hand it is a diffi cult task to
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give an adequate bird s eye View of the develop m ent of mathem atics
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from its earliest beginnings to the present time In compiling this .
history the endeavor has been to use only the most reliable sources .
Nevertheless in covering such a wide territory mi stakes are su re to

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have crept in References to the sources used in the revision are

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given as fully as the limitations of space woul d permit These ref .
er en c es will assist the reader in following into greater detail the his
tory of any special subject Frequent use without acknowledgment

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has been m ade of the following publications : A n nu ar i o B i ografi co del

Ci r col o M atemati co di P al ermo 1 91 4 ; J ahrbu ck nber di e Fortschr i tte def
,
M a themati k B erlin ; J C P oggen dorfi s B i ogr aphi scli L i ter ari sches
, . .
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H an dworter buch Leip zig ; Geden k tagebn cli f u r M a themati k er v on Felix

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M ii ll e r 3 A u fl Leip z ig und B erlin 1 9 1 2 ; Revu e S emes tri ell e des P u b

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l i cati on s M a thémati qu es A ms terda m ,

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The author is indebted to M iss Falk a M G ibson of Oakland Cal .

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for assistan c e in the reading of th e proofs .
FL ORIA N CA J ORI .
University of California ,
M arch 1 9 1 9 , .
IN TRO DUCTI O N .
THE B A B Y L O N IANS .
TH E E GY P TIANS
THE GRE E K S .
Gr eek Geometry
The Ionic School ”
The School of P yth agor a s .
The Sop hi st School .
The P latonic School .
The First Alexandrian School .
The Second Alexandrian School .
Gr eek A r i thmeti c and A l gebr a

THE R O MA NS .
THE M AY A .
THE C HI NESE .
THE JAP A NESE .
TH E H IND U S .
EUR OP E D UR I N G TH E M I DD L E A G ES
I n tr odu cti on of Roman Ma thema ti cs .
Tr an sl ati on of A r a bi c M an u scr i pts .
The Fi rs t A wa k en i n g a n d i ts S equ el .
EURO P E DUR IN G TH E SIX TEEN TH S EV EN T EEN T H A ND EI GH T

“
EE N TH CEN TU RI ES
The Ren a i ssan ce

Vi eta and Desca r tes .
Descartes to N ew ton .
N ewton to E ul er
Eul er , L agr ange an dEapl ac e ”
TH E NIN E T EEN T H AN D T WEN TI E TH CEN TURI ES

Ma them
I n tr odu cti on
Definition O
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f a tics
C ONT EN T S
S yn theti c Geometry
Elementary G eometry of the Triangle and Circle
Link motion
P arallel L ines Non Euclidean G e ometry and G eometry of
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n D i mension s .
A n al yti c Geometry .
Analysis Situs .
Intrinsic Co ordinates -
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D efi n i t ion of a C u rv e . .
Funda mental P ostul ates .
Geom etric M odels .
Al gebr a
TheoryOf Equations and Theory O f Groups
Solution of Nu merical
M agic Squares and Co mbinatory A n
alysis
A n al ysi s .
Calcul u s f O V a riations .
Convergence of Series .
P robabil ity and S tatistics

Diff erential Equations D ifference Equations ” .
Integral Equations Integro differential Equatio n s Ge

n eral ,
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Analysis Functional ,
Theories of Irrationals and Theory Of Aggrega tes

M athe matical Logic
Theory o f Fu n cti on s .
Elliptic Functions
n
General Theory O f Functio
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s .
Unifor m ization .
Theory o f N u“ mber s .
Fer mat s Last Theorem Waring s Theore m

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O ther Recent Researches Nu mber Fields . .
Transcendental Nu mbers The Infinite . .
A ppli ed M a thema ti cs .
Celestial M echanics
P roble m O f Three B odies
General M echanics .
Fluid M otion .
Sound Elasticity
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Light Electricity Heat P otential

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Relativity “
Nomog raphy . .
M athe matical T ables

Calculating M achines Pl a nimet ers I n teg raph s
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Al phabeti cal I n dex

A H I S TO R Y O F M A T H E M A TI C S
I NT ROD U CTI ON
TH E contemplation of the various steps by which mankind has
come into possession of the vast stock of m athe matical knowledge
can hardly fail to interest the mathe matician He takes pride in the .
fact that his S cience more than any other is an exact science and
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that hardl y anything ev er done in m athematics has proved to be use

less The che mi st smiles a t the chi ldish e fforts of alche m ists but the
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mathe matician finds the geo metry O f the Greeks and the arithmetic
of the Hindus as useful and adm irable as any research of to day He -
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is pleased to notice that though in course of its develop ment mathe

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ma ti cs has had periods of S low growth yet in the main i t has been ,
pre e minently a pr ogr ess i ve science

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The history of m athematics may be instructiv e as well as agreeable ;

it may not only remind u S of what we have but m ay also teach us ,
how to increase our store Says A D e M organ The early history

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O f t h e m ind of m en with regard to mathe m atics leads us to point out

our own errors ; and in this respect it is well to pay attention to the
hi stor y of mathe m atics It warns us against hasty conclusions ; it
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points out the importance of a good notation upon the progress O f the
science ; it discourages excessive S pecialisation on the part of investi
gators by S howing how apparently distinct branches have been foun d
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to possess unexpected connecting links ; it saves the student f rom

wasting time and energy upon proble m s which were perhaps solve d , ,
long S ince ; it discourages him fro m attacking an unsolved problem by

the sam e method which has led other m athem aticians to fail ure ; it
teaches that fortifications can be taken in other ways than by di rect
a ttack that when repulsed fro m a direct assault it is well to recon
,
n oi t re and occupy the surrounding ground and to discover th e secret
paths by which the apparently unconquerable position can be taken 1

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The importance of this strategic rule m ay be e mphasised by citing a

case in which it has been violated An untold a moun t of intellectual
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energy has been expended on the quadrature of the circle yet no con ,
quest has been made by di rect assault The circle squarers have .
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existed in crowds ever S ince the period of Archi m edes After in .
numerable failures to solve the problem at a time ev en when in , ,
l
S G un th er ,
. Zi el e und Resu l tate der n eu er en M athemati sch hi stori schen For schu n g
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Erl an g en , 1 8 7 6 .
A H I S T ORY O F M AT HE M ATIC S
v es tig a torspossessed that m ost powerful tool the differential calculus , ,
persons versed in mathe matics dropped the subj ect whi le those who
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stil l persisted were completely ignorant of its history and generally

m isunderstood the conditions of the problem “
Our problem says .
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A D e M organ is to square the circle with the ol d al l owan ce of means :

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Euclid s postul ates and nothi ng m ore We cannot remember an

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instance in which a question to be solved by a defini te method was

tried by the best heads and answered a t last by that method after
thousa nds O f co mplete failures
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B ut progress w as made on this .

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proble m by approaching it fro m a different direc tion and by newly

di scovered paths J H Lambert proved in 1 7 6 1 that the ratio of the
. . .
circum ference O f a circle to its diameter is irrational Som e years .
ago F Linde mann de monstrated that thi s ra t io is also transcendental

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and that the quadrature O f the circle by means O f the ruler and c o m ,
passes only is i mposs i bl e He t h us showed by actual proof that which

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keen m inded mathem aticians had long suspected ; namely that the
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gre a t a rmy of circle squ a rers have for two thousand years been
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assaulting a fort i fication whi ch is as indestructible as the fir mamen t

O f heav en .
Another reason for the desi rability of historical study is the valu e
of historical knowledge to th e teacher of mathematics The interest .
which pupils take in their studies may be greatly increased if the

solution O f problem s and the cold logic of geom etrical demonstrations
are interspersed with historical remarks and anecdotes A class in
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arithm etic will be pleased to hear about the B abylonians and Hind us
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and their invention of the Arabic notation ; they will m arvel at
the thousands of years which elapsed before people had even though t
O f introducing into the num eral notation that Columbus egg
—the -
z ero ; they will find it astounding that it S hould hav e taken so long
to i nven t a notation which they th emselves can now l earn in a month .
After the pupils h ave learned how to bisect a given angle surprise ,
"
them by telling of the many futile attempts whi ch have been made
to solve by elementar y geometry the apparently very S imple proble m
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of the trisection O f an angle When they know how to construct a .
square whose area is double the area O f a given square tell them about
the duplication O f the cube of its m ythical origin—how the wrath of
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Apollo could be appeased only by the construction O f a cubical altar

double the given altar and how m athematicians long wrestled w ith
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this problem After the class have exhausted their energies on the
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theore m of the right triangle tell them the legend about its di sc ov
erer—how P ythagoras j ubilant over his great accomplishm ent
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sacrifi ced a hecato mb to the M uses who inspired him When the .
value of m athe matical training is called in question quote the i n ,
scription over the entrance into the acad em y of P lato the philosopher : ,
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Let no one who is unacquainted with geometry enter here S tudents .
in analytical geometry should know so methi ng of Descartes and , ,

I N TROD U CTI ON
after taking up the differential and in tegral calculus they should ,
become familiar with the parts that Newton Leibniz and Lagrange , ,
played in creating that science In hi s historical talk it is possible .
for the teacher to make i t plain to the student that m athematics is

not a dead science but a living one in which steady progr ess is made
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A S imilar point of V ie w is taken by Henry S Wh ite : The ac

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c ept ed truths of to day even the co mmonplace truths of any science

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were the doubtful or the novel theories of yesterday Some i n deed .
of prime importance were long esteem ed of sligh t importance and

al most forgotten The first eff ect of readi ng in the hi story of science
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is a nai ve astonishment at the darkness of past centuries b ut the ,
ul ti m ate e ffect is a fervent ad miration for the progress achieved b y
for mer generations for the triumphs of persistence and of genius

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The easy credulity with whi ch a young student supposes that of

course every algebraic equation m ust have a root gives place final ly
to a delight in the slow conquest O f the realm of imaginary numbers
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and in the youthful genius of a Gauss who could demonstrate t hi s

once obscure fundamental proposition .
The history of mathematics is i mportant also as a valuable con

t ri bu tio n to the history of civilisation Human progress is closely .
identified with scientific thought M athematical and physical re .
search es are a reliable record of intellectual progress The history .
of mathematics is one of the large windows through which the p hilo

sophic eye looks into past ages and traces the line of intellectual de
v el opmen t .
1
C aj o r i , F
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The Tea
c hi n g and Hi story of M athemati cs i n the Uni ted S tates . Wash
i ng ton , 1 8 90 , p 23 6 . .
2
B ull A m M ath S oc
. . . .
, Vo l . 1 5, 1 90 9 , p 3 25
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THE B A B YL ON IA NS
TH E fertile valley of the Euphrates and Tigris was one of the

prim eval seats of hu m an society Authentic history of the peoples .
inhabiting this region begins only with the foundation in Chal daea ,
and Babylonia of a united kingdo m out of the pre v iously disunited

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tribes M uch light has been thrown on their history by the discov e ry
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of the art of reading the cu n eif orm or wedge shaped syste m of writing -
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In the study of Babylonian m athe matics we begin with the notation

of n umbers A vertical w edg e vstood for 1 while the characters
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and Y ) signified 1 0 and 1 00 respectively G ro t efen d believes the .
C haracter for 1 0 originally to have been the picture of two hands as
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held in prayer the pal m s being pressed together the fingers close to
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each other but the thu mbs thrust out In the Babylonian notation
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two principles were e m ployed the ad ditiv e and m ultiplicative N u m .
bers below 1 0 0 were expressed by symbols whose respective values

had to be added Thus VVs tood for 2 Y for 3 w for
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, , , ,
for 2 3 for 30 Here the symbols of higher order appear

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always to the left O f those of lower order In writing the hun .
dreds on the other hand a s mal l er sy mbol was placed to the left of
, ,
1 0 0 and was in that case to be mu l ti pl i ed by 1 00 Thus

, , I ,
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signified 1 0 times 1 0 0 or 1 0 00 B ut this symbol for 1 000 was itself

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taken for a new unit which could take s maller coe fficients to its left
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Thus ,
y denoted not 2 0 tim es 1 00 but 1 0 ti m es 1 000 So m e , ,
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of the cuneiform nu mbers found on tablets in the ancient te mple

library at Nippur exceed a m illion ; m oreov er so m e of these Nippur ,
tablets exhi bit the s u btr acti ve principle ( 2 0

in the Ro man notation XIX “
similar to that shown
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If as is believ ed by m ost S pecialists the early S u m er1ans were the
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in v entors O f the Cuneiform writing then they were in all probability , , ,
also the inv entors O f the notation of nu mbers M ost surprising in .

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this connection is the fact that Sumerian inscriptions disclose the u se

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not only of the above deci mal syste m but also O f a s exages i mal one , .
The latter was used chiefly in constructing tables for weights a n d

measures It is full of historical interest Its consequential develop
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m ent both for integers and fractions reveals a high d egree O f m athe
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mati cal insight We possess two Babylonian tablets which exhibit

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i ts use O n e of t he m probably w ritten between 2 300 and 1 6 0 0 B C

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contains a table O f square nu mbers up to 6 0 The nu mbers I 4 9

2
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16,
2 5 3 6 4 9 are given as the squares O f the first seven integ e r s r e
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THE B A B YL ON IA NS 5
2 2 2
We have ne xt
sp e c t i v e l y
. 8 9 10 11 etc 2
, , , ,
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This remains unintelligible unless we assu me the sexagesimal scale

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which makes 60 + 2 1 2 6O + I The second ,

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tablet rec ord s the magnitude of the illum inated portion of the moon s ’
disc for e v ery day fro m new to full moon the whole disc being assumed ,
to consist of 2 40 par ts The illum inated parts during the first fi v e

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days are the series 5 1 0 2 0 40 ,

which is a geo m etrical
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progression From here on the series beco m es an arithm etical prog r es

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sion the numbers fro m the fifth to the fifteenth day being respectiv ely
,
4 This table .
not only exhi bi fs the use of the sexagesi mal syste m but also indicates ,
the acquaintance O f the B abylonians with progressions Not to be .
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overlooked is the fact that in the sexagesi mal notation of integers
the principle O f position was e mployed Thus in the .
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I is m ade to stan d for 6 0 the unit of the second or der by virtue of

, ,
its position with respect to the 4 The intro d uction O f this principle .
at S O early a date is the m ore re markable because in the decimal n O ,
t a ti on it was not regularly introduced till about the ninth century

after Christ The principle of position in its general and systematic
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application requires a symbol for z ero We ask D id the Babylonians

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possess one ? Had they already taken the gigantic step of representing
by a symbol the a bs en ce of units ? Neither O f the abo v e tables answers
this question for they happen to contain no nu mber in which there
,
was occasion to use a z ero Babylonian recor d s of many centuries

later—O i about 2 00 B C —give a symbol for z ero which denoted the
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absence of a figure but apparently was not used in calculation It .
consisted O f two angular m arks 5 one abov e the other roughly re ,
sembling two dots hastily written About I 30 A D Ptolemy in

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. . .
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Alexan dria use d in his A l magest the B abylonian sexagesi m al fractions ,
and also the o micron to represent blanks in the sexagesim al numbers

o .
This was not used as a regular z ero It app ears therefore that the
0 .
Babyloni ans had the pr i nciple of local v alue and also a symbol for ,
z ero ,
to indicate the absence of a figure but did not use this z ero in ,
comp utation Their sexagesimal fractions were intro duced into India
.
and with th es e fractions probably passed the principle O f local value

and the restric t ed use of the z ero .
The sexagesimal syste m w as used also in fractions Thus in the .

,
Babylonian inscriptions 3, an d are d esignated by 30 and 2 0 the

,
r eader being expected in his mind to supply the word sixtieths

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The astrono mer Hipparchus the geo m eter H yp si c l es and the as ,
t r on ome r P tole my borrowed the sexagesim al notation of fractions

from the Babylonians and introd uced it into Gree c e From that tim e .
sexagesimal fractions hel d al m ost full sway in astronomical and mathe

mati cal calculations until the S i xteenth century when they finally ,
yielded their place to the dec imal fractions It may be asked What .
,
l e d to the invention O f the se xagesi mal syste m ? Why was it that 6 0

6 A H I S TORY OF M ATHE M ATIC S
parts were selected ? To this we have no positive answer Ten was .
chosen in the decimal system because it r epresents the number O f

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fingers B ut nothi ng of the hu man body coul d have suggested 6 0

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Did the system have an astronomical origin ? It was supposed that

the early Babyloni ans reckoned the year at 3 6 0 days t hat this led ,
to the di v ision of the circle into 3 6 0 degrees each degree representing ,
the daily amount O f the supposed yearly revolution O f the sun around
the ear th Now they were very probably familiar with the fact
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that the radius can be applied to its circu mference as a C hord 6 times ,
and that ea ch of these chords subtends an ar e measuring exactly 6 0

degrees Fix ing their attention upon these degrees the division into
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,
6 0 par t s m ay have suggested itself to them Thus when greater pre .

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c i si on necessitated a subdivision of the degree i t was partitioned into ,
6 0 minutes In t h is way the sexagesim al notation was at one tim e

.
supposed to have originated B ut it now appears that the Babylonians .
very early knew that the year exceeded 3 6 0 days M oreover i t is .

,
highly im probable that a higher unit of 3 6 0 was chosen first and a ,
lower unit of 60 afterward The norm al develop ment of a number .
system is from lower to higher units Another guess is that the .
sexagesim al system arose as a m ixture of two earlier system s of the

bases 6 and Certain it is that the sexagesimal system becam e
closely inte rwoven with astronomical and geometrical science The .
di vision of the day into 2 4 hours and O f the hour into mi nutes and ,
seconds on the scale of 6 0 is attributed to the Babylonians There is

,
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strong evidence for the belief that they had also a division of the day
into 6 0 hours The e mployment O f a sexagesi mal division in nu meral
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notation in fractions in angular as well as in tim e m easurement i n

, , ,
di c a t e d a beautiful har m ony which was not disturbed for thousands

O f years until Hindu and Arabic astrono m ers began to use S ines and
cosines in place O f parts of chords thereby forcing the right angle to ,
the front as a new angular unit which for consistency should have , , ,
been sub divided sexagesimally but was not actually so divided ,

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It appears that the people in the Tigro Euphrates basin had m ade -
very cre di table a dvance in arithm etic Their knowledge of arith .
m etical and geo m etrical progressions has already been alluded to .
I amb l i chu s attributes to the m also a knowledge O f proportion and ,
even the invention of the so called mu si cal proportion Though we -

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1
M C an tor Vorl esung en uber Geschi chte der M athematik ,
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B d , 3 A u fl , L e ip i g , 1. . . . z
1 90 7 , p 3 7 Thi s w o rk h a s app ear ed i n fou r l arg e v o l um es an d c arri e s t he hi s t ory
)
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d ow n t o 1 7 99 Th e fou r t h v o l u me ( 1 90 8 w as w r i tt en w i t h t h e co op e ra i o n o f n i n e
. t
sc hol a r s f r om G e rma n y , I t a l y , R u ssi a an d t he U n i t ed S a t es M ori t Cantor ( 1 8 2 9 t . z
ran k s as t h e fore mos t g e n eral w r i t e r o f t h e n i n e t een t h ce n t u ry o n t he hi s tory
o f ma t h e ma t i cs B or n i n M a nn h e im , a s tu de n t a t H e idelb e rg , a t G ott i ng e n u n der

.
G au ss a n d Web e r , a t B e rl i n u n der D i r i c hl e t , h e l e c t u r ed a t H e id elb erg w he re i n

1 8 7 7 h e b e came or di n a ry h o n o r a ry p r o fesso r H i s fi r s t hi s tori cal ar t i c l e w a s
.
t
b roug h t o u t i n 1 8 5 6 , b u t n o t u n il 1 88 0 d id t h e fi rs t v ol u me o f hi s w ell k n ow n hi s tory -
app ear .
THE B A B YL ON IA NS
possess no conclusive proof we have nevertheless reason to believe ,
th at in practical calculation they used the abacu s A mong the races .
of middle Asia even as far as China the abacus is as old as fable

Now Babylon was once a great commercial centre —the m etropolis of
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m any nations —an d it is therefore not unreasonable to suppose that

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her m erchant s e mployed this most improved aid to calculation .
In 1 8 89 H V Hil precht began to make excavations at N uffar ( the

ancient Nippur)
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and found brick tablets containing m ultiplicatio n and

division tables tables of squares and square roots a geo metric prog res
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sion and a few computations He p ublished an account of hi s fin dings .

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in 1 90 6 l
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The divisions in one tablet contain results like these : 6 0 divided 4
by 2 = each “
6 0 divided by 3 = 4 3 2 0 OOO each
4
and
, , , ,
so on using the divisors 2 3 4 5 6 8 9 1 0 1 2 1 5 1 6 1 8 The very

, , , , , , , , , , , ,
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first division on the tablet is interpreted to be 6 0 divided by I

“ 4
This strange appearance O f % as a divisor l s diffi cult to

explain P erhaps there 1S here a use of 2 corresponding to the Egyp tian
.
3
use of 3 as found in the Ahmes papyrus a t a perhaps conte mporaneous

7:
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period It is noteworthy that 6 0 4

which H i l pr ech t found
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in the Nippu r brick text books is nothing less than the mystic P latonic
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number the lord of better and worse births m entioned in P lato s
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Repu bli c M ost probably P lato received the number fro m the
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P ythagoreans and the P ythagoreans fro m the Babylonians

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2
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In geo m etry the B abylonians accompli shed little B esides the divi .
sion O f the circu mference into 6 parts by i ts radius and into 3 60 de ,
grees they had som e knowledge of geometrical figures such as the

, ,
triangle and quadrangle which they used in their auguries Like the ,
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Hebrews ( 1 Kin they took 7r = 3 Of geo metrical de monstra

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A S a rule in the Oriental mind

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tions there is of co u rse no trace , ,
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the intuitive powers eclipse the severely rational and logical .
H il pre ch t con cluded from his studies that the Babylonians pos
sessed the rules for fin di ng the areas of squares rectangles right tri , ,
angles and t r ape zoids

,
.
The astronomy of the B abylonians has attracted much attention .
They worshipped the heavenly bodies from the earliest hi storic times .
When Alexander the Great after the battle O f Arbela (33 1 B C took ,
. .
possession of Babylon C al li sthen es found there on burned brick as ,
t r on omi c al records reaching back as far as 2 2 34 B C P orphyr ius says

‘
. .
that these were sent to Aristotle P tole my the Alexandrian a s tr on o .

,
mer possessed a Babylonian record of eclipses going back to 74 7 B C

,
. .
1
M athemati cal , M etrol ogi cal Chron ol og i cal Ta bl ets f r om the Templ e L i brary
a nd
of N i ppu r , b y H V H i l p r ec h t . V ol , p
a r t I , S eri e s A , C u n e ifo rm Te xt s , p u b
. . . XX
l i shed by t h e B ab yl o n i a n Exp edi t io n o f t h e U n i v e r si ty o f P e n n syl va n i a , 1 90 6 C o n .
s u l t al so D E S mi t h i n B u l l A m M a th S oc , V O l 1 3 , 1 90 7 , p 3 9 2
. . . . . . . . .
“
2
O n t h e P l a t o n i c n u mb er c on su l t P T a n n e ry i n R evu e phi l osophi q u e, V ol I , . .
1 8 7 6 , p 1 7 0 ; V ol X I I I , 1 88 1 , p 2 1 0 ; V o l
. . V , 1 88 3 , p 5 7 3 A l so G L ori a i n L e
. . X . . .
z
s c i en e es atte n el l a n ti ca grec i a , 2 E d , M il a n o , 1 9 1 4 A pp en di ce
’
.
, .
8 A H I S T ORY . OF M AT H E M ATIC S
Epping and Strassmaier have thrown considerable light on Babylon
1
ian chronolog y and astrono my by explaining two calendars of the

years 1 2 3 B C and 1 1 1 B C taken from cuneifor m tablets coming
presumably from an old observatory These scholars hav e succeeded
. . . .
, ,
, .
in givi ng an account of the B abyloni an calc ul ation O f the new and

full moon and have identi fied by calculations the B abyloni an names
,
of the planets and of the twelve z odiacal signs and tw enty eight
,
-
normal stars whi ch correspond to som e ex tent with the twenty eight -
n akshatr as of the Hindus We append part of an Assyrian astronomical

.
report as translat ed by Opper t :

,
To the Ki ng my lord thy fai thful servant M ar Istar

, ,
-
.
On the first day as the new moon 5 day of the month Thammu z
d ecli ned the moon was a g ai n vi s i b le ov er the planet M ercury as I had
,
, ,
already predi cted t o my master the King I erred not . .
1
Epp i ng , A stronomi sches aus B abyl on . Unter M i twi rk u ng von P .
J R S t rass
. .
mai er . F rei burg , 1 889 .

10 A H I S T ORY OF M AT HE M ATIC S
papyrus—the most ancient m athematical handbook known to u s

puts us at once in contact with the m athe matical thought in Egyp t of
”
“
three or five thousand years ago It is entitled D irections for ob .
taining the K nowledge O f all Dark Things We see from it that the .
Egyptians cared but little for theoretical results Theorems are not .
found in it at all It contains hardly any general rules of procedure

.
,
but chi efly mere state ments of results intended possibly to be ex

plained by a teacher to his pupils 1
In geo metry the forte of the .
”
Egyptians lay in m aking constructions and deter mining areas The .
area of an isosceles triangle of which the sides me asu re 1 0 k hets (a ,
unit of length equal to m by one guess and about thrice that

amount by another guess )
.
2
and the base 4 khets was erroneously given ,
as 2 0 square k hets or half the product O f the base by one side The
,
.
area O f an isosceles trape zoid is found similarly by multiplying half , ,
the sum of the parallel sides by one of the non p arallel S ides The -
.
area of a circle is found by deducting fro m the dia m eter ,5 of its length
1
and squaring the re mainder Here 71 is taken ( g = 1 6

a .
--
v ery fair approxi m ation The papyrus explains also such problems .
as these — TO mark out i n the field a right triangle whose sides are
,
1 0 a n d 4 units ; or a trape z oid whose parallel sid es are 6 and 4 and
the non —
,
parallel sides each 2 0 units .
So m e proble m s in this papyrus see m to imply a rudimentary knowl

edge of proportion .
The base — lines O f t h e pyramids run north and south and east and ,
west but probably only the lines running north an d south were deter
,
mined by astrono mical observations This coupled with the fact “ ,
“ ”
that the word har pedon aptce applied to Egyptian geom eters means
rope stretchers would point to the conclusion that the Egyptian
-
,
, ,
like the Indian and C hinese geom eters constructed a right triangle ,
upon a given line by stretching around three pegs a rope consisting

,
of three parts in the ratios 3 :4 5 and thus forming a right triangle 3

,
.
If thi s e xplanation is correct then the Egyptians were fa miliar 2 , ,
years B C with the well known property of the right triangle for
. .
,
-
,
the special case at least when the sides are in the ratio 3 :4 :5 .
On the walls of the celebrated te mple of Horus at Edfu have been “
found hi eroglyp hics written about 1 00 B C which enumerate the ,

. .
,
pieces of land owned by the priesthood and giv e their areas The ,
.
area of any quadrilateral however irregular is there found by the , ,
form ula fl g Thus for a quadrangle whose O pposite sides ,
are 5 and 8 2 0 and 1 5 is given the area , $ The incorrect for

4
,
1
James Go w A S hort Hi story of Gr eek M athemati cs
, p 16 . C amb ri dg e , 1 88 4 , . .
2
A Ei se n l o h r , E i n ma themati sches H a n dbu ch der a l ten A egypter , 2 A u sg ab e , L ei p
. .
z ig , 1 8 9 7 , p 1 0 3 ; F L G r i ffi t h i n P r oceedi n gs of the S oci ety of B i bli cal A rchaeol ogy,

. . .
3
M C an to r , op
. . V ol I , 3 A u fl , 1 90 7 , p 1 0 5
ci t . . . . . .
4
H H a nk e l , Z u r
. Geschi chte der M athema ti k i n A l ter thu m u nd M i ttel al ter , L e ip ig , z
1 8 74 , p 86. .
THE E G Y P TIA NS 1
mu l ae of Ahme s of 300 0 years B C yield generally closer approxima . .
tions than those of the Edfu inscriptions written 2 0 0 years after ,
Euclid !
The fact that the geom etry of the Egyptians consists chiefly of
constructions goes far to explain certain of its great defects The
,
.
Egyptians failed in two essential points w i thout which a s ci en ce of

geometry in the true sense of the word cannot exist In the first
, ,
.
place they failed to construct a rigorously logical system of geometry

, ,
resting upon a few axio m s and postulates A great many of their .
rules especially those i n solid geom etry had probably not been proved
, ,
at all but were known to be true merely from ob serya tion or a s mat
,
ters of fact The second great defect was their inability to bring the
.
num erous S pecial cases under a more general view and thereby to ,
ar rive at broader and more fun damental theorems Som e of the .
simplest geom etrical truths were divided into numberless special cases
of which each was supposed to require separate treat ment .
So me particulars about Egyptian geometry can be mentioned more

advantageously in connection with the early Greek mathe maticians
who ca me to the Egyptian priests for instruction .
An insight into Egyptian methods of nu meration was obtained

through the ingenious deciphering of the hierogl yphics by Champol
lion Young and their successors The symbols used were the fol
m
,
.
,
lowing : h for 1 for 1 0 G for 1 00 ii for 1 00 0 E for

, , k , ,
for if for Q for The sym bol for

1 represents a vertical staff ; that for a pointing finger ; that
for a burbot ; that for a man in astonishm ent The .
significance of the re maining symbols is very doubtful The writing .
of numbers with these hieroglyphics was very cumbrous The unit .
symbol of each order was repeated as m any tim es as there were units
in that order The principle employed was the addi ti ve Thus 2 3
mm
.
.
,
was written [j uH
B esides the hierogl yphics Egypt possesses the hi erati c and demoti c
,
writings but for want of space we pass the m by

,
.
Herodotus makes an i mportant state ment concerning the mode of

“
computing among the Egyp tians He says that they cal cu l a te wi th
”
.
pebbl es by m oving the hand fro m right to left while the Hellenes ,
m ove it fro m left to right Herein we recognise again that i nstr u

.
men tal method o i figuring so ex tensively used by peoples of antiquity .
The Egyptians used the decimal scale Since in figuring they moved .
, ,
their hands hori zontally it see ms probable that they used ciphering
,
boards with vertical columns In each colum n there must have been .
not more than nine pebbles for ten pebbles would be equal to one ,
pebble in the col umn next to the left .
1
M C a n to r
.
, p
o . cit . V ol I , 3 A u fl
. . .
,
1 90 7, p 8 2 . .
12 A HI S T ORY OF M ATHE M ATI C S
The A hmes papyr u s con tain s interesting information on the way f
in whi ch the Egyp tians e mployed fractions Their methods of opera .
tion were of course radi cally diff erent from ours Fractions were a
, , .
subj ect of very great diffi culty with the ancients Simultaneous .
changes in both num erator and denominator were usually avoided

In m anipul ating fractions the B abylonians kept the denominators ( 6 0 )
.
constant The Rom ans l i kewise kept them constant but equal to 1 2
.
,
.
The Egyp tians and Greeks on the other hand kept the numerators , ,
constant and dealt with variable denom inators A hmes used the
,
.
“
term fraction in a restricted sense for he applied it only to u n i t ,
f r acti on s or fractions having unity for the num erator It was desig
, .
n a t ed by writing the deno minator and then placing over it a dot .
Fractional values which could not be expressed by any one unit

fracti on were exp ressed as the su m of two or more of them Thus he .
,
wrote 4 4 5 in place of
_ 1 2
Whi le Ahmes knows to be equal to 4 4 he .
,
cur iously allows 43 to appear often among the unit fractions and adop ts
2
a special symbol for it The first important problem naturally arisi ng .
was how to represent any fractional value as the sum of unit fractions
,
.
Thi s was solved by aid of a table given in the papyrus in which all , ,
2
fractions of the form (where n designates successively all the
2n +1
numbers up to 4 9) are reduced to the sum of unit fractions Thus -
—
,
.
1
4 4
2
44
1
4 4 4 44
,
W h en
1
by who m and how. thi s table was cal , ,
c ul at ed we do not know
,
P robably i t was co mpiled e mpirically at .
di ff erent tim es by di fferent persons It will be seen that by repeated

,
.
application of this table a fraction whose nu merator ex ceeds two can ,
be expressed in the desired for m provided that there is a fraction in ,
the table havi ng the same deno mi nator that i t has Take for ex .
,
a mple th e proble m to di vide 5 by 2 1 In the fir st place 5 1 + 2 + 2

2 = 1—1
.
, .
, ,
Fro m the table we get 4 4 4 4 Then 2 1 2 _5

4 4
T 4 4 I
2 =
4
1
2 1 3 1
4 4
4
1
, 4 4
=
f
i
,
J The papyrus
: contains4 prob2 1
4
lem s i n which it is required that fractions be raised by addition or multi

plication to given whole numbers or to other fractions For example .
,
i t 18 requi red to mcr ea se

1 1 1 —
1
4 4 0 4 0
1
4
to 1 The co mm on d en omi n a t or
4 4
.
taken appears to be 4 5 for the numbers are stated as 1 14 5 2 4 44 ,

l
, , ,
The s um of these IS 2 3 1 1 i forty fifths Add to this and

1
1 1 4 44
.
,
4
.
,
th e sum i s g Add ?4 and we have 1 . Hence the q uan tity to be added

,
.
to the gi ven fracti on i s 4 4 4 4 1 1

0 0 0
1
.
Ah mes gives the following e xample involving an ari thmeti cal

persons of what the first
”
“
p gr o r es si on : D ivide 1 00 loaves a m ong 5 ; 4
three get is what the last two get Wh at is the difference ? Ahm es .
gi v es the solution : M ake the diff erence 54; 2 3 1 74 1 2 6 4 1

“
, , ,
1
-
,
.
M ultiply by 1 4 ; 3 84 2 94 2 12 ,
How did A h m es co me upon
, ,
.
TH E E G Y P TIA NS I3
54? Let a and —

P erhap s t hus : d be the fir st ter m and th e di ffer
1
ence in the required arithm etical progression then 4[a + (a—d H

— — —
,
( a 2 d) ] ( a 4 )
d whence d 5% ( a 4d)i e the dif , ,
. .
fer ence d is 5% times the last term A ssu mi ng the last term 1 he .
,
gets his first progression The sum is 6 0 but should be 1 00 ; hence ,
multiply b y 1 s for
2
_ 2
a
1 00 We have here
, a m ethod of solution -
.
which appear s ag ain l at er among the Hindus Arabs and modern ,
Europeans— the famous m ethod of f al se posi ti on .
Ahmes speaks of a ladder consisting of the nu mbers 7 49 343 , , ,
2 40 1 1 680 7
,
Adjacent to t hese powers of 7 are the words pi ctu r e
.
,
cat mou s e bar l ey measu re

, What is the meaning of these mysterious
, ,
.
data ? Upon the consideration of the problem given by Leonardo of

“
P isa in hi s Li ber abaci 3000 years later : 7 old wo men go to Ro m e ; ,
each woman has 7 m ules each m ule carries 7 sacks etc M oritz , ,
.
Cantor o ffers the follo w ing solution to the Ahm es riddle : 7 persons
have each 7 cats each cat eats 7 mice each mouse eats 7 ears of, ,
barley from each ear 7 measures of co rn may grow How many

,
.
persons cats m ice ears of barley and measures of corn altogether ?

, , , , ,
Ahm es gives 1 96 0 7 as the su m of the geometric progression Thus .

,
the Ahmes papyrus discloses a knowledge of both arithmetical and

geom etrical progression .
Ahm e s proceeds to the solution of equations of one unknown quan

tity The unknown quantity is called hau or heap Thus the
.
‘ ’
.
problem heap its 4 its whole it makes 1 9, i e

x
+ x = 19 In
5
. .
,
.
, , ,
f % f = 1 9;
;
3
t hi s case the solution B ut as follows x= 16
, 44 15 .
in other problems the solutions are e ffected by various other m ethods

,
.
It thus appears that the beginnings of algebra are as ancient as those

of geometry .
That the period of Ahmes was a flowering time for Egyptian m athe
matie s appears from the fact that there exist other papyri (more re
c en tl y di scovered ) of the same period They were found at Kahun .
,
south of the pyr amid of Il l ahun These docu m ents bear close t e .
semblance to Ahm es They contain moreover e xamples of quadratic .

, ,
equations the earliest of whi ch we have a record One of them is :

,
2
. .
A given surface of say 1 00 units of area shall be represented as , , ,
the sum of two squares whose S ides are to each other as 1 :4 In ,

.
modern symbols the problem is to find as and y such that x + y

,
2 2
, ,
1 00 and x :y = 1 The solution rests upon the m ethod of false

4 .
= =
position Try x 1 and y 4 then x + y 44 and 2 2 = B ut
.
§g 4 ,
= The rest of the solution canno t be made

V 1 9 9 1 0 and 1 0 8 4
1
M C antor p ci t Vol I 3 Au fl 9 7 p 7 8
.
, o . .
, .
, . .
,
1 0 , . .
2
C an tor op ci t V l I 90 7 pp 95 96
, . . o .
,
1 , .
, .
14 A HISTORY OF M ATHE M ATI CS
out but probably was x = 8 X 1 y = 8 X 4 6 This solution leads to

, ,
:
.
the relation The symbol r was used to designate

square root .
In so m e ways similar to the A hmes papyrus is also the Akh mim

papyrus writ t en ov er 2 00 0 years later at Akhm i m a city on the
1
, ,
Nile in Upper Egypt It is in Greek and is supposed to hav e been

.
written at som e time between 50 0 and 8 0 0 A D I t contains besides

arith metical exa mples a table for finding unit fractions like that
“
,
,
. .
,
”
,
of Ahm e s Unlike Ahmes i t tells how the table was constructe d The
.
,
.
rule expressed in
,
modern symbols is as follows ,
9
For z = 2 this for mula reproduces part of the table in
,
A hm e s .
The principal defect of Egyptian arithmetic was the lack of a

simple co mprehensive symbolism—a defect which not even the Greeks
,
were able to remove .
The Ahmes papyrus and the other pap yri of the same period r epr e
sent the m ost advanced attain m ents of the Egyp tians in arith m etic
and geo m etry It is re m arkable that they should have reached so
.
great proficiency in m athe m atics at so re mote a period of a ntiquity .
B ut strange indeed is the fact that during the ne xt two thousand

, , ,
years they should hav e made no progress whatsoe v er in it The con

,
.
c l u si on forces itself upon us that they rese mble the Chinese in the ,
s ta ti on ar y char acter not only of their govern ment but also of their
, ,
learning All the knowledge of geometry whi ch they possessed when

.
Greek scholars v i sited the m s ix centuries B C was doubtless known ,

. .
,
to the m two thousand years earlier when they built those stupendous ,
—
and gigantic structures the pyra mids .
L e p a py ru s m a t h éma t iq u e d Ak hmi m, M émo i r es pu bl i es par l es

’
B a ill e t ,
membr es de l a mi ss i on ar chéol og i q u e f r a nga i s e a u Cai r e , T I X , 1 r fasc i c u l e , P a r i s ,
—
.
1 8 9 , pp
2 1 88 .S ee al so C an to r , op c i t V ol I , 1 90 7 , pp 6 7 , 50 4
. . . . . .
THE GREEKS
Gr eek Geometry
About the seventh century B C an active co mmercial intercourse

. .
sprang up between Greece and Egyp t Naturally there arose an .
interchange of ideas as well as of merchandise Greeks thirsting for .

,
knowledge sought the Egyp tian priests for instruction Thales

,
.
,
P ythagoras ( En op ide s P lato De mocritus Eu d oxus all visite d the

, , , , ,
land of the pyram ids Egyptian ideas were thus transplanted across
.
the sea and there stimulated Greek thought directed it into new lines , ,
and gave to it a basis to work upon Greek culture therefore is not .

, ,
primitive Not only in mathematics but also in mythology and

.
,
art Hellas owes a deb t to older countries To Egypt G reece i s i n

,
.
'
debted among other things for its elementary geometry B ut this

, ,
.
does not lessen our ad miration for the Greek m ind From the mo .
ment that Hellenic philosophers applied the mselves to the study of

Egyptian geo metry this science assu med a radically different aspect
“
,
Whatever we Greeks receive we improve and perfect says P lato

, ,
” .
The Egyptians carried geometry no further than was absolutely n e ces

sary for their practical wants The Greeks on the other hand had
.
, ,
within them a strong speculative tendency They felt a craving to .
discover the reasons for things They found pleasure in the con .
t empl a ti on of i deal relations and loved science a s science

,
.
Our sources of inform ation on the history of Greek geo m etry before
Euclid consist merely of scattered notices in ancient writer s The .
early m athe m aticians Thales and P ythagoras left behind no written

, ,
records of their discoveries A full history of Greek geom etry and

.
astrono my during this period written by Eu demu s a pupil of Aris

, ,
t o tl e has been lost

,
.It was well known to P roclus who in his com , ,
men tar i es on Euclid gives a brief account of it This abstract con

, .
s t i tu t es our m ost reliable infor m ation We shall quote it frequently .
under the name of Eu demi an S ummary .
The I on i c S chool
To Th al e s ( 6 40—546 B of M iletus one of the seven wise men

.
, ,
an d the founder of the Ionic school falls the honor of having intro ,
du c ed the study of geo metry into Greece D uring middle life he .
engaged in commercial pursuits which took him to Egypt He is ,

.
said to have resided there and to have studied the physical sciences
,
and mathe matics with the Egyptian priests P lutarch declares that .
Thales soon excelled his m asters and a ma z ed King Ama si s by meas u r

,
I S
16 A HISTORY OF M ATHE M ATICS
ing the heights of the pyramids fro m their shadows Accordi ng to .
P lutarc h this was done by considering that the shadow cast by a

,
vertical stafi of known length bears the same ratio to the shadow of
the pyramid as the height of the staff bears to the heigh t of the pyra
mi d This sol ut ion presupposes a knowledge of proportion and the
.
,
Ahmes papyrus actually sho ws that the rudiments of proportion were

kn own to the Egyp tians According to D iogenes L aer ti u s the pyra
.
,
mids were m easured by Thales in a di ff erent way ; viz by finding the .
length of the shadow of the pyramid at the moment when the shadow
of a staff was equal to its ow n length P robably bo th methods were .
used .
The E udemi a n S u mmary ascribes to Thales the inventi on of the

theore ms on the equality of vertical angles the equality of the angles ,
at the base of an isosceles triangle the bisection of a circle by any ,
diam eter and the congruence of two triangles having a side and the two
,
adjacent angles equal respectively The last theorem combin ed (w e

have reason to suspect )
.
,
with the theorem on similar triangles he applied ,
to the measurement of the distances of ships fro m the shore Thus .
Thales w as t he first to apply theoretical geometry to practical uses .
The theore m that all angles inscribed in a semicircle are right angles
is attributed by so me ancient writers to Thales by others to P ythag ,
oras Thales was doubtl e ss famili ar with other theorem s n ot r e

.
,
corded by the ancients I t has been inferred that he knew the su m

.
of the thr e e angles of a triangle to be e q u l to two right angles and

g
,
the sides of equiangular triangles to be pr o or ti on al The E gyptians

1
.
m ust have m ade use of the above theorem s on the straight line in ,
some of their constructions found in the Ahmes papyrus but it was ,
left for the Greek phi losopher to giv e these tr uths whi ch others saw , ,
but did not formulate into words an explicit abstract expression and , , ,
to put i nto scientifi c language and subj ect to proof that which o thers
merely felt to be true Thales m ay be said to have created the geom
.
etr
y of lines essentially abstract
,
in its character wh i le the E gyp tians ,
studi ed only the geo metry of surfaces and the rudi ments of solid
geometry e mpirical in their character
,
2 .
With Thales begins also the study of scientifi c astronomy He .
acquired great celebrity by the prediction of a solar eclipse in 58 5 B C . .
Wh ether he predicted the day of the occurrence or simply the year , ,
is not known It is told of hi m that while conte mplating the stars

.
dur ing an evening walk he fell into a ditch The good old wo man
”
.
,
attendi ng him exclaimed How canst thou know what is doing in

“
,
the heavens when thou seest not what is at thy feet ?

,
The two most pro minent pupils of Thales were An axi man der (b 6 1 1 .
1
G J Allman , Gr eek Geometry fr om Thal es to Eu clid D ubl i n, 1 889 , p 1 0
)
. . .
. .
John s to n w as p rofessor of mathemat i c s a t Q u ee n s

’
G eorg e A l lm a n ( 1 8 2 4- 1 90 4
C o ll eg e , G al w a y , I r el an d .
2
G J . . Al lm an , op ci t , p 1 5
. . . .
18 A HISTORY OF M ATH EM ATICS
the teaching of philosophy m athe matics and natural science but it
, , ,
was a brotherhood the me mbers of whi ch were united for life This
,
.
brotherhood had O bservances approaching m asonic peculiarity They .
were forbi dden to div ulge the discov eries and doctrines of their school .
Hence we are obliged to speak of the P ythagoreans as a body and ,
fi n d it di ffi cult to deter m ine to who m each particular discovery is to

be ascribed The P ythagoreans the mselves were in the habit of r e
.
ferring every discovery back to the great founder of the sect .
This school grew rapidly and gained considerable political ascend

ency B ut the mystic an d secret O bservances introduced in i mitation
.
,
of E g yptian usages and the aristocratic tendencies of the school

, ,
caused it to beco m e an object of suspicio n The dem ocratic party in .
Lower Italy re v olted and destroyed the buildings of the P ythagorean

school P ythagoras fled to Tarentum and thence to M e t apon t u m
.
,
where he was m urdered .
P ythagoras has left behind no m athematical treatises and our ,
sources of infor mation are rather scanty Certain it is that in the .

,
P ythagorean school m athe m atics was the principal study

,
P yt hag .
oras raised mathe matics to the rank of a science Arithmetic was .
courted by h im as fervently as geo metry In fact arithm etic is the .

,
foundation of his philosophic system .
The E u demi a n S u mmar y says that P ythagoras changed the study

of geom etry into the form of a liberal education for he examined its ,
principles to the bottom and investigated its theore m s in an i mma

t er i a l and intellectual m anner
,
His geo metry was connected closely

.
”
with hi s arithm etic He was especially fond of those geom etrical
.
relations which ad mitted of arithmetical e xpression .
Like Egyptian geom etry the geo metry of the P ythagoreans is much
,
concerne d with areas To P ythagoras is ascribed the i mportant

.
theore m that the square on the hypotenuse of a right triangle is

equal to the s u m of the squares on the other two sides He had .
probably learned from the Egyptians the truth of the theorem in the
special case when the sides are 3 4 5 respectively The story goes , , ,
.
,
that P ythagoras was so j ubilant over this discovery that he sacrificed

a hecato mb Its authenticity is doub ted because the P ythagoreans
.
,
believed in the transmigration of the soul and opposed the shedding

of blood In the later traditions of the Neo P ythagoreans this ob -
”
.
“
j ec ti on is re m oved by replacing this bloody sacrifice by that of an
ox m ade of flour ! The proof of the law of three squares given in ,
Eucli d s El emen ts I 4 7 is due to Euclid hi mself and not to the

’
,
.
, ,
P ythagoreans .What the P ythagorean m ethod of proof was has

been a favorite topic for conj ecture .
The theore m on the su m of the three angles of a triangle presu m ,
ably known to Thales was pro v ed by the P ythagoreans after the

,
manner of Euclid They de monstrated also that the plane about a

.
point i s co mpletely filled by six equilateral triangles four squares or , ,

GREEK GEO M ETRY 19
three regular hexagons so that it is possible to di vide up a plane into

,
figures of either kind .
From the equilateral triangle and the square arise the solids nam ely , ,
the tetraedron o c t a edro n i c osa edron and the cube

,
These solids
, ,
.
were in all probability known to the Egyp tians e xcepting perhaps

, , , , ,
the i cosaedron In P ythagorean p hi losophy they represent r esp ec

.
,
ti v el y the four elements of the physical world ; nam ely fire air water , , , ,
and earth Later another regular solid was discovered namely the
.
, ,
dodecaedro n which in absence of a fifth ele ment was m ade to r epr e

, , ,
sent the universe itself I ambli chu s states that H ippa su s a P ytha
.
,
g or ean perished in the sea because he boasted that he first div ulged
, ,
the sphere with the twelve pentagons The sam e story of death at .
sea is told of a P ythagorean who disclosed the theory of irrationals .
The star shaped pentagram was used as a symbol of recognition by

-
the P ythagoreans and was called by them Health

,
.
P ythagoras called the sphere the most beautiful of all solids and ,
the circle the most beautiful of all plane figures The treatm ent of .
the subjects of proportion and of irrational quantities by hi m and

his school will be t aken up under the head of arithmetic .
According to Eu demu s the P ythagoreans invented the problem s ,
concerning the application of areas including the cases of defect and ,
excess as in Euclid VI 2 8 2 9
, ,
.
,
.
They were also familiar with the construction of a polygon equal

in area to a given polygon and sim ilar to another given polygon This .
proble m depends upon several i mportant and som ewhat advance d

theore m s and testifies to the fact that the P ythagoreans made no
,
mean progress in geo metry .
Of the theorems generally ascribed to the Italian school so m e ,
cannot be attributed to P ythagoras himself nor to his earliest suc ,
c e ssors The pro gress from e mpirical to reasoned solutions m ust of

.
,
nec essity have been slow It is worth noticing that on the circle
,
.
no theorem of any i mportance was discovered by this school .
Though pol i tics broke up the P ythagorean fraternity yet the school ,
continued to exist at least two centuries longer Among the later .
P ythagoreans P hilolaus and Archytas are the most pro minent

, .
P h il ol au s wrote a book on the P ythagorean doctrines By him were .
first given to the world the teachings of the Italian school which had ,
been kept secret for a whole century The brilliant Ar ch ytas (4 2 8

34 7 B C )
.
. of Tarentum known as a great statesman and general and

.
, ,
universally admired for his virtues was the only great geometer ,
among the Greeks when P lato opened his school Archytas was the .
first to apply geometry to mechanics and t o t reat the latter subject

'
methodically He also found a very ingenious m echanical solution

.
to the problem of the d uplication of the cube His solution in v olves ‘

.
clear notions on the generation of cones and cylinders This proble m .
reduces itself to finding two m ean proportionals between two giv en

lines These mean proportionals were ob tained by Archytas from
.
the secti on of a half cylinder The doctrine of proportion was a d

-
.
v an ced through him .
There is every reason to believe that the later P ythagoreans exer

c i se d a strong influence on the study and develop m ent of mathe m atics
at Athens The Sophists acquired geo metry fro m P ythagorean

.
sources P lato bought the works of P hilolaus and had a warm friend
.
,
in Archytas .
The S ophi s t S chool
After the defeat of the P ersians under Xerxes at the battle of

Salamis 480 B C a league was formed among the Greeks to preserv e
,
. .
,
the freedo m of the now liberated Greek cities on the islands and coast
of the E g aean Sea Of this league Athens soon becam e leader and
.
dictator She caused the separate treasury of the league to be merged

.
into that of Athens and then spent the m oney of her allies for her
,
own aggran dise ment Athens was also a great comm ercial centre
. .
Thus she became the richest and most beautiful city of antiquity .
All menial work was perfor med by sla v es The citiz en of Athens was .
well to do and enjoyed a large a mount of leisure The govern ment

- -
.
being purely de mocratic e v ery citizen was a politician To make hi s

,
.
influence felt a mong his fellow men he mu st first of all be educated -

, ,
.
Thus there arose a dem and for teachers The supply ca me principally .
from Sicily where P ythagorean doctrines had S pread These teachers

,
were calle d S ophi s ts or wise m en Unlike the P ythagoreans they

,
“
.
” .
accepted pay for their teaching Although rhetoric was the principal .
feature of their instruction they also taught geometry astronom y , , ,
and philosophy Athens soon becam e the headquarters of Grecian

.
m en of letters and of m athe maticians in particular

,
The ho me of .
mathe m atics a m ong the Greeks was first in the Ionian Islan ds then ,
in Lower Italy and during the tim e now under consideration at

, ,
Athens .
The geo metry of the circle which had been entirely neglected by ,
the P ythagoreans was taken up by the Sophists Nearly all their

,
.
disco v eries were m ade in connection with their innum erable atte mpts
to sol v e the following three fa mous problems
(1) To trisect an are or an angle
”
(2)
.
To double the cube i e to find a cube whose vol u me is

“
,
. .
,
double that of a given cube

( 3)
.
To square the circle i e to find a square or some other

“
,
. .
rect i linear figure exactly equal in area to a given circle .
These proble m s have p robably been the subject of more discuss i on

and research than any other proble m s in m athe matics The bisec tion .
of an angle was one of the easiest proble ms in geom etr y The t ris eé .
tion of an angle on the other hand presented unexpected diffi cult ies
, ,
.
A r i ght angle had been divided into three equal parts by the P ytha
GREEK GEO M ETRY 21
g o r e an s B ut thegeneral construction though easy in appearance

.
, ,
cannot be eff ected by the aid only of rul er and co mpasses Among .
the first to wrestle with it was H ippi as of El i s a conte mporary of ,
Socrates and born about 46 0 B C Unable to reach a solution by

,
. .
ruler and compasses only he and other Greek geo meters resorted to ,
the use of other means P roclus mentions a man Hippias pr esum

.
, ,
ably Hippias of Elis as the inventor of a transcendental curve which

,
served to div ide an angle not only into three but into any nu mber of ,
equal parts Th is same curve was used later by D i nos tra t u s and
.
others for the quadrature of the circle On this account it i s p all ed .
the qu adr atri x The curve may be described thus :The side AB of the
.
square shown in the figure turns uniformly about A the point B '
moving along the circular arc BED In the .
sa me ti me the side B C moves p arallel to i t X

,
self and uniformly from the position of B C B

to that of AD The locus of intersection of
.
AB and B C when thus m oving is the ,

‘
quadratrix BFG Its equation we now write .
The ancients considered only

the part of the curve that lies inside the
quadrant of the circle ; they did not know
that x = i 2 r are asymptotes nor that there ,
is an infinite number of branches Accor ding to P appus D in o str a t u s .

,
e ffected the quadrature by establishing the theore m that B ED :AD

= AD :AG .
The P ythagore ans had shown that the di agonal of a square is the
side of another square having double the area of the original one .
Thi s probably suggested the proble m of the d uplication of the cube ,
i e to find the edge of a cube having d ouble the volum e of a gi v en

. .
,
cube Eratosthenes ascribes to this problem a diff erent origin The

.
.
D elians were once suffering fro m a pestilence and were ordered by

the oracle to double a certain cubical altar Thoughtless workm en .
simply constructed a cube with edges twice as long but brainless ,
work like that did not pacify the gods The error being discovere d .
,
P lato was consulted on the m atter He and his disciples searched .
“
eagerly for a solution to this D elian P roble m An i mportant con .
t r ib u t i o n to this proble m was m ade by Hi ppo c r ate s of C h i os ( about

43 0 B . He was a talented m athe m atician but having been de ,
frau ded of his property he was pronounced slow and stupid ,

It is .
also said of him that he was the first to acc ept pay for the teaching of
mathe matics He showed that the Delian P roblem could be reduced
.
to fi n di ng two mean proportionals between a given line and another

=
twice as long For in the proportion a :x x :y y 2 a since x 2
,
:
.
,
ay and y = 2 ax and x
4 3 3 3
2 4 2 2
a y we have x 2 a x and x 2 a ,
But .
,
of course he failed to find the two m ean proportionals by geo metric
,
construction with ruler and compasses He m ade h imself celebrated .
by squaring certain lunes According to Simplicius Hippocrates .

,
believed he actually succeeded in applying o n e of his lune quadratures -
to the quadrature of the circle That Hippocrates really committed .
this fallacy is not generally accepted .
In the first lune which he squared he took an isosceles triangle ,
AB C right angled at C and drew a sem i circle on AB as a diam eter

,
-
,
-
,
and passing through C He drew also a se mi circle on AC as a dia m .

-
eter and lying outside the triangle AB C The lunar area thus form ed .
is half the area of the triangle AB C This is the first example of a .
cur v ilinear area which ad mits of exact quadrature Hippocrates .
squared other lunes hoping no doubt that he might be led to the

, , ,
qua drature of the circle In 1 840 Th Clausen found other quadrable

1
. .
lunes but in 1 90 2 E Landau of G ottingen pointed out that two of

,
.
the four lunes which Clausen supposed to be new were known to , .
Hippocrates 2
.
In his study of the quadrature and duplication problem s Hip -

,
p o cr a t e s contributed much to the geo metry of the circle He showed .
that circles are to each other as the squares of their diam eters that ,
si milar segments in a circle are as the squares of their chords and

contain equal angles that in a segment less than a se mi circle the
,
-
angle is ob tuse Hippocrates contr ibuted vastly to the logic of geo m

.
e t ry
”
His inv estigations are the oldest reasoned geo metrical proofs
in existence ( Gow)For the purpose of describing geometrical figures
.
he used letters a practice probably introduced by the P yth agoreans

, .
The subj ect of si milar figures as developed by Hippocrates i n , ,
volved the theory of proportion P roportion had thus far been used .
’
”
, ,
by the Greeks only in numbers They never succeeded in uniting .
“
the notions of numbers and m agnitudes The term number was .
used by the m in a restricted sense What we call irrational nu mbers .
was not inclu ded under this notion Not even rational fractions .
w ere called nu mbers They use d the word in the same sense as we
.
use positive integers

“
Hence nu mbers were conceived as di scon
.
- f
ti n u ou s while m agnitudes were c on ti n u ou s

,
The two notions ap .
pea r ed therefore entirely distinct

,
The chasm between them is ex
,
.
posed to full view in the state ment of Euclid that incomm ensurable
”
“
m agnitu des do not hav e the sam e ratio as nu mbers In Eucl id s ’

.
El emen ts we find the theory of proportion of m agnitudes de v eloped

and treated independent of that of numbers The transfer of the .
theory of proportion from nu mbers to m agnitudes (and to lengths in

particular)
.
was a diffi cult and i mportant step .
1
A fu ll i s g i ve n b y G L or i a i n hi s L e s ci en e esa tte n ell an ti ca Gr eci a ,
ac cou n t z ’
—
.
M il an o , 2 edi ti on , 1 9 1 4 , pp 7 4 94 L o r i a g i ves a l so f u ll bibliog r ap hi cal r e fe r en ce s

. .
t o t he e x t e n s i ve l i t e r a t u r e o n H ip p oc ra t es .
2
E W H ob son , S q u a r i ng the C i rcl e, C a mb ri dg e , 1 9 1 3 , p 1 6
. . . .
GREEK GEO M ETRY 23
Hippocrates added to his fam e by writing a geo metrical te xt boo k -

,
called the El emen ts This publ i cat i on shows that the P ythagorean
.
habit of secrecy was being abando ned ; secrecy was contrary to the
spirit of Athenian life .
The sophist An tiph o n a conte mporary of Hippocrates introduce d

, ,
the pr ocess of exhaustion for the purpose of solving the proble m of

the quadrature He did hi m self credit by re marking that by i n scr ib
.
ing in a circle a square or an equilateral triangle and on its sides ,
erecting isosceles triangles with their vertices in the circum ference ,
and on the sides of these triangles erecting new triangles etc one ,
.
,
could obtain a succession of regular polygons of which each approaches ,
nearer to the area of the circle than the previous one until the circle ,
is finally exhau sted Thus is obtained an inscribed polygon whose

.
sides coincide with the circu mference Since there can be foun d .
squares equal i n area to any polygon there also can be found a square ,
equal to the last polygon inscribed and therefore equal to the circle ,
itself B rys o n of H erac l ea a contemporary of Antiphon advance d

.
, ,
the proble m of the quadrature consi derably by circu mscribing poly

gons at the sa me tim e that he inscribed polygons He erred howev er .
, ,
in assum ing that the area of a circle was the arithm etical m ean b e
tween circu mscribed and inscribed polygons Unlike Bryson a n d .
the rest of Greek geo meters Antiphon seem s to have beli eved it ,
possible by continually doubling the sides of an inscribed polygon

, ,
to obtain a polygon coinciding with the circle This question gave .
rise to liv ely disputes in Athens If a polygon can coincide with the .
circle then says Simpliciu s we m ust put aside the notion that m agni
, ,
'
tudes are di v isible ad i nfi n i tu m This diflficu l t philosop hi cal q p e st ion.
led to paradoxies that are difli c u l t to e xplain and that deterre d Greek
m athe maticians fro m introducing ideas of infin i ty into their geo m etry ;
rigor in geometric proofs de manded the exclusion of obscure c on c ep
tions Famous are the argu ments against the possibility of m otion
.
that were adv anced by Z e no of Elea the great d i alectician ( early in ,
the 5 th century B None of Zeno s writings have co me down to

.
’
uS We know of his tenets only through his critics P lato Aristotle , , ,
”
.
Si mplicius Aristotle in his P hys i cs VI 9 ascribes to Zeno four

argu ments called Zeno s paradoxies ( 1 )
.
, , ,
“
“
,
The Dichotom y : You
’
cannot trav erse an infinite number of points in a finite time ; you

m ust traverse the half of a given distance before you traverse the
whole and the half of that again before you can traverse the whole
Th is goes on ad i nfin i tum so that (if space is m ade up of points)
.
,
,
there
is an in finite number in any given S pace and it cannot be traversed
in a finite time ( 2 ) The Achi lles : Achilles cannot overtake a tor
“
.
” ,
toise For Achilles must first reach the place from which the tortoise
.
,
started By that tim e the tortoise will have m oved on a little way
. .
Achilles m ust then trav erse that and still the tortoise will be ahead
He is always nearer yet never m akes up to it (3)
,
,
The Arrow
“
.
24 A HISTORY O F M ATHE M ATICS
An arrow in any given m om ent of its flight m ust be at rest in so m e

particular point (4 ) “
The S tade : Suppose three paral l el rows of ”
poi nts in j ux taposi tion as in Fig 1 One of these ( B )
. ,
—
,
is imm ov able . .
,
A A
B B
C C
Fig 1 . Fig 2 .
while A and C m ove in opposite directions with equal velocity so ,
as to co m e into the position in Fig 2 The m ove m ent of C relatively . .
to A will be double its movem ent relatively to B or in other words , , ,
any given point in C has passed twice as m any points in A as i t has

in B It cannot therefore be the case that an instant of tim e corre
.
, ,
spon d s to the passage fro m one point to another .
”
“
P lato says that Zeno s purpose was to protect the arguments of
’
”
P armenides against those who m ake fun of him ; Zeno argues that
there is no many he denies plurality That Zeno s reasoning was
,
.
” ’
wrong has been the view universally held since the tim e of Aristotle
down to the m iddle of the nineteenth century M ore recently the .
opinion has been advanced that Zeno was incompletely and incor
rec t l y reported that his argu ments are serious e ff orts conducted with
, ,
logical rigor This view has been advanced by Cousin Grote and P
.
,
.
Tannery 1
Tanne ry clai ms that Zeno did not deny motion but
.
,
wanted to S how that motion was im possible under the P ythagorean

conception of S pace as the su m of points that the four arguments must ,
be taken together as constituting a dialogue between Zeno and an

adversary and that the arguments are in the form of a double dilemm a
into whi ch Zeno forces his adversary Zeno s arguments involve con .
’
cept s of continuity of the in fi nite and infinitesi m al ; they are as m uch

,
the subjects of debate now as they were in the time of Aristotle .
Aristotle di d not successfully explain Zeno s paradoxes He gave no ’

.
reply to the query arising in the m ind of the student how is it pos ,
sible for a variable to reach its limit ? Aristotle s continuum was a ’
sensuous physical one ; he held that since a line cannot be b ui lt up

, ,
“
of points a line cannot actually be subdiv ided into points
,
The .
continued bisection of a quantity is unlim ited so that the unlimited ,
exists potentially but is actually never reached

,
No satisfactory .
e xplanation of Zeno s argu m ents was given before the creation of

’
Georg Cantor s continuu m and theory of aggregates

’
”
.
The process of e xhaustion due to Antiphon and B ryson gave rise

“
to the cum brous but perfectly rigorous method of e xhaustion In .
deter mining the ratio of the areas between two curvilinear plane
figures say two circles geometers first inscribed or circu mscribed
, ,
S i milar polygons and then by increasing indefinitely the number of

1
S ee F C aj or i , Th e H i s to ry o f Z e no
.
’
s A rg u men t s on M o ti o n i n t h e A mer i c .
M ath M onthly , Vol 2 2 , 1 9 1 5 , p 3

. . . .
groves of the A cademi a and devoted the remainder of his life to teach
,
ing and writing .
P lato s physical p hi losophy is partly based on that of the P yth a

’
g or e an s Like them he sought in arithm etic and geometry the key

.
,
to the universe When questioned about the occupation of the D eity

P lato answered that
“
.
He geom etrises continually Accordingly a .

” ,
,
knowledge o f geo metry is a necessary preparation for the study of

philosophy To show how great a value he put on m athem atics an d
.
how necessary it is for higher S peculation P lato placed the i n s crip ,
”
tion over his porch Let no one who is unacquainted with geo metry
“
,
enter here Xenocrates a successor of P lato as teacher in the

.
,
Academ y followed in his master s footsteps by declining to admit a

,
’
,
”
“
pupil who had no m athe matical training with the remark D epart , , ,
for thou hast not the grip of philosophy P lato observed that geo m .
e t ry trained the m ind for correct and vigorous thinking Hence it .
was that the E udemi an S u mmary says He filled hi s writings with ,

“
mathem atical d iscoveries and exhibited on every occasion the r e

markable connection between m athe m atics and p hilosophy
,
.
”
With P lato as the head m aster we need not wonder that the P l a -
,
tonic school produced so large a nu mber of mathe maticians P lato

‘
.
did little real original work but he made valuable improve ments in ,
the logic and m ethods employed in geo metry It is true that the .
Sophist geo m eters of the prev ious century were fairly rigorous in their
proofs but as a rule they did not reflect on the inward nature of their
,
methods They used the axio ms without giv ing the m e xplicit ex
.
pression and the geo metrical concepts such as the point line surface
, , , , ,
etc without assigning to them for al de n t on s The P ythagoreans

m
”
1
.
,
fi i i .
called a point unity in position but thi s is a statem ent of a phi lo

“
,
sophical theory rather than a definition P lato objected to calli n g a

” .
”
“
point a geometrical fiction He defined a point as the beginning .
“
”
“ “
of a line or as an indivisible line and a line as length wi thout ,
breadth He called the point line surface the boundaries of

.
, , ,
the line surface solid respecti v ely M any of the d efinitions in Euclid
, , , .
are to be ascribed to the P latonic school The sam e is probably true .
of Euclid s axiom s Aristotle refers to P lato the axiom that equals

’
.
subtracted fro m equals leav e equals .
One of the greatest achieve ments of P lato and his school is the i n
v en t ion of a n al ys i s as a m ethod of proof To be sure this m ethod .
,
had been used unconsciously by Hippocrates and others ; but P lato ,
like a true philosopher turned the instinctive logic into a conscious

, ,
legitimate method .
1 “
If a n y o n e sc i en t ifi c i n v en t i on c an c l ai m p re e mi n en c e o v e r a l l o t h ers , I sho u l d
-
b e i n cl i n ed m ys e l f t o e r ec t a mon u m e n t to t h e u n k n o w n i n ve n t or o f t he ma t he
t t
m a t i cal p o in t , a s t h e s u p r eme typ e o f ha p r oc ess o f a b s t ra c t i o n w hi ch h as b ee n
a n ecessary co n di t i on o f sc i e n t i fi c w o rk from t h e v ery b eg i nn i ng Horace L amb s .
” ’
’
A ddress , S ec t ion A , B r i t A ss n , 1 90 4 . .
GREEK G EO M ETRY 7
The term s syn thesi s and an al ylsi s are used in mathematics in a more
special s ense than in logic In ancient mathe matics they had a dif
.
fe r en t meaning fro m what they now ha v e The oldest definition of .
mathe matical analysis as O pposed to synthesis is that gi v en in Euclid ,
XIII 5 which in all probability was fra m ed by Eudoxus : Analysis is

, ,
“
the obtaining of the thing sought by assum ing it and so reasoning up

to an admitted truth ; synthesis is the obtaining of the thing sought
by reasoning up to the inference and proof of it The analytic m ethod .
”
is not conclusive unless all operations involved in it are know n to
,
be reversible To remove all doub t the Greeks as a rule added to

.
, , ,
the analytic process a synthetic one consisting of a reversion of all ,
O perations occ u rring in the analysis Thus the aim of analysis was .
to aid in the discovery of synthetic pro ofs or solutions .
P lato is said to have sol v ed the proble m of the duplication of the

cube B ut the solution is open to the very sam e objection whi ch he
.
m ade to the solutions by Archytas Eudoxus and M en ae c hm u s He , ,

.
called their solutions not geom etrical but mechanical for they r e , ,
quired the use of oth er instru ments than the ruler and co mpasses .
He said that thereby the good of geo m etry is set aside a n d d estroyed ,
for we again reduce it to the worl d of sense instead of elev ating and ,
i mbuing it with the eternal and inco rporeal i mages of thought even ,
as it is employed by God for which reason He always is God

,
These .
objections indicate either that the solution is wr ongly attributed to

P lato or that he wished to S how how easily non geom etric solutions -
of that character can be found It is now rigorously established that .
the duplication problem as well as the trisection and quadrature

,
proble ms cannot be solved by means of the ruler and compasses

,
only.
P lato gave a healthful stim ulus to the study of stereo m etry which ,
until his tim e had been entirely neglected by the Greeks The S phere .
and the regul ar solids have been stu die d to som e extent but the prism , ,
pyramid cylinder and cone were har dly known to exist All these
, ,
.
solids becam e the subj ects of investigation by the P latonic school .
One result of these inquiries was epoch m aking M e n ae c h mu s an -

.
,
associate of P lato and pupil of Eu doxus invented the conic sections , ,
which in course of only a century raised geo metry to the loftiest height,
”
,
whi ch it was destined to reach during antiquity M en ze c hmu s cut

— ” .
”
“
t hree kinds of cones the right angled acute angled and ob tuse
,
-
, ,
angled by planes at right angles to a side of the cones and thus

, ,
obtained the three sections which we now call the parabola ellipse , ,
”
and hyperbola Judging fro m the two very elegant solutions of the
Delian P roblem by means of intersections of these curves M en aech ,
mu s m ust have succeed ed well in investigating their properties In .
what manner he carried out the graphic construction of these curve s

is not known .
Another great geo meter was D i n os tratu s the brother of M en wch ,

28 A HISTOR Y OF M ATHE M ATICS
mu s and pupil of P lato Celebrated is hi s mechanical solution of the.
quadrature of the circle by m eans of the qu adr a tr i x of Hippias , .
P erhaps the most brilliant mathe matician of t hi s period was

Eu doxu s He was born at Cnidus about 40 8 B C studied under
. .
,
Archytas and later for two m onths under P lato He was i mbued
, , ,
.
with a true spirit of scientific inquiry and has been called the father ,
of scientific astronomical observation F mm the fragmentary notices .
of his astronom ical researches found in later writers Ideler and , ,
Schiaparelli succeeded in reconstructing the system of Eudoxus with

“
its celebrated representation of planetary motions by concentric
spheres Eudoxus had a school at Cyz icus went with his pupils to
.
,
Athens visiting P lato and then returned to Cyz icus where he di ed

, , ,
3 55 B C . The fa me of the academy of P lato i s to a large extent due

.
to Eudoxus 3 pupils of the school at Cyzicus among whom are M e n

’
,
wchmu s D i n os t r a t u s A t hen ze u s and Helicon

,
D iogenes L aer tiu s de
, ,
.
scribes Eudoxus as astronomer physician legislator as well as geo m , , ,

“
eter The E u demi an S u mmary says that Eudoxus first increased the
.
nu mber of general theore ms added to the three proportions three ,
m ore and raised to a considerable quantity the learning begun by
” ”
, ,
P lato on the subj ect of the section to which he applied the analytical
, ,
“
m ethod By this section is m eant no doub t the golden section
(secti o au r ea )which cuts a line in e x tre me and m ean ratio The fi rs t
,
.
,
-
.
,
fi v e propositions in Euclid XIII relate t o lines cut by thi s section and ,
are generally attr i buted to Eudoxus Eudoxus added m uch to the .
knowledge of solid geometry He proved says Archi medes that a .

, ,
pyram id is exactly one third of a prism and a cone one third of a -

,
-
cylinder having equal base and altitude The proof that spheres are
,
.
to each other as the cubes of their radii is probably due to hi m He .
made frequent and skilful use of the m ethod of exhaustion of which ,
he was in all probability the inv entor A scholiast on Euclid thought .

,
to be P roclus says further that Eudoxus practically invented the

.
,
whole of Euclid s fifth book Eudoxus also found two m ean propor
’
.
t i on al s between two given lines but the m ethod of solution is not ,
known .
P lato has been called a maker of m athe maticians B esides the .
pupils already named the E ud emi an S u mmary m entions the following :

,
Th eaete tu s of Athens a m a n O f great natural gifts to who m no doubt

, , , ,
Euclid was greatly indeb ted in the composition of the r o th book 1

,
treating of i n comrn en su rab l es and of the 1 3 th book ; L e odamas of

Thasos ; N e ocl e i d e s and his pupil L e on who added m uch to the work ,
of their predecessors for Leon wrote an El emen ts carefully designed

, ,
both in nu mber and utility of its proofs ; Th e u di u s of M ag n e s i a who ,
compose d a very good book of El emen ts and generalised propositions ,
which had been confined to particular cases ; H e rmoti mu s of Col

oph on who discovered m any propositions of the El emen ts and c om
,
G J Al lma op ci t p 2 1 2 1
. . n, . .
, . .
GREEK GEO M ETRY 29
posed so me on l oci ; and finally the nam es of Amycl as of H e r acl e a

, , ,
C yzi c e n u s of Ath en s and P hi l i ppu s of M e n d e,
A skilful mathe matician of whose life and works we have no details

is An s taeu s the elder probably a senior conte mporary of Euclid The
, ,
.
fact that he wrote a work on co ni c sections tends to S how that m uch

progress had been made in their study during the tim e of M en mchmus .
Aristaeus w rote also on regular solids and cultivated the analytic

m ethod His works contained probably a su mma ry of the researches
.
of the P latonic school 1

.
Ari st o tl e (3 84—3 2 2 B the syste matiser of deductive logic though

.
,
not a professed mathematician promoted the science of geom etry by ,
improving so me of the most difli c u l t defin itions His P hysi cs contains .
passages with suggestive hints of the principle of virtual velocities .
He gave the best discussion of continuity and of Zeno s argu ments ’
against motion found in antiquity About his tim e there appeared a

, .
work called M echani ca of which he is regarded by some as the author

, .
M echanics wa s totally neglected by the P latonic school .
The Fi rst Al exandr i an S chool
In the previous pages we have seen the birth of geometry in Egyp t ,
its transference to the Ionian Islands thence to Lower Italy and to ,
Athens We have witnessed its growth in Greece from feeble child

.
hood to vigorous m anhood and now we shall see it return to the land
"
of its birth and there der ive new vigor .
D uring her declining years imm e di ately following the P eIOpon ,
n e si an War Athens produced the greatest scientists and philosophers

,
of antiquity It was the time of P lato and Aristotle In 33 8 B C at

. . . .
,
the battle of Chae ronea Athens was beaten by P hilip of M acedon , ,
and her pow er was broken forever Soon after Alexander the Great .
, ,
the son of P hi lip started out to conquer the world In eleven years
,
.
he built up a great e mpire which broke to pieces in a day Egypt .
fell to the lot of P tole my Soter Alexander had founded the seaport .
of Alexandria whi ch soon became the noblest of all cities P tolemy

,
.
made Alexandria the capital The history of Egypt during the nex t .
three centuries is mainly the histo ry of Alexandria Literature .

,
p hi losophy and art were di ligently cultivated P tole my created the

,
.
university of Alexandria He founded the great Library and built .
laboratories m useums a zoological garden and promenades Alex

, ,
’
,
.
andria soon beca me the great centre of learnin g .
De metrius P h al er eu s was invited from Athens to take charge of the

Library and it is probable says Gow that Eu cli d was invi ted with
, , ,
him to O pen the m athe matical school According to the studies of .
H Vogt 2 Euclid was born about 3 6 5 B C and wrote his El emen ts

.
,
. .
1
G J Al l man , op ci t , p 20 5
—
. . . . . .
2
B i bl i otheca mathemati ca , 3 S , V ol . . 1 3 , 1 91 3, pp . 1 93 20 2 .
between 3 30 and 3 2 0 B C Of the life of Euclid little is known except

. .
, ,
what is added by P roclus to the E u demi an S u mmar y Euclid says .

,
P roclus was younger than P lato and olde r than Eratosthenes and
,
Archi medes the latter of who m mentions him He was of the P latonic
,
.
sect and well read in its doctrines He collected the El emen ts put
,
.
,
in order m uch that Eudoxus had prepared co mpleted many things of ,
Theze t e t u s and was the first who reduced to unobj ectionable de mon
,
s t r a t i o n the i mperfect atte mpts of his predecessors When P tole my .
Once asked hi m if geo m etry could not be m astered by an easier process

than by studying the E l emen ts Euclid returned the answer There
is no royal road to geo m etry P appus states that Euclid was distin .
” , ,
g u i sh ed by the fairness and kindness o t his disposition particularly

'
toward those who could do anything to advance the m athematical

sciences P appus is evidently m aking a contrast to Apollonius of
.
,
who m he m ore than insinuates the opposite character 1

A pretty .
2 “
little story is related by S tob mu s : A youth who had begun to read
geo metry with Euclid when he had learnt the first proposition i n , ,
quired What do I get by learning these things ? So Euclid called

,
‘ ’
his slav e and said Give hi m threepence since he m ust m ake gain
,
‘
,
out of what he These are about all the personal details

preserved by Greek writers Syrian and Arabian writers clai m to .
know m uch more but they are unreliable At one time Euclid of
,
.
Alexandria was universally confounded with Euclid of M egara who ,
liv ed a century earlier .
The fa me of Euclid has at all times rested mainly upon his book on
geom etry called the El emen ts This book was so far superior to the
,
.
E l emen ts written by Hippocrates Leon and Th eu di u s that the latter , , ,
works soon perished in the struggle for existence The Greeks gave .
Euclid the S pecial title of the author of the E l emen ts It is a r e

“
.
m arkable fact in the history of geo metry t hat the El emen ts of Euclid , ,
wr itten over two thousand years ago are still regarded by som e as the ,
best introduction to the m athem atical sciences In England they .
were used until the present century extensively as a text book in -
schools Som e editors of Euclid have however been inclined to credit

.
, ,
him with m ore than is his due They would have us believe that a
”
.
finished and unassailable syste m of geometry sprang at once from the

brain of Euclid an arm ed M inerva fro m the head of Jupiter They
,
.
fail to mention the earlier eminent m athe m aticians from whom Euclid
got his material Comparatively few of the propositions and proofs
”
.
in the El emen ts are his own discoveries In fact the proof of the .
,
“
Theore m of P ythagoras is the only one directly ascribed to him .
All man conj ectures that the substance of Books I II IV comes from , ,
the P ythagoreans that the substance of Book VI is due to the P ytha

A D e M org an , Eucl e i des i n S mi th s Di cti onary of Gr eek a nd Roma n Bi ography
1 ’
.
a n d M ythol ogy .
J G ow , op ci t , p 1 95
2
. . . . .
GREEK GEO M ETRY
g or ea n s and Eudoxus the latter contributing the doctrine of propor ,
tion as applicable to inco mmensurables and also the M ethod of Ex

h au s ti on s ( Book XII )that The mt e t u s contributed m uch towar d ,
Books X and XIII that the principal part of the original work of ,
Eucli d hi mself is to be found in Book X 1

Euclid was the greatest .
syste matiser of his time B y careful selection fro m the m aterial before .
hi m and by logical arrange m ent of the propositions selected he built

, ,
up from a few definitions an d a xio m s a proud and lofty structure

, ,
.
It woul d be erroneous to belie v e that he incorporated into his El ements

all the elem entary theorem s known at his ti me Archimedes Apol .
,
l o n i u s and even he him self refer to theore m s not included in his El e

,
men ts as being well —

,
known truths .
The tex t of the El emen ts that was co mmonly used in schools was
Theon s edition Theon of Alexan dria the father of Hypatia brought
’
.
, ,
out an edi t ion ab ou t 700 years after Euclid with som e alterations in
, ,
,
the tex t A S a consequence later comm entators especially Robert

.
, ,
Simson who labored under the idea that Euclid m ust be absolutely
,
perfect m ade Theon the S capegoat for all the defects which they
,
thought they c ould discover in the text as they knew it B ut a mong .
the manuscripts sent by Napoleon I from the Vatican to P aris was

found a copy of the El emen ts believed to be anterior to Th eon s recen ’
sion M any variations fro m Th eon s version were noticed therein

.
’
,
but they were not at all i mportant a n d S howed that Theon generally ,
m ade only verbal changes The defects in the El emen ts for which .
Theon was bla med m ust therefore be due to Euclid hi mself The ‘
, ,
.
El emen ts used to be considered as o ff ering m o dels of scrupulously

rigorous de monstrations It is certainly true that in point of rigor .
it compares fav orably with its modern ri v als ; but when examined
in the light of strict m athe matical logic i t has been pronounced by ,
C S P eirce to be rid dled with fallacies

. . The results are correct .
only because the writer s experience k eeps him on his guard In ’

.
m any proofs Euclid relies partly upon intuition .
At the begi nning of our editions of the E l emen ts under the hea d of ,
definitions are given the assumptions of such notions as the point

, ,
line etc and so me v erbal explanations Then follow three postul ates
,
.
“
or de m ands and twel v e axio m s The term axio m was used by
,
.
.
”
tions — ”
P roclus but not by Euclid ,
He S peaks instead of co mmon no
co mmon either to all m en or to all sciences There has been
.
, ,
m uch contro v ersy a mong ancient and m o dern critics on the postulates
and axiom s An i mmense prepon derance of m anuscripts and the
.
testimony of P roclus place the axiom s about r i ght angl es and

“ ”
parall el s a mong the postulates This is i ndeed their proper place
2
.
,
1
G J Al l man , op ci t , p 2 1 1
. . . . . .
2
A D e M org an , l oc c i t ; H H a n k e l , Theor i e der C o mpl exen Z a hl ensys teme, L e ip
. . . .
z i g 1 86 7 , p 5 2 I n t he v a rio u s e d i t io n s o f E u cl id s El emen ts di f e re n t n u mb e rs a re
’
. .
,
assig ne d t o th e axi oms Thus t he parall el a xi om i s cal l ed by R ob er S i mso n t he

. t
for they are really assu mpti on s and not common n oti ons or axioms ,
.
The post u late about par al l el s plays an i mportant rOl e in the history
-
of non Euclidean geo metry An important postulate which Euclid

-
.
m issed was the one of superposition according to which figures can ,
be moved about in S pace without any alteration in form or magnitude .
The El emen ts contains t hi rteen books by Euclid and two of which , ,
it is supposed that H yp si cl es and D amasc i us are the authors The .
first four books are on plane geometry The fifth book treats of the .
theory of proportion as applied to magn itudes in general It has been .
greatly admired because of its rigor of treatment B eginners find the .
book di fficult E xpressed in modern symbols Euclid s definition of

.
,
’
proportion is thus :Four magnitudes a b c d are in proportion when , , ,

‘
, , ,
for any integers m and n, we have simul taneously and mo

<
1 “
nd . Says T L Heath certain it is that there is an exact corre
. .
,
spo n d e n c e al most coincidence between Euclid s definition of equal

, ,
’
ratios and the m odern theory of irrationals due to D edekind H G . . .
Zeuthen finds a close resemblance between Euclid s definition and ’
Weierstrass definition of equal nu mbers The S ixth book develops

’
.
the geo metry of si milar figures Its 2 7th P roposition is the earliest .
m axim u m theore m known to history The seventh eighth ninth .

, ,
books are on the theory of nu mbers or on arithm etic According to ,

.
P Tannery the knowledge of the ex istence of irrationals m ust have

.
,
greatly aff ected the m ode of writing the E l emen ts The old nai v e .
theory of proportion being recogniz ed as untenable proportions ,
are not used at all in the first four books The rigorous theory of .
Eudoxus was postponed as long as possible because of its difli c u l ty ‘
The interpolation of the arithm etical books VII—

.
,
IX is explained
as a preparation for the fuller treatment of the irrational in book X .
Book VII explains the G C D of two numbers by the process . . .
“
of division ( the so called Euclidean The theory of
-
proportion of ( rational ) nu mbers i s then developed on the basis of

the definition Nu mbers are pr opor tion al w hen the first is the sam e
”
“ ‘
mul tiple part or parts of the second that the third is of the fourth
, ,
.
Thi s is believed to be the older P ythagorean theory of proportion 2

,
.
The tenth treats of the theory of inco mm ensurables D e M organ con .
s i der ed this the m ost wonderful of all We give a fuller account of i t .
u nder the head of Greek Arithm etic The nex t three books are on .
1 2 th , by B ol yai t he b y C l av i us t he 1 3 t h , by F P eyrard t he 5 th I t i s call ed

r 1 th , . .
t he st h pos tu l ate i n ol d m a n u sc r ip t s , a l so by H e i be rg a n d M e n g e i n t he i r a nn ot a t e d
e di t i o n o f E u c lid s w o rk s , i n G r eek an d L a t i n , L ei p i g , 1 88 3 , a n d b y T L H ea t h
’
z
—
. .
i n hi s Thi rteen B ook s of Eu cl i d s El emen ts , Vo l s I I I I , C a mb r idg e , 1 90 8 H eat h s

’ ’
. .
t
i s t he mo s t r ece n t ran sl a t io n i n to Eng li sh a nd i s v ery f ull y an d a bl y a n n o tat e d .
1
T L H ea th , op ci t V ol II , p 1 2 4
”
. . . . . . .
R ead H B F i n e , t
R a t io , P ropor io n an d M e as uremen i n t he E eme n t s o f t l
—
2
. .
Euclid, A nnal s of M athemati cs, Vo l X IX , 1 91 7, pp 70 7 6 . . .

the meaning of whi ch title is not understood Heiberg believes it to

m ean loci which are surfaces
“
.
” .
The im mediate successors of Euclid in the mathe matical school at

Alexandria were probably C o n o n D os i th e u s and Z e u xi ppu s but , , ,
little is k now n of the m

Ar c h im e d e s ( 2 8 7? —
.
212 B the greatest mathe matician of an .
t i q u i ty was born in Syracuse

,
P lutarch calls him a relation of King .
H i eron ; but more reliable is the sta tement of Cicero who tells us he ,
was of low birth Di odor u s says he visited Egypt and since he was
.
‘
, ,
a great friend of Conon and Eratosthenes it is hi ghl y probable that ,
he studied in Alexandria This belief is strengthened by the fact that.
he had the m ost thorough acquaintance with all the work previously ’
done in m athem atics He returned however to Syracuse where he

.
, , ,
made hi m self useful to his ad m iring friend and patron King Hieron , ,
by applying hi s ex traordinary inventive genius to the construction of

various war engines by which he inflicted m uch loss on the Romans
-
,
during the siege of M arcellus The story that by the use of mirrors .
,
reflecting the sun s rays he set on fire the Ro man ships when they
’
, ,
came within bow shot of the walls is probably a fi c ti on The city

-
,
.
was taken at l ength by the Ro mans a n d Archi medes perished in the ,
in di scrim inate sl aughter which followed Accordi ng to tradition he .

,
was at the ti me studying the diagram to so m e proble m drawn in the

”
, ,
sand As a Roman soldier approached hi m he called out Don t S poil

.
, ,
’
my circles The soldier feeling insulted rushed upon him and killed
.
, ,
hi m . No blam e attaches to t he Ro man general M arcel l us who ad ,
m ired his g enius and raised in his honor a tomb bearing the figure
,
of a sphere inscribed in a cylinder When Cicero was in Syracuse .

,
he found the to mb buried under rubbish .
Archim edes was admired by his f ellow citiz ens c hi efly for hi s me -
c han i c al inventions ; he hi m self pri z ed far more ighly his discoveries

h
°
”
“
in pure science He declared that every kind of art whi ch was con
.
n ec t ed with daily needs was ignoble and vulgar So m e of his works .
have been lost The following are the e xtant books arranged ap
.
,
proximately in chronological order : 1 Two book s on E qu i pond er a n ce .
of P l an es or C en tr es of P l an e Gr a vi ti es between which is inserted his ,
treatise on the Qu adr a tu r e of the P ar abol a; 2 The M ethod; 3 Two books . .
on the S pher e and Cyl i n der ; 4 The M eas u r emen t of the C i rcl e; 5 On . .
S pi r al s; 6 C on oi ds and S pher oi ds ; 7 The S a nd C ou n ter ; 8 Two books

. .
-
.
on Fl oati ng B odi es; 9 Fifteen L emmas . .
In the book on the M easu r emen t of the Ci r cl e Archimedes prov es ,
first that the area of a circle is equal to that of a right triangle having
the length of the circumference for its base and the radius for its ,
altitude In this he assumes that there exists a straight line equal in

length to the circu mference—an assu mption obj ected to by som e
.
ancient critics on the ground that it is not ev i dent that a straight

,
line can equal a curved one The finding of such a line was the next .
GREEK GEO M ETRY 35
problem H e first finds an upper lim it to the ratio of the circum fer
.
ence to the diam eter or To do this he starts with an equilate ral

, ,
triangle of which the b ase 1s a tangent and the verte x is the centre of
the circle By successiv ely bisecting the angle at the centre by c om
.
,
paring ratios and by taking the irrational square roots always a little
,
too small he finally arrived at the conclusion that 7r < 34 Nex t he

,
.
finds a lower limit by inscribing in the circle regular polygons of 6 1 2 , ,
24,
sides finding for each successive polygon its perimeter
, ,
which is of course always less than the circu mference Thus he

, , .
~
“
finally concludes that the circu mference of a circle e xceeds three
”
ti mes its diameter by a part which is less than 4 but more than 44
‘
of the diameter Thi s approximation is e xact enough for most pur

.
poses .
The Ou adr a tu r e of the P ar abol a contains two solutions to the prob

l em—one m echanical the other geo m etrical The m ethod of ex ,
.
hau s tion is used in both .
It is noteworthy that perhaps through the influenc e o f Zeno in

.
fi n i t esi mal s (i n finitely s mall constants )

, ,
were not used in rigorous

de monstration In fact the great geom eters of the period now under
.
,
consideration resorted to the radical m easure of excluding them fro m

demonstrative geo metry by a postulate This was done by Eudoxus .
,
Euclid and Archimedes In the preface to the Ou adr atu r e of the P ar ab

,
.
ol a occurs the S O called

,
Archimedean postulate which Archi me des ,
“
himself attributes to Eu doxus : When two spaces are unequal it i s ,
possible to add to itself the diff erence by which the lesser 1s su rpassed
by the greater so often that every finite space will be exceeded
Euclid (El emen ts V 4)
,
.
gives the postulate in the for m of a definition :

,
M agnit udes are said to hav e a ratio to one another when the less
can be multiplied so as to exceed the other Nevertheless i n fi n i t esi .
” ,
m als m ay have bee n used in tentative researches That such was the -
.
case with Archimedes is evident fro m his book The M ethod formerly ,
, ,
thought to be irretrievably lost but fortunately discovered by Heiberg ,
in 1 90 6 in Constantinople The contents of this book S hows that he .
considered i n fi n i t esimal s sufficiently scientific to suggest the truths O f

theorem s but not to furnish rigorous proofs In finding the areas of
, .
parabolic segments the volumes of S pherical segments and other solids

,
of revolution he uses a mechanical process consisting of the weighing

, ,
of infinitesimal ele ments which he calls straight lines or plane areas , ,
but which are really infinitely narrow strips or infinitely thin plane
l min ae The breadth o r thickness is regarded as being the sa me in
a 1
.
.
the elem ents weighed at any one tim e The Archim e dean postulate .
d i d not co m mand the interest O f m athe m aticians until t he m o de r n

‘
arithm etic continuu m was created I t was 0 S tol z that showed that
it was a consequence of Dedek i n d s postulate relating to sections
.
’
.
.
”
1
T L H ea t h , M ethod
. .
f
o A rchi medes , C a mb r i dg e , 191 2, p 8
. .
It would seem that in his great researches Archimedes mode of , ,
’
procedure was to start with mechanics ( centre of mass of surfaces and

solids)
,
and by his i n fi ni t esimal m echanical m ethod to discover new -
resul ts for whi ch later he deduced and published the rigorous proofs .
Archimedes knew the integral f x3dx 1

.
Archi medes studied also the ellipse and accomplished its quadrature ,
but to the hyperbola he seem s to have paid less attention It is b e .
l i ev ed that he wrote a book on conic sections .
Of all his discoveries Archim edes priz ed most hi ghl y those in his
S pher e a nd Cyl i nder In it are proved the new theore m s that the.
,
surface of a sphere is equal to four times a great circle ; that the surface
segment of a sphere is equal to a circle Whose radius is the straight
line drawn from the vertex of the segment to the circ umference of its
basal circle ; that the volume and the surface of a sphere are 4 of th e
volum e and surface respectiv ely of the cylinder circum scribed about
, ,
the sphere Archimedes desired that the figure to the last proposition
.
be inscribed on hi s to mb Th is was ordered done by M arcellus . .
“
The spiral now called the spiral of Archi medes and described in ,
the book On S pi ral s was discovered by Archimedes and not as some , , ,
believ e by his friend Conon His treatise thereon is perhaps the

,
2
.
, ,
most wonderful of all his works Nowadays subj ects of this kind .
,
are m ade easy by the use of the infinitesimal calculus In its stead .
the ancients used the m ethod of exh austion Nowhere is the fertility .
of hi s genius m ore grandly displayed than in hi s masterly use of thi s

m ethod With Euclid and his predecessors the method of exhaustion
.
was only the me ans of prov ing propositions whi ch m ust have been
seen and belie v ed before they were proved B ut in the hands of .
Archi medes this m ethod perhaps combined with his i nfi ni te simal ,
mechanical m ethod becam e an instru m ent of discovery ,
By the word conoid in his book on C on oi ds and S pher oi ds is

“
,
” .
meant the solid produced by the revolution of a parabola or a hyper

bola about its axis Spheroids are produced by the rev olution of an
.
ellip se and are long or flat according as the ellipse revol v es around
, ,
the major or minor axis The book leads up to the cubature of these .
solids A few constructions of geo .
metric figures were given by A rchi

medes and Appolonius whi ch were
“
eff ected by insertions In the .
”
followi ng trisection of an angle at ,
tributed by the Arabs to Archi

m edes the insertion is achieved by the aid of a gr adu a ted ruler 3
,
To trisect the angle CAB draw the arc B CD Then insert the “
,
.
” .
1
H G Z th . i B i bl i th c m th m ti
. eu en 3 S V
n o l 7 9 6 —
7 p 34 7 o e a a e a ca , .
,
.
,
1 0 , . .
2
M C an to r
.
,
o p . Vo l I , 3 A u fl , 1 90 7 , p 3 0 6
ci t .
, . . . .
3
F E n riq u es ,
. Fr a gen der El emen targ eometri e, deu tsche A u sg . v. H F l e i sc he r , II ,
.
z
L eip i g , 1 90 7 , p . 2 34 .
GREEK GEO M ETRY 7
distance F E equal to AB marked on an edge passing through C

, ,
and moved until the points E and F are located as shown in the
figure The required angle is E FD
. .
His arithmetical treatise and problem s wil l be considered later .
We shall now notice hi s works on mechani cs Archimedes is the .
author of the first sound knowledge on this subject Archytas Aris .

,
to tl e and others attempted to form the known m echanical truths into

,
a science but failed Aristotle knew the property of the lever but
,
.
,
coul d not establish its true m athematical theory The ra di cal and .
fatal defect in the speculations of the Greeks in the opinion of Whewell

”
, ,
was that though they had in their possession facts and ideas the ,
ideas wer e n ot di sti n ct and appr opri ate to the f acts For i nstance .
,
Aristotle asserted that when a body at the end of a lever is moving ,
it may be considered as having two motions ; one in the direction of

the tangent and one in the direction of the ra di us ; the former m otion
is he says accor di ng to n atu r e the latter con tr ary to n atu r e These
,
“
,
“
inappropriate notions of natural and unnatural m otions to
,
” ” .
gether with the habits of thought whi ch dictated these spec u lations ,
made the perception of the true grounds of mechanical properties

impossible 1
It see ms strange that even after Archi medes had en
.
t er ed upon the right path thi s science should have re mained ab

s ol u t el y stationary till the tim e of Galileo—
,
a period of nearly two
thousand years .
The proof of the property of the lever given in hi s Equ i ponder an ce ,
of P l an es holds its place in many text books to this day M ach

,
2 -
.
“
criticiz es it From the m ere assumption of the equilibrium of equal
”
.
weights at equal distances is derived the inverse proportionality of

weight and lever arm ! How is that possible ? Archi medes estim ate ’
of the efli ci en cy of the lever is expressed in the saying attribute d to

him Give me a fulcrum on whi ch to rest and I will m ove the earth
, ,
.
”
While the E qu i pond eran ce treats of solids or the equilibrium of ,
solids the book o n Fl oati ng B odi es tr eats of hydrostatics His atten

,
‘
tion was first drawn to the subject of specific gravity when King Hieron
asked hi m to test whether a crown professed by the m aker to be pure ,
gold was not alloyed with silver The story goes that our phi losopher
,
.
was in a bath when the true m ethod of solution flashed on his m ind
“
He i mmediately ran hom e naked shouting I hav e found it ! TO , , ,
” .
solve the problem he took a piece of gold and a piece of silver each
, ,
weighing the same as the crown According to one author he deter .

,
mined the volu m e of water displaced by the gold silver and crown , ,
respectively and calculated from that the amount of gold and silver
,
Will i am Whew ell Hi s tory of the I nducti ve S ci ences 3 rd Ed N ew York

V ol I p 8 7 Will i am Wh ew el l ( 1 7 94—
1
1 85 8,
1 86 6)
, ,
.
, ,
.
,
. . w as M as t e r of Tr i n i ty C oll eg e , C am
b ri dg e .
2
E M ach , The S ci ence of M echa n i cs , t r b y T M c c orm ack , C h i ca g o , 1 90 7 , p 1 4
— )
. . . . .
Ern st M ac h ( 1 8 3 8 1 9 1 6 w as p ro fesso r o f t h e hi story an d t heo ry o f t he i n d uc ti ve

s ci en c es at t he u n i versi ty o f V i e nn a .
in the crown According to another writer he weighed separately
.
,
the gold sil v er an d crown while immersed in water thereby deter

, , , ,
m ining their loss of weight in water Fro m these data he easily found .
the solution It is possible that Archim edes solved the problem by

.
both m ethods
”
.
After exa mining the writings of Archimedes one can well under ,
stand how in ancient tim es an Archi medean problem cam e to

, ,
m ean a proble m too deep for ordi na r y minds to solve and how an ,
“
Archi medean proof came to be the synonym for unquestionable
certainty Archim edes wrote on a ver y wide range of subj ects and
.
,
displayed great profundity in each He is the Newton of antiquity . .
Er ato s t h e n e s eleven years younger than Archi m edes was a native

, ,
of Cyrene He was educated in Alexandria under Callimachus the

.
poet who m he succeeded as custo dian of the Alexandrian Library

,
.
His many— sided acti v ity m ay be inferred fro m his works He wrote .
on Good a nd E vi l M easu r emen t of the E ar th C omedy Geogr aphy

, , , ,
C hr on ol ogy C on s tel l a ti on s and the Du pl i ca ti on of the Cu be

,
He was
,
.
also a philologian and a poet He m easured the obliquity of the .
ecliptic and invented a device for finding prime numbers to be de ,

'
scribed later Of hi s geo metrical writings we possess only a letter to

.
P tole m y Euergetes giving a history of the duplication proble m and,
also the description of a very ingenious mechanical contriv ance of his

own to sol v e it In his old age he lost his eyesight and on that account
.
,
is said to ha v e co mmitted suicide by voluntary starvation .
About forty years after Archimedes flourished Apo l lo ni u s of P e r g a ,
whose genius nearly equalled that of his great predecessor He i n c on .
t es t ab l y occupies the second place in distinction a mong ancient m athe

m a t i c i an s Apollonius was born in the reign of P tole m y Euergetes
.
and died under P tole my P hi l op ator who reigned 2 2 2 —2 0 5 B C H e ,

. .
studied at Alexandria under the successors of Euclid and for so m e ,
ti m e also at P ergamum where he m a de the acquaintance of that

, , ,
E u dem u s to who m he d edicated the first three books of his C on i c
Great Geo m eter ”

S ecti on s The brilliancy of his great work brought him the title of the
.
This is all that is known of hi s life

. .
His C on i c S ecti on s were in eight books of whi ch the first four only ,
have come down to us in the original Greek The nex t three b ooks .
were unknown in Europe till the m iddle of the seventeenth century ,
when an Arabic t ranslation m ade about 1 2 50 was discov ered The , ,

.
eighth book has never been found In 1 7 1 0 E Halley of Oxford pub . .
l i sh ed the Greek text of the first four books and a Latin translation
of the re maining three together with his conj ectural restoration of ,
the eighth book foun d e d on the intro ductory le mm as of P appus The

,
.
first four books contain little more than the substance of what earlier
geometers had done Eu t oc i u s tells us that H erac li des in his life of
.
,
Archim edes accused Appolonius of hav ing appropriate d in his Con i c

, ,
S ecti on s the unpublished d iscoveries of that great m athe mati cian

, .
GREEK GEO M ETRY 39
It is diffi cult to believe that this charge rests upon good foundation .
Eu to ci u s quotes Ge m inus as replying that neither Archi medes nor

Apollonius claimed to have invented the conic sections but that ,
Apollonius had introduced a real i mprove ment While the first three .
or four books were founded on the works of M en aechmu s Aristaeus , ,
Euclid and Archim e des the remaining ones consisted alm ost entirely
, ,
of new matter The first three books were sent to Eu dem u s at inter
vals the other books (after E u demu s s death )
.
to one Attalus The ’

‘
.
,
preface of the second book is interesting as showing the m ode i n

which Greek books were published at this time I t reads thus : “ ”
I have sent m y son Apollonius to bring you (Eu d emu s)
.
“
the secon d
book of my Conics Read it carefully and comm unicate it to such
.
others as are worthy of it If P hil on ide s the geom eter who m I intro .
, ,
giv e it to him also 1

.
”
du c e d to you at Ephesus co m es into the neighbourhood of P erga m um , ,
The first book says Apollonius in his preface to it contains the

, ,
m o de of pro d ucing the three sections and the conj ugate h yperbolas
and their principal characteristics more ful ly and generally worked ,
out than in the writings of other authors We rem e mber that .
M e n aechm u s and all his successors down to Apollonius considered onl y

, ,
sections of r i ght cones by a plane perpendicular to their si des and tha t ,
t he three sections were ob taine d each fro m a di fferent cone Apol .
l o n i u s introduced an i mportant generalisation He produce d all the .
sections fro m one and the sam e cone whether right or scalene and , ,
by sections which m ay or may not be perpen dicular to its sides The .
O l d nam es for the three curves were now no longer applicable Instea d
”
.
” ”
“ “
of calling the three curves sections of the acute angled right ,
-
,
angled and obtuse angled cone he called them ell i pse par abol a
“
,
-
, , ,
”
“
a n d hyper bol a respectively To be sure we find the words parabola
”
,
.
,
and ellipse in the works of Arch i medes but they are probably only
“
,
interpolati ons The word ellipse was applied because y < px p

”
“ 2
.
,
“
being the parameter ; the word parabola was introduced because
y
2=
p x a n d the
,
ter m hyperbola because y
2
> px .
The treatise of Apollonius rests on a unique property of conic sec

tions whi ch is deriv ed directly fro m the nature of the cone in wh i ch
,
these sections are found How this property form s the key to the .
”
syste m of the ancients is told in a m asterly way by M Chasles 2
. .
“
Conceive says he an obl i que cone on a circ u lar base ; the stra ight
“
, ,
l i ne draw n fro m its su mmit to the centre of the circle forming its base
is called the axi s of the cone The plane pass i ng through the axis .
,
perpen dicular to its base cuts the cone along two lines and determi nes ,
in the circle a diameter ; the triangle havi ng th i s diam eter for its base
1
H . G . Ze u t h e n Di e ,
L ehr e e on den K eg el schn i tten i m A l ter thu m, K op e n h ag en ,
1 8 86 , p 50 2 . .
2
M C h a sl e s , Geschi chte der Geometr i c
. . A u s d em Fr a n z os i sc h e n u b e r t r ag e n d u rc h ,
Dr . L A S o h n ek e , H a l l e , 1 8 39 , p 1 5
. . . .
and the two lines for its sides is called the tr i an gl e thr ough the axi s , .
In the formation of his conic sections Apollonius supposed the cutting ,
plane to be perpendicul ar to the plane of the triangle through the

axi s The points in whi ch thi s plane meets the two sides of this tri
.
angle are the ver ti ces of the c u rve ; and the straight line whi ch j oins
these two points is a diameter of it Apolloni us called this di ameter .
l atu s tr an sversu m At one of the two vertices of the curve erect a per
p e n di c ul ar (l atu s r ectu m)
.
to t he plane of the triangle thr ough the

axis of a certain length to be determined as we shall specify later
’
, , ,
and from the ex trem ity of this perpendicular draw a straight line to
the other vertex of the curve ; now thr ough any point whatever of ,
the diameter of the curve draw at right angles an ordi n ate the square
,
.
of this ordinat e co mprehended between the diameter and the curve

, ,
will be equal to the rectangle constructed on the portion of the ordi nate
co mprised between the diameter and the straight li ne and the part ,
of the di am eter co mprised between the first vertex and the foot of the
ordinate Such is the characteristic property which Apollonius recog
.
mises in hi s conic sections and whi ch he uses for the purpose of i n

ferring fro m it by adroit transformations and deductions nearly all
, ,
the rest It plays as we shall see in his hands al most the same rOl e
”
.
, , ,
as the equation of the second degree with two variables ( abscissa and
ordinate ) in the syste m of analytic geom etry of D escartes Apol
—
.
l on i u s m ade use of c o ordinates as di d M enaechmu s before hi m 1

.
Chasles continues :
“
It will be observed fro m thi s that the di ameter of the curve and
the perpendi cular erected at one of its extrem ities suffi ce to construct
the curve These are the two element s whi ch the ancients used with
.
,
whi ch to establish their theory of conics The perpendicul ar in ques

”
.
tion was called by the m l atu s erectu m; the m ode m s changed this nam e
first to that of l a tu s r ectu m and afterwar d s to that O f par ameter
,
.
The first book of the C on i c S ecti on s O f Apollonius is al most wholly

de v o ted to the generation of the three principal conic sections .
The second book treats mainly of asymptotes axes and diameters , , .
The third book treats of the equality or proportionality of triangles ,
rectangles or squares of whi ch the co mponent parts are determi ned

, ,
by portions of transversals chords asymptotes or tangents which , , , ,
are frequently subj ect to a great number of con di tions It also touches .
the subj ect of foci of the ellipse and hyperbola .
In the fourth book Apollonius discusses the harmonic di v ision of

,
straight lines He also examines a syste m of two conics ; and shows

.
t hat they cannot cut each other in m ore than four points He i nv es .
t ig a t es the various possible relative positions of two co ni cs as for , ,
instance when they have one or two points of contact with each other
, .
The fifth book reveals better than any other the giant intellect of
its author D iffi cult questions of maxi ma and mi n i ma of whi ch few
.
,
T L He t h A p l l ni u f P e g
1
. . a C amb i dg
,
8 96 p C X V
o o s o r a, r e, 1 , . .
adapted to the invention of general m ethods Instead of a cli mb to .
st ill loftier heights we observe therefore on the part of later Greek , ,
geometers a descent during which they paused here and there to look
, ,
around for details which had been passed by in the hasty ascent 1 .
A mong the earliest successors of Apollonius was N i c ome d e s Noth .
ing definite is known of him e xcept that he invented the con choid ,
( m ussel a curv e of the fourth order He devised a little

“
.
m achine by w hi ch the curve could be easily described With aid of .
the conchoid he duplicated the cube The curve can also be used for .
trisecting angles in a manner rese mbling that in the eighth le mma of

Archi medes P roclus ascribes this mode of trisection to N i comedes
.
but P appus on the other hand claims it as his own The conchoid
,
.
, ,
was used by Newton in constructing curv es of the third degree .
About the tim e of N i c omedes ( say 1 8 0 B flourished also ,

.
“
D iocl e s the in v entor of the ci ss oi d ( ivy
, Thi s curve he used
for finding two mean proportionals between two given straight lines .
The Greeks did not consider the co mpanion curve to the cissoid ; -
in fact they considered only the part of the cissoid proper whi ch
,
lies insi de the circle used in constructing the curve The part of the .
area of the circle left over when t he two circular areas on the concave
sides of the branches of the curve are remove d looks somewhat like ,
an ivy leaf Hence probably the nam e of the curve That the two
-
.
, ,
.
branches ex ten d to infinity appears to have been noticed first by G P . .
de Rob er al in 1 6 40 and then by R de Sluse 2 . .
About the life of P e r s e u s we know as little as about that of Nico

m edes and Diocles He lived so m e tim e between 2 00 and 1 00 B C . . .
From Heron and Ge m inus we learn that he wrote a work on the spi r e ,
a sort of anchor ring surface described by Heron as being produced by

-
the revolution O f a circle around one of its chords as an axis The .
sections of this surface yield peculiar curves called spi r al s ecti ons ,
whi ch according to Gem inus were thought out by P erseus These

, ,
.
cu rves appear to be the sam e as the H i ppopede of Eudoxus .
P robably som ewhat later than P erseus lived Z e n od oru s He wrote .
an interesting treatise on a new subj ect ; namely i s oper i metr i cal figu r es ,
.
Fourteen propositions are preserved by P appus and Theon Here .
are a few of the m :Of isoperimetrical regular polygons the one having , ,
the largest num ber of angles has the greatest area ; the circle has a
greater area than any regular polygon of equal periphery ; of all iso
p eri me n t r i c al polygons of n S ides the regular is the greatest ; of ,
all solids having surfaces equal in area the sphere has th e greatest ,
volu me
H yps i cl e s (between 2 00 and 1 0 0 B C )
.
was supposed to be the . .
author of both the fourteenth a n d fifteenth books of Eucli d but recent ,
criti cs are of opinion that the fifteenth book was written by an author
1
M C an t or
.
, p
o . ci t V o l I , 3 A u fl , 1 90 7 , p 3 5 0
.
,
. . . .
2
G L or i a , E ben e
. C ur ve/i , t ra n s l by F S c h ii tte , I ,
. . 1910, p 37
. .
G REEK G EO M ETRY 3
who lived several centuries after Christ The fourteenth book con .
tains seven elegant theore m s on r eg ul ar sol i ds A treatise of Hypsi cl e s .
on Ri s i ngs is of interest because it gi v es the div ision of the circum

ference into 3 60 degrees after the fashion of the B abylonians .
H ippar c h u s of N i c aea i n B i thyn i a was the greatest astrono mer of

antiquity He took astronom ical observations between 1 6 1 a n d 1 2 7
.
B C . He established in d uctiv ely the famous theory of epicycles and

.
eccentrics As might be expected he was interested in m athe matics

.
, ,
not per s e but only as an aid to astronomical inquiry No mathe

,
.
mat i c al writings O f his are extant but Theo n of Alexandria infor m s us

'
that Hipparchus originate d the science of tr igon ometry and that he

calculated a table of chor d s in twelve books Such calculations ” .
,
m ust have required a ready knowle dge of arithm etical and algebraical
operations He possessed arithmetical and also graphical devices for
.
solving geo metrical proble m s in a plane and on a S phere He gives .
indication of having sei zed the idea of c o ordinate representation found -

,
earlier in Apollonius .
About 1 0 0 B C flourished H e r o n th e El d e r of Alexandria He was

. . .
the pupil of C t esib i u s who was celebrated for his ingenious mechanical
,
inventions such as the hydraulic organ the water clock an d catapult

, ,
-
,
.
It is belie v ed by some that Heron was a son of C t esi b i u s He ex .
hi bi t ed talent of the sam e order as did his m ast er by the invention of

“
the eolipile and a curious mechanism known as Heron s fountain ’
.
”
Great uncertainty exists concerning his writings M ost authorities .
believe him to be the author of an i mportant Tr eati s e on the D i optr a ,
of which there exist three m anuscript copies quite dissimilar B ut ,

.
M M arie thinks that the D i optr a is the work of H eron the Y ou nger
.
1
,
who lived in the seventh or eighth century after Christ an d that ,
Geodesy another book supposed to be by Heron is only a corrupt and

, ,
defective Copy of the former work Di optr a contains the im portant .
formula for finding the area O f a triangle expressed in te r m s O f its

sides ; its derivation is quite laborious and yet excee dingly ingenious
“ “
It see m s to me difficult to believe says Chasles that so beautiful ,
” ,
.
a theore m sho uld be found in a work so ancient as that of Heron the

cite it ”
Elder without that so me Greek geo meter should have thought to
,
M arie lays great stress on thi s silence of the ancient writers

.
,
and argues fro m it that the true author m ust be Heron the Younger
or some writer m uch more recent than Heron the Elder B ut no r e .
liable evidence has been found that there actually existed a second
mathem atician by the nam e of Heron P Tannery has shown that . .
,
i n applying this for mula Heron found the irrational square roots by
-
,
A
the approximation /
x Z
~ where is the square nearest to
4
2
a
,
1
M axi mil i en M a r i e H i s toi r e des ,
s c i e nc es mathemati q u es et phys i q u es . P ar i s ,
To me I , 1 88 3 , p . 1 78 .
44 A HISTORY O F M ATH E M ATICS
A
A . When a more accurate value was wanted Heron took ,
in the place of a in the above form ula Apparently Heron some .
”
,
times found square and cube roots also by the method of double“
false position
“ ” .
Dioptra says Venturi were instrum ents which had g reat re

, ,
semblance to our modern theodolites The book Di optr a is a treatise .
on geodesy contai ning solutions with aid of these instru ments of a , ,
large nu mber of questions in geometry such as to find the dista nce ,
between two points of which one only is accessible or between two

, ,
points which are visible but both inaccessible ; from a given point to
draw a perpendi cular to a line which cannot be approached ; to find
the difference of level between two points ; to measure the area of a
field without entering it .
Heron was a practical surveyor This may account for the fact .
that his writings bear so little resemblance to those of the Greek

authors who considered it degrading the science to apply geometry to
,
surveying The character of his geometry is not Grecian but de

.
,
c idedl y Egyp tian This fact is the m ore surprising when we consider
.
that Heron de monstrated his familiarity with Euclid by writing a com

m entary on the El emen ts So m e of Heron s for mulas point to an old
’
.
Egyp tian origin Thus besides the above e xact formula for the area
.
,
al + az
of a triangle in ter ms of its sides Heron gives the formula , x
2
+ az
01 (3 1+ bz
whi ch bears a striking likeness to the formula x fO 1
2 2
finding the area of a quadrangle found in the Edfu inscriptions ,

.
There are m oreov er points of resemblance between Heron s writings

, ,
’
and the ancient Ahmes papyrus Thus Ahm es used unit fractions .
-
exclusively (except the fraction Heron uses them oftener than o ther
fractions Like Ahmes and the priests at Edfu Heron divides c om
.
,
plicated figures into simpler ones by drawing auxiliary lines ; like the m ,
he shows throughout a special fondness for the isosceles trapez oid

, ,
.
The writings of Heron satisfied a practical want and for that reason ,
were borrowed extensively by other peoples We find traces of them .
in Ro me in the Occident during the M iddle Ages and even in In dia

, ,
.
The works attributed to Heron including the newly discovere d ,
M el ri ca published in 1 90 3 have been edited by J H Heiberg ,

. .
,
H S chOn e and W Schmidt

G e mi n u s of Rhodes (about 7 0 B c )
. . .
published an astronomical work . .
still ex tant He wrote also a book now lost on the A rr angemen t of

.
, ,
M a themati cs which contained m any valuable notices of the early

,
history of Greek mathematics P roclus and Eu toc iu s quote it fre .
quently Theodosius is the author of a book of little m erit on the

.
GREEK GEO M ETRY 45
geometry of the sphere Investigations due to P Tannery and A A

. . . .
l
BjOrnb o see m to indicate that the m athe m atician Theodosius was
not Theodosius of Tripolis as formerly supposed but was a resident, ,
of Bithyni a and conte mporary of Hipparchus Di onys odoru s of .
Ami sus in P ontus applied the intersection of a parabola and hyperbola

to the solution of a problem whi ch Arc hi medes in his S phere and
”
,
“
Cyl i nder had left inco mplete
,
The proble m is to cut a sphere so .
that its segments shall be in a giv en rati o .
We have now sketched the progress of geometry dow n to the time

of Christ Unfortunately very little is known of the histor y of geo m
.
,
e t ry between the ti m e of Apollonius and the beginning of the Christian
era The names of qui te a number of geo meters have been mentioned
.
,
but very few of their works are now extant It is certain however .
, ,
that there were no mathe maticians of real genius from Apollonius to

P tole my excep ting Hipparchus and perhaps Heron
, .
The S econd A l exandr i an S chool
The close of the dynasty of the L ag i des which ruled Egyp t from the
tim e of P tole my Soter the builder of Ale xandria for 3 00 years ; the
, ,
absorption of E g ypt into the Ro man E mpire ; the closer co mm ercial

relations between peoples of the East and of the West ; the gradual
decline of paganism and spread of Christianity these events were ,
-
of far reaching influence on the progress of the sciences which then

-
,
had their ho me in Alexandria Alexandria became a comm ercial and .
intellectual e mporium Traders of all nations m e t in her busy streets

.
,
and in her magnificent Library museu ms lecture halls scholars fro m , ,

-
,
the East mingled wi th those of the West ; Greeks began to stu dy older
literatures and to compare them with their own In consequence of .
this interchange of ideas the Greek philosophy becam e fused with

Oriental philosophy N eo P ythagoreanism and Neo P latonism were
.
- -
the names of the modified system s These stood for a ti me in Op .

, ,
position to Christianity The study of P latonism and P ythagorean

.
mysticism led to the revival of the theory of nu mbers P erhaps the .
dispersion of the Jews and their introduction to Greek learning helped

in bringing about this reviv al The theory of numbers became a .
favorite study This new line of mathematical inquiry ushered in

.
what we may call a new school There is no doub t that even now .
geometry continued to be one of the most i mportant studies in the

Alexandrian course This Second Alexandrian School may be said to
.
begin with the Christian era It was m ade fam ous by the na mes of .
Claudius P tolemaeus D iophantus P appus Theon of S myrna Theon

, , ,
.
,
of Alexandria I ambli chu s P orphyrius and others

, , ,
.
By the side of these we may place S er e n u s of An t i noei a as ha v ing ,
1
Axel A t ho B j r b ( 8 7 4—9 )f C op e n hag en w hi t ri n of m the
— —
n n o n o 1 1 11 o as a s o a a
m a t i e s
. S ee B i bl i oth c
ea math m ti c 3 S V o l 9 1e pp 3 3 7 344
a a, .
,
. 1 2, 1 1 1 2, . .
been connected more or less with this new school He wrote on sec .
tions of the cone and cylinder in two books one of whi ch treated , ,
only of the triangular section of the cone through the apex He solved
the problem given a cone ( cylinder )to find a cylinder ( cone)so
.
”
“
, , ,
that the section of both by the sam e plane gives similar ellipses Of .
partic ul ar interest is the following theore m which is the foundation ,
of the m odern theory of harmonics : If from D we draw DF cutting ,
the triangle A B C and choose H on it so that DE DF = EH :H E

, , ,
and if we draw the line A H then every transversal through D such , ,
as DG will be div ided by A H so that DK DG = K] J G M e n e l a u s

of Alexandria ( about 98 A D )
.
,
was the author of S phce r i ca a work

. .
,
extant in Hebrew and Arabic but not in Greek In it he proves the ,

.
theorem s on the congruence of

spherical triangles and describes ,
their properties in m uch the sam e

way as Euclid treats plane tri
D angles In it are also found the .
theore m s that the sum of the three

sides O f a spherical triangle is less
than a great circle and that the ,
s u m of the three angles exceeds two right angles Celebrated are two .
theorem s of his on plane and spherical triangles The one on plane tri .
“
angles is that if the three sides be cut by a stra ight line the product of
, ,
the three segm ents which ha v e no comm on ex trem ity is equal to the
product of the other three L N M Carnot m akes this proposition
.
known as the lemm a of M enelaus the base of his theory of trans

“
. .
” ,
.
,
versals The corresponding theorem for spherical triangles the so

”
”
.
,
called regula s ex q u an ti ta t u m is obtained fro m the above by ,

“ “
rea ding chords of three segments doubled in place of three seg ,
ments .
C laudiu s P tol e my a celebrated astrono m er was a native of Egypt

, ,
.
Nothing is known of his personal history except that he flourished in

Alexan dria in 1 39 A D and that he m ade the earliest astronomical
. .
O bser v ations recor ded in his works in 1 2 5 A D the latest in 1 5 1 A D ,

. .
,
. .
The chief of his works are the S yn taxi s M a themati ca (or the A l mages t
as the Arabs call it)
,
and the Geog r aphi ca both of which are extant ,

.
The for mer work i s based partly on his own researches but m ainly ,
on those of Hipparchus P tolemy see m s to have been not so m uch of

.
an independent investigator as a corrector and i mprover O f the work

,
of his great predecessors The A l mages t 1 form s the foundation of

.
all astrono mical science down to N Copernicus The fundam ental

i dea of his syste m the P tole maic System is that the earth is in the
“
,
.
,
” .
centre of the un i verse and that the sun and p l anets revolve around
,
the earth P tolem y did considerable for m athematics He creat ed

. .
,
1
On t he i mpor tan c e of t h e Al ma g e s t i n th e hi s tory o f as t ron o my, co n s u l t P .
mi e, P a ri s,
’ ’
Tann ery , Recher ches s ur l hi s toi r e de l as tron o 1 8 93 .
GREEK GEO M ETRY
for astrono mical use a tri gon ometry remarkably perfect in form The
,
.
foundation of this science was laid by the illustrious Hipparchus .
The A l mages t is in 1 3 books Chapter 9 of the first book shows how .
to calculate tables of chords The circle is div ided into 3 6 0 degrees .

,
each of which is halved The diameter is di vided into 1 2 0 divisions ;

.
each of these into 6 0 parts which are again subdivided into 6 0 smaller ,
parts In Latin these parts were called par tes mi n u tae pr i mae and
p a
.
r tes mi n u tx s ecu nd a
,
Hence our nam es m inutes and seconds

’
.
,
” .
The se xagesimal m ethod of div iding the circle is of Bab ylonian origin ,
and was known to Geminus and Hipparchus B ut P tolemy s m ethod .

’
of calculating chords seem s original with hi m He first proved the

proposition now appended t o Euclid VI (D)that the rectangle
.
“
, ,
contained by the diagonals of a quadrilateral figure inscribed in a

circle is equal to both the rectangles contained by its opposite S ides .
”
He then shows how to find from the chords O f two arcs the chords of
their su m and di fference and from the chord of any arc that of its ,
half These theore m s he applied to the calculation of his tables of

.
chords The proofs of these theorems are v ery pretty P tole my s

. .
’
construction of sides of a regular inscribed pentagon and decagon was

giv en later by C Clavius and L M ascheroni and now is used m uch
. .
,
by engineers Let the radius B D be _

. L to A C ,
DE = EC M ake E F = EB then B F is the side of ,
the pentagon and DF is the side of the decagon .
Another chapter of the first book in the A l ma

g es t is de v oted to tr i gon ometry and to s pher i ca l A F ,
”
D E C
trigonom etry in particular P tole my proved the .
“
lemma of M enelaus and also the regula sex q u an t i tatum
“
,
.
.
Upon these propositions he built up his trigono metry In trigono .
m etric co mputations the Greeks di d not use as did the Hindus half
, , ,
“
the chor d of twice the arc ( the sine the Greeks used ins tead
the whole chord of double the arc Only in grap hic constructions .
,
referred to again later did P tolemy and hi s predecessors use half the
,
chord of double the arc The fundamental theorem of plane trigo .
n ome t ry that two sides of a triangle are to each other as the chords
,
of double the arcs m easuring the angles opposite the two sides was ,
not stated e xplicitly by P tole m y but was contained i mplicitly in other ,
theorem s M ore complete are the propositions in spherical trigo

.
n om e try .
The fact that trigonometry was cultivated not for its own sake but ,
to aid astrono mical inquiry explains the rather startling fact that ,
spherical trigonometry cam e to e xist in a developed state earlier than

plane trigono metry
‘
The re maining books of the A l mages t are on astronomy P tolemy .
has written other works which have little or no bearing on mathe

m aties except one on geo m etry Extracts fro m this book m ad e by
, .
,
P roclus indicate that P tole my did not regard the parallel a xiom of
,
-
Euclid as self evident and that P tole my was the first of the long line
-
,
of geom eters fro m ancient time down to our own who toiled in the vain
attempt to pro v e it The untenable part of his de monstratio n is the
.
assertion that in case of parallelism the su m of the interior angles on

, ,
one side of a transversal must be the sam e as their su m on the other

side of the transversal B efore P tolemy an attempt to improve the
theory of parallels was made by P os i do ni u s (firs t cent B C )
.
who de . . .
fined parallel lines as lines that are coplanar and equidistant Fro m
an Arabic writer A l N i r i zi ( ninth cent )
.
it appears that Si mplicius

,
-
.
brought forward a proof of the 5th postulate based upon this def ,
inition and due to his friend Ag ani s

,
In the m aking of maps of the earth s surface and of the celestial ’
sphere P tolemy ( following Hipparchus)

,
used stereograp hic projection .
The eye is im agined to be at one of the poles the projection being ,
thrown upon the equatorial plane He devised an instrum ent a form .

,
of astrolabe plani sphere whi ch is a stereographi c proj ection of the ,
celestial sphere 2 P tole my wrote a m onograph on the an al emrn a which

.
was a figure invol v ing orthographic proj ections of the celestial sphere
upon three m utually perpendi cular planes ( the horiz ontal meridian
and vertical circles)The anale mm a was used in deter mining positions
,
of the sun the rising and setting of the stars The procedure was
,
.
probably known to Hipparchus and the older astronom ers It fur .
nished a graphic m ethod for the solution of spherical triangles and was
used subsequently by the Hindus the Arabs and Europeans as late , ,
as the seventeenth century 3

.
Two prominent mathematicians of this tim e were Ni comachu s and

Theon _ of S m yrna Their favorite study was theory of n umbers
. .
The investigations in this science cul m inated later in the algebra of

Diophantus B ut no important geometer appeared after P tole my
.
for 1 50 years An occupant of this long gap was S e xtu s J u li u s

.
Afric an u s who wrote an u nM por t an t work on geo metry appli ed

,
to the art of war entitled C estes Another was the sceptic S extu s
Empi ri cu s ( 2 00 A
,
he endeavored to elucidate Zeno s Arrow

.
“
.
’
,
”
by stating another argument equally p aradoxical and therefore far
fro m illu minating : M en never die for if a man die it must either , ,
be at a t ime when he is alive or at a time when he is not aliv e ; ,
hence he never dies Sextus Empiri cu s ad vanced also the paradox .

,
that when a line rotating in a plane about one of its ends describes
,
a circle w ith each of its points these concentric circles are of u m ,
equal area yet each circle must be equal to the neighbouring circle
,
which it touches 1
.
1
R B o ol N n E cli dean G om t y t an s by H S C l aw C hi g o
—
n a, o -
u 9 2 e e r r a rs ca 1 1
— ( 75 9 ) ”
.
, . . .
, , ,
pp 3 .8 R b t.B l a 8 o wer p of i R om e
ono 1 1 11 as r essor n .
a th M on thl y, V ol Am M
“
2
S e e M L a t ham ,
. T h e A s t r ol a b e , 24, 1 91 7, p 162 . . . . .
S ee A v B r au n mii hl , Geschi chte der Tr i gon ometr i e, L e ip ig , I , 1 90 0 , p 1 1 z

— )
3
. . . .
A l exan d er von B rau n m ii hl ( 1 8 5 3 1 90 8 w a s pro fe ssor a t t he t e c hn i ca l h ig h sc hoo l

i n M u n i ch .
59 A HISTORY O F M AT H E M ATIC S
cylinder and imagine a cone of revolution having for its axis the side
,
of the cylinder passing through the initial point of the spiral then ,
thi s cone cuts the cylinder in a curve of double curvature The per .
p en di cu l ar s to the a xis drawn through every point in this curve form

the surface of a screw which P appus here calls the pl ectoi dal s u rf ace .
A plane passed t hrough one of the perpendiculars at any convenient

angle cuts that surface in a curve whose orthogonal proj ection upon
the plane of the spiral is the required qu adr atr i x P appus considers .
curves of double curvature still further He produces a spher i cal .
s pi r al by a point m oving unifor mly along the circu mference of a
great circle of a sphere while the great circle itself revolves un i formly
,
around its diameter He then finds the area of that portion of the
.
surface of the S phere determ ined by the spherical spiral a co mplana

“
,
tion which claim s the m ore lively admiration if we consider that ,
although the entire surface of the S phere was known since Archi m edes
tim e to m easure portions thereof such as spherical triangles was
,
then and for a long time after wards an unsol v ed proble m 1

A
,
.
” ,
q uestion whi ch was brought into pro m inence by D escartes and Newton
“
is the proble m of P appus Given several straight lines in a plane .
” ,
to find the locus of a point such that when perpendiculars (or more
generally straight line s at given angles)
,
,
are drawn fro m it to the
giv en lines the product of certain ones of them shall be in a given
,
ratio to the product of the re maining ones I t is worth noticing that .
it was P appus who first found the focus of the parabola and pro
pounded the theory of the involution of points He used the directrix .
and was the first to put in definite form the definition of the conic
sections as loci of those points whose distances fro m a fixed point
and from a fix ed line are in a constant ratio He solved the problem .
to draw through three points lying in the same straight line three ,
straight lines which shall form a triangle inscribed in a given circle .
From the M athemati cal C oll ecti on s m any more equally d ifli c ul t the
orem s m ight be quoted which are original with P appus as far as we
know It ought to be re marked however that he has been charged
.
, ,
in three instances with copying theore ms without giving due cre dit ,
and that he m ay have done the same thi ng in other cases in whi ch
we have no data by which to ascertain the real discoverer 2
.
About the tim e of P appus liv ed T h e o n of Alexandria He brought .
out an e dition of Eucli d s El emen ts with notes which he probably ’
used as a text book in his classes His comm entary on the A l magest
-
.
is valuable for the m any historical notices and especially for the ,
speci mens of Greek arithm etic which it contains Theon s daughter .

’
Hypati a a wo man celebrated for her beauty and m odesty was the
, ,
last Alexandrian teacher of reputation and is said to have been an ,
1
M C an tor
.
,
o p . ci t .
, V ol I , 3 Au fl
. .
,
1 90 7 , p 45 1
. .
2
Fo r a d e fe n ce o f P a pp u s a g a i n s t t h e s e c ha rg e s , se e J H Weav er i n B ul l A m
M ath S oc , V ol 2 3 , 1 9 1 6 , pp 1 3 1 —
. . . .
. . . 1 33 . .
GREEK GEO M ETRY 5:
abler philosopher and m athematician than her father Her notes on .
the works of D iophantus and Apollonius hav e been lost Her tragic .
death in 4 1 5 A D is vividly described in Kingsley s H ypati a

. .
’
.
From n ow on m athematics ceased to be cultivated in Ale xandria

, .
The lea d ing subj ect of m en s thoughts was Christian theology ’

.
P aganism disappeared and with it pagan learning The Neo P latonic

,
.
-
school at Athens struggled on a century longer P roclus Isidorus and

“
others kept up the gold en chain of P latonic succession P rocl u s
.
,
.
” ,
the successor O f S yr ian u s at the Athenian school wrote a co mm entary

, ,
on Euclid s El emen ts We possess only that on the first book which

’
.
,
is valuable for the information it contains on the history of geom et ry .
D ama s ci u s of D a m ascus the pupil of Isidorus is now believ ed to be, ,
the author of the fifteenth book of Euclid Another pupil of Isidor us .
was Eu toci u s of Ascalon the co mm entator of Apollonius and Archi ,
m edes S i mplici u s wrote a co mmentary on Aristotle s D e Cce l o

’
. .
“
Simplicius reports Zeno as saying : That which being added to ,
another does not m ake it greater and being taken away fro m another
,
does not m ake it less is nothing According to this the denial of

,
,
.
” ,
the existence of the infinitesimal goes back to Zeno This m om entous .
question presented itself centuries later to Leibni z who gave d iff erent ,
answers The report ma d e by Simplicius of the quadratures of Anti

.
phon and Hippocrates of Chios is one of the best sources of historical

information on this point In the year 5 2 9 Justinian disapproving
1
.
, ,
heathen learni ng finally closed by i mperial edict the schools at

,
Athens .
As a rule the geometers of the last 50 0 years showed a lack of

,
creative power They were commentators rather than discoverers

. .
The principal characteristics of ancient geom etry are

(1) A wonderful clearness and defi ni t en ess of its concepts and an
a l most perfect logical rigor of its conclusions
(2 )
.
A co mplete want of general principles and m ethods Ancient .
geometry is decidedly speci al Thus the Greeks possessed no general .
method of drawing tangents The determination of t he tangents .
to the three conic sections did not furnish any rational assistance for
the cissoid etc ,
.
”
drawing the tangent to any other new curve such as the conchoid
In the demonstration of a theorem there were for
,
, ,
,
the ancient geom eters as many different cases requiring separate ,
proof as there were diff erent positions for the lines The greatest .
geometers considered it necessary t o treat all possible cases inde

pendently of each other and to prove each with equal fulness To ,
.
devi se m ethods by whi ch the various cases could all be disposed of

“
by one stroke was beyond the power of the ancients
,
If we c om .
pare a mathem atical problem with a huge rock into the interior of ,
wh ich we desire to penetrate then the work of the Greek mathe ,
1
S ee F R u dio i n B i bl i otheca ma themati ca , 3 S
. .
,
V ol 3 , . 1 90 2 , pp 7 6 2.
-
.
5 2 A HISTORY OF M ATHE M ATICS
ma ti ci an sappears to us like that of a vigorous stonecutter who wi th ,
chisel and ha mmer begins with indefatigable perseverance from with

, ,
out to cru mble the rock slowly into fragm ents ; the m odern m athe
,
m ati ci an appears like an excellent m iner who first bores through the
”
,
rock som e few passages from which he then bursts it into pieces ,
wi th one powerful blast and brings to light the treasures withi n

,
1
.
Greek A r i thmeti c and Al gebra
Greek mathematicians were in the habit of discrimina ti ng between

the s ci en ce of nu mbers and the art of calcul ation The former they .
called ar i thmeti ca the latter l og i sti ca The drawing of this distinction

, .
between the two was very natural and proper The di ff erence b e .
tween the m is as m arked as that between theory an d practice Among .
the Sophists the art of calculation was a favorite study P lato on .

,
the other hand gave considerable attention to phil osop hi cal arith
,
metic but pronounced calculation a vulgar and c hildish art

,
.
In sketching the history of Greek calculation we shall first give a ,
brief account of the Greek mode of counting and O f writing n um bers .
L ike the E g yptians and Eastern nations the earliest Greeks counted ,
o n their fingers or with pebbles In case of large num bers the pebbles .
,
were probably arranged in parallel vertical lines P ebbles on the .
first line represented units those on the second tens those on the , ,
thi rd hundreds and so on Later frames cam e into use in which

,
.
, ,
strings or wires took the place of lines According to tradition .

,
P ythagoras who travelled in Egyp t and perhaps in India first

, , , ,
introduced this valuable instrument into Greece The abacu s as it .

,
is called e xisted a mong di ff erent p eoples and at di fferent times in

, ,
various stages of perfection An abacus is still e mployed by the .
C hi nese under the nam e of S w an pan We possess no specific inform a -

.
tion as to how the Greek abacus looked or how it was used Boethius
”
.
says that the P ythagoreans used with the abacus certain nine signs
“
called api ces whi ch resembled in form the nine Arabic n umerals
,
.
B ut the correctness of thi s assertion is subject to grave doubts .
1
The oldest Grecian num erical sym bols were the so called H er odi ani c -
s i gn s ( after H ero di an u s a Byz antine grammarian of about 2 00 A D
who describes them) These signs occur frequently in Athenian i n

. .
, ,
s c r ip t i o n s and are on that account now generally called A tti c

,
For ,
.
som e unknown reason these sym bols were afterwards replaced by the
a l pha beti c n u mer al s in which the letters of the Greek alphabet were
,
used together with three strange and antique letters I 9 and TD

, , ,
a n d the sy mbol M This change was d ecide dly for the worse for the
.
,
old Attic numerals were less burdensome on the memory inasm uch ,
H H a n k el , Di e E n twi ck el u n g der M athemati k i n den l etzten J a hr hund er ten

1
. .
T ub i ng en , 1 8 84 , p 1 6 . .
GREEK ARITH M ETI C AND ALGEB RA 53
as they contained fewer symbols and were better adapted to show

forth analogies in nu m erical operations The following table shows .
the Greek alphabetic numerals and their respective values

a fl r 3 e s Z )
1 9 t K it pt v f
c 0 71 Q
I 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 20
30 40 50 60 70 80 90
p 0
'
7 v 42 x p
1 1» T?) , o. “8 , y etc .
1 00 2 00 3 00 400 500 6 00 700 8 00 900 1 000 2 000 3 000
It will be noticed that at 1 00 0 the alphabet is begun over again , ,
but to prevent confusion a stroke is now placed before the lett er

, ,
and generally so mewhat below it A horiz ontal line drawn over a .
number served to distinguish it m ore rea dil y from words The c o .
eff icient for M was sometim es placed before or behind instead of o v er

the M Thus . was written 8M yxon It is to be observed that , .
the Greeks had no z ero .
Fractions were denoted by first writing the num era tor m arked with
an accent then the deno minator marked with two accents an d written
.
,
twice Thus y d K 9 = 44 In case of fractions having unity for

,
u
’
n
” .
'
the nu merator the a was omitted and the denomi nator was written
,
only once Thus 1

21 " .
The Greeks had the nam e e pi mori on for the ratio Archytas
1
proved the theorem that if an ep i m or i on
2 is reduced to its lowest
[
term s then Thi s theorem is found later in the m usical
writings of Euclid and of the Rom an B oethius The Euclidean for m .
of arithmetic without perhaps the representation of nu mbers by lines

, ,
existed as early as the tim e of Archytas 1 .
Greek writers seldo m refer to calculation with alphabetic nu m erals .
Addition subtraction and even m ultiplic ation were probably per

, ,
form ed on the abacus E xpert mathe m aticians m ay have used the .
symbols Thus Eu t oc i u s a co mm entator of the sixth century after

.
,
Christ gives a grea t many multiplications of wh i ch the following i s

,
-
a specimen : 2
1
P Ta n n e ry i n B i bl i otheca ma thema ti ca , 3 S
. .
, V ol V I ,. 1 90 5 , p . 2 28 .
J G o w , op c i t , p 5 0
2
. . . . .
The operation is e xplained suf

fi c i en t l y by the modern nu merals
appended In case of mixed .
nu mbers , the process was still
”
MM 8 ,, 400 0 0
,
a1 2 000 1 0 00 ,
more clum sy D ivisions are found
,
.
in Theon of Alexandria s com ’
M 53 9 1 2 000 3 6 00 3 00 , m entary on the A l mag es t As

, .
a 7 1 000
K6 3 00 2 5 ,
m ight be e xpected the process is
, ,
long and tedi ous .
a K 6 70 2 25
We have seen in geo m etry that
the more advanced m athematicians
frequently had occasion to extract the square root Thus Arc hi m edes .
in his M en su r ati on of the Ci r cl e gives a large nu mber of square roots .
3—
5—
He states for instance that 1— 1
and 2 6 5
but-
he gives no .
clue t o t lie m ethod by which he obtained these approxim ations I t

, , 1 5 3
.
is not improbable that the earlier Greek m athematicians found the

square root by trial only E u toci u s says that the m ethod of extracting
.
it was given by Heron P appus Theon and other co mm entators on

, , ,
the A l magest Th eon s is the only one of these m ethods known to us

.
’
.
It is the sam e as the one used nowadays except that sexagesimal ,
fractions are e mployed in place of our decimals What the m ode of .
procedure actually was when sexagesimal fractions were not used has ,
been the subj ect of conj ecture on the part of nu merous m odern writers .
Of interest in connection with arithm etical symbolism is the S and

C ou n ter (Arenarius )an essay addressed by Ar chi m e d e s to G elon
, ,
, ,
ki ng of Syracuse In it Archi m edes sho w s that people are in error who

.
think the sand cannot be counted or that if i t can be counted the , ,
n umber cannot be e xpressed by arithm etical symbols He shows that .
the number of grains in a heap of sand not only as large as the whole
earth but as large as the entire universe can be arithm etically ex
, ,
pressed Assum ing that. grains of sand suffice to make a little

solid of the magnitude of a pop y seed and that the diameter of a
p
-
,
poppy seed be not smaller than 4 part of a finger s breadth assum ing
- 1 -
’
,
further that the diameter of the un i verse (supposed to extend to the

sun)
,
be less than diam eters of the earth and that the latter ,
be less than stadia Archi medes finds a num ber which would
,
e xceed the number of grains of sand in the sphere O f the universe .
He goes on even further S upposing the universe to reach out to the

.
fix e d stars he finds that the S phere having the distance fro m the
, ,
earth s centre to the fixed stars for its radi us would contain a num ber
’
,
of grains of san d less than 1 00 0 myriads of the eighth octad In our .
notation this number would be 1 0 6 3 or 1 with 6 3 ciphers after it It

,
.
can hardly be doubte d that one object which Archi medes had in vie w
in making this calculation was the i mprov em ent of the Greek sym
b ol i sm It is not known whether he inve nted so m e short notation by
.
which to represent the abo v e num ber or not .

GREEK ARITH M ETI C AND ALGEBRA 5
We j udge fro m fragments in the second book of P appus that Apol

l on i u s proposed an i mprove m ent in the Greek m etho d of writing
numbers but its nature we do not know Thus we see that the Greeks
,
.
never posses sed the boon O f a clear co mprehensive symbolism The ,

.
honor of giving such to the world was reserved by the irony of fate
for a nam eless Indian of an unknown ti m e and we know not who m to ,
thank for an invention of such i mportance to the general progress of

intelligence 1 .
P assing fro m t he subj ect of l ogi s ti ca to that of ari thmeti ca our a t ,
tention is first drawn to the science O f numbers of P yt h ag or as B efore .
foun ding his school P ythagoras stu die d for m any years under the ,
Egyptian priests and fa miliarise d him self with Egyp tian mathe matics
a n d m ysticis m If he ever was in Babylon as so me authorities claim
.
, ,
he may have learned the sexagesimal notation in use there ; he may

have picked up considerable knowledge on the theory of proportion ,
a n d m ay have found a large nu mber of interesting astrono m ical
observations Saturated with that speculativ e spirit then pervad ing

.
the Greek m ind he endeavored to d iscover so me principle of ho m o

,
g e n ei t y in the univ erse B efore hi m the philosophers of the Ionic

.
,
school had sought it i n the m atter of thi ngs ; P ythagoras looke d for
it in the structure of things He O bserve d var i ous nu m erical relations .
or analogies betwee n num bers and the pheno m ena of the universe .
B eing con v inced that i t was in nu m bers and their relations that he
was to fi n d the foundation to true philosophy he procee d ed to trace ,
the origin of all things to nu mber s Thus he observed that m usical .
strings of equal length stretched by weights having the proportion of '
444
, ,
pro d,
uced intervals w hi c h w e r e an octave a fifth and a fourth , , .
Harm ony therefore depe n ds on m usical proportion ; it is nothing but

, ,
a m yster i ous num eri cal relation Where harm ony is there are .
,
n u mbers Hence the or der and beauty of the univ erse have their
.
origin i n n umbers There are sev en intervals in the m usical scale

. .
,
and also seven planets cross i ng the heavens The sam e num erical .
relations wh i ch underlie the former m ust underlie the latter B ut .
where nu mbers are there is harm ony Hence his spiritual ear dis ,
cerne d in the planetary m otions a won derful harm ony of the spheres
.
.
”
The P ythagoreans inv este d particular nu mbers with ex traor dinary
attributes Thus on e is the essence of things ; it is an absolute nu mber ;
.
hence the origin of all nu mbers and so of all things Fou r is the m ost .
erf ec t nu mber and was in so m e m ystic way conceived to correspond
to the hum an soul P hi lolaus bel i e v ed that 5 is the cause of color 6 O f

.
,
cold 7 ,
of m ind and health and l i ght 8 of love and frien d ship 2 In ,
.
P lato s works are evi d ences of a s i m i lar bel i ef i n rel i gious relations of
’
numbers E v en Aristotle referre d the virtues to nu mbers

. .
Enough has been said about these m ystic speculations to show

what l i vely interest in m athe m ati cs they m ust have created and
1
J . G ow , o p
. ci t .
, p 6 .
2
J . G ow , p
o . ci t .
, p 69. .
6 A H ISTORY O F M ATHE M ATICS
m aintained . Avenues of m athe matical inquiry were opened up by “
them which otherwise would probably have remained closed at that

time .
The P ythagoreans classified numbers into odd and even They .
observed that the sum of the series of odd nu mbers from 1 to 2 n + 1

was always a complete square and that by ad dition of the even n u m ,
bers arises the series 2 6 1 2 2 0 in which every number can be de

, , , ,
composed into two factors diff ering from each oth er by unity Thus .
,
6 = 2 3 1 2 = 3 4 etc These latter nu mbers were considered of
”
.
, ,
. .
suffi cient importance to receive the separate name of heteromeci c ( not

equilateral ) Nu mbers of the form ( ) H
Z
-
. were call ed tr i an gu l ar ,
because they could always be arranged thus Num bers which ,
were equal to the su m of all their possible factors such as 6 2 8 4 96 , , , ,
were called perf ect; those exceeding that su m excessi ve; and those ,
whi ch were less def ecti ve A mi cabl e numbers were those o f w hi ch

,
.
'
each was the sum of the factors in the other M uch attention was .
paid by the P ythagoreans to the subj ect of proportion The quan

tities a b c d were said to be in ar i thmeti cal proportion when a —b
.
c—
, , ,
d; in g eometr i cal proportion when a :b = c :d; in har mon i c propor

— —
tion when a b :b c = a zc It is probable that the P ythagoreans
,
.
,
—
a +b 2a b
were also familiar with the mu si cal proportion az
z m :b .
I ambl i chu s says that P ythagoras introduced it from Babylon .
In connection with arithmetic P ythagoras made ex tensive i n yesti ,
g a t i on s into geo m etry He believed that an arithmetical fact had

.
its analogue in geo m etry and vi ce ver sa In connection with hi s , .
theore m on the right triangle he dev ised a rule by which integral

numbers could be found such that the sum of the square s of two of
,
the m equalled the square of the third Thus take for one side an odd .
,
( 2 n+ 1
number then = 2n2 + 2n = t he other side and ,
2
( 2n2 + 2 n + 1 )hypotenuse If 2 n + 1 9 then the other two nu mbers

.
,
are 40 and 4 1 B ut this rul e only applies to cases in which the hy

.
p o t e n u s e di ffers fro m one of the sides by 1 In the study of the right .
triangle there doubtless arose q uestions of pu zzl ing subtlety Thus .

,
given a number equal to the side of an isosceles right triangle to find ,
the number which the hypotenuse is equal to The side may have .
been taken equal to 1 2 4 4 or any other nu mber yet in every i n

, , , , ,
stance all e ff orts to find a number exactly equal to the hypotenuse

m ust have re mained fruitless The problem may have been attacked .
again and again until finally so me rare genius to who m i t is granted

”
, , ,
during som e happy mom ents to soar with eagle s flight above the ,
-
’
lev el of human thinking grasped the happy thought that this prob
,
Euclid devot es the seventh eighth and ninth books of his El emen ts , ,
to arithm etic E xactly how m uch contained in these books is Euclid s

.
’
ow n invention and how m uch is borrowed fro m his predecessors we

, ,
have no means of knowing Without doub t m uch is original with .

,
Euclid The s even th book begins with twenty one definitions All
.
except that for prim e num bers are known to have been given by
“ ” -
.
the P ythagoreans Nex t follows a process for fin di ng the G C D

. . . .
O f two or m ore nu m bers The ei ghth book deals with numbers in con
.
t i n u e d proportion and with the m utual relations of squares cubes

, , ,
and plane numbers Thus XXII if three num bers are in cont i nued
.
, ,
proportion and the first I S a square so is the thi rd In the n i n th book

, ,
.
,
the sam e subject is continued I t contain s the proposition that the .
nu mber of primes is greater t han any give n number .
After the dea t h of Euclid the theory of num bers remained al most ,
stationary for 40 0 years Geo metry monopolised the attention of all .
Greek mathematicians Only two are known to have done work in

—
arithm etic worthy of m ention Er ato s th e n e s ( 2 7 5 1 94 B C )
.
” invented . . .
”
a sieve for finding prime nu mbers All co mposite nu mbers are
“
.
“
sifted out in the following manner : Write down the odd numbers
fro m 3 up in succession By striking out every third nu mber after
,
.
the 3 we remove all m ultiples of 3 By striking out every fifth n u m

,
.
ber after the 5 we rem ove all m ultiples of 5 In this way by rejecting
,
.
,
m ultiples of 7 1 1 1 3 etc we have left prim e nu mbers only H yp

s icl e s ( between 2 0 0 and 1 00 B C )
. .
, , , ,
worked at the subj ects of polygonal . .
nu mbers and arith m etical progressions which Euclid entirely neg

l e c t ed. In his work on risings of the stars he showed ( 1 )
“
that in
,
,
”
an arithm etical series of 2 n term s the s u m of the last n term s exceeds
the sum of the first n by a mul tiple of n 2 ; ( 2 )
,
that in such a series of

2 n + 1 ter ms the s u m of the series is the number of term s multiplied
by the m i ddle term ; (3)

,
that m such a series of 2 n term s the sum is ,
half the number of term s m ultiplied by the two m iddle term s 1

.
For two centuries after the tim e of H ypsi cl es arithm etic disappears ,
fro m hi story I t is brought to light again about 1 00 A D by Ni

. . .
c omach u s a N e o P ythagorean who inaugurated the final era of Greek

,
-
,
m athem atics Fro m now on arithm etic was a favorite study while
.
, ,
geom etry was neglected N i com achu s wrote a work entitled I n .
tr odu cti o A r i thmeti ca which was very fa mous in its day,

The great .
nu mber of co mmentators it has received vouch for its popularity .
Boethius translated it into Latin Lucian could pay no higher c om

”
.
“
p l i m e n t to a calculator than t hi s : You reckon like N i c om ac h u s of
Gerasa . The I n tr odu cti o A ri thmeti ca was the first exhaustive work
in whi ch arith met ic was treated quite independently of geom etry .
Instead of drawing lines l i ke Eucl i d he illustrates things by real , ,
numbers To be sure in h i s book the O l d ge om etrical nomenclature is

.
,
“
retained but the m etho d is in ductive instead of deductive
,
Its sole .
1
J G ow .
,
o p . ci t .
, p 87. .
GREEK ARITH M ETIC AND ALGEB RA 59
business is classification and all its classes are derived from and , ,
exhibited by actual numbers ,

The work contains few results that .
are really original We mention one important proposition whi ch is

.
probably the author s own He states that cubical num bers are al ’
.
ways equal to the su m of successive O dd numbers Thus .

,
1 3 + 1 5 + 1 7 4 1 9 and so on Thi s
27 3 -
3
:
,
.
theorem was used later for finding the s um of the cubical num ber
themselves Th e on of S myrna is the author of a treatise on t
”
“
.
mathe matical rules necessary for the study of P lato The work is .
ill arranged and of little m erit Of interest is the theore m that every .
,
square number or that nu mber m inus 1 is divisible by 3 or 4 or both

, , .
A remarkable discovery is a proposition given by Iamb li ch u s in his

treatise on P ythagorean philosophy It is founded on the observation
”
.
that the P ythagoreans called 1 1 0 1 00 1 0 00 units of the first second , , , , , ,

“
third fourth course respectively The theore m is this : If we add
,
.
any three consecutive nu mbers of whic h the highest is di v isible by3 , ,
then add the digits of that su m then again the di gits of that su m , , , ,
and so on the final su m will be 6 Thus

,
63 1 86 .
, ,
15,
1+ 5 = 6 This discove r y was the more re markable because the
.
,
ordinary Greek num erical symbolism was m uch less likely to suggest
any such property of numbers than our Arabic notation would
“ ”
have been .
Hippolytus who appears to hav e been bishop at P ortus Rom ae in

,
Italy i nthe early part of the third century m ust be m entione d for the ,
“
giving of proofs by casting out the 9 s and the 7 s ’ ’
.
The works of N i comachu s Theon of S m yrna Thymaridas and , , ,
others contain at tim es in v estigations of subjects which are really

algebraic in their nature Thym ar i das in one place uses the Greek
word m eaning unknown q uantity in a way which woul d lead one
“
.
” ,
to believe that algebra was not far distant Of interest in trac i ng the .
inventio n of algebra are the arithm etical epigram s in the P al ati ne

A n thol ogy which contain about fifty proble m s leading to linear equa
,
tions Before the intro d uction of algebra these problem s were pro
.
poun ded as pu zzles A riddle attributed to Eucl i d and containe d in

.
the A n thol ogy is to this e ffect : A m ule an d a d onkey were walking

along la den with corn The m ule says to the donkey If you gave
,
.
,
“
m e one m easure I should carry twice as m uch as you If I gave you

,
.
one we S hould both carry equal burdens Tell m e their burdens O

,
m ost learned m aster of geo m etry 1 .

” .
,
I t will be allowed says G ow that this problem if authentic was , ,
”
, ,
not beyond Euclid an d the appeal to geom etry s m acks of antiquity

,
.
A far more diffi cult pu zzle was the famous cattle proble m which -
,
Archimedes propoun de d to the Alexandrian m athe mati c ia ns The

‘ ‘
proble m is in determ inate for fro m only sev en equations eight u m , ,
known quantities in integral numbers are to be found I t may be .
J Gow ci t
1
.
,
o p . .
, p 99. .
60 A HISTORY O F M ATH E M ATICS
stated thus : The sun had a herd of bulls and cows of different colors .
of the blue (B )
,
( 1)Of B ulls the white ( W) were in number

: the B were ( 4—)
, , ,
and yello w ( Y ) of the Y and piebald (P ) : the P

4 4
were of the W and Y ( 2 )Of Cows which had the sam e colors .
,
(w ,
b, y, P )
,
4 2 1) é
1
(B 6 2 (P 2
-
Find the nu mber of bulls and cows This leads to high numbers .
1
,
but to add to its complexity the con ditions are superadded that
, ,
W+ B = a square and P + Y = a triangular n umber leading to an i n

, ,
deter minate equation o i the second degree Another problem in the .
A n thol ogy is quite fa miliar to school boys : Of four pipes one fills the
“ -
,
cistern in one day the next in two days the third in three days the
, , ,
”
,
fou r th in four days : if all run together how soon will they fill the ,
cistern ? A great m any O f these problem s pu zzling to an ari th ,
m eti ci an would hav e been solved easily by an algebraist They b e

,
.
cam e very popular about the tim e of D iophantus and doubtless acted ,
as a powerful stim ulus on his m ind .
D io ph an tu s was one of the last and m ost fertile mathematicians of

the second Alexandrian school He flourished about 2 50 A D His . . _ .
age was eighty four as is known from an epitaph to this e ff ect : D io

,
ph a n t u s passed 4
6
of his life 1n childhood
1
in youth and 1
,
7
m ore as , 1 2 , .
a bachelor five years after his m arriage was born a son who died four
,
years before his father at half his father s age The place of nativity
,
’
.
and parentage of D iophantus are unknow n If his works were not .

“
written in Greek no one would think for a m om ent that they were
,
the product of Greek m ind There is nothing in his works that .
remin ds us of the classic period of Greek m athem atics His were al .
m ost entirely new ideas ou a new subject In the circle of Greek .
m athem aticians he stands alone in his specialty Except for him .

,
we should be constrained to say that among the Greeks al gebra was

almost an unknown science .
Of his works we have lost the P ori sms but possess a fragment of
1
P ol ygon al N u mber s and seven books of his great work on A ri thmeti ca

, ,
said to have been written in I 3 books Recent e ditions of the A ri th .
meti ca were brought out by the in defatigable historians P Tannery ,

.
and T L Heath an d by G Wertheim

. .
,
. .
If we except the Ahm e s papyrus which contains the first sug g es ,
tions of algebraic notation and of the solution of equations then his

, ,
A r i thmeti c a i s the earliest treatise on algebra now ex tant In this work .
is introduced the idea of an algebraic equation expressed in algebraic

symbols His treat m ent is purely analytical and Completely divorced
.
from geom etrical methods He states that a num ber to be sub

“
.
-
J G ow
1
.
, o p
. ci t .
, p 99 . .
GREEK ARITH M ETIC AND AL GEB RA 61
be added
,
”
tracted m ultiplied by a nu mber to be subtracted gives a nu mber to
This is applied to the multipli cation of differences such
,
as (x I )(x
,
.
-
I t must be remarked th at Diophantus had no ,
notion whatever of negative numbers standing by themselves All .
he knew were diff erences such as ( 2 x in which 2 x could not be

,
‘
s mal ler than 1 0 wi thout leading to an absurdity He appears to be

the first who could perform such operations as (x 1 ) 2)
.
X (x without
reference to geom etry Such identities as ( a + b)
. a + 2 ab + b2 which
2 = 2
,
with Euclid appear in the elevated ran k of geometric theorems are ,
wi th Diophantus the simplest consequences of the algebraic laws of

operation His S ign for subtraction was fl‘ for equality L For u n
.
,
.
known quantities he had only one symbol 9 He had no sign for ,

.
addition except j uxtaposition D iophantus used but few symbols .

,
and sometimes ignored even these by d es cribing an operation in words

when the symbol would have answered just as well .
In the solution of simultaneous equations D iophantus adroitly

managed with only one symb ol for the unknown quantities and ar
rived at answers m ost commonly by the method of ten tati ve assu mp
, ,
ti on whi ch consists in assigning to som e of the unknown quantities

,
prelimi nary values that satisfy only one or two of the conditions
,
.
These values lead to expressions palpably wrong but which generally ,
suggest som e stratagem by which values can be secured satisfying

all the conditions of the problem .
Diophantus also solved determinate equations of the second degree .
Such eq uations were solved geo metrically by Euclid and Hippocrates .
Algebrai c solutions appear to have been found by Heron of Alexandria

who gives 8 4 as an approxim ate answer to the equation 1 44x ( 1 4 x)
,
6 7 2 0 In the Geometry doubtfully attributed to Heron the solution of

.
, ,
the equation 44x + 4x = 2 1 2 is practically stated in the form x

2 2
. ~
“( 1 54 x 2 1 2 + 84 1 )2 9
. D iophantus nowhere goes through with the
whole process of solving quadratic equations ; he merely states the
“
result Thus 84x2 + 7x = 7 whence x is found
.
,
Fro m partial
,
explanations found here and there it appears that the quadratic equa
tion was so written that all terms were positive Hence from the point .
,
of view of D iophantus there were three cases of equations with a

,
positive root : d x2 + bx = c ax2 = bx + c ax2 + c = bx each case requiring

, , ,
a rule slightly diff erent from the other two Notice he gives only one .
root His failure to observe that a quadratic equation has two roots
.
,
eve n when both roots are positive rather surprises us I t m ust be ,

.
remembered however that this sam e inability to perceive more than

, ,
one out of the several solutions to which a proble m may po i nt is c om

mon to all Greek m athe maticians Another point to be observ ed
‘
is that he never accepts as an answer a q uantity which is negative

or i rration al .
D i ophantus d e v otes only the first book of his A r i thmeti ca to the

solution of d eterminate equations The re maining books extant
\ t reat m ainly of i ndeter mi n ate qu adrati c equ ati on s of the for m A x2 +
. .
B x + C = y2 or of two s im ultaneous equations of the sa m e for m

,
He .
considers several but not all the possible cases which may arise in
these equations The opinion of N essel man n o n the m ethod of Dio
phan tu s as stated by Gow is as follows : ( 1 )
.
,
Indeterm inate equations ,
of the secon d degree are treated completely only when the quadratic
or the absolute term is wanting : his solution of the equations A x2
2 —
C y a d
= 2 n A x 1 B x +C y
= 2 is in m any respects cra mped -
( 2)For .
the double equation of the second degree he has a definite rule only
‘ ’
when the qua dratic ter m is wanting i n both expressions : ev en the n

his solution is not general M ore co mplicated expressions occur only
under specially favourable circu mstances Thus he solves B x + C 2
.
.
” ,
l +C 1
= 2 2 =
y
The extraordinaryability of Diophantus l ies rather i n another di
,
rection namely in his won derful ingenu i ty to reduce all sorts of

, ,
equations to particular form s which h e knows how to solve Very .
great is the variety of proble m s considered The I 30 prob l em s found .
in the great work of D iophantus contain over 50 different classes of

proble m s which are strung together without any attempt at classi
,
fi ca ti o n B ut still more m ult i farious than the problem s are the solu
.
tions General m ethods are al most unknown to D ip ohan tu s Each

. .
problem has its own distinct m ethod which is O ften useless for the
”
,
most close l y related proble m s I t is therefore d iffi cult for a m odern “

.
, , ,
after stu dy i ng 1 0 0 Diophantine solutions to sol v e the I o r s t This ,

.
state m ent d u e to Hankel is som ewhat overdrawn as is shown by

, , ,
Heath 1 .
That which robs his work of m uch of its scientific value is the
fact that he always feels satisfied with one solution though his equa ,
tion may ad m it of an indefinite nu mber of values Another great . .
defect is the absence of gene ral m ethods M o dern m athe maticians .

,
such as L Euler J Lagrange K F Gauss had to begin the study of

.
,
.
,
. .
,
in determinate analysis anew and receiv ed no direct aid from D io

h a n t u s in the for m u l ation of m ethods In spite of these defects
p .
we cannot fail to a dm ire the work for the won derful ingenuity ex
h ib i t e d therein in the solut i on O f particular equations .
1
T L H eat h, Di ophan tu s
. .
f
o Al exa ndr i a , 2 Ed .
,
C a mb r i dg e , 1 910
, pp 54 9 7
.
-
.
THE RO M ANS
Nowhere is the contrast between the Greek and Ro man m inds
shown forth more distinctly than in their attitude toward the mathe
m a ti cal science The sway of the Greek was a flowering ti me for
.
m athe m atics but that of the Roman a period of sterility In philos

,
.
ophy poetry and art the Ro man was a n i m itator

, ,
B ut in mathe .
m aties he did not e v en rise to the desire for i m itation The m athe .
ma ti cal fruits of Greek genius lay before h im untasted In him a .
science which had no direct bearing on practical life could awake no

interest As a consequence not on l y the higher geo metry of Archi
.
,
m edes and Apollonius but e v en the El emen ts of Eucl i d were neglected

, , .
What little m athe matics the Romans possesse d did not co me altogether
fro m the Greeks but cam e in part from m ore ancient sources E xactly
,
.
where and how so m e of it originated is a m atter of doubt I t seem s .
“
m ost probable that the Ro m an notation as well as the early ,
practical geom etry of the Rom ans ca m e fro m the old Etruscans , ,
who at the earliest period to which our knowledge of them ex tends

, ,
inhabited the district between the Arno and Tiber .
Livy tells us that the Etruscans were in the habit of representing

the number of years elapsed by dri v ing yearly a nail into the sanc ,
t u a ry O f M iner v a and that the Ro m ans continued this practice

,
A .
less pri mitive m ode of designating nu mbers presum ably of Etruscan

origin was a notation rese mbling the prese nt Ro man notation
,
“
,
.
”
This system is noteworthy from the fact that a principle is involved
in it which is rarely m e t with i n others namely the principle of sub , ,
traction I f a letter be placed before another of greater value its

.
,
value is not to be added to but subtracted from that of the greater , , .
In the designation of large nu mbers a horiz ontal bar place d ov er a

letter was m ade to increase its value one thousand fold In fractions .
the Ro mans used the duo deci mal syste m .
Of arithm etical calculations the Romans e mployed three di fferent

W W W
,
kin d s :
pare d or t e purpose i n er s mbp l fimm k wm a e aM
. i he -
time of King Nu ma for he ad erecte d says P liny a statue O f the

, , ,
double faced Janus of which the fingers in dicated 3 6 5 (3 5

-
, the
number of days in a year M any other passages fro m Roman authors .
point out the use of the fingers as aids to calculation In fact a fi n g er .

,
symbolism of practically the sam e form was i n use not only in Rome ,
but also in Greece and throughout the East certainly as early as the ,
beginning of the Christian era and continued to be used in Europe ,
1
M C an tor , op
. . ci t .
, V ol I , 3 A u fl
. .
,
1 90 7 , p 5 26
. .
63
A HISTORY OF M ATHE M ATICS
during the M iddle Ages We possess no knowledge as to where or when
.
it was invented The second mode of calculation by the abacus was

.
, ,
a su bject of elem entary instruction in Rom e P assages m oman .
writers indicate that the kind of abacus m ost commonly used was
covered with dust an d then di v ided into colu mns by drawing straight
” ”
“
lin es Each colum n was supplie d with pebbles ( calculi whence cal
and calculate )
,
.
c u l ar e which served for calculation .
The Rom ans used also another kind of abacus consisting of a ,
m etallic plate hav ing grooves w ith m ovable buttons By its use all .
integers between 1 and as well as so m e fractions could be ,
represented In the two adjoining figures the lines represent grooves

.
1
c i c w ii c x i c x w i
T
an d the circles buttons The Ro man numerals indicat e the value of

.
each button in the correspon ding groove below the button in the ,
shorter groov e above ha v ing a fi v efold value Thus If "
hence each button in th e long left—

.
hand groove when in use ; stands ,
for and the button in the short upper groo v e stands for
The sam e holds for the other groov es labelled by Roman
num erals The eighth long groove from the left (havin g 5 buttons)
.
represents d uodecimal fractions each button indicating 44 while the

,
1
,
button above the dot m eans 4 4 In the ninth column the upper
6
.
button represents 4 4 the m id dle 4 4 and two lower each

1 1
,
-
,
Our -
7
first figure represents the positions of the buttons before the operation
begi ns ; our second figure stands for the nu m ber 8 5 2 4 4 The eye
1
4
.
has here to dist i nguish the buttons in use and those left idle Those .
counte d are one button abov e c and three buttons below

c one butto n abov e x two buttons below I = 2 )four
buttons indicating duodecimals 3 ; and the button for 1
2 4
Suppose now that is to be added to 1 1

The
h
4
8 5 2
3 2 4
operator could begin with the hig est un its or the lowest units as he , ,
pleased Naturally the hard est part is the addition of the fract i ons
. .
1
z
G Fri e dl ei n , Di e Z a hl ei chen u nd das el ementare Rechn en der Gr i echen a nd Romer ,
— )
”
.
“
Erl an g en , 1 8 6 9 , Fi g 2 1
. .G o t t fr i ed Fr i edl ci n ( 1 8 2 8 1 8 7 5 w as R ek tor d er K g l .
S t u di e n an stal t zu H ot i n B av ar i a .
66 A HISTOR Y OF M ATHE M ATICS
Ro me a science of geometry with definitions axio ms theore ms and , , , ,
proofs arranged in logical ord er will be disappointed The only ,

.
geometry know n was a pr acti c al geom etry whi ch like the old Eg yp , ,
tian consisted only of e mpirical rules This practical geo metry was
,
.
e mployed in surveying Treatises thereon have co me d own to us

.
,
co mpile d by the Ro man surveyors called agr i i n ensores or gr omati ci , .
One would naturally expect rules to be clearly form ulated B ut no ; .
they are left to be abstracted by the reader fro m a m ass of nu merical

examples The total impression is as though the Ro m an gromatic
.
were thousands of years older tha n Greek geom etry and as though ,
a deluge were lying between the two So me of their rules were prob .
ably inherited fro m the Etruscans but others are identical w ith those ,
of Heron Among the latter is that for finding the area of a triangle
.
fro m its sides and the approxi mate formula 44a2 for the area of
equilateral triangles (a being one of the sides ) B ut the latter area
, ,
was also calculated by the form ul as and 4a2 the first of ,
which was unknown to Heron P robably the expression 4a? was de .
a +b
rived from the Egyptian form ula for the determ ination of
2 2
the surface of a quadrilateral This Egyptian formula was used by .
the Ro mans for finding the area not only of rectangles but of any , ,
quadrilaterals whate v er Indeed the gromatici considered it e v en

.
,
suffi ciently accurate to determ ine the areas of cities laid out i rreg u ,
l arl y ims
,
ply by m easuring their circu m ferences 1 Whatever Egyptian .
geom etry the Ro mans possessed was transplanted across the M edi ter
r a n ea n at the ti m e of Ju l i u s C ws ar who ordered a survey of the whole ,
e mpire to secure an equitable m o d e of taxation C a sar also reform ed .
the calendar and for that purpose dre w from Egyptian learnin g
, , ,
.
He secured the services of the Alexan drian astronomer S osi gen es ,

.
Two Roman ph ilosophical writers deserve o u r attention The

philosophical poet Ti tu s L u cr ei i u s (96 ? —
.
, 55 B in his D e r er u m .
n atu r a entertains conceptions of a n infinite m ultitu d e and of an i n

,
finite m agnitude which accord with the m odern definitions of those

terms as being not variables but constants However the Lucretian .
,
i nfi n i t e s are not com posed of abstract things but of m aterial particles ,

.
His infinite m ultitude is of the denu merable variety ; he m ade use

of the whole part property of infinite m ultitudes 2
-
.
Cognate topics are discussed several centuries later by the c ele

b ra t ed father of the Latin church S t A u u s ti n e
—
( 3 54 4 3 0 A in
g ,
. .
hi s references to Zeno of Elea In a d i alogue on the question whether .

,
or not the m ind of man m oves when the body moves a n d trav els with ,
the bo dy he is led to a definition of m otion in wh i ch he di splays so m e

, ,
le v ity I t has been said of scholast i c i sm that it has no sense of hum or

. .
1
H H an k el , op ci t , p 2 9 7
. . . . .
2
C J K eyse r i n B u l l A m Al
. . . . al /
z . S oc .
,
V ol . 24, 1918, p . 2 68, 3 21 .
TH E RO M ANS 67
Hardly does this apply to S t Augustine He says : When this dis . .
course was concluded a boy ca m e running from the house to call us

,
to dinner I the n remarked that this boy co mpels us not only to

.
define motion but to see it before our very eyes So let us go and
, .
”
,
pass fro m this place to another ; for that is if I am not mistaken , ,
nothing else than m otion S t Augustine deserves the credit of . .
having accepted the e xistence of the actually infinite and to have

recogniz ed it as being not a variable but a constant He recognize d
, ,
.
all finite positive integers as an infinity of that type On this point .
he occupied a radically diff erent position than his forerunner the ,
Greek father of the church Origen of Alexandria Origen s argu ments , .

’
against the actually infinite have been pronounced by Georg Cantor

the profoundest ever advanced against the actually infinite .
In the fifth century the Western Ro man E mpire was fast falling
,
to pieces Three great branches— Spain Gaul and the province of

Africa—broke off fro m the decaying trunk In 4 7 6 the Western
.
, ,
.
,
E mpire passed away and the Visigothic chief Odoacer beca m e king
, , ,
.
Soon after I taly was conquered by the Ostrogoths under Theodor ic

, .
It is re markable that this very period of political hu m iliation should

be the one during which Greek science was studied in Italy m ost
z ealously School—
. books began to be co mpiled fro m the elem ents of
Greek authors These compilations are very deficient but are of
.
,
absorbing inte rest fro m the fact that down to the twelfth century
, , ,
they were the only sources of mathe matical knowledge in the Occident .
Fore most among these writers is B o e thiu s (died At first he

was a great favorite of King Theodoric but later being charged by , ,
envious courtiers with treason he was imprisoned and at last decapi , ,
t a t ed
. While in prison he wrote On the C on sol ati on s of P hi l osophy As .
a m athematician B oethius was a B robdingnagian a mong Roman

,
Scholars but a Liliputian by the si de of Greek m asters He wrote

,
.
an I n sti tu ti s A r i thmeti ca which is essentially a translation of the arith

,
m etic of N i c omac h u s and a Geometry in several books So m e of the

,
.
m ost beauti ful results of N i comachu s are o m itted in B oethius arith ’
m etic The first book on geo m etry is an extract fro m Euclid s El e

’
.
men ts which contains in addition to definitions postulates and

, , , ,
axioms the theore ms in the first three books without proofs How
, ,
.
can this omission of proofs be accounted for ? I t has been argued by

some that Boethius possessed an incomplete Greek copy of the E l e
men ts ; by others that he had Th e on s edition before hi m and b e
’
, ,
li ev ed that only the theore ms ca m e fro m Euclid while the proofs were ,
supplied by Theon The second book as also other books on geometry

.
,
attributed to Boethius teaches from numerical examples the men , , ,
su rati on of plane figures after the fashion of the agri m ensores .
A celebrated portion in the geom etry of Boethius is that pertaining

to an abacus wh ich he attributes to the P ythagoreans A consi der
,
.
able improve m ent on the ol d abacus is there introduced P ebbles .

are discarded and api ces (probably s mall cones)
,
are used Upon each .
of these apices is drawn a numeral giving it some value below 1 0 .
The nam es of these numerals are pure Arabic or nearly so but are , ,
added apparently by a later hand The 0 is not m entioned by

, ,
.
Boethius in the text These numerals bear striking resemblance to

.
the Gubar numerals of the West Arabs which are ad mittedly of

- -
,
Indian origin These facts have giv en rise to an endless controversy

. .
Som e contended that P ythagoras was i n India and from there brought ,
the nine nu merals to Greece where the P ythagoreans used the m ,
secretly This hypothesis has been generally abandoned for it is

.
,
not certain that P ythagoras or any disciple of his e v er was in India ,
nor is there any e v idence in any Greek author that the apices were ,
known to the Greeks or that nu meral signs of any sort were used by
,
them with the abacus I t is improbable m oreover that the Indian

.
, ,
signs fro m which the apices are derived are so old as the tim e of
, ,
P ythagoras A second theory is that the Geometry attributed to

.
Boethius is a forgery ; that it is not older than the tenth or possibly ,
the ninth century and that the apices are derived from the Arabs
, ,
.
B ut there is an Encyclop aedia written by C assi odori us (died about

58 5) in which both the arithm etic and geom etry of B oethius are m en
t i on e d Som e doubt exists as to the proper interpretation of this
.
passage in the Encyclop aedia At present the weight of evidence is .
that the geom etry of B oethius or at least the part mentioning the
nu merals is spurious 1 A third theory (Woepck e s)is that the
,
’
.
,
Alexandrians either directly or indirectly obtained the nine nu merals

from the Hindus about the seco n d century A D and gave them to
,
. .
,
the Ro mans on the one hand and to the Western Arabs on the other ,
.
Thi s explanation is the most plausible

” ”
.
It is worthy of note that C assi odori u s was the first writer to use
“
the term s rational and irrational in the sense n ow current in
arith metic and algebra 2 .
1
A g ood di sc u ssi o n of t hi s so c all ed B oe hi us q uest io n , w hi ch ha s b een de
-
t
b at ed for t w o c en t u ri e s , i s g i v e n b y D E S mi t h a n d L C K a rp i n sk i i n t hei r H i nd u
. . . .
A ra bi c N u mer al s , 1 9 1 1 , C hap V . .
2
E n cycl opédi e des s ci en ces ma themati q u es , To me I , V o l A n il
’
p 2
”
. . .
t t
l um in a t i n g a r i cl e o n an c i en fi n g e r symb o l i s m i s L J R i c ha rd so n s -
’
Di g i ta l . .
R e c k o n i n g A mon g t he A n ci en s t
i n the A m M ath M onthl y, Vol 2 3 , 1 8 1 6 ,
pp
—
7 3 1 .
. .
T H E M AYA
The M aya of Central America and Southern M exico developed
hieroglyphic writing as found in inscriptions and codices dating ap
,
pa t ently fro m about the beginning of the Christian era that ranks
”
,
probably as the foremost intellectual achieve m ent of pre Colu mbian -
times in the New World M aya nu mber syste m s and chronology .
are rem arkable for the extent of their early develop m ent P erhaps .
five or s ix centuries before the Hindus gave a system atic e xposition

of the n deci mal nu mber system with its z ero and principle of local .
value the M aya in the fl a tl an ds of Central A m erica had evolved

,
system atically a vi gesi mal number system e mploying a z ero and the
principle of local value In the M aya number syste m found in the.
co dices the ratio of increase of successive units was not 1 0 as in the ,
Hindu system ; it was 2 0 in all positions e xcept the third That is

2 0 units of the lowest order ( ki n s or days )
.
,
m ake one un i t of the next

higher order (u i n al s or 2 0 days)1 8 u i n al s m ake one unit of the third
,
order (tu n or 3 6 0 days)2 0 tuns m ake one unit of the fourth order
, ,
(k atu n or 7 2 00 days )2 0 k at u n s m ake one unit of the fifth order

, ,
days )
, ,
(cycl e or
,
and finally 2 0 cycles m ake 1 gr eat cycl e of ,
days I n M aya codices we find symbols for 1 to 1 9 ex

.
,
pressed by bars and dots Each bar stands for 5 units each dot for .
,
1 unit For insta nce

.
,
2 4 5 7 11 19
The z ero is represented by a that looks roughly like a half symbol

closed eye In writing 2 0 the principle of local value enters It is
. .
expressed by a dot placed over the sym bol for z ero The nu mbers .
are written vertically the lowest ord er being assigne d the lowest
,
position Accordingly 3 7 was expressed by the symbols for 1 7 ( three

bars and two dots )
.
,
in the kin place and one dot representing 2 0 , ,
placed above 1 7 in the uinal place T 0 write 3 6 0 the M aya dre w .
two z eros one above the other with one dot higher up i n third place
, , ,
( 1 x 1 8 x 2 0 +0 +0 The highest number found in the codices

is in our deci mal notation
A second numeral system is found on M aya inscriptions I t em .
ploys the z ero but not the principle of local value Special sym bols
,
.
”
.
are e mployed to designate the diff erent units I t is as if we were to .
write 2 0 3 as 2 hun dreds 0 tens 3 ones 1

, ,
.
o n t o f t he M aya n m b e sy st m l g y see S G M l y
1
F or an a cc u d h u r- e s an c ro n o o , . . or e
A n I n tr oduc ti on to the S tudy f
o the M aya Hi erogl i phs , G ove rn men t P ri n t i n g O ffi c e ,
Washi ng on , 1 9 1 5
t .
The M aya had a sacred year of 2 6 0 days an offi cial year of 3 6 0 ,
days a n d a solar year of 3 6 5 + days The fact that .
see ms to account for the break in the vigesimal system m aking 1 8

(instead of 2 0 )
,
u i n al s equal to 1 tun The lowest common multiple .
”
of 2 6 0 and 3 6 5 or 1 8 980 was taken by the M aya as the calendar
“
”
, ,
round a period of 5 2 years which is the m ost important period in

,
“
,
M aya chronology .
We m ay add here that the nu mber systems of Indian tribes in North

Am erica while disclosing no use of the z ero nor of the principle of
,
local value are of interest as exhibiting not only quinary d ecimal and
, , ,
viges imal syste ms but also ternary quarternary and octonary sys
, , ,
tem s 1
”
.
1
S eeW C E ll N mb e S y tem
s, f t h e N t h A me i
u er s I di
s o i Am or r can n an s n er
—2 7 2 —2 99 ;
. .
i ca n M a th M on thl y, V o l 2 0 , 1 9 1 3 , pp 263 2 93 a l so B ibl i othec a ma the

—
. . .
,
mati , 3 , V
ca S o l.1 3 , 9 3 , pp
1.1 2 1 8 222
. .
THE CHINESE 1
The oldest extant Chinese work of mathe matical interest is an

anonymous publication called Chou pei and written before the ,
-
second century A D perhaps long before In one of the dialogues the

,
. .
,
.
Chou pei is believed to reveal the state of mathematics and astronomy

-
in China as early as 1 1 00 B C The P ythagorean theorem of the right . .
triangle appears to have been known at that early date

Next to the Chou — pei in age is the Chi u chang S u a n—
.
shu Arith -
metic in Nine commonly called the Chi u chang the most -

,
celebrated Chinese Text on arith m etic Neither it s authorship nor .
the time of its co mposition is known definitely By an edict of the .
d espotic emperor Shih Hoang ti of the Ch in D ynasty all books were

“ -
’
burned and all scholars were buried i n the year 2 1 3 B C After the . .
death of this e mperor learning revived again We are told that a , .
scholar nam ed CHA N G T S A N G found so me old writings u pon which ’

,
he based this famous treatise the Chiu chang About a century later ,
-
.
a revision of it was m ade by Ching Ch ou ch ang ; comm entaries on ’

-
’
this classic text were m ade by Liu Hui in 2 6 3 A D and by Li Ch un . .

’
fén g in the seventh century H ow much of the Arithm etic in Nine

“
.
Sections as it exists to day is due to the old records ante dating

,
-
,
-
3 B C how much to Chang T sang and h ow m uch to Ching Ch ou

’ ’
21
”
. .
,
ch ang it has not yet been found possible to determine

’
,
.
“
The Arith metic in Nine Sections begins with m ensuration ; it
gives the area of a triangle as 4 b h of a trapez oid as 4 (b of a ,
circle variously as %c éd 4cd 4d and 4 4 c2 where c is the circumference

? 1
, , ,
and d is the diam eter Here 7r is taken equal to 3 The area of a

+a )
. .
segment of a circle is give n as 2 where c is the chord and a ,
the altitude Then follow fractions commercial arithmetic including

.
,
percentage and proportion partnership and square and cube root of , ,
numbers Certain parts exhibit a partiality for unit fractions Divi

.
-
.
sion by a fraction is effected by inverting the fraction and m ultiplying .
The rules of operation are usually stated in obscure language There .
are given rules for finding the volu mes of the prism cylinder pyramid , , ,
truncated pyra mid and cone tetrahedron and we dge Then follow ,
.
p roble m s in alligation There are indications of the use of positive

.
and negative nu mbers Of interest is the following problem because

.
centuries later it is found i n a work of the Hindu Brahmagupta : ‘
Al l our i n fo mati on o C hi e e ma t hemati cs i s draw n from Y hi o M ik mi

1 ’
r n n s os a s
Th D l pme t f M th m ti i Chi
e eve o n o d J apa L e ip z ig 9
a e a a d f om D v i d
cs n na an n, ,
1 1 2, n r a
E u g e n e S mi t h an d Yo shi o M ik ami ’
s Hi story of J apa n ese M athemati cs , C hi cag o ,
1 91 4 .
7 2 A HISTORY or M ATHE M ATICS
There is a bamboo 1 0 ft high the upper end of which is broken and

.
,
reaches to the ground 3 ft from the stem What is the height of the . .
2
3
break ? In the solution the height of the break is taken
2 x 10
Here is another : A square town has a gate at th e mid point of each -
side Twenty paces north of the north gate there is a tree which
.
is vi sible from a point reached by walking fro m the south gate 1 4

‘
paces south and then 1 7 7 5 paces west Find the side of the square
+ 1 4)
. .
The problem leads to the quadratic equation x2 x 10 x
1 7 75 = 0 The derivation and solution of thi s equation are not made

.
clear in the text There is an obscure statem ent to the eff ect tha t
.
the answer is obtained by evol ving the root of an expression which

is not monomial but has an additional term [ the term of the first
It has been surmised that the process here r e
ferred to was evolved more fully later and led to the method closely
resembling Horner s process of approxim ating to the roots and that
’
,
the process was carried out by the use of calculating boards Another .
proble m leads to a quadratic equation the rule for the solution of ,
which fits the solution of li teral quadratic equations

—
.
We co me next to the S u n Tsu S u an chi ng ( Arithmetical Classic

“ -
of Sun which belongs to the first century A D The author ,

. .
,
“
S U N TS U says : In m aking calculations we m ust first know positions
-
,
of numbers Unity is vertical and ten hori zontal ; the hundred stands
.
whi le the thousand lies ; and the thousand and the ten look equally ,
and so also the ten thousand and the hundred This is evidently a .
reference to ab acal computation practiced from time i mmemorial in ,
Chi na and carried on by the use of computing rods These rods

,
.
,
made of s m al l bamboo or of wood were in Sun Tsu s tim e m uch longer

’
-
, .
The later rods were about 1 4 inches long red and black in color , ,
representing respectively positive and negative nu mbers According .
to Sun Tsu units are represented by vertical rods tens by horiz ontal
-
, ,
rods hundreds by vertical and so on ; for 5 a single rod suffices The

m
, , .
n umbers 1 9 are represented by rods thus : I u inn

-
un n 1, n , , , , , , ,
the n umbers i n the tens column 1 0 2 0 90 are wri tten thus , , ,
| l l
z
The n umber 6 2 8 is designated
, 2 , E , E .
7
by W W The rods were placed on a board
. ruled in colu mns ,
and were rearranged as the computation advanced The successive .
steps in the mul tiplication of 3 2 1 by 46 must have been about as

fol lows
32 1 32 1 321
1 38 147 2 1 4 7 66
46 . 46 46
The product was placed between the m ultiplicand and m ultiplier .
The 46 is multiplied first by 3 then by ,

2, and last by 1 the 46 being ,
74 A HISTORY or M ATHE M ATICS
In the first half of the seventh century WAN G H s IAo T U N G brought ’

-
’
for th a work the Ch i — k u S u an — chi n g in which nu merical cubic equa

,
’
,
tions appear for the first time in Chinese m athe matics This took .
place seven or eight centuries after the first Chinese treatment of

quadratics Wang Hs iao t ung gives several problem s leading to
.
’
-
’
“
cu bi cs z There is a right triangle the product of whose two S ides is
—
,
7 0 6 l
1
5 0
and whose hypotenuse
,
is greater than the first side by 0
3 44
9
.
It 18 requi red to k n ow the lengths of the three sides He gives the .
answer 1 4 4 0 4 9 4 5 1 4 and the rule : The P roduct (P )

7— l “
being
squared and being divided by twice the S urplus (S )
, , ,
m ake the result ,
s hi h or th e constant class Halve the surplus and make it the li en f a .

-
or the second degree class And carry out the operation of evolution .
according to the extraction of cube root The result gives the first .
side Adding the surplus to it one gets the hyp otenuse Divide the
.
product with the first side and the quot i ent is the second side Thi s
,
.
.
”
rule leads to the cubic equation x + S /2 x 3 =0 The mode of solu °
.
tion is similar to the process of extracting cube roots but detail s of ,
the process are not revealed

In 1 2 4 7 C H I N C HI U —
.
S H A O wrote the S u s hu Chi u cha ng Nine

”
’
- -
Sections of M athe matics ) which makes a decided advance on the

solution of nu merical equations At first Ch i n Chiu— shao led a m ili .
’
tary lif e ; he lived at the tim e of the M ongo l ian invasion For ten .
years stricken with disease he recovered and then devoted himself to ,
study The following problem led him to an equation of the tenth

.
degree : There is a circular castle of unknow n diameter having 4 ,
gates Three miles north of the north gate is a tree which is visible
.
from a point 9 m iles east of the south gate The unknow n diameter
‘
is found to be 9 He passes beyond Sun Tsu in his ability to solve .

-
indeterminate equations arising for a number which will give the

residues r 1 r 2 r when divided by m l m2 mm respectively
— 2—
, , n , , ,
.
Ch in C hi u shao solves the equation x + 7 6 3 2 00 x 40 6 4 2 56 0 00 0

’
-
4
0 by a process al m ost identical with Horner s method However ’

.
,
the co mputations were very probably carried out on a computing

board divided into colu mns and by the use of computing rods
, , .
Hence the arrange ment of the work m ust have been different from
that of Ho m er B ut the operations perform ed were the sam e The
fir st digit in the root being 8 (8 hundreds )a transformation 15 ef
. .
4 — 3— 2—
, ,
fec t ed which yields x 3 2 00 3c 30 7 6 8 00 9c 8 2 6 8 800 0 0 x + 3 8 2 0 544

the same equati on that i s obtained by Horner s process
.
’
0000 = 0 ,
.
Then taking 4 as the second figure i n the root the abs olute term
, ,
v anishes in the operation giving the root 8 40 Thus the C hinese had , .
t ion of t h e fr a c t io n 3 —
5 5 - — 3 +4
2
1s g i ven an on ymou sl y I n Gru n er t s A r chi v
’
Vol .
p .U si n g 34 , T M 5
. . P H ug h es g i v e s i n N a tu r e, V ol 93 ,
. .
1 9 14, p . 1 10 , a me t hod o f con s t ru c t i ng a t ri ang l e t h at g i v es the ar ea o f a g i ve n

c i rc l e w i t h g r ea t acc u rac y .
TH E CHINESE 75
invented Horner s method of solving num erical equations more than

’
five centuries before R uffi n i and Ho m er Thi s solution of higher .
numerical equations is given later in the writings of Li Y ek and others

Ch in Chiu—
.
’
shao marks an advance over Sun Tsu in the use of 0 as a -
symbol for z ero M ost likely this symbol is an i mportation from

.
India P ositive and negative nu mbers were distinguished by the use

.
of red and black computing rods This author gives for the first time .
a proble m which later became a favorite one a mong the Chinese ; i t

involved the trisection of a trapezoidal field under certain restrictions
in the mode of selection of boundaries
We have already m entioned a contemporary of Ch in Chiu —
.
shao ’
,
namely L I Y EH ; he lived far apart in a rival m onarchy and worked

—
,
“
independently He was the author of T sé yu an H ai chi ng ( Sea ’
-
M irror of the Circle—

.
M easurem ents 1 2 4 8 and of the I 4 m Y en m an ,

-
,
I 2 59 He used the symbol 0 for z ero On account of the i n c onv en

. .
i en ce of writing and printing positive and negative nu mbers in dif

fe ren t colors he designated negative nu mbers by drawing a cancella
,
tion m ark across the symbol Thus stood for 6 0 stood for
—
.
,
60 The unknown quantity was represented by unity which was

.
probably represented on the counting board by a rod easily disti n

g u i she d fro m the other rods The term s of an equation were written .
,
not i n a horiz ontal but in a vertical line In Li Yeh s work of 1 2 59

, .
’
,
as also in the work of Ch in Chiu shao the absolute term is put in the ’
-
,
top line ; in Li Yeh s work of 1 2 4 8 the order of the term s is reversed

’
,
so that the absolute term is in the botto m line and the highest power
of the unknown in the top line In the thirteenth century C hi nese .
algebra reached a m uch hi gher develop m ent than form erly This
science with its rem arkable m ethod ( our Horner s )
.
of solving nu mer ’
”
,
“
ical equations was designated by the Chi nese the celestial elem ent
,
m ethod .
A third prom inent thirteenth century m athe m atician was Y A N G

H U I of who m several books are still extant
,
They deal with the .
summation of arithmetical progressions of the series I +3 + 6

( 1 +2 + 11 ) —
6 ,
I2
,
+ 11 2 =
§ n (n
also with proportion s imultaneous linear equations quadratic and , ,
quartic equations .
Half a century later Chinese algebra reached its height in the

—
,
treatise S u c m Izsi ao Chi mén g ( Introduction to M athe matical

“ -
S tudies 1 2 99 and the S zu yu en Vii chi en ( The P recious M irror

“
- -
,
of the Four Ele ments 1 30 3 which ca me from the pen of CH U ,
S HIH CHI EH The first work contains no new results but exerted a
-
.
,
great stimulus on Japanese m athematics in the seventeenth century .
At one time the book was lost in China but i n 1 839 it was restored ,
”
by the discov ery of a copy of a Korean reprint m ade in 1 66 0 The , .
P recious M irror is a m ore original work It treats fully of the

celestial element method He gives as an ancient method a .
” .
triangle (known in th e West as P ascal s arithmetical tria ng le )dis ’
,
playi ng the binomial c oeffi c i en ts which were known to the Arabs in ,
the eleventh century and were probably imported into China Chu .
shi h Chi eh s algebraic notation was altogether diff erent from our
-
’
modern notation Thus a + 6 + 0 + d was written

.
,
as shown on the left excep t that in the central position we e mploy

, , ,
an asterisk in place of the Chi nese character t ai ( great extrem e ab ’
solute term)
,
and that we use the modern nu m erals in place of the

s angi for m s The square of a + 6 + 6 +d namely a 2 + 62 + c 2 + d2 + 2 ab
.
, ,
is represented as shown on the right .
In further illustration of the Chinese notation at the t im e of Chu ,
Shih Chieh we give 1

-
,
-
2
I =
In the fourteenth century astrono my and the calendar were studied .
They involved the rudi ments of geo m etry and spheric al trigonometry . .
In thi s field i mportations from the Arabs are disclosed .
After the noteworthy achieve ments of the thirteenth century

”
,
Chinese mathematics for several centuries was in a period of decline .
“
The famous celestial elem ent m ethod in the solution of higher
equations was abandoned and forgotten M ention must be m ade .
,
however of C H IEN G TA I WE I who in I 593 issued his S u an f a T u ng

,
’
-
,
-
’
“
tsu ng ( A Syste matised Treatise on which is the ol dest
work now extant that contains a diagram of the form of the abacus ,
called m an pan and the explanation of its use The instrument was
-
,
.
known in China in the twelfth century Rese mbl i ng the old Roman .
abacus it contained balls m ovable along rods held by a wooden

, ,
frame The suan pan replaced the old computing rods The Sys
.
-
“
.
t ema ti sed Treatise on Arith m etic is famous also for containing som e
m agic squares and m agic circles Little is know n of the early history
”i
.
1
111 t he symb ol for xz n o t i c e t h a t t he I
“
s on e sp a c e dow n ( x an d o n e )
”
spa ce t o t h e r i g h (2 o f t )
a n d i s m ad e t o s t a n d for t he p rod u c t xz
for zyz t he t h ree o s i n di ca t e t h e a b se n c e o f t he t erm s y, x, xy; t he s mall

“ ’
I n t h e symb ol
“
2
.
”
mean s t w i ce t he p ro d u c t o f t h e t w o l e t t e r s i n t he same ro w , resp ec t i vel y o n e spac e
t
to t he ri g h an d to t he l e f o f t
i e , 2 yz Th e li mi t a ti on s o f hi s n o t a t i on a re o b
. . . t
v 10 u s .
TH E CHINESE 7
of squares M yth tells us that in early ti mes the sage Y u

magic .
, , ,
the enlightened emperor saw on the cala mitous Yellow River a divine
,
tortoise whose back was decorated with the figure made up of the
,
numbers from I to 9 arranged in form of a magic square or l o shu

,
-
.
The l o-s hu .
The nu merals are indicated by knots in strings : black knots repre

sent even numbers (symbolizing i mperfection )white knots r epre
sent odd nu mbers (perfection )
,
Christian missionaries entered China in the six teenth century

The Italian Jesuit M a tteo Ri cci ( 1 5 5 2 —1 6 1 0)
.
introduced European
astronomy and mathematics With the aid of a Chinese scholar .
named H sit he brought out in 1 6 0 7 a translation of the first six books

,
of Euclid Soon after followed a sequel to Euclid and a treatise on

.
surveying The missionary M u N i k o sometim e before 1 6 60 intro

.
-
duced logarithm s In 1 7 1 3 Adrian Vl ack s logarithmic tables to 1 1 ’

.
places were reprinted Ferdi n and Verbi es t of West Flanders a

.
1
,
noted J esuit missionary and astronomer was in 1 66 9 made vice ,
president of the Chinese astrono mical board and in 1 6 73 its president

European algebra found its way into China M ei K u —
.
ch én g noticed
’
”
.
that the European algebra was essentially of the same principles as

the Chinese celestial elem ent method of form er days which had
“
been forgotten Through him there cam e a revival of their own

.
algebraic method W ithout however displacing European science

, , , .
Later Chinese studies touched m ainly three subjects : The determina

tion of 71 by geom etry and by infinite series the solution of n um erical ,
equations and the theory of logarithm s

,
.
We shall see later that Chinese m athematics stimulated the growth

of mathematics in Japan and India We have seen that in a small .
,
way there was a taking as well as a giving B efore the influx of

,
.
recent European science China was influenced som ewhat by H i ndu

,
and Arabic m athematics The Chinese achievements which stand .
out most conspicuously are the solution of nu merical equations and

the origination of magic squares and magic circles .
C n sult H B osman s Fe di nd V bi st L ouv ai n 1 9 1 2 Extrac t from Revu e

—
1
o .
,
r na er e , ,
.
des Q uesti ons sci enti fi q ues , J an u ary Ap n l , 191 2 .

1
TH E JAP ANESE
According to tradition there existed in Japan in rem ote ti mes a
,
system of num eration which extended to high powers of ten and re

sembled som ewhat the sand counter of Archim edes About 5 5 2 A D . . .
B uddhis m was introduced into Japan This n ew m ove ment was .
fostered by P rince Shotoku Taishi who was deeply interested in all

learning M athematics engaged his attention to such a degree that
.
he came to be called the father of Japanese m athem atics A little .
later the Chinese syste m of weights and measures was adopted In .
7 0 1 a university syste m was established in which m athe matics figured

prom inently Chinese science was i mported special m ention being
.
,
m ade in the offi cial Japanese records of nine Chinese texts on m athe
mati cs which include the Chou pei the S u an chi ng written by Sun
,
-
,
-
Tsu and the great arithm etical work the C hi u chang B ut this eighth
'
century interest in mathem atics was of sho rt duration ; the Chiu—

-
.
,
chang
was forgotten and the dark ages returned Calendar reckoning and .
the rudiments of co mputation are the only signs of m athematical

activity until about the seventeenth century of our era On account .
of the crude n umeral syste ms devoid of the principal of local value ,
and of a sym bol for z ero m echanical aids of co mputation became a

,
necessity These consisted in Japan as in China of som e form s of

.
, ,
the abacus In China there ca m e to be developed an instrument

called the su an—
.
,
pan in Japan it was called the s or oban The i mporta

, .
tion of the suan pan into Japan is usually supposed to have occurred
-
before the close of the S ix teenth century B amboo computing rods .
were used in Japan in the seventh century These round pieces were
replaced later by the square prism s (s angi pieces) Numbers were
.
represented by these rods in the m anner practiced by the Chinese .
The nu merals were placed inside the squares of a surface ruled like a
chess board The s or oban was simply a more highly de v eloped form
.
of ab acal instru ment .
The years 1 60 0 to 1 6 7 5 mark a period of great mathematical ac

t i vi ty . It was inaugurated by M oRI K A M B E I S H I G EY O S H I who pop u ,
l ari z ed the use of the s or oba n His pupil Y O S H I DA SH I CH I B E I K OY IJ

-
.
, ,
is the author of Ji n k o ki 1 6 2 7 which attained wide popularity and

-
, ,
is the oldest Japanese mathematical work n ow ex tant I t explains .
operations on the soroban including square and cube root In one of

,
.
Thi s mpil ed from D av i d Eu g en e S mi t h and Yoshio M ik a mi s

is
1 ’
accou n t co
Hi story of J apa n es e M a themati cs C h i c ag o , 1 9 1 4 fro m Yo sh io M i k am i s D evel op
’
, ,
men t of M athemati es i n Chi n a a nd J apa n L ei p z i g , 1 9 1 2 an d from T Hayashi s

’
.
, ,
A B r i ef Hi stor y of the J apa n es e M a thein a ti es , O verg edruk t u i t h et N i eu w A rchi ef

voor Wi sk u nde VI , pp . 2 96 —
36 1; V I I , pp . 1 05
—6 1 1.
TH E JAP ANESE 9
his later editions Yoshida appended a number of ad v anced proble ms

to be solved by co mpetitors This procedure started a mong the .
Japanese the practice of issui ng problem s which was kep t up until ,
1 8 1 3 and helped to sti mulate mathe m atical activity .
Another pupil of M ori was I MA M U RA CH I S H 6 who in 1 639 pub , ,
l ished a treatise entitled Ju gai roku written in classical Chinese He , .
took up the m ensuration of the circle sphere and cone Another ,

.
author I S O MU RA KI TTO K U in his K etsu gi s hb 1 66 0 ( second edition

, , ,
whe n considering problem s on m ensuration m akes a crude ,
approach to integration He gives magic squares both odd and even

.
,
celled and also magic circles Such squares and circles became fav or
,
.
ite topics among the Japanese In the 1 6 84 edition Isom ura gives .
,
also magic wheels TA N A KA KI S S H I N arranges the integers 1 96 in

.
-
si x 4 celled m agic squares such that the su m in each row and colu m n
2 -
,
are 1 94 ; placing the s ix squares upon a cube he obtains his magic

”
“
,
cube .
“
Tanaka formed also m agic rectangles 1
M U RA M A TS U in .
1 6 6 3 gi v es a m ag ic square containing as m any as 1 9 cells and a m agic

2
“ ”
circle i n volving 1 2 9 numbers M uram atsu gives also the fam ous
Josephus P roblem in the following form : Once upon a time there
.
li ved a wealthy farmer who had thirty children half being of his first ,
w ife and half of his second one The latter wished a fa v orite son to
.
inherit all the property and accordingly she asked h im one day say
, ,
ing :Would it not be well to arrange our 30 children on a circle calli ng ,
one of them the first and counting out every tenth one until there
should re main on l y one who should be called the heir The hus
,
.
band assenting the wife arranged the children

, the counting
resulted in the elimination of 1 4 step children at once leaving only -
,
one Thereupon the wife feeling confident of her success said

.
, , ,
let us reverse the order The husband agreed again and the
.
,
counting proceeded in the reverse order with the unexpected result ,
that all of the second wife s children were stricken out and there r e
”
’
m ained only the step — c hild and accordingly he inherited the property
,
.
The origi n of this problem Is not known It 15 found m uch earlier I n

th e Co d ex Ei n si de l en si s ( Ei n si d el n Switz erland )
.
of the tenth century, ,
while a Latin work of Roman ti m es attributes it to Flavius Josephus .
I t co mmonly appears as a problem relating to Turks and Christians ,
half of whom m ust be sacrificed to save a sinking S hip I t was very .
co mmo n in early printed European books on arithmetic and in books

on mathe matical recreations .
In 1 666 S A N )S E I K O wrote hiS Kongen ki which i n co mmon with

"
other works of his day considers the computation of 7r ( ,

“
He is the first Japanese to take up the Chinese celestial elem ent
m ethod i n algebra He applies it to equations of as high a degree as
.
the six th His successor S A WA GU CH I and a contemporary N OZA WA

.
, , ,
give a crude calculus resembling that of Cavalieri Sawaguchi rise s

—86
.
1
Y . M ik ami i n A rchi v der M athernati k u . P hys i k , Vol . 2 0, pp . 1 83 1 .
above the Chinese masters in recogni sing the plurality of roots bu t ,
he declares problem s which yield them to be erroneous in their nature .
Another evidence of a continued Chinese influence is seen in the

Chinese value of 71 i 4 —ii
4 which was m ade known in J ap an by I KE DA
—
.
We co e now to S E KI K 6 W ( 1 6 4 1 70 8)
, ,
m A 2 whom the Japanese con

sider the greatest m athematician that their country has produced .
The year of hi s birth was the year in which Galileo died and Newton
was born Seki was a great teacher who attracted m any gifted pupils
. .
L ik e P ythagoras he discouraged divulgence of m athematical dis

,
c ov er i es m ade by hi m self and his school For that reason it is difficult .
to determ ine with certainty the exact origin and nature of some of the
discov eries attributed to him He is said to have left hundreds of .
manuscripts ; the transcripts of a few of them still re main He pub .
li sh ed only one book the H a tsu bi S ampo 1 6 74 in which he solved , , ,
1 5 problem s issued by a conte mporary writer S ek i s explanations

’
.
are quite incomplete and obscure Tak eb e one of his pupils lays .
, ,
stress upon S ek i s clearness The inference is that Seki gave his ex

’
.
planations orally probably using the computing rods or s angi as he

, ,
proceeded Noteworthy a mong his m athe matical achieve ments are

.
th e ten zon m ethod and the yendo n m ethod B o th of these refer to .
i mpro v e m ents in algebra

“
The ten zan m ethod is an improvem ent of
the Chinese celestial elem ent m ethod and has reference to nota
.
” ,
tion while the yendan refers to explanations or method of analysis

”
.
,
The exact nature and value of these two m ethods are not altogether
clear By the Chinese celestial ele ment m ethod the roots of equa
.
“
tions were computed one digit at a tim e Seki re moved this lim ita .
tion B uilding on results of his predecessors Seki gives also rules for
.
,
writing dow n magic squares of ( 2 n cel ls In the case of the more .
troublesom e even celled squares Seki first gives a rule for the con ,
struction of a m agic square of 4 cells then of 4 (n

2
and 1 6 n cell s
2
, .
He sim plified also the treatment of magic circles P erhaps th e most .
original a n d i mportant work of Seki is the invention of determinants ,
som etim e before 1 683 Leibniz to whom the first idea of determinants.
,
is usually assigned m ade hi S discove ry in 1 6 93 when he stated that

,
three l i near equations in x and y can have the sam e ratio only when
the determ inant arising fro m the coeffi cients vanishes Seki took n .
/'
equations and gave a m ore general treatm ent Seki knew that a .
determinant of the n order when expanded has u 1 term s and that

th
, ,
rows and colu mns are interchangeable 1

Usuall y attributed to Seki .
“
is the invention of the yenri or circle principle which i t is claimed -
, ,
accomplishes som ewhat the same things as the differential and i n

t eg ral calculus Neither the e xact nature nor the origin of the yenri
.
is well u nderstood D oubt e xists whether Seki was its discoverer

. .
TA KE B E a pupil of Seki used the yenr i and may be the chief originator
,
F r de tail s con s l t Y M ik ami

1
,
”
On t he J apan ese theory of det e mi nan ts in
“
I i s V ol II 9 4 pp 9—
o u r
,
.
s ,
.
36
,
1 1 ,
. .
can be drawn upon a folding fan Here mathematics finds application
.
to artistic design .
After the m iddle of th e nineteenth century the native mathematics

of Japan yiel d ed to a strong infl ux of Western mathematics The .
m ovem ent in Japan beca m e a part of the great international advance .
In 1 9 1 1 there was started the Tohoku M athemati cal J ou r n al under ,
the editorship of T Hayashi I t is devoted to advanced m athematics

. .
,
contains articles in many of our lea ding modern languages and is quite
international in character 1
.
Looking back we see that Japan produced some able mathemati

c i an s but on account of her isolation geographically and socially
, , ,
her scientific output did not aff ect or contribute to the progress of
m a them atics in the West The Babylonians Hindus Arabs and to
.
, , ,
som e extent even the Chinese through their influence on the Hindus ,
contributed to the onward m arch of m athematics in the West B ut .
the Japanese stand out in complete isolation .
1
G A M ill e r , H i s tor i cal I ntroduc ti on to M athemati cal Li teratu re,
. . 1 91 6 , p . 24 .
THE HIND U S
After the time of the ancient Greeks the first people whose re ,
searches wielded a wide influence in the world m arch of m athe matics ,
belonged like the Greeks to the Aryan race It was however not a
, ,
.
, ,
European but an Asiatic nation and had its seat in far o ff India
, ,
-
.
Unlike the Greek Indian society was fix ed into castes The only
,
.
castes enjoying the privilege and leisure for advanced study an d

thinkn were the B rahmi ns whose prim e busin ess was religion and
,
philosophy and the K shatri yas who attended to war and govern m ent
, ,
.
Of the dev elop ment of Hin d u mathem atics we know but little A .
few man u Sc rip ts bear testimony that the Indians had c l imbed to a
lofty height but their path of ascent is no longer traceable It woul d
,
.
seem that Greek m athematics grew up under m ore favorable con di

tions than the Hindu for in Greece it attained an independent exist
,
ence and was studied for its own sake while Hindu m athe m atics
, ,
always remained merely a servant to astronomy Furthermore in .

,
Greece m athem atics was a science of the people free to be cultivated ,
by all who had a liking for it ; in India as in E g ypt it was in the , ,
hands chiefly of the priests Again the Indians were in the habit of
.
,
putting into verse all m athe matical results they obtained and of ,
clothing them in obscure and m ystic language which though well , ,
adapted to aid the me mory of him who already understo od the subject ,
w as often unintelligible to the uninitiated Although the great Hindu .
mathem aticians doubtless reasoned out m ost or all of their discoveries ,
yet they were not in the habit of preserving the proofs so that the ,
naked theorems and processes of operation are all that have com e
down to our time Very di fferent in these respects were the Greeks
. .
Obscurity of language was generally avoided and proofs belonged ,
to the stock of knowledge quite as m uch as the theorem s themselves .
Very striking was the difference in the bent of m ind of the Hindu and
Greek ; for while the Greek mind was pre e minently geometri cal the
,
-
,
Indian was first of all ari thmeti cal The Hindu dealt wi th nu mber the
.
,
Greek with form Nu merical symbolism the science of numbers

.
, ,
and algebra attained i n India far greater perfection than they had
previously reached in Greece On the other hand Hindu geo metry
.
,
was merely m ensuration unaccompanied by dem onstration Hindu

, .
trigonometry is m eritorious but rests on a rith metic more than on

,
geomet ry .
An interesting but difficult task is the tracing of the relation be

tween Hindu a n d Greek m athem at i cs It is well known that more .
or less trade was carried on between Greece and In di a fro m early ‘
83
times Af ter Egypt had become a Roman province a more li vely
.
,
comm ercial intercourse sprang up betw een Rome and India by way ,
of Al exandria A pri ori it does not seem improbable that wi th the

.
, ,
traffi c of merchandise there should also be an interchange of ideas .
That comm unications of thought from the Hindus to the Alexandrians

actually did take place _ is e v ident from the fact that certain phi lo ,
sophic and theologic teachings of the M anicheans N eo P latonists ,

-
,
Gnostics S how un mistakable li k eness to Indian tenets Scientific

,
.
facts passed also from Alexandria to India Thi s is shown plainly .
by the Greek origin of so me of the technical terms used by the Hindus .
Hindu astronomy was influenced by Greek astronomy A part of .
the geometrical knowledge whi ch they possessed is traceable to Alex '
andria and to the writings of Heron in particular In algebra there

,
.
was probably a m utual giving and receiv ing

, , .
There is e v idence also of an intimate connection between Indian

and Chinese m athe matics In the four th and succeedin g centuries of .
our era Indian embassies to China and Chinese visits to India are
recorded by Chinese authorities 1
We shall see that undoubtedly .
there was an influx of Chinese m athematics into India .
The history of Hindu m athem atics may be resolved into two

periods : First the S u l vasutr a peri od which terminates not later than
’
2 00 A D second the as tr on omi cal and mathemati cal peri od extendin g

. .
, , ,
from about 400 to 1 2 00 A D . .
The term S ulvasutra m eans the rules of the cord it is the name
’
giv en to the supplem ents of the K al pasfi tras which explain the con
struction of sacrificial altars The S u l vasut ras were composed som e
2
.
’
ti me between 80 0 B C and 2 00 A D They are known to m odern . . . .
scholars through three quite modern m anuscripts Their aim is .
prim arily not m athe m atical but religious The m athem atical parts ,
.
relate to the construction of squares and rectangles S trange to say .

,
none of these geom etrical constructions occur in later Hindu works ;

later Indian mathematics ignores the S u l vasfi t ras ! ’
The second period of Hindu m athe matics probably originated

with an influ x fro m Alexandria of western astronomy Z j To the fif th . .
century of our era belongs an anonymous Hindu astronom ical work

calle d the S urya S i ddhan ta ( Kn w l edg e from the sun )
“
whi ch cam e ” ,
to be regarded a standard work 11 the six th century A D Varah a . . . .
M ihi ra wrote his P ancha S i ddhan ti k a whi ch giv es a s umm ary of the
S urya S i ddhan ta and four other astronom ical works then in use ; it
contains matters of mathem atical interest .
J I n 1 8 8 1 there was found at B ak hshd l i in northwest India buried , ,
in the earth an anonymous ari thmetic supposed from the peculiar

, , ,
1
G R K aye , I ndi a n M a themati cs , C al c u t t a
. . Siml a , 1 9 1 5, p 38 . . We a re draw
i ng heav i l y u po n t h i s b ook w h i ch e mb odi es th e res ul t s o f r ec en t s t u di es of H i ndu
m a t hem a ti c s .
2
G R K aye , op ci t , p 3
. . . . . .
TH E HIND US 85
ities of its verses to date from the third or fourth century after Christ
, .
The document that was found is of birch bark and Is an inco mplete ,
copy prepared probably abo ut the eighth century of an older manu

, ,
s cr i pt
1
I t conta ins ari thmetical co mputati on
. .
SgTh e noted Hindu astrono mer Aryab h ata was born 4 7 6 A D at . .
P atahpu t ra on the upp er Ganges, His celebrity rests on a work .
entitled Aryabhati ya of which the third chapter is devoted to mathe ,
matics sfi fil b ou t one hundred years later m athem atics in India reached ,
the highest mark At that time flourished B rah mag u pta (born
—
.
In 6 2 8 he wrote his B r ahma sphu ta si ddhan ta ( The Revised System

“ -
of of which the twelfth and eighteenth chap ters belong

to m athematics .
5 P robably to the nin th century belongs M ah avi ra a Hindu author

‘
,
on elem entary m athem atics whose wr i tin s have only recently been
g ,
brought to the attention of historians He 18 the author of the Gani ta .
S ar a S an gr aha which throws light upon Hindu geom etry and arith
-
meti c j The follow ing centuries produced only two names of impor
—
”
tance ; namely S ri dh ar a who wrote a Gani ta s ara ( Q uintessence
’ “
, ,
o f C al c u l a t i on 9f an d P adman abh a the author of an algebra The

science seems to have m ade but little progress at this t im e ; _for a
.
, .
”
“
work enti tled S i ddhan ta S i r omani ( D iadem of an Astronom ical ’
System ) 7
”
written by B h as k axa in 1 1 50 stands little higher than that
, ,
of Brahm agupta written over 50 0 years earlier The two m ost im

,
.
portant m athem atical chap ters I n thi s work are the Li l avati the
'
beautiful i e the noble science )

, . .and Vij a gani ta “
root extrac - -
devoted to arithm etic and algebra From n ow on the Hindus .

,
in the Brahmin schools seemed to content them selves with studying

the masterpieces of their predecessors Scientific intelligence de .
creases continually and in m ore m odern tim es a very deficient Arabic,
w ork of the sixteenth century has been held in great authority .
The mathematic al chapters of the B r ahma s i ddhanta and S i ddhanta -
S i r oman i were translated into English by H T Colebrooke London

’
. .
, ,
18 1 7 .The S ur ya s iddhan ta was translated by E B urgess and anno

-
.
,
ta ted by W D Whitney N ew Haven Conn . . 1 860 M ah avi ra s , ,

.
,
.
’
Goni ta S ar a S angr aha was published in 1 91 2 in M adras by M Rangi

- -
.
carya .
We begin with geometry the field in which the Hindus were least ,
proficient The S ul vasutras indicate that the Hindus perhaps as

.
’
,
early as 80 0 B C applied geom etry in the construction of altars

. .
,
.
Kaye states that the m athematical rules found in the S u l vasutras

2 ’
“
relate to ( 1 ) the construction of squares and rectangles ( 2 ) the rela
tion of the diagonal to the S ides (3)
,
(4) equivalent circles and squares

equivalent rectangles and squares
A k nowledge of the P y tha gorean
,
.
” ,
1
The B ak hs hal i M a n u scr i pt, e di t ed b y R u dolf Hoernl y in the I ndi an A n ti qu ar y,
—
xv11, 3 3 48 an d 2 75 2 7 9 , B omb ay, 1 888 — .
2
G R Kaye, op ci t , p 4
. . . . . .
theorem is disclosed in such relations as 5 = 2
,
= 202
,
=
39
2
There is no evidence that these expressions were
.
obtained fro m any general rule I t will be remembered that sp ecial .
cases of the P y thagorean theorem were known as early as 1 000 B C . .
in China and as early as 2 00 0 B C in Egyp t A curious expression . . .
for the relation of the diagonal to a square namely , ,
1
1 . l .
”
is explained by Kaye as being an expression of a direct m easure
m ent which m ay be obtained by the use of a scale of the kind named
in one of the S ul v asu tra m anuscripts and based upon the change
’
ratios 3 4 34 I t is noteworthy that the fractions used are all unit

, ,
.
fractions and that the expression yields a result correct to fi v e decimal

places The S ulvasutra rules yield by the aid of the P ythagorean
.
’
,
theorem constructions for finding a square equal to the su m or dif

,
ference of two squares they yield a rectangle equal to a giv en square , ,
with a s/ 2 and 2 a \/ 2 as the sides of the rectangle they yield by ,
geometrical construction a square equal to a given rectangle and

satisfying the relation ab (b + [a
= — —
i ( a b) corresponding
2
,
,
to Euclid II 5 In the S u l vasfi t ras the altar building ritual explains

,
.
’
the construction of a square equal to a circle Let a be the S ide of .
a square and d the d iam eter of an equivalent circle then the given
—2 d/1 5 a
,
rules m ay be expressed thus d = 1

a =d
—
.
,
d(1 8 2 6 +
1
6
This third expression m ay be ob9 5 2 9
t ai n e d fro m the first by the aid of the appro xi mation for V 2 given ,
above Strange to say none of these geo metrical constructions occur

.
,
in later Hindu works the latter completely 1g nore the ma th em atical ,
contents of the S u l v asu t ras ’

.
D uring the six centuries from the tim e of A ryabhata to that of

Bh askara Hindu geom etry deals m ainly with m ensuration The
,
.
Hindu gave no d efinitions no postulates no axioms no logical chain , , ,
of reasoning His knowledge of m ensuration was largely borrowed

.
from the M editerranean and from China through i mperfect channels of ,
comm unication A ryabha ta gives a rule for the area of triangle which
.
holds only for the isosceles triangle Brahm agupta distinguishes .
between approxim ate and exact areas and gives Heron of Alexan ,
dria s fa m ous form ula for the triangular area

’
w/ s (s
—
a)(s b)
—
(s ,
Heron s for mula is given also by M ah avi ra who advanced b e

’ 2
yond his predecessors in giving the area of an equilateral triangle as

Brah magupta and M ah avi ra m ake a remarkable ex tension
of Heron s formula by giving w’ (s —a )
’
(s —b)( s
— c )( d)
s — as the area
of a quadri lateral whose sides are a b c d and whose semi perim eter , , , ,
is s That this form ula is true only for quadrilaterals that can be i n
.
1
G R K a y e , op c i t , p 7
. . . . . .
2
D E S mi t h , i n I s i s , Vol
. . . 1, 19 1 3, pp . 1 99 , 2 00 .
TH E HINDUS 87
a circle was recogniz e d by Brahmagupta according to Can

'
scr ib ed I n ,
tor s and Kaye s interpretation of B rah magupta S obscure ex

l
1
’ 2 ’ ’
position but Hindu co mmentators did not unders tand the li mi tation
,
and Bhaskara finally pronounced the formula unsound Remarkable

m
is Brah agupta s theore m on cyclic quadrilaterals x ( d b)
’ 2 — ” .
— —
a c :
and y ( b l cd)
.
,
2=
a where x and
y are the diagonals and a b c d the lengths of the sides ; also the the , , , ,
orem that if a + b c and A + B

2 2= 2 2 2
then the quadrilateral
(aC cB bC cA )
,
( Brahmagupta s
“ ’
is cyclic and has its
diagonals at right angles Kaye says : From the triangles (3 4 5)
, , ,
and ( 5 1 2 1 3 )
.
, ,
a commentator ob tains the quadrilateral (3 9 60 5 2

with diagonals 6 3 and 56 etc B rahm agup ta (says Kaye )
, , , , ,
also i n ,
.
t rodu ces a proof of P tole my s theore m and in doing this follows D io

’
phan t us ( III 1 9) in constructing from right triangles (a b c) and

( a B y) new right triangles (a y 6 7 c y) and ( a c 6 c 7 c )
, , ,
and ‘
uses the actual examples given by Diophantus nam ely (3 9 5 2 , 6 5)

, , , , , ,
, ,
and ( 2 5 6 0 6 P arallelisms of this sort S how un m istakably that the

, ,
Hindus drew from Greek sources .
In the mensuration of solids remarkable inaccuracies occur in

A ryabhat a He gives the volume of a pyrami d as half th e product of
.
the base and the height ; the volu me of a sphere as 71 r A ryab 2 3 -

.
hata gives in one pl ace an extremely accurate value for an v iz .
but he him self never utiliz ed it nor did any other Hindu ,
m athematician before the twelfth century A frequent Indian p rac .
tice was to take 7r = 3 or Bh askara gives two values —the ,
above m entioned accurate 3 9 2 7

and the inaccurate Archi m e ean
‘ ‘ ’
5 0
d 1 2 ’ ,
value A comm entator on L i l avati says that these values were

,
calculated by beginning with a regular inscribed hexagon and apply ,
ing repeatedly the form ula A D = — AB 2

wherein A B is the ,
side of the given polygon and A D that of one with d ouble the number ,
of S ides I n this way were obtained the perim eters of the inscribe d
.
polygons of 1 2 8 sides Taking the radius = 1 0 0 the

3 4 , .
,
perim eter of the last one gives the value which A ryab h a ta use d for 7r .
The empirical nature of Hin du geom etry is illustrated by Bhaskara s ’
proof of the P ythagorean theorem .
He draws the right triangle four

tim es in the s q u ar e of the hypo te
'
nuse so that in the m iddle there r e

,
m ains a square whose side equals

the difference between the two sides
of the right triangle Arranging this square and the four triangles in .
a difl eren t way they are seen together to m ake up the su m of the
s quare of the two sides
“
,
B ehol d ! says Bh askara wi thout a dding

,
” ,
—
.
,
—
1
C t p i t
an or , o V ol I 3 d E d 9 7 pp
. c 6 49 6 5 3
.
, .
,
r .
,
1 0 , . .
2
G R K aye,
. . op ci t., pp . 20 2 2.
another word of e xplanation B re tsc hnei de r conjectures that the .
P ythagorean proof was substantially the sa m e as this Rec ently it .
has been shown that this interesting proof is not of Hindu origin but
was giv en m uch earlier ( early in the Christian era )
,
by the Chinese
writer Chang Chu n — Ch i n g in his comm entary upon the ancient treat
’
,
1
ise the Chou pei
,
In another place Bhaskara gives a second dem
-
.
,
on s t r a t i on of this theore m by drawing fro m the verte x of the right
angl e a perpendicular to the hypotenuse and comparing th e two tri ,
angles thus obtained with the given triangle to which they are similar .
This proof was unknown in Europe till Wallis rediscovered it The .
only Indian work that touches the subj ect of the conic sections is M a
h avi ra s book which gives an inaccurate treatment of the ellipse It
’
, .
is readily seen that the Hindus cared little for geome try B rah ma .
gupta s cyclic quadrilaterals constitute the only g em in their geo m

’
e t ry .
The grandest achieve ment of the Hindus and the one which of all ,
mathe matical inventions has contributed m ost to the progress of

intelligence is the perfecting of the so called Arabic Notation
,
,
-
.
”
That thi s notation d id not originate with the Arabs is n ow admitted
by every one Until recently the preponderance of authority favored
.
the hypothesis that our nu meral syste m with its concept of local ,
value and our symbol for z ero was wholly of Hindu origin Now i t ,
.
appears that the principal of local value was used i n the sexagesim al
syste m found on B abylonian tablets dati n g from 1 6 0 0 to 2 30 0 B C . .
and that Babylonian records from the centuries i mm ediately preced

ing the Christian era contain a symbol for z ero which ho w ever was , ,
not used in computation These sexagesimal fractions appear in .
P tole my s A l mages t in 1 30 A D where the o micron o is m a d e to des

’
. .
,
i g na t e blanks in the se xagesim al nu mbers but was not used as a reg ,
ular zero The Babylonian origin of the sexagesim al fract i ons used by
.
Hindu astronomers is denied by no one The earliest form of the I n .
dian symbol for z ero was that of a dot which according to B ii hl er 2
”
, ,
was commonly used in inscriptions and manuscripts i n order to

“
mark a blank This restricted early use of the symbol for z ero r e
.
sembles som ewhat the still earlier use m ade of it by the Babylon i ans
and by P tole my I t I S therefore probable that an imperfect notation
.
invol ving the principl e of local value and the use of the z ero was i m
ported into India that it was there transferred from the sexagesimal
,
to the deci mal scale and then in the course of centuries brought to , ,
final perfection If these views are found by further research to be

”
”
.
correct then the name Babylonic Hindu notation will be m ore

”
“ -
,
“
appropriate than eithe r Arabic or Hindu Arabic It appears -
.
Yo shio M i k ami , The P ythag orean Theo rem i n A r chi e d M ath u P hysi k ,
1
—
. . .
3 S , V ol 2 2 , 1 9 1 2 , pp 1 4
. . . . .
2
Q uo t e d b y D E S m i t h a n d L C K.a rp i n s k
. i i n t he i r H i nd u -
A r a bi c N u mer al s ,
. .
B o sto n an d L on don , 1 9 1 1 , p 5 3 . .
follows :Vasu (a class of 8 gods)
tain ( the 9 d i g i t sH—
+ two + eight+ m ountains ( the 7 m oun
se v en ——
l mountains H unar -
days (half of which equal The use of such notations made it pos
sible to represent a nu mber in se v eral different w ays This greatly .
faci li tated the fram ing of verses containing arithmetical rules or sci
en t i fi c constants which could thus be m ore easily re me mbered
, .
At an early period the Hindus exhibited great skill in calculating ,
e v en with large numbers Thus they tell us of an exa mination to .

,
which B uddha the reform er of the Indian religion had to sub m it

, , ,
when a youth in order to w i n the maiden he lov ed In arith metic

, .
,
after ha ving astonished his exa miners by naming all the periods of
numbers up to the 53d he was asked whether he could determine the ,
num ber of primary atoms which when placed one against the other , ,
would form a line one m ile in length B uddha found the required a n .
swer in this way : 7 primary atoms make a very minute grain of dust “
7 of these m ake a m inute grain of dust 7 of these a grain of dust whirled ,
up by the wind and so on Thus he proceeded step by step until he

,
.
, ,
finally reached the length of a mile The m ultiplication of all the fac .
tors gave for the m ultitude of primary atom s in a m ile a number con
sisting of I 5 digits This problem rem inds one of the Sand—
. Counter
of Archim edes .
After the nu merical symboli s m had been perfected figuring was ,
m ade m uch easier M any of the Indian m odes of operation diff er

.
from ours The Hindus were generally i n clin ed to follow the motion
.
fro m left to right as in writing Thus they added the left hand col
,
.
,
-
u mn s first and m ade the necessary co rrections as they proceeded '
,
.
For instance they would have added 2 54 and 6 6 3 thus :

, 8 ,
I I
,
which changes 8 into 9 4+ 3 7 Hence the su m 9 1 7 In ,
. .
su btr ac ti on they had t w o m ethods Thus In 8 2 1 348 they would say .

,
8 fro m 1 1 = 3 4 fro m 1 1, 7 3 fro m Or they would say 8 from , ,
1 1 = 3 5 fro m 1 2 = 7 4 fro m
,
In mu l ti pl i cati on of a number by
,
another of only one digit say 56 9 by 5 they generally said 5 25

, , , .
,
which changes 2 5 into 2 8 hen ce the 0 m ust be i n ,

’
creased by 4 The product is 2 84 5 In the m ultiplication with each

. .
other o f m any fi g u red nu mbers they first multiplied in the manner

-
, ,
just indicated with the left hand digit of the multiplier which was
,
-
,
written above the m ultiplicand and placed the product abo v e the ,
multiplier On m ultiplying with the next digit of the m ultiplier the

'
.
,
product was not placed in a new row as with us but the first prod uct , ,
obtained was corrected as the process continued by erasing when , , ,
e v er necessary the old digits a n d replacing the m by n ew ones until

, , ,
finally the whole product was obtained We who possess the m odern .
luxuries of pencil and paper would not be l i kely to fall in love with ,
this Hindu m ethod B ut the In dians wrote with a cane pen upon
“
.
-
a small blackboard with a white th i nly liquid paint which m ad e marks ,
that could be easily erased or upon a white tablet less than a foot , ,
TH E HIND US 91
square strewn w ith red flour on which they wrote the figures with a
,
small stick so that the figures appeared white on a red ground

,
1
,
.
”
Since the digits had to be quite large to be distinctly legible an d ,
S ince the boards were s m all it was desirable to have a m ethod which ,
would not require much space Such a one was the above m ethod .
of m ultiplication Figures could be easily erased and replaced by

.
others without sacrificing neatness B ut the Hindus had al so other .
ways of m ultiplying of which we m entio n the following : The tablet

,
was divided into squares like a chess board Diagonals were also -
.
drawn as seen in the figure The m ultiplication of I 2 X 7 3 5 8 8 2 0 is

, .
:
exhibited in the adjoining diagram According to Kaye this mode

2 3
.
,
of m ultiplying was not of Hindu origin and was

know n earlier to the Arabs The m anuscripts .
extant give no i n formation of how di vi s i ons were

executed .
Hindu m athematicians of the twel fth century

test the correctness of arithmetical computations 8
by casting out nines but this process is not of Hindu origin
‘‘
8 2 0
,
” ,
i t was kno w n to the Rom an bishop Hippolytos in the third cen

tury .
In the B ak hshal i ari th metic a knowledge of the processes of c om

putation is presupposed In fractions the nu merator is written above .
,
the denom inator Without a dividing line Integers are written as .
fractions wi th the denominator 1 In mix ed expressions the integral .
1
part is written above the fraction Thus 1 1 3 In place of our .
,
.
they used the word phal am abbreviated into pha Addition was i n ,
.
d ic at ed by yu abbreviated from yu ta ,
Numbers to be combined .
were often enclosed in a rectangle Thus pha 1 2 yu jmean s T f

7 5
.
,
12. An unknown quantity is su nya and is des i gnated thus by a

.
3 “
heavy dot The word su nya m ea ns empty and is the word for
,
,
”
z ero which is here likewise represe nted by a dot This double use of
”
”
.
,
the word and dot rested upon the idea that a position is e mpty if “
not filled out It IS also to be considered e mpty so long as the n um

.
4
ber to be placed there has not been ascertained .
The Bakhshah arithm etic contains proble ms of which so me are

solved by reduction to unity or by a sort of f al s e posi ti on E xample : .
B gives twice as much as A C three t imes as much as B D four tim es as ,

°
much as C ; together they give 1 3 2 ; how much did A give ? Take 1 for
the unk nown (su nya)then A = 1 B = 2 C = 6 D = 2 4 their su m , , , , ,
33 D ivide 1 3 2 by 3 3 and the quotient 4 is what A gave

'
.
.
,
The method of f al se posi ti on we have encountered before among

1
H H an k el , op ci t , 1 8 74 , p 1 8 6
. . . . .
2
M C an tor , op ci t , V ol I , 3 A u fl , 1 90 7 , p 6 1 1
. . . . . . .
3
G R K aye , op ci t , p 34
—
. . . . . .
4 C an to r I
, , 3
Ed , 1 90 7 , p p 6 1 3 6 1 8 . . .
92 A H ISTOR Y OF MATH EMATIC S
the early Egyptians With them it was an instinc t ive procedure ; .
w i th the Hindus it had risen to a conscious m ethod Bh askara uses .
it but while the Bakhsh ali docu ment preferably assum es 1 as the
,
u nk nown Bhaskara is partial to 3 Thus if a certain nu mber is

, .
,
taken fi v e fol d 3 of the product be subtracted the rem ainder di v ided

, ,
by 1 0 and 3 3 and z of the original nu mber added then 6 8 is ob

,
l
1 1
, ,
t ai n ed
1 1
- — 3—
1 1 —
What IS the number ? Choose 3 then you get 1 5
3 —
.
3 —
1 7
Then ( 6 8
-
3 4 8 t he answer4 .
and
.
,
,
.
,
We shall now proceed to the consideration of som e arith m etical

problems and the Indian m odes of solution A favorite m ethod was .
that of i nver si on With laconic brevity A ryabha ta describes it thus :

.
,
M ultiplication becomes division division becom es m ultiplicatio n;

”
“
,
what was gain becom es loss what loss gain ; inversion Q u i_ te d i ff erent , , .
fro m th is quotation in style is the following proble m fro m A ryabha ta ,
which illustrates the m ethod : B eautiful maiden with bea ming eyes
“
,
tell me as thou u n d er stan ds t the right method of inversion which

, ,
is the number which m ultiplied by 3 then increased by 4 of the prod

3
,
u c t divided by 7 dim inished b y % of the quotient multiplied by i t

l
, , ,
self dimi nished by 5 2 the square root extracted addition of 8 and

division by 1 0 gives the nu mber
, , , ,
The process consists in begin

,
ning with 2 and working backwards Thus

—
,
.
v 9 1 6 = 1 4 and 3 3 2 8 the answer

, .
,
Here is another example taken from L i l dvati a chapter in Eb as

“
kara 5 great work : The square root of half
’ the number of bees in a '
,
—
swarm has flown out upon a jessamine b u sh g of the whole swarm
S -
,
has remained behind one fem ale bee fli es about a m ale that 1s buzz ,
in g withi n a lotus fl ow e r into which he was allured in the night by its

sweet odor but is now imprisoned in it Tell m e the number of bees
,
-
. .
”
Answer 7 2 The pleasing poetic garb in which all arithm etical p rob
,
.
lem s are clothed is due to the Indian practice of writing all s chool books -
in verse and especially to the fact that th ese problem s propoun ded
, ,
as puz zles were a fav orite social am use m ent Says B rah magupta :
, .
“
These proble m s are proposed simp l y for pleasure ; the wise man can
invent a thousand o thers or he can sol v e the problem s of others by ,
th e rules given here As the sun eclipses the stars by hi s brilliancy.

,
so the man of knowledge will eclipse the fam e of others in assemblies

solves t hem .
”
of the people if he proposes algebraic problem s and still m ore if he ,
The Hindus solv e d proble m s in interest discount partnership , , ,
alligation summation of arith m etical and geom etric series and de

, ,
vised rul es for determining the num ber s of combinations and permu
t at i o n s I t may here be added that chess the profoundest of all
.
,
games had its origin in India The invention of magic squares is

, .
som etimes erroneously attributed to the Hindus Am ong the Chi .
nese and Arabs m agic squares appear m uch earlier The first occur .
rence of a m ag ic square among the Hindus is at D udh ai I han si in , ,

94 A H ISTORY OF M ATHE M ATICS
exists between the continuous an d discontinuous Yet by doing so .
the Indians greatly aided the general progress of m athematics In .

“
deed if one understands by algebra the application of arit hm etical

,
operations to complex magnitudes of all sorts whether rational or irra ,
t i on al num bers or space m agnitudes then the learned Brahm ins of

Hindostan are the real inventors of algebra 1
-
,
.
”
Let us now examine more closely the Indian algebra In extract .
ing the square and cube roots they used t he form ulas 2
a +
3= 3
2 a b+ b and ( a + b In this connection A ryab
2 2 2 3
a + 3 a b+ 3 ab + b .
ha ta speaks of dividing a nu mber into periods of two and three digits .
From this we infer that the principle of position and the zero in the
nu m erical notation were already known to him In figuring wi th .
z eros a state m ent of Bh askara is interesting

,
A fraction whose de .
nominator is z ero says he admits of no alteration though m uch be

, , ,
added or subtracted Indeed in the same way no change takes place

.
, ,
in the infinite and i mm utable D eity when worlds are destroyed or

created even though nu merous orders of beings be taken up or brought
,
forth Though in this he apparently evinces clear mathematical no

.
tions yet i n other p l aces he m akes a co mplete failure in figuring with

,
fractions of z ero denominator .
In the Hindu solutions of deter minate equations Cantor thinks ,
he can see traces of D iophantine m ethods Some technical term s be .
tray their Greek origin Even ii it be true that the Indians borrowed
.
fro m the Greeks they deserve credit for improving the solutions of
,
linear and quadratic equations Recogniz ing the existence of neg .
ati v e nu mbers B rah magupta was able to unify the treatm ent of
,
the three form s of quadratic equations considered by Diophantus ,

= = a x + c = bx and c being pos
2
2
2
vi z ax + bx c bx+ c ax ( a b
i t i v e nu m bers )by bringing the three under the one g en era l ca s e
.
, , , , ,
'
,
“
To S ri dhara is attributed the Hin d u m ethod ”
,
of co mpleting the square which begins by m ultiplying both sides

of the equation by 4p Bh askara adv ances beyond the Greeks .
“
and e v en beyond B rahm agupta when he says that the square of
a positive as also of a negative number is positive ; that the square
, ,
root of a positive nu mber is twofold positive and negative There is ,

.
no square root of a negative nu mber for it is not a square Kaye ,

.
points out howev er that the Hindus were not the first to giv e double
, ,
solutions of quadratic equations The Arab Al K how ari zmi of the

2
.
-
ninth century gave both solutions of x + 2 1 = 1 0 90 Of equations of

2
.
higher degrees the Indi ans succeeded in solving only some special
,
cases in which both sides of the equation could be made perfect powers
by the addition of certai n term s to each .
Incom parably greater progress t h an i n the solution of determinate

equations was m a de by the Hindus in the treat m ent of i nd eter mi n ate
equ ati on s In determ inate analysis was a subject to which the Hindu
.
1 H H an k e l ,
. o p
. ci t.
, p . 1 95 .
2
G R Kaye ,
. .
p
o . ci t
.
, p 34
. .
TH E HIND US 95
mind showed a happy adaptation We hav e seen that this very sub .
j ec t was a favorite with Diophantus and that his ingenuity was al ,
most ine xhaustible i n devising solutions for particular cases B ut the .
glory of having invented gen er al methods in this m ost subtle branch

of mathematics belongs to the Indians The Hindu indeterm inate .
analysis difl ers fro m the Greek not only in m ethod but also in aim , .
The obj ect of the former was to find all possible integral solutions .
Greek analysis on the other hand de man ded not necessarily integral
, , ,
but simply rational ans w ers D iophantus was content with a_s i ng l e
.
solution ; the Hindus endeavored to find all solutions possible A ryab .
h ata gives solutio n s in integers to linear equations of the form axi

by = c where a b c are integers The rule e mployed is called the pu t
, , , .
ver i zer For this as for most other rules the Indians gi v e no proof
.
, , .
Their solution is essentially the same as the one of Euler Euler s .

’
a
process of reducing to a cont i nued fracti on a mounts to the same as
b
the H indu process of findi ng the greatest co mmon di v isor of a and b
by division Thi s is frequently called the Diophantine m ethod Han
. .
kel protests against this na me on the ground that D iophantus not ,
only ne ver kne w the method but did not e v en ai m at solutions purely
,
1
integral These equations probably grew out of proble ms in astron
.
omy . They were applied for instance to determ ine the time when
, ,
a certain constellation of the planets would occur in the heavens .
P assing by the subject of linear equations with more than two u m

known quantities we come to indeterminate quadratic equations In
,
.
the solutio n of they applied the m ethod r e invented -
l ater by Euler of deco mposing (a b+ c)

m n and of placing x = m—
.
l b
,
and =
y n+ a
—
into the product of two integers
.
Re markable is the Hindu solution of the quadratic equation cy 2
2—
dx i b With great keenness of intellect they recogniz ed in the special
.
case y ax + 1 a funda mental problem in indeterm inate qua d ratics

”
2= 2
.
They solved it by the cycl i c method I t consists says D e M organ .

“
, ,
“
in a rule for finding an indefinite nu mber of solutions of y ax + I
2= 2
(a being an integer which is not a square )by m eans of one solution ,
giv en or found and of feeling for one so l ution by making a solution

,
of y ax + b give a solution of y ax + b It amounts to the fol

2= 2 2= 2 2
.
lowing theore m :If p and g be one set of v alues of x and y i n y ax + b

2 2
and p and q the sam e or another set then qp+ pq and app + qq
’ ’
,
’ ’ ’
ar e values of x and y in y
2 2
ax + b
2
From this it is ob v ious that one .
solution of y ax + I may be m ade to give an y number and that if

2 2
, ,
taking b at pleasure y ax + b can be solved so that x and y

2= 2 2
,
are divisible by b then one preliminary sol II t i o n of y ax + I can be

,
2 2 ‘
be found Another m o de of trying for solutions is a combination of

.
the preceding with the cu ttaca These calculations were

used in astronomy .
1
H Han k e l , op
. . ci t .
, p . 1 96 .
D oub tl ess this cyclic method constitutes the greatest invention
in the theory of nu mbers before the time of Lagrange The perver .
2=
s i ty of fate has willed it that the equation y ax + 1 should now be
2
,
called P el l s equ ati on; the first incisive work on it is due to Brahmin
’
scholarship reinforced perhaps by Greek research I t is a problem

, , ,
.
that has exercised th e highes t fac ul ties of some of our greatest modern
‘
analysts By them the work of the Greeks and H i ndus was done over
.
again ; for u nfortunately only a small portion of the Hindu algebra and
, ,
the Hindu manuscripts which we now possess were known in the

Occident Hankel attributed the invention of the cyclic me thod
.
“
, ,
”
entirely to the Hindus but later hi storians P Tan nery M Cantor , , .
, .
,
T Heath G R Kaye favor the hypothesis of ultim ate Greek origin

.
, . . .
If the m issing parts of Diophantus are ever found light will probably ,
be thrown upon this question .
Greater taste than for geom etry was shown by the Hindus for trig
o n o me t r y Interesting passages are found in V araha M ihira s P ancha
.
’
S i ddhan ti k a of the six th century A D 1

which in our notation for . .
, ,
unit radius gives S in 30 3 sin

2
si n y
° ‘
{ sin 2 7 ]
- —
l [ I S n (9
i 0 — 210 ]
,
This is followed by a table of °

,
2 4 sines the angles increasing by i n terv al s of ( the eighth part

“
of obviously taken from P tolemy s table of chords However ’

.
,
instead of dividing the radius into 6 0 parts in the m anner of P tolemy ,
the Hindu astronomer divides it into 1 2 0 parts which dev ice enabled ,
hi m to convert P tole m y s table of chords into a table of sines without

’
changing the numerical values A ryabha ta took a sti ll different value .
for the radius nam ely 3 43 8 obtained apparently from the relation
, , ,
2 X 3 1 4 I 6r =
. The Hindus followed the Greeks and B abyl o
n ia n s in the practice of dividi ng the circle into quadrants each quad
—
,
rant into 90 degrees and 5400 m inutes thus dividing the whole circle
into equal parts Each quadrant was divided also into 2 4 equal
.
parts so that each part e mbraced 2 2 5 un i ts of the whole circu mference

, ,
and corresponded to 3 3 degrees Notable is the fact that the Indians .
ne v er reckoned l ike the Greeks with the whole chord of double the arc
but always with the si n e ( j oa)
, , ,
and vers ed s i n e Their m ode of calcula .
ting tables was theoretically very S imple The sine of 90 was equal to .
°
the radius or 3 43 8 ; the sine of 30 was evidently half that or 1 7 1 9

,
°
,
.
the for m ula sin + cos = they obtained sin 2 2 2 °

Apt
fl fi ng r 45 a a ,
2 43 1 .Substituting for cos a its equal sin ( 90 —a) and making a = ,
they obtained sin 6 0 °

2 97 8 . With the sines of 90 , 6 0 , 4 5, and 30
as starting points they reckoned the S ines of hal f the angles by the
-
,
formula v er sin 2 a 2 sin a thus obtaining the sin es of 2 2

= 2
,
°
1
G R K aye ,
. .
p ci t , p
o . . . 10 .
98
.
A HISTORY O F M ATHE M ATICS
fl u en cethey would have exerted had they com e two or three centu ,
ries earli er .
At the beginni ng of the twentieth century mathematical activ ity ,
along mode rn lin es sprang up in In dia In the year 1 90 7 there was

’
founded the I ndi an M athemati cal S oci ety; in 1 90 9 there was started
at M adras the Jou rn al of the I n di an M athemati cal S oci ety 1
.
1
(Th ree r ec en t w r i t er s h av e a dv an c e d a rg u men t s t e n di n g t o di sp ro v e t h e H i n du
o rig i n o f o u r n u me ral s We r efe r (I)to G K aye s ar t i c l e s i n S ci en ti a , V ol 2 4 ,
’
R
— —
. . . .
19 1 8, pp i
5 3 55 ; n J o u rn a l A s i a ti c S oc B en a
g ,l I I I 1 9 7 , pp 4 7 5 5 0 8 , a l so V I I ,
0
— — )
. . .
,
t o C a r ra de V au x s
’
1 9 1 1 , p p 8 0 1 8 1 6 : i n I n di a n A n ti u ar y, 1 9 1 1 , p p 5 0 5 6 ; ( 2
q
— )
. .
a r t i c l e i n S ci en ti a , V o l 2 1 , 1 9 1 7 , p p 2 7 3 2 8 2 ; (3
. . t o a R u ssi an bo o k b r o ug h t o u t
b y N ik ol B u b n ow i n 1 90 8 a n d t ran sl a t e d i n t o G e rman i n 1 9 1 4 b y J os L ez i u s
. . .
K ay e c l a i ms t o S h ow t h a t t h e p ro o f s o f t h e H i n d u or i g i n o f o u r n u me ral s a re
l arg el y l eg en dar y, t h at t he q u e st i on ha s b e en c l o u ded b y a co n fu sio n b e t w een t he
)
w o rd s hi ndi ( I n di an an d hi n das i ( m ea s ur e g e o m e t ri c a l , t ha t t h e sym b ol s ar e )
n o t m odi fi e d l e t t e r s o f t he al p ha b e t We m u st ho ld o u r mi n ds i n su spen se on
)
.
t
t hi s d i fli c u l t q u es i on an d aw ai t fu r t h e e vi den ce r .
THE ARAB S
After the flight of M oha mm ed fro m M ecca to M edina in 6 2 2 A D . .
,
an obscure people of Se mitic race began to play an important part in

the dra ma of history B efore the lapse of ten years the scattered
.
,
tribes of the Arabian peninsu l a were fused by the furnace blast of

religious enthusias m into a po w erful nation With sword in hand the .
united Arabs subdued Syria and M esopota m ia Distant P ersia and .
the lands beyond even unto India were added to the dom inions of
, ,
the Saracens They conquered Northern Africa and nea rl y the

.
,
whol e Spanish peninsula but were finally checke d fro m fu rther prog
,
ress in Western Europe by the fi rm han d of Charles M artel ( 73 2 A .
The M osle m dominion extended now from In dia to Spain ; but a war
of succession to the caliphate ensued and in 7 5 5 th e M ohamm e dan
—
,
e mpire w as di vi ded one caliph reigning at Bagdad the other at Cor

'
, ,
dova in Spain Astoun ding as was the grand m arch of conquest by

.
the Arabs still m ore so was the ease with which they put aside their
,
former nomadic life adopted a higher civiliz ation an d assum ed the

, ,
sovereignty ov er cultiv ated peoples Arabic was made th e written .
language throughout the conquered lands With t he rule of the Abba .
sides in the East began a new period in the history of learning The .
capital Bagdad situated on the Euphrates lay half way between

, , ,
-
two old centres of scientific thought — India in the East and Greece , ,
in the West The Arabs were destined to be the custodians of the

.
torch of Greek science to keep it ablaz e during the period of c on fu

,
sion and chaos in the Occident and afterwards to pass it over to the ,
Europeans This remark applies in part also to Hindu science Thus

. .
science passed from Aryan to Sem itic races and the n back again to ,
the Aryan Formerl y i t was held that the Arabs a dded but little to
.
the knowledge of mathematics ; recent studies in di cate that they must

be credited w ith novelties once thought to be of later origin .
The Abba sides at Bagdad encouraged the introduction of the

sciences by inviting able special ists to their court irrespective of na ,
t i on ali ty or religious belief M e dicine and ast ronom y were their fa

.
v ori t e sciences Thus Harun al Rashid the m ost d istin g uished Sara
.
- -
,
cen ruler drew Indian physicians to Bagdad In the year 77 2 there

,
.
cam e to the court of Caliph A lm an su r a Hindu astronom er wi th as

t ron omi c al tables which were ordered to be translate d into Arabic .
These tables known by the Arabs as the S i ndhi n d an d probably taken

, ,
from the B r ahma sphu ta si ddhan ta of B rah magupta stoo d in great

- -
,
authority They contained the i mportant Hin du table of s i nes

. .
Doubtless at this time and along w ith these astronomical tables

, ,
the Hi n du numerals with the z ero and the principle of position were
, ,
introduced am ong the Saracens B efore the time of M ohammed the .
Ar abs had no num erals Numbers were written out in words Later
. .
,
the num erous co mputations connected with the financial administra

tion over the conquered lands m ade a short symboli s m indispensable .
In some localities the nu merals of the more civiliz ed conquered na

,
tions were used for a tim e Thus in Syria the Greek notation was .
, ,
retained ; in Egypt the Coptic In some cases th e num eral adj ec

The Di w ani —
.
, ,
t i v e s may have been abbreviated in writing n u mer al s .

,
found in an Arabic P ersian dictionary are supposed to be such ab

-
,
b r evi ati on s Gradually it becam e the practice to e mploy the 2 8 Ara

.
bic letters of the alphabet for num erals in analogy to the Greek sys ,
te n i This notation was in turn superseded by the Hindu nota tion

.
,
which quite early was adop ted by m erchants and also by writers on ,
arith metic Its superiority was generally recogniz ed excep t in as

.
,
t r on omy where the a l phabetic notation continued to be used

,
Here .
the alphabetic notation o ffered no great disadvantage since in the

.
sexagesimal arith m etic t ak en f rom the A l mages t numbers of gen

'
, ,
e ral l y only one or two places had to be written

1
.
As regards the form of the so called Arabic numerals the state -

,
m ent of the Arabic writer A i B i r u n i ( died who spent m any -
years in India is O f interest He says that the shape of the nu mer

, .
als as also of the letters in India d iff ered in di fferent localities and
, , ,
that the Arabs selected fro m the various form s the m ost suitable An .
Arabian astronom er says there was a mong people m uch di fference in

the use of sym bols especially of those for 5 6 7 and 8 The symbols
, , , ,
.
used by the Arabs can be traced back to the tenth century We find . ,
m aterial diff erences between those used by the Saracens in the East
and those used i n the West B ut m ost surprising is the fact that the .
symbols of both the East and of the West Arabs deviate so ex tra ordi
n ar il y fro m the Hindu D eva n ag ar i nu m erals ( = divine nu m erals ) of
to day and that they resemble much m ore closely the apices of the
-
,
Rom an writer Boethius This strange similarity on the one hand.

,
and dissimilarity on the other is difficult to explain The m ost plau

sible theory is the one of Woepc k e : ( 1 )
.
,
that about the second cen

tury after Christ before the z ero had been invented the Indian nu
, ,
meral s were brought to Alexandria whence they spread to Rom e

and also to West Africa ; ( 2 )
,
that in the eighth century after the no ,
t a t i o n in In dia had been already m uch m o d ified and perfected by the

invention of the z ero the Arabs at B agdad got it from the Hindus ;
3)
,
that the Arabs of the West borrowed the Columbus egg the z ero -
, ,
from those in the East but retained the O l d form s of the nine num er
,
als if for no other reason simply to be contrary to their political ene

m ies O f the East ; ( 4)
, ,
that the ol d form s were rem embered by the West

Arabs to be of Indian origin and were hence called Gu bar n u mer ats ,
-
1
H Hank el , op
. . ci t., p . 2 55.
2 A HISTORY OF M ATHE MATICS
In astronomy great activity in original research existed as early as
the ninth century The religious O bservances demanded by M oham
.
me dan i sm presented to astrono mers several practical proble m s The .
M oslem do minions being of such enormous ex tent it rem ained in ,
”
some localities for the astronomer to determine which way the B e “
liever must turn during prayer that he m ay be facing M ecca The .
prayers and ablutions had to take place at definite hours during the
day and night This led to m ore accurate determinations O f tirn e To
. .
fi x the e xact date for the M oha mm edan feasts it beca m e n eces
sary to observe m ore closely the motions of the m oon In addition to .
all this the O l d Oriental superstition that e xtraordinary occurrences

,
in the heavens in som e mysterious way a ff ect the progress of hu man

a ffairs adde d increased interest to the prediction of eclipses 1
.
For these reasons considerable progress was m ade Astronomical .
tables and instrum ents were perfected observatories erected and a , ,
connected series of observations instituted This intense love for as .
t ron om y and astrology continued during the whole Arabic scientific

period As in India so here we hardly ever find a man exclusively
.
, ,
de v oted to pure m athe matics M ost of the S O called mathematicians .

-
were first of all astronomers .
The first notable author of m athematical books was M oh amme d

ib n M u s a Al Kh ow ar i z mi who lived during the reign of Caliph A l
-
,
M amun ( 8 1 3 —8 3 Our chief source of information about Al Khow -
r iz m i is the book of chronicles entitled K i tab A i —

Fi hr i s t written by , ,
A i N adi m about 98 7 A D
-
and containing biographies of learned
,
. .
,
m en A l K h ow ari z mi was engage d by the caliph in m aking ex tracts

.
-
from the S i ndhi nd in revising the tablets of P tole m y in taking O b

, ,
serv a t i ons at Bag da d and Da m ascus and in measuring a degree of ,
the earth s m eridian I mportant to us is his work on algebra and

’
.
arith metic The portion on arithm etic is not extant in the original
.
,
and it was not till 1 8 5 7 that a Latin translation of it was found I t

”
.
“
begins thus : Spoken has Algorit mi Let us give deserved praise to
'
God our leader and defender

,
Here the name of the author A l .
,
K how a r i zmi has passed into A l g ori tmi fro m w hich com e our m o dern ,
word al gori thm signif ying the art of computing in any particular
,
way and the obsolete form au gri m used by Chaucer The arith
,
2
, .
m etic of Kh ow ar izmi being based on the principle of position and ,
the Hindu m ethod of calcula t ion excels says an Arabic writer

“
, , ,
all others in brevity and easiness and exhibits the Hindu intellect
”
“
,
and sagacity in the grandest i n ven t ions This book was foll owed .
by a large nu mber of arithm etics by later authors which diff ered ,
from the earl i er ones chiefly in the g reater variety of m ethods Ara .
bian arithmetics generally contained the four operations with inte

1
H . H ank el , o p . ci t
pp .
, . 2 26
—2 2 8 .
i n M oder n L a n guag e N otes , V ol

“
2
See L C K arp i n sk i , A u g r i ms t o n e s 27,
—2 0 9
. . .
1 9 1 2, pp . 206 .
THE ARAB S 1 03
gers and fractions modelled after the Indian processes They ex , .
pla ined the operation O f casti ng ou t the o s also the regu l a f al sa an d ’

,
”
the regu l a du oru m f al s oru m som etimes called the rules of false po
”
“
,
sition and of double position or double false position by which ,
algebraical examples could be solved w ithout algebra The r egu l a .
fa l s a or f a l s a pos i ti o was the assigning of an assu m ed value to th e
unknown quantity which value if wrong was corrected by some

“
process like the rule of three
,
I t was known to the Hindus and to .

” , ,
the Egyptian Ahmes D iophantus used a m ethod alm ost identical .
with this The regu l a du oru m f al soru m was as foll ows : To solve an
1
equation f (x)V assume for the m om ent two values for x; namely
.
Then form f (a) = A and (b)

, , , ,
x = a and x = b .
f = 3 and deter m ine the
,
— 12°
V —A = Ea —B = Eb then b
i 2
d
errors and V ,
th e required it
a b
generally a close approxim ation but is absolutely accurate whenever

x)
,
f ( is a linear function of x .
We now return to Kh o warizmi and consider the other part O f his

—
,
work the algebr a This is the first book known to contain this word
,
.
itself as title Really the title consists of two words al j ebr w ai mu

.
,
-
’
the nearest English

” translation which is restor tion and
”
“
q a ba l a ,
O f a
“
reducti on By restoration was m eant the transposing of negative
.
term s t o the other side o the equation by reduction the uniting of

f
‘‘
2 —
sim ilar terms Thus x 2 x 5x+ 6 p asses by al j eb r into x 5x+
= .
2=
,
,
-
,
2 x+ 6 ; and this by a hn u q ab al a into = x+ 6 The work on alge

7 , ,
.
bra like the arith metic by the sam e aut hor contains little that 18
, , ,
original I t explains the elem entary operations and the solutions of

.
linear and quadratic equations From whom did the author borro w .
his knowledge of algebra ? That it cam e entirely fro m Indian sources

”
”
“
is impossible for the Hindus had no rules like the restoration and
,
“
reduction They were for instance never i n the habit of m aking
.
, ,
tion .
”
all term s in an equation positive as is done by the process of r es to ra
Diophantus gi v es two rules which rese m ble somewhat those
,
of our Arabic author but the probability that the Arab got all his al ,
gebra fro m D iophantus is lessened by the considerations that he rec

og n i z e d both roots of a quadratic while D iophantus noticed only one ; ,
and that the Greek algebraist unlike the Arab habitually rejected , ,
irratio n al solutions It would see m therefore that the algebra of.

, ,
Al Kh ow a ri z mi was neither purely In dian nor purely Greek

-
Al .
K ho w ar izi m i s fa m e a mong the Arabs was great He gave the

’
.
a mples x + 1 0 x 3 9 x + 2 1 1 o n 3x+ 4 x which are use d by later

2 = 2 = 2
, ,
authors for instance by the poet and m athematician O mar Khayya m

”
.
, ,
“
The equatio n x + 1 0 x = 3 9 runs like a thread of gol d through the
2
algebras of several centuries ( L C Karpinski ) I t appears in the . . .
algebra of A bu K ami l who d rew extensiv ely upon the work of A l

‘
1
H H an k e l ,
. o p
. ci t .
, p . 2 59 .
Khow ariz mi Abu Ka m il , in turn , was the source largely drawn u pon
.
b v the I tahan , Leonardo of P isa , in his book of 1 2 0 2 .
The algebra of Al -Kh ow ariz mi conta i ns also a few meagre frag

ments on geometry He gives the theorem of the right triangle , but .
proves it after H i ndu fashi on and on l y for the simplest case , when the
right triangle is isosceles He then calc ulates the areas of the tri .
angle , parallelogram , and circle For 71 he uses the value 34, and also .
the two Indi an , ar = w/E)and 7r = S trange to say , the last value

was afterwards forgotte n by the Arabs and replaced by o thers less ,
accurate Al Kh owarizmi prepared astronomical tables whi ch about

.
-
, ,
1 00 0 A D were revised by M asl ama ai M aj ri ti and are of importa nce

. .
,
-
as containing not only the si n e function but also the tangent function 1
,
.
The former is evidently of Hindu origin the latter may be an addi ,
tion m ade by M asl ama and was formerly attributed to Abu l Wefa ’
.
Next to be noticed are the three sons of M u s a S akir , who lived in

B agdad at the court of the Caliph A l M a mun They wrote several -
.
works of which we m ention a geometry containing the well known

,
-
formula for the area of a triangle expressed in terms of its sides We .
are told that one of the sons travelled to G reece probably to collect ,
astronom ical and mathematical manuscripts and that on his way back ,
he made acquaintance with Tabit ibn Korra Recogniz ing in him a .
talented and learned astronomer M ohamm ed procured for him a place ,
a mong the astronom ers at the court in Bagdad Tab i t i b n K orra

—
( 3 90 1 )
.
8 6 was born at Harran in M esopotamia He was proficient .
not onl y in astronomy and m athematics but also in the Greek Arabic , , ,
and Syrian languages His translations of Apollonius Archimedes .

, ,
Euclid P tolemy Theodosius rank among the best His disserta tion
, , , .
on ami cabl e n u mbers (of which each is the su m of the factors of the
other ) is the first know n specimen of original work in m athematics on
Arabic soil I t shows that he was fa miliar w ith the P ythagorea n the
.
ory of numbers Tabit invented the foll owing rule for finding ami cable
.
—
nu mbers which is related to Euclid s rule for perfect num bers : If
” ”
’
= 2 "— 1— 2 —1—
1 (n being a whole n um ber )
,
p 3 1.
=
q 3 2 1 r =
92 ,
.
are three pri mes then a = 2 pq b 2 "r are a pair of a micable numbers
,
,
” ,
.
Thus if n = 2 then p 1 1 q = 5 r = 7 1 and a = 2 2 0 b = 2 84 Tabit

, , , , , ,
.
also trisected an angle .
Tabit ibn Korra is the earliest writer outside of China to discuss

magic squares Other Arabic tracts on this subj ect are due to Ibn
.
A l Haitam and later writers

-
2
.
Foremost among the astronomers of the ninth century ranked Al

1
S ee H S u t e r , D i e ast ron o mi sc he n Tafel n des M u hammed ib n M ii sa Al
”
.
z
K hwari mi i n der B e a rb ei t u n g des M asl a ma ib n A hme d Al M adj r i ti u n d de r L a t e i n -
.
U eb er se t zu n g d es A t hel h ard v on B a t h , i n M emoi res de l A cad émi e R des S ci ences

’ ‘
et des L ettr es de Dan emar k , C op en hag u e , 7 1116 S , S ec t io n des L e t res, t I I I , no 1 , . t . .
1 9 14 .
S ee H S u t e r , Di e M a themati k er
2
. u . A stron omen der A raber u . i hre Werk e , 1 900 ,
PD 3 6 . 93 . 1 3 6 . 1 39. 1 40 . 1 46 , 2 1 8 .
last Arabic translators and co mmentators of Greek authors The fact .
that he estee m ed the algebra of M ohamm ed ibn M usa Al K how ariz imi -
worthy of his comm entary indicates that thus far algebra had m ade
little or no progress on Arabic soil Abu l Wefa invented a method for .
’
-
computing tables of sines which gives the sine of half a degree correct
to nine deci mal places He used th e tangent and calculated a table of
.
tangents In considering the sha dow triangle of sun dials he intro

.
- -
d u c e d also the secan t and cos ecan t Unfortunately these new trigo .
,
n ome t r i c fu n ctions and the discovery O f the m oon s variation ex

’
cited appare n tly no notice a m ong his conte mporaries and follo w ers
“
A treatise by Abu l Wei a on geometric constructions indicates that
’
-
” .
e ff orts were being m ade at that ti me to i mprove draughting I t con .
tains a neat construction of the corners of the regular poly edron s on

the circum scribed sphere Here for the first tim e appears the con .
, ,
dition which afterwards becam e very famous in the Occident that ,
the construction be e ffected with a single O pening of the compasses

Al —
.
K u hi the second astrono mer at the observatory of the em ir at

,
Bagdad was a close stu dent of Archim edes and Apollonius He solved
,
.
the proble m to construct a segm ent of a sphere equal in volu me to

,
a given segment and having a curved surface equal in area to that of

a nother giv en segment He Al S ag an i and Al B iru ni m ade a stu dy
.
,
-
,
-
of the trisection of angles Ab u l Ju d an able geometer solved the .

’
, ,
problem b v the intersection of a parabola with an equilateral hyper

bola .
The Arabs had already discovered the theore m that the su m of two
”
cubes can ne v er be a cube This is a special case of the last theore m
.
of F erma t Ab u M oh am m e d Al Kh oj an di of C ho ra ssan thought he

.
-
had prov ed this His proof now lost is said to have been defective
.
, ,
.
Several centuries later B eha Eddin declared the impossibility of -
3
x +y
3= 3
z Creditable work in theory of nu mbers and algebra was
.
done by Al Kar k hi of Bagdad who liv ed at the beginning of the ele v

-
,
e n th century His treatise on algebra is the greatest algebraic work

.
of the Arabs In it he appears as a discip l e of D iophantus He was

. .
”
the first to operate with higher roots and to sol v e equations of the
"
form x + ax = b For the solution of quadratic equations he gives
2
.
both arithmetical and geo m etrical proofs He was the first Arabic .
author to give and prove the theorem s on the summation of the se

r Ies :
2
1 + ( + l
1 g
a
3
1 + ( 1+
AlKarkhi also busied hi mself with in determ inate analysis He
-
.
showe d S kill in han dling the m ethods of D iophantus but ad ded no ,
thing whatever to the stock of knowledge already on hand Rather .
surprising is the fact that A l K a rk h i s algebra S hows no traces what -

’
THE ARAB S 19 7
ever of Hindu indeterminate analysis B ut most astonishing it is .

,
that an arithm etic by the sam e author completely excludes the Hindu
numerals I t is constructed wholly after Greek pattern Abu l Wefa
. .
’
-
,
also in the second half of the tenth century wrote a n arith metic in
, ,
which Hindu nu merals find no place This practice is the very oppo .
site to that of other Arabian authors The question why the Hindu .
,
nu merals were ignored by so e minent authors is certainly a puzz le , .
Cantor suggests that at one tim e there may have been rival schools ,
O f which one followed al most exclusively Greek m athe m atics the ,
other Indian .
The Arabs were fam iliar with geometric solutions of quadratic equa
tions Attempts were n ow m a de to solve cubic equations geo metri
.
cally They were led to such solutions by the stu dy of questions like
.
the Archi medean problem de man ding the section of a sphere by a

,
plane so that the two segments shall be in a prescribe d ratio The .
first to state this proble m in form of a cubic equation was Al M ah ani -
of Bagdad while Ab u J a f ar Al ch azin was the first Arab to sol v e the

,
’
equatio n by co nic sections Solutions were given also by A l Kuhi.

-
,
Al Hasan ibn A l Haita m and others

- -
Another diffi cult proble m to
, .
,
determine the S ide of a regular heptagon required the construction of

3— 2 —
,
the S ide from the equation x x 2 x+ 1 = 0 I t was attempted by .
m any and at last sol v ed by Abu l Jud

’
.
The one who did m ost to elevate to a method the solution of alge
b rai c e quations by intersecting conics was the poet O mar Kh ayyam ,
of Chorassan (a bout 1 0 4 5 He divides cubics into two classes ,
the tri nomial and quadrinomial and each class into fa milies and spe ,
cies Each species is treated separately but according to a general

.
plan He believed that cubics could not be solved by calculation nor

b i—
.
,
quadratics by geom etry He rejected negative roots an d often .
failed to discover all the positive ones Attempts at b i qua drat i c .

-
equations were made by Abu l Wefa who solved geom etrically x a

1 ’ 4 -
,
:
and x + ax b
4 3
.
The solution of c u bi c e q ua t i on s by intersecting conics was the great

est achievement O f the A rabs in algebra The foundation to this work .
had been laid by the Greeks for it was M en ae chm u s who first con
3— =
,
structed the roots of x a o or x 2 a 0 It was not his aim to

3 3
.
find the number corresponding to x but simply to determine the side ,
at of a cube double another cube of S ide a The Arabs on the other .

,
hand had another object in vie w : to find the roots of given num erical
'
equations In the Occident the Arabic solutions of cubics remained

.
,
u nknown until quite recently D escartes and Thom as B aker invented .
these constructions ane w The works of Al Khayyam A l Karkhi

.
-
,
-
,
Abu l Jud show how the Arabs departed further and further fro m
’
,
1
L M att hi essen , Gr u ndzu ge der A n ti ken a nd M oder n en A l gebra der L i tteral en
)
.
G l ei c hu n en
g , L e i i
p g, 1 8 8 z
7 , p 9 3
2 L u d w.i g M a tt hi esse n
.
( 3 1 90 6 w as p rofesso r
1 8 0 -
o f physi c s a t Ros o c k t .
108 A H ISTORY OF M ATHE M ATICS
-
the Indian methods and placed themselves more immediately under

,
f
Greek infl uences
-
.
With Al Karkh i and O mar Khayya m mathematics among the

"I
-
,
Arabs of the East reached fl ood mark and now it begins to ebb B e -
, .
tween 1 1 0 0 and 1 30 0 A D com e the crusades with war and bloodshed . .

,
during which European Christians profited m uch by their contact with

Arabian culture then far superior to their o wn The crusaders were
, .
not the only adversaries of the Arabs D uring the first half of the .
thirteenth century they had to encounter the wild M ongol ian hordes
, ,
and in 1 2 56 were conquered by them under the leadership of H u l aga

, , .
The caliphate at Bagdad now ceased to exist At the clos e of the four .
t ee n th century still another e mpire was form ed by Ti m ur or Tamer

l a n e the Tartar
,
D uring such s w eeping turm oil it is not surprising
.
,
that science declined Indeed it is a marv el that it existed at all .

, .
D uring the supre macy of H ul ag u lived N a sir-Edd in ( 1 2 0 1 ,
a man of broad cul ture and an able astronom er He persuaded H u .
lagu to build hi m and his associates a large O bservatory at M araga .
Treatises on algebra geometry arith m etic and a translation O f Eu

, , ,
c l i d s El emen ts were prepared by hi m He for the first tim e elabo

’
, .
rated trigonom etry independently of astronomy and to such great

perfection that had his work been known Europeans of the fif teenth
, ,
century m ight have spared their labors 1

He tried hi s skill at a proof .
of the paral lel postulate His proof ass umes that if AB is perpen di c
-
.
ular to CD at C and if another straight line ED P makes an angle

,
ED C acute then the perpendiculars to AB co mprehended betwee n

, ,
AB an d EF and drawn on the side of CD toward E are shorter and

shorter the further they are fro mCD His proof in Latin translation
, ,
, ,
.
,
was published by Wallis in Even at the court of Ta m erlane in

Samarkand the sciences were by ,
no means neglected A group of .
astronomers was draw n to this

B court Ul e g B e g ( 1 393 a .
grandson of Tamerlane was hi m ,
self an astronomer M ost prominent at this tim e was Al Kas h i the

.
-
,
author O f an arithm etic Thus during intervals of peace science .

, ,
continued to be cultivated in the East for several centuries The .
last Oriental writer was B eha Eddi n ( 1 54 7 His E ssence of -
A r i thmeti c stands on about the sa m e level as the work of M ohamm ed

ibn M usa Kh ow a r iz mi written nearly 8 0 0 years before ,
.
“
Wonderful is the expansive power of Oriental peoples w ith which ,
upon the wings of the w ind they conquer half the world but more ,
wonderful the energy with which in less than two generations they , ,
raise the mselves from the lowest stages O f cultivation to scientifi c

B i bli otheca ma thema ti ca
1
7 , 1 8 93 , p 6 . .
2
R B o n o l a , N on-E u cli dean Geometry, t ran s l by H S C a rsl aw , C h i cag o ,
. . . . 1 9 1 7,
-
pp 1 0 1 2
. .
Fro m this he derives the formulas for spherical right triangles This .
sine form ula was probably known before this to Tabit ibn Korra and
-
others To the four fundamental formulas already given by P tolemy

1
.
,
he added a fifth discov ered by hi mself If a b c be the sides and

,
.
, , , ,
A B C the angles of a spherical triangle right angled at A then

, , ,
cos E = cos b sin C This is frequently called Geber s Theorem

.
,
-
’
,
.
”
Radical and bold as were his innovations in spherical trigonometry ,
in plane trigono metry he foll owed slavishly the old beaten path of
”
”
“ “
the Greeks Not even did he adopt the Indian sine and cosine
.
,
“
but still used the Greek chord of double the angle So painful was .
the departure fro m old ideas even to an independent Arab ! ,
It is a re markable fact that a mong the early Arabs no trace what

e v er of the use of the abacus can be discov ered At the close of the .
thirteenth century for the first tim e do we find an Arabic writer Ib n

, , ,
Al b anna who uses processes which are a mix ture of ab acal and Hindu
,
computation Ibn Al ban n a lived in B ugia an African seaport and it

.
, ,
is plain that he ca me under European influences and thence got a

knowledge of the abacus Ibn A lbann a and Abraham ibn Esra be .
false position
,
.
”
fore h im solv ed equations of the first degree by the rule of double
After Ibn A lban na we find it used by A i — K al s adi
a n d B eha Eddi n ( 1 54 7-
If ox+ b = o let m and n be any two ,
nu mbers ( double false position

“
let also am+ b = M a n + b = N
—
then x (u M mN ) (M N ) —
, ,
= + .
Of interest is the approxi mate solution of the cubic x + Q = P x

3
,
which gre w out of the computation of x = si n The m ethod is

shown only in this one nu merical example I t is giv en in M i r am .
C hel ebi in 1 4 98 in his annotations of certain Arabic astrono mical

,
tables The solution is attributed to A tabeddi n Ja mshi d Write

.
3
.
x= If then a is the first app r oxi ma

tion x being sna l l We have Q = aP + R and consequently x = a +
( R+ a )
,
.
,
3
say Then a + b is the second app roxima
tion We have R bP + S a and Q (a + b) —
.
= 3 = P S 3
Hence
—
a
a + (a l b) P =
. .
x = a + b+ (S
3 3
P say -
Here a + b ,
.
+ c Is the third approximation a n d so on In general the a mount of ,

.
,
computation is considerable though for find i ng x = sin I the m ethod ,

°
answered v ery well This example is the onl y known approximate

.
arithm etical solution O f an a ffected equation due to Arabic writers .
Nearly three centuries before this the Italian Leonardo of P isa , , ,
carried the solution of a cubic to a high degree of approximation but ,
without disclosing his method .
The latest prominent Spanish Arabic scholar was Al K al s adi of - -
Grana da who died in 1 486 He wrote the Rai si ng of the Vei l of the
S ci en ce of Gu bar
,
“
.
“
The word gubar m eant originally dust and
.
” ”
1
S ee B i bli otheca ma thema ti ca , 2 S , Vol 7 , 1 893 , p 7 . . . .
2
L M a tthi essen , Gr u ndzug e d A n ti /
. zen u moder n en A l g ebra , L eip i g ,
. . z 1 8 78, p . 2 75 .
3
S e e C an to r , op ci t V o l I , 3 rd Ed , 1 90 7 , p 7 8 2
. . . . . .
THE ARAB S 111
stands here for written arithmetic with nu m erals in contrast to men ,
tal arithmetic In addition subtraction and mu l tiplication the

.
, ,
result is written a bove the other figures The square root was indi
” ”
”
.
c a t ed by the initial Arabic letter of the word j idre m eaning root , ,

“
particularly square root He had symbols for the unkn own and .
h ad in fact a considerable a mount of algebraic symbolis m

, ,
His .
approximation for the square root wl a + b nam ely (4a + 3ab)

2 3 2
/ ( 4a +
b)
,
,
is believed by S G unther to disclose a m ethod of continued frac
.
tions without our m odern notation since

, ,
Al K al sadi s work e xcels other Arabic works in

’
-
the am ount of algebraic s ymbolism used Arabic algebra before h im .
contained m uch less symboli sm then Hindu al gebra With Nessel .
mann we di v ide algebras with respect to notation into three classes :

1
(I )
, , ,
Rhetori cal al gebr as in which no s ymbols are used everything

being written out in words ( 2 )
, ,
S yn copa ted a l gebr as in which as in , , ,
S S e v erything is written out in words excep t that abbrev ia

, ,
sed for certain frequently recurring O perations and ideas ,
al gebr as in which all forms and operations are repre

,
fully developed al gebraic sym bo l is m as for exa mple , ,

2
x + 1 0 x+ 7 According to this classification Arabic works ( e xcepting
those of the later western Arabs)the Greek works of I amb l i chu s an d
.
,
Thymari das and the works of the early Italian writers and of Regio
,
montanus are r hetor i cal in form ; the works of the later western Ara b s ,
of Diophantus and of the later European writers down to about the

m iddle of the seventeenth century ( excepting Vieta s and O u g h t r e d s ) ’ ’
are syn copated in form ; the Hin d u works and those of Vieta and
O u gh t r ed and of the Europeans since the m i ddle of the se v enteenth
,
century mboti c in form It is thus seen that the western Arabs

, .
took an n in m atters of algebraic notation and were ,
inferior predecessors or contemporaries excep t the ,
Hindus .
I n the year Columbus discovered Am erica the M oors ,
lost their last on Spanish soil ; the productive period of

Arabic science was passed .
We have witnessed a laudable intellectual activity among the

Arabs They had the good fortune to possess rulers who by their
.
,
m u n ifi cen ce furthered scientific research

,
At the courts of the c a .
l iph s scientists were supplied with libraries and observatories : A

,
large number of astronomical and m athem atical works were written

by Arabic authors I t has been said that the Arab s were learned .
'
but not original With our present knowledge of their work this, ,
dictu m needs revision they have to their credit several substantial °
accomplishments They solved cubic equations by geometric con .
struction perfected trigonom etry to a m arked degree and made nu

,
1
G H F N esselmann , Di e A l gebra der Gr i echen , B erl in ,
. . . 1 84 2 , pp .
30 1
—
3 6
0 .
merou s s maller advances all along the line of m athematics physics
,
and astronomy . Not least of their services to science consists in this

,
that they adopted the learning of Greece and India and kept what
,
they received with care When the love for science began to grow
.
in the Occident they transmitted to the Europeans the valuable treas

,
ures of antiquity Thus a Se mitic race was during the D ark Ages
.
, ,
the custodian of the Aryan i ntellectual po ssessions

.
1 14 A H ISTOR Y O F M AT H E MATI CS
ance of B e de th e Ven er abl e ( 6 7 2 —73 the most learned man of hi s
tim e He was a native of Wea rmou th in England His works con
.
,
.
tain treatises on the C ompu tu s or the computation of Easter time ,

-
,
and on fi ng er reckoning It appears that a fi ng er symbolism was then

-
.
-
w idely used for calculation The corre c t determ ination of the time
.
of Easter was a proble m which in those days greatly agitated the

Church I t became desirable to have at least one m onk at each mon
.
as t ery who could determ ine the day of religious festivals and could
compute the calendar Such determ inations required some knowledge

.
of arith metic Hence we find that the art of calculating always found
.
som e little corner in the curriculum for the education of m onks .
The year in which B ede died is also the year in which Al c u i n ( 73 5

80 4) was born Alcui n was educated in Ireland and was called to the
.
,
court of Charle m agne to direct the progress of education in the great

Frankish E mpire Charle magne was a great patron of learning and
.
of learned m en In the great sees and m onasteries he founded schools

.
in which were taught the psal ms writing singing computation (com

)
, , ,
p u tu s and
,
gra mm ar By c om pu tu s was here
. m eant probably not , ,
m erely the deter m ination of Easter ti m e but the art of computation -

,
in general E xactly what m odes of reckoning were then e mployed

.
we have no m eans of knowing I t is not likely that Alcuin was fa miliar .
with the apices of Boethius or with the Roman m ethod of reckoning

on the abacus He belongs to that long list of scholars who dragged
.
the theory of nu mbers into theology Thus the nu mber of beings .
created by God who created all things well is 6 because 6 is a perfect

, , ,
nu mber ( the s u m of its divisors being 1 + 2 + 8 on the other ,
hand is an i mperfect nu mber ( 1 +

,
hence the second origin
of m ankind e m anated fro m the nu mber 8 which is the number of souls ,
said to have been in Noah s ark ’

.
There is a collection of P roble m s for Quickenin g the M ind (pr op

“
os i ti on es ad acu endos i u ven es ) which are certainly as old as 1 0 0 0 A D

,
. .
and possibly older Cantor is of the opinion that they were written
.
“ ”
much earlier and by Alcuin The following is a speci m en of these
P roble m s : A d og chasing a rabbit which has a start of 1 50 feet
.
, ,
ju mps 9 feet every ti me the rabbit ju mps 7 In order to determine in .
how many leaps the dog overtakes the rabbit 1 50 is to be di v id ed by 2 ,

.
In this collection of proble ms the areas of triangular and quadrangular,
pieces of land are found by the same formulas of approxim ation as

those used by the Egyp tians and give n by B oethius in his geo metry
“
An old problem is the cistern proble m (given the ti me in which -
” .
several pipes can fill a cistern singly to fi n d the time in which they
fi ll it jointly )
,
which has been foun d previously in Heron in the Greek

, ,
A n thol ogy and in Hin d u works

,
M any of the proble ms sho w that .
the col lection was compile d ch i efly fro m Ro man sources The prob .
l em which on account of its un i queness gi v es the m ost pos i tiv e testi

, ,
mony regarding the Roman origin is that on the interpretation of a

INTROD UCTION OF RO M AN M ATHE M ATICS 1 15
wil l in a case where twins are born The problem is identical with the .
Roman except that diff erent ratios are chosen Of the exercises for
,
.
recreation we mention the one of the wolf goat an d cabbage to be

, , , ,
rowed across a river in a boat hol ding only one besides the ferry man -
.
Q uery : H ow m ust he carry the m across so that the goat shall not eat
the cabbage nor the wolf the goat ? The solutions of the proble ms
1
,
“
for quickening the m ind require no further knowledge than the rec ol
lection of so me few form ulas used in surveying the ability to solve ,
linear equations and to perform the four funda mental operations with
integers E xtraction of roots was nowhere de manded ; fractions hardly
.
ever occur 2
.
The great e mpire of Charlemagne tottered and fell a l most i mm e

dia t el y after his death War and confusion ensued Scientific pur . .
suits were abandoned not to be resu m ed until the close of the tenth ,
century when under Saxon rule in Germ any and Capetian in France
, ,
more peacef u l tim es began The thick gloo m O f ignorance co mmenced .
to disappear The zeal with which the study o f mathe matics was now
.
taken up by the m onks is due principally to the energy and influence

—
of one mam G e rb e rt He was born in Aurillac in Auvergne After . .
receiving a m onastic education he engaged in study chiefly of m athe , ,
m a ti c s in Spain On his return he taught school at Rhei m s for ten

,
.
years and beca me distinguished for his profound scho l arship By .
King Otto I and his successors G e rb e r t was held in highest esteem

,
.
He w as elected bishop of Rheim s then O f Ravenna and finally was , ,
made P ope under the nam e of Sylvester II by his form er E mperor

-
Otho III He died in 1 00 3 after a life intricately involved in many

.
,
political and ecclesiastical quarrels Such was the career of the great .
est m athe matician oi the tenth century in Europe By his conte m .
po ra ri es his mathe matical knowledge was considered wonderful .
M any even accused him O f cri minal intercourse with evil spirits .
G erb er t enlarged the stock O f his knowledge by procuring copies

O f rare books Thus in M antua he found the geometry of B oethius
. .
Though this i s of s mall scienti fic value yet it is of great importance ,
in history It was at that ti m e the principal book fro m which Euro

.
pean scholars could learn the elements of geom etry G e rb er t studied .
it w ith z eal and is ge n erally believed hi mself to be the author O f a g e

,
ometry H Weissenborn denied his authorship and clai med that the
. .
,
book in question consists of three parts which cannot co me from one

and the sam e author M ore recent study favors the conclusion that .
G erb e r t is the author and that he co mpiled it fro m diff erent sources
3
.
This geo metry contains little more tha n the one of B oethius but the ,
fact that occasional errors in the latter are herein corrected s hows that
1
S G u n the r , Ges chi chte des mathem Un ter r i chts i m deu ts chen M i ttel al ter
. . . B e rl i n ,
1 88 7 , p 32. .
2
M C a n t or ,
. o p .V o l I , 3 A u fl , 1 90 7 , p 8 3 9
ci t .
, . . . . .
3
S G un t her ,
. Ges chi chte der M athemati k , 1 Tei l , L e i p i g , . z 1 90 8 , p . 2 49 .
the author had mastered the subj ect The first mathe matical paper
of the M iddle Ages which deserves thi s nam e says Hankel is a “
.
” ,
letter of G e rb e r t to A dal bol d bishop of Utrecht in which is explained

the reason why the area of a triangle ob tai n ed geometrically by“
,
,
,
”
taking the product of the base by half its altitude diff ers fro m the ,
“
area calculated arithm etically according to the formula ,
used by surveyors where a stands for a side of an equilateral triangle

,
.
He gives the correct explanation that in the latter form ula all the
s mall squares in which the triangle is supposed to be divided are
, ,
counted in wholly e v e n though parts of the m proj ect beyond it

,
.
D E S mith calls attention to a great m edi eval num ber game called
. .
1
,
r i thm om ac h i a clai med by so me to be of Greek origin

,
I t was played .
as late as the six teenth century I t called for considerab l e ari thme ti .
cal ability and was kno w n to G erb er t O ron c e Fi n é Thomas B rad

, , ,
w a rdi n e and others A board rese mbling a chess board was used R e
. .
l a t ion s like 8 1 2 4 3 of 7 2 4 2 =
3 6 + 7g of 3 6 were involved
1 -
7 ,
.
G e rb e r t m ade a careful study of the arith metical works of B oethius .
He himself published the first perhaps both of the foll owing two
works —A S mal l B ook on the D ivi si on of N u mbers and Rul e of Compu
, ,
, ,
tal i on on the A bacu s They giv e an insight into the methods of cal c u
.
lation practised in Europe before the introduction of the Hindu nu

meral s G e rb er t used the abacus which was probably unknown to
.
,
Al cuin B e rn el i nu s a pupil of G erb e r t describes it as consisting O f

.
, ,
a s mooth board upo n which geom etricians were accustomed to stre w

blue sand and then to draw their diagra ms For arithmetical pur
,
.
poses the board was divided into 3 0 colu mns O f which 3 were reserved ,
for fractions while the re maining 2 7 were divi d ed into groups wi th

,
3 colu m ns in each In every group the colu m ns were m arked r e s pe c
t i v el y by the letters C (cen tu m)D (decem) and S (si n gu l ari s )

.
or
M (mon as ) B e rn eli n u s gives the nine nu m erals used which are the
, ,
.
,
apices of Boethius and then re marks that the Greek letters may be
,
used in their place By the use of these columns any nu mber can be
.
written without introducing a z ero and all operations in arithmetic ,
can be perform ed in the sa me way as we execute ours without the col

u mu s but wi th the symbol for z ero Indeed the m ethods of adding
,
.
, ,
subtracting and m ultiplying in vogue among the abac i s ts agree sub

,
s tant i all y with those O f to day B ut in a di vision there is very great -

.
difference The early rules for division appear to have been fram ed
to satisfy the follo w ing three conditions : ( I )
.
The use of the multipli

cation table shall be restricted as far as possible ; at least it shall never ,
be required to m ultiply m entally a figure of two di gits by another of

one digit ( 2 ) Subtractions shall be avoided as m uch as possible and
replaced by additions (3)
.
The operation shall proceed in a purely

. .
m echanical way without requiring trials ,

2
That it should be meces .
sary to m ake such conditions see ms strange to us ; but it m ust be re

1
A m M ath M thl y Vol
. 8 9.
—
pp 7 3 8
on H Hank el op ci t p 3 1 8
,
. 2 ,
1 1 1, . 0.
2
.
, . .
, . .
Tr ansl ati on o f A r a bi c M a nu s cr i pts
By his great erudition and pheno menal acti v ity G erb e r t infused ,
new lif e into the study not only of m athe matics but also Of philosophy , .
P upils fro m France Germ any and I taly gathered at Rhei ms to enj oy
, ,
his instruction When they themselves becam e teachers they taught

.
,
of course not only the use of the abacus and geometry but also what ,
they had learned of the philosophy of Aristotle His philosophy was .
known at first only through the writings of B oethius B ut the grow

, , .
ing enthusias m for it created a demand for his complete works Greek .
texts were wanting B ut the Latins heard that the Arabs too were
.
, ,
great ad mirers of P e ripa t e ti sm and that they possessed translations ,
of Aristotle s works and comm entaries thereon This led them finally
’
.
to search for and translate Arabic m anuscripts D uring this search .

,
m athe m atical works also came to their notice and were translated ,
into Latin Though som e f ew uni mportant works m ay have been

.
translated earlier yet the period of greatest activity began about 1 1 0 0

, .
The z eal displayed in acquiring the M oha mmedan treasures of knowl

edge excelled even that of the Arabs the mselves when i n the eighth , ,
century they plun dered the rich co ffers of Greek and Hindu science
,
.
A m ong the earliest scholars engaged i n translating manuscripts into

Latin was Ath el ar d of B ath The period of his activity is the first .
quarter of the t w elfth century He travelled e xtensiv ely in Asia .
M inor Egypt perhaps also in Spai n and braved a thousa n d perils

, , , ,
that he m ight acquire the language and science of the M oha mmedans .
He made one of the earli est translations from the Arabic of Eucli d s , ,
’
El emen ts He translated the astronom ical tables of A l K ho w a rizmi

.
-
.
In 1 8 57 a m anuscript was found i n the l ibrary at Ca mbr i dge which

, ,
prov ed to be the arithm etic by A l K how a riz mi in Latin This trans -

.
lation also is very probably due to A thel a rd .
At about the sa m e tim e flourished P l ato of Ti voti or P l ato Ti bu r ti n u s .
He e ff ected a translation of the astronomy of A l Battani and of the -
S phceri ca of Theodosius .
About the m iddle of the twelfth century there was a group of Chris
tian scholars busily at work at Tole do un der the lea d ersh ip of Ray ,
m ond then archbishop of Toledo A mong those who worke d un der

,
.
his d irection Joh n of S evi ll e was m ost prom inent He translated

,
.
works chiefly on Aristotelian ph i losoph y Of i mportance to u s is a .
l iber al ghoa ri s mi co mpiled by him from Arabic authors

,
The rule for .
a c
the di v I S I on of one f rac t I on by another Is proved as follows :
d d
ad bc ad
Th I S '
sa me expl a n a t IO n I s gi v en by the t h Ir t ee n t h cen

bd bd bc
tury Germ an writer Jor dan u s N emorariu s On comparing works ,
.
like this with those of the a b a c i s t s we notice at once th e most striking ,
diff erence which shows that the two parties d rew from i n dependent
,
T RANSLATION OF ARABI C M ANUSCRI P TS 1 19
sources It is argued by some that G erb er t got his apices and his arith
.
metical knowledge not fro m Boethius but fro m the A rab s in Spain
, , ‘
,
and that part or the whole of the geo metry of B oethius is a forgery ,
dating from the time of G erbe rt If this were the case then the writ .
,
ings of G erber t would betray Arabic sources as do those of John of ,
Seville B ut no points of rese mblance are found G erb e r t could not

. .
have learned from the Arabs the use of the abacus because all evidence ,
we have goes to S how that they did not employ it Nor is it probable .
that he borrowed fro m the Arabs the apices because they were never ,
used in Europe except on the abacus In illustrating an example in .
division m athe maticians of the tenth and eleventh centuries state

,
an example in Ro man nu merals the n draw an abacus and insert in it ,
the necessary nu mbers with the apices Hence it see ms probable that .
the abacus and apices were borro w e d fro m the sam e source The .
contrast between authors like John of Se v ille drawing fro m Arabic ,
works and the abac is ts consists in this that unl i ke the latter the
, , , , ,
former mentio n the Hindus use the term al gori sm calculate with the , ,
z ero and do not e mploy the abacus

,
The form er teach the extraction .
of roots the ab aci s ts do not ; they teach the sexages im al fractions used
,
by th Arabs while the abaci s t s employ the duodecim als of the R o

mans q
.
,
A little late r than John of Seville flourishe d G e r ard of C r e mo n a i n

Lo mbardy B eing desirous to gain possession of the A l mages t he
.
,
went to Toledo and there in 1 1 7 5 translated this great work of P t ol

, , ,
emy . Inspired by the richness of M oha mm e d an literature he gave ,
hi mself up to its stu d y He translate d into Latin over 70 Arabic works

. .
Of mathe matical treatises there were a mong these besides the A i , ,
magest the 1 5 books O f Euclid the S phcer i ca of Theo dosius a work of

M enelaus the algebra of A l —
, , ,
,
K ho w a ri z mi the astrono my of Jabir ibn ,
Afl ah and others less i mportant

,
Through Gerard of Cre m ona the .
term si n u s was introduced into trigono metry Al Kh aw ar izmi s a l .

-
’
gebra was translated also by Robert of Chester ; his translation prob

ably antedated Cre mona s ’
.
In the thirteenth century the z eal for the acquisition of Arabic ,
learning continued Fore most a m ong the patrons of science at this

.
ti m e ranked E mperor Frederick II of Hohenstaufen (died

Through frequent contact with M ohamm edan scholars he becam e ,
familiar with Arabic science He e mploye d a nu mber of scholars i n .
tra n slating Arabic manuscripts and it was through him that we came ,
i n possess i on of a n ew translation of the A l mages t Another royal .
head d eserv ing m ention as a z ealous pro moter of Arabic science was
Alfonso X of Castile (di ed He gathe re d aroun d hi m a nu m ber
of Jewish and Christian scholars who transl ated an d co mpiled astro ,
n omi c al works fro m Arabic sources Astrono m ical tables prepare d .
by two Jews spread rapi dly in the Occi dent and constitute d the bas i s ,
1
M C an tor
.
, p
o . ci t .
,
V ol I , 3 A u fl
. . .
,
1 90 7 , p 8 79 ,
. c h ap t e r 40 .
of all astronomical calculation till the sixteenth century The n u m .
ber of scholars who aided in transplanting Arabic scie nce upon Chris
tian soil was large B ut we m ention only one G i ovanni C ampano of
.
,
Novara (about who brought out a new translation of Euclid ,
which drove the earlier ones from the field and which formed the ,
basis of the printed editions 1

.
At the m iddle of the twelfth century the Occident was in possession ,
of the so called Arabic notation At the close of the century the

-
.
,
Hindu m ethods of calculation began to supersede the cu mbrous me th

ods inherited from Ro me Algebra with its rules for solving linear .
,
and quadratic equations had been m ade accessible to the Latins The , .
geometry of Euclid the S phceri ca of Theodosius the astronomy of

, ,
P tole m y and other works were n ow accessible in the Latin tongue

, .
Thus a great a mount of n ew scientific m aterial had com e into the

hands of the Christians The talent necessary to digest this hetero .
g e n eo u s m ass of knowle d ge was not wanting The figure of Leonardo .
of P isa adorns the vestibule of the thirteenth century .
It is i mportant to notice that no work either on m athematics or

astronom y was translated direc tly from the Greek previous to the
fif teenth century .
The Fi r
s t A w ak en i n g a nd i ts S equ el
Thus far France and the B ritish Isles hav e been the headquarters
,
of m athe m atics in Christian Europe B ut at the beginning of the .
thirteenth century the talent and activity of one man was suffi cient to
assign the m athe matical science a new ho me in I taly This man was .
not a monk like B ede Alcuin or G e rb e r t but a laym an who found

, , , ,
time for scientific study L e o n ardo of P i s a is the man to whom we .
owe the first renaissance of m athem atics on Christian soil He is also .
called Fi bon acc i i e son of B on ac c i o His father was secretary at one of

,
. . .
the nu merous factories erected on the south and east coast of the M ed
i t err an ea n by the enterprising m erchants of P isa He m ade Leonar do .
,
when a boy learn the use of the abacus The boy acquire d a strong
,
.
taste for m athematics and in later years during extensive travels in

, , ,
Egypt Syria Greece and Sicily collected from the various peoples
, , , ,
all the knowle dge he could get on this subj ect Of all the m ethods of .
calculation he found the Hindu to be unquestionably the best R e

,
.
turning to P isa he published in 1 2 0 2 his great work the Li ber A baci

, , , , .
A revised edition of this appeared in 1 2 2 8 This work contains the .
knowledge the Arabs possessed in arith m etic and algebra and treats ,
the subject in a free and indepen dent way This together with the .
,
other books of Leonardo shows that he was not merely a compiler , ,
nor like other writers of the M iddle Ages a slavi sh im itator of the
, ,
form in which the subject had been previously presented The extent .
1
H H an k el ,
.
p
o . ci t .
, pp 33 8 , 339
. .
B ritish M useum one English —
is of about 1 2 30 50 another m anuscript ,
is of 1 2 4 6 The earliest undoubted Arabic numerals on a grave s tone

.
are at P forzheirn in Baden of 1 3 7 1 and one at U l m of 1 3 88 The .
earli est coins dated in the Arabic n umerals are as follows : Swiss 1 4 2 4 ,
Austrian 1 4 84 French 1 48 5 German 1 4 8 9 Scotch 1 53 9 Engli sh I 5 5 1

, , , , .
The earl iest calendar with Arabic figures is that of KObel 1 5 1 8 The ,
.
form s of the nu m erals varied considerably The 5 w as the most .
freakish An upright 7 was rare in the earlier centuries

. .
In the fifteenth century the abacus with its counters ceased to be

used in Spain and I taly In France it was used later and it did not
.
,
disappear in England and Germany before the middle O f the seven

t een t h century
1
The m ethod of abac al computation is found in the
.
English exchequer for the last tim e i n 1 6 76 In the reign of Henry I .
the exchequer was distinctly organized as a court of l aw but the fi nan ,
”
c i al business O f the crown was also carried on there The term ex “
.
chequer is derived fro m the chequered cloth which covered the table
at which the accounts were m ade up Suppose the sheriff was s u m
mon ed to answer for the full annual dues in m oney or in tallies
.
.
”
“
The liabilities and the actual payments of the sheri ff were balanced
by m eans of counters placed upon the squares of the chequered table ,
those on the one S ide of the table representing the value of the tallies ,
warrants and specie presented by the sheriff and those on the other
the a mount for which he was liable so that it was easy to see whether ,
” ,
“
the sheriff had m e t his O bligatio n s or not In Tudor times pen and .
”
ink dots took the place O f counters These dots were used as late as
The tally upon which accounts were kept was a peeled
.
wooden rod split in such a way as to divide certain notches previously

cut in it One piece O f the tally was given to the payer ; the other piece
.
was kept by the exchequer The transaction could be verified easily .
”
by fitting the two halves together and noticing whether the notches
tallied or nor Such tallies rem ained in use as late as 1 7 83
. .
In the Wi n ter s Tal e (I V Shakespeare lets the clown be embar

’
.
r assed by a proble m which he could not do without counters Iago (i n

Othel l o i 1 )
.
”
expresses his contempt for M ichael Cassio forsooth a
”
“
, , ,
“
great mathematician by calling h i m a counter caster ,
3
S O gen -
.
eral indeed says P eacock appears to have been the practice of this
, , ,
species of arith metic that its rules and principles form an essential
,
part of the arithm etical treatises of that day The real fact seem s to .
be that the old methods were used long after the Hindu nu merals were
1
G eo rg e P eacoc k , A ri thm e t i c i n t he En cycl ope di a of P u re M a themati cs ,
L on don , 1 8 4 7 , p 40 8 . .
i n P al g rav e s D ic ti on ary of P ol i ti cal E con omy, L o n do n ,

“ ’
2
A r t i cl e Exc heq u er
1 8 94 .
3
For a ddi ti o n a li n for ma t io n , c o n s u l t F P B a r n a r d , The Cas ti n g Cou n ter and
. .
-
the Cou n ti n g B oar d, O xfo r d , 1 9 1 6

-
H e g i ve s a l i st o f 1 5 9 e xt ra c t s f ro m E ng l is h
.
i n v en to ri es re ferr i n g t o co u n t i n g bo ard s a n d a l so pho t og rap h s o f r ec k o n i ng t a bl e s

a t B ase l a n d N ifrn be rg , o f rec k o n i n g c l o h s a t M u n i ch, e tc t .
THE FIRST AWAKENIN G A ND I TS SE Q UEL 1 23
in co mmon and general use With such dogged persistency does man .
c li ng to the old !
The L i ber A baci was for centuries one of the storehouses from , ,
which authors got material for works on arith metic and algebra In .
it are set forth the most perfect methods of calculation w ith integers
and fractions known at that tim e ; the square and cube root are ex
,
plained cube root nor having been considered in the Christian o eci
,
dent before ; equations of the first and second degree leading to prob
“ “ ”
le ms either determinate or indeterm inate are solved by the methods
,
of s ingle or double position and also by real algebra He recog ,

” ,
n i zed that the quadratic x + c = bx may be satisfied by two values of x

2
.
He took no cognizance O f negative and im aginary roots The book .
contains a large nu mber of problem s The following was proposed to .
Leonardo of P isa by a m agister in Constantinople as a d iffi cult prob ,
l em : If A gets from B 7 denare then A s su m is fi v e f ol d B s ; if B gets

’ ’
-
,
from A 5 denare then B s su m is seven fold A s H ow m uch has each ?

,
’
-
’
.
The Li ber A baci contains another problem which is of historical ih ,
t er es t because it was given with so m e variations by Ahme s 3 0 0 0 years

, ,
earlier : 7 old women go to Ro me ; each woman has 7 m ules each m ule ,
carries 7 sacks each sack contains 7 loaves with each loaf are 7 knives
, , ,
each knif e is p ut up in 7 sheaths What is the s um total of all named ? .
A ns .
l
Following the practice of Arabic and of Greek and
Egyp tian writers Leonardo frequently uses unit fractions This was ,
.
d one also by other European wr i ters of the M iddle Ages He ex .
plained how to resolve a fraction into the su m O f unit fractions He .
was one of the first to separate the nu merator from the denom inator
by a fractional line B efore his time when fractions were written in .
,
Hindu Arabic nu merals the deno minator was written beneath the
-
,
numera tor wi thout any S ign of separation

,
.
In 1 2 2 0 Leonardo of P isa published his P r acti ca Geometri co which

, ,
contains all the knowledge of geo metry and trigonometry transm itted
to him The writings of Euclid and of so m e other Gr eek m asters were
’
known to him either from Arabic manuscripts directly or from the

,
translations made by his countrym en Gerard of Cremona and P lato ,
of Tivoli A S previously stat ed a principal source of his geom etrical

.
,
knowledge was P lato of Tivolis translation in 1 1 1 6 fro m the Hebre w ’

,
into Latin , of the L i ber embadoru m of Abraham S avasor da Leo 2

.
nardo s Geometry contains an elegant geom etrical demonstration of

’
Heron s formula for the area of a triangle as a function of its three

’
,
sides ; the proof rese mbles Heron s Leonardo treats the rich material ’
.
before hi m with S kill some originality an d Eu c l idean rigor , .
Of still greater interest than the preceding works are those contain
1
M C an tor
.
,
ci t
V ol II , 2 A u fl , 1 90 0 p 2 6
o p . S ee a p ro b l em i n t h e A hme s
.
, . . .
, . .
p apy r u s b e l i e ve d t o b e o f t h e sa m e t yp e as t h i s .
2
z
S ee M C u r t e , Ur k u nden zu r G eschi chte der M a thema ti k I Th e i l , L e i p i g , 1 90 2 ,
. z
.
1 24 A H ISTOR Y O F M ATH E M ATICS
ing Fibonacci s more original investigations We must here preface
’
.
that after the publication of the L i ber A baci Leonardo was presented ,
by th e astronom er D ominicus to E mperor Frederick II of Hohen .
staufen On that occasion John of P alermo an imperial notary

.
, , ,
proposed several proble ms which Leonardo solved promptly The

first (probably an old fa m iliar problem to him)
, .
was to find a nu mber x ,
such that x + 5 and x 5 are each square nu mbers The answer is

2 2
.
= = His m asterly S O
3 2 ; for (3 1 5 (21
5 7 -
x 1
l u t i on of this I s g i ven i n his l i ber qu ad r a toru m a manuscript which was ,
not printed but to which reference is m ade in the second edition of

,
his L i ber A baci The problem was not original with J ohn of P alerm o
.
,
since the Arabs had already solved similar o nes Som e parts of Leo~ .
nar do s solution may have been borrowed fro m the Arabs but the
’
m ethod which he e m ployed of building squares by the su mm ation of

o dd nu m bers I S original with hi m .
The second proble m proposed to Leonardo at the fa mous scientific

tournam ent which acco mpanied the presentation of this celebrated al
e b r a i s t to that great patron of learning E mperor Fre d erick II was
g , ,
the sol v in g of the equation x + 2 x + 1 0 x = 2 0 As yet cubic equations

3 2
.
h ad not been sol v ed a l gebraically Instead of brooding stubbornly

.
ov er this knotty proble m and after many failures still entertaining

,
new hopes of success he changed his m ethod of inquiry and showed

,
by clear and rigorous dem onstration that the roots of this equatio n
could not be represented by the Euclidean irrational quantities or in , ,
other words that they could not be constructed with the ruler and
,
co mpass only He contented him self with finding a very close ap

.
proxi mation to the required root His work on this cubic is found in .
the Fl os together with the solution of the fol lowing third probl em
,
f
given him by John O f P alerm o : Three m en possess in common an u n

know n sum of m oney t; the share of the first is E; that of the second 1; ,
2 3
that of the third ,
é
. D esirous of depositing the su m at a safer place ,
each takes at haz ard a certain a m ount ; th e first takes x, but deposits
only x the second carries y but deposits only
, ,
the third takes z and ,
2 3
z
deposi t s Of the am ount deposited each one m ust receive exactly 3
6
'
,
in order to possess his share of the whole sum Find x y z Leonardo .

, , .
shows the problem to be indeterminate Assuming 7 for the su m .
drawn by each fro m the deposit he finds t = 4 7 x = 33 y = I 3 z = 1 , , , ,

.
One woul d have thought that after so brilliant a beginning the ,
sciences transplanted from M ohamm edan to Christian soil would

have enjoyed a stea dy a n d vigorous develop m ent B ut this was not .
the case D uring the fourteenth a n d fifteenth centuries th e mathe

.
,
in abbreviations of Italian words such as p for pi n (m ore ) m for men o
(less )co for cos a ( the unknown x) c c for cen s o (x )
, ,
cece for cen s oce n s o

2
(x ) Our present notation has arisen by al most insensible degrees

, , ,
3 “
,
as convenience suggested d ifferent m arks of abbreviation to different

authors ; and that perfect symbolic language which addresses itself
solely to the eye and enables us to take in at a glance the m ost c om
,
prov em en t s .
”
plicated relations of quantity is the resul t of a large series of sm all im ,
We shall now m ention a few authors who lived during th e thirteenth

and fourteenth and the first half of the fifteenth centuries .
We begi n with the philosophic wri tings of Tho mas Aq u in as ( 1 2 2 5

the great I talian philosopher of the M iddle Ages who gave in t> ,
the completest form the ideas of Origen on infinity A q ui n a s notion .

’
of a continuu m particularly a linear continuu m m a de it potenl i al l y

, ,
di v isible to infinity since practically the d ivisions coul d not be carried

,
out to infinity There was therefore no minimu m line On the other

.
, , .
hand the poi nt is not a constituent part of the line since it does not
, ,
possess the property of infinite divisibility that parts of a line possess ,
nor can the continuum be constructed out of points However a .

,
point by its m otion has the capacity of generating a line This con 2
.
ti n u um held a fi rm ascendancy over the ancient ato m istic d octrine

whi ch assu m ed m atter to be composed of very s mall in divisible par ,
t i c l es .No continuu m superior to this was created bef ore the nine
t een th century Aquinas explains Zeno s argu ments against m otion ’
.
,
as they are given by Aristotle but hardly presents an y new point of ,
view The English an Ro g e r B a co n

. m — 1 2 94] l i kewise argued
,
against a continuum of in divisible parts different from points R e .
newing argum ents presented by the Greeks and early Arabs he held ,
that the doctrine of indivisible parts of uniform siz e would m ake the
diagonal of a square commensurable with a side Likewise if through .
,
the ends of an indivisible arc of a circle ra dii are drawn these ra dii ,
intercept an arc on a concentric circle of smaller radius ; from this it

would follow that the i nner circle is of the sam e length as the outer
circle which is i mpossible Bacon argued against infinity If tim e
, . .
were infinite the absurdity would follow that the part is equal to the
,
whole B acon s views were m ade known more wid ely through D u n s
.
’
S co tu s ( 1 2 6 5 the theological and philosophical opponent of

Thomas Aquinas However both argued against the existence of
in divisible parts (points ) D uns Scotus wrote on Zeno s paradoxi es
.
,
’
.
,
but without reaching new points of view Hi s commentaries were .
annotated later by the Italian theol ogian Fr an c i s c u s d e P i ti g i am s

'
, ,
who expressed hi mself in favor of the a dmi ssion of the actual infinity
“
to explain the D ichotom y and the Ach i lles but fa i ls to ade
“ ” ,
l y elaborate the subj ect Sc holastic ideas on in fi n i tv and th e ‘
q u a t e
1
J. F W H ersch el M a t hema t i c s i n Edi n bur gh En cycl ope di a
. .
,
“
.
2
C . R Wa ll n e r i n B i bl i otheca mathemati ca 3 F B d I V 1 90 3 pp
.
, ,
. .
, , . 2 9,
30 .
THE FIRST AWAKENING AND ITS SE Q UEL 12 7
continuum find expression in the writings of B radw ardi n e the Eng ,
lish doctor pr of u ndi s 1

.
About the tim e of Leonardo of P isa ( 1 2 0 0 A lived the German .
monk J or dan u s N e m or an u s —1 who wrote a once fam ous work

on th e properties of nu mbers printed in 1 496 an d m odelled after the ,
arithm etic of B oethius The m ost trifling num eral properties are .
treated with nauseating pedantry and prolixity A practical arith .
metic based on the Hin d u notation was also written by hi m J ohn

H alif ax ( Sacro B osco died 1 2 5 6 )
.
taught in P aris and m ade an extract

,
from the A l mages t containing onl y the m ost elem entary parts of that
work This extract was for nearly 400 years a work of great popular
.
ity and standard authority as was also his arithm etical work the , ,
Tr acl a l n s de axl e nn mer an dl Other prom inent writers are A lb e r tu s

M agn u s ( 1 1 93 ? —1 2 80 ) a n d G e or g P e ur b ach ( 1 4 2 3 1 4 6 1 )
.
in Ger -
m any I t appears that here and there som e of our m odern ideas were
.
anticipated by writers of the M id dle Ages Thus N i c ol e O r e sme .

,
(about 1 3 2 3 a bishop in Normandy first conceived the notion of ,
fractional powers afterwar ds re discovered by S tevin and suggested a

, ,
notation Since 4 6 4 and 6 4

3=
.
% 8 O r esm e concluded that 4
,
1%
8 , .
In his notation , 4
154
Is expressed ,
or
ma them atician s of the M iddle Ages possessed som e idea of a function .
O r esme even atte mpted a graphic representation B ut of a nu meric .
d ependance of one quantity upon another as found in D escartes , ,
there is no trace a m ong the m 2

.
In an unpublished m anuscript O r esme found the su m of the infinite

series 35 +
5
an i nf Such recurrent infinite series were .
formerly suppose d to have m a de their first appearance in the eight

een th century The use of infinite series is explained also in the L i ber
.
de tri pl i ci motn by the P ortuguese m athe m atician A l vor a s Thomas

,
3
,
i n 1 50 9 He gi v es the d ivision of a line segm ent into parts represent

.
-
ing the term s of a convergent geometric series ; that is a segm ent A B ,
is d iv ided into parts such that A B :P IB = P 1B :P 2B P iB :P i + 1

B Such a d ivision of a line segm ent occurs later in Napier s -
’
kinematical d iscussion of logarithm s .
Th o mas B r adw ar din e ( about 1 2 90 archbishop of Canter

bury studied star polygons The first appearance of such polygons was
,
-
.
with P ythagoras and his school We next m eet with such polygons .
in the geometry of B oethius an d also in the translation of Euclid from

th e Arabic by A th el ard of Bath To England falls the honor of hav .
ing produced the earliest European writers on trigonom etry The .
1
F C j i A m i M t/ M thl y V l —
9 5 pp 4 5 4 7
—
. a or , er c . a z. on ,
o . 2 2, 1 1 , . .
2
H W l t. B i bl i th m ll m l
1e e I n e r 1n 3 S V l 3 9 3 pp
o 5 45
eca a ze a zca , .
,
o . 1 ,
1 1 , . 11 1 .
3
S ee Etu desL eon ar d da Vi nc i , V o l I I I , P ari s , 1 9 1 3 , pp 393 , 5 40 , 5 4 1 , by
s ur
)
. .
P i e rr e D u h em ( 1 8 6 1 1 9 1 6 o f t h e U n i v e r si ty o f B or d eau x ; se e a l so Wi el e i t n er i n
B i bl i otheca ma thema ti ca , V o l 1 4 , 1 9 1 4 , pp 1 50 — 168
. . .
writings of B radw ardi n e of Richard of Wallin gford and John M aud , ,
i th both professors at Oxford and of Si m on B redon of Win che comb e

, , ,
contain trigonom etry drawn fro m Arabic sources .
The works of the Greek monk M axi mu s P l an u de s (about 1 2 6 0

are of interest only as showing that the Hindu nu m erals were
then known in Greece A writer belonging like P l an u des to the B y .
, ,
z an t i n e school was M an u e l M os c h opu l u s who lived in Constantino

,
ple in the early part of the fourteenth century To him appears to be .
due the introduction into Europe of magic squares He wrote a treatise .
on this subj ect M agic squares were kno w n before this to the Arabs
.
and Japanese ; they originated w ith the Chinese M edimv al astrol .
og er s and physicians believed the m to possess m ystical properties and
to be a charm against plague when engraved on silver plate , .
Recently there has been printed a Hebrew arith m etical work by

the French J ew L evi ben Ger s on writte n in ,
and handed do w n ,
in several m anuscripts I t contains for mulas for the number of per .
m utations and co mbinations of n things taken 13 at a ti m e It is worthy .
of note that the earliest practical arith metic known to have been
brought out in print appeared anonymously in Treviso I taly in 1 4 7 8 , , ,
and is referred to as the Tre v iso arithm etic

“
Four years later in .
,
1 48 2 cam e out at B a mberg the first printed German arithm etic I t

, .
is by Ul ri ch Wagn er a teacher of arith metic at N urnberg I t was

,
.
printed on parchm ent but only f ragments of one copy are now extant
,
2
.
According to E n e s trom P h C al an dri s De ari thmetri ca opn s cnl u rn ’

’
,
.
,
“
Florence 1 49 1 is the first printed treatise contain i ng the word z ero
, ,
it is found in so m e fourteenth century m anuscripts .
In 1 494 was pr i n ted the S n mma de A ri thmeti ca Geometr i a P r opor , ,
ti on e et P r opor ti on al i ta written by the Tuscan m onk Lu c a P a ci oli

,
( 1 44 5 who as we rem arked introduced several symbols in

, ,
algebra This contains all the knowledge of his day on arithm etic
.
,
algebra and trigono metry a n d is the first com prehensive work which
, ,
appeare d affi fi fi é f fl baci of Fibonacci I t contains li ttle of im

’
portance which can n o t b e found in F i b o n acci s great work published ’

'
three centuries earlier P ac i oli ca m e in personal touch with two ar

—
( 4 5 1 5 1 9)
.
t s t s who were also m athe m aticians L eon a rdo da Vi n ci

i 3
1 2 ,
and P i er del l a Fr an ces ca ( 1 4 1 6 D a Vinci inscribed regular

polygons in circles but did not distinguish between accurate and ap
,
proxi mate constructions I t is interesting to note that da Vinci was .
familiar with the Greek tex t of Archim edes on the measurement of

the circle P ier della Francesca advanced the theory of perspectiv e
.
,
and left a manuscript on regular solids which was published by

B i bl i otheca ma themati ca , 3 S , V ol 1 4 , 1 9 1 6 , p 2 6 1
1
. . . . .
2
S ee D E S mi t h , Rar a ar i thmeti ca , B os ton a n d L on don , 1 908 , pp 3 , 1 2 , 1 5 ;
. . .
F U n g e r , M ethodi k der P r ak ti s chen A r i thmeti k i n H i s tor i s cher E n twi c k el u n g , L e ip

.
z ig , 1 8 88 , p 39 . .
C o n su l t P D u hem s Etudes s ur L eonard dc Vi nci , P a ri s, 1 90 9

3 ’
. .
EURO P E D URING TH E SIXTEENTH SE VE NTEENTH ,
A N D EIGHTEENTH CENTUR IES
We find it conv enient t o choose the time of the capture of Constan

t i n opl e by the Turks as the date at which the M id dl e Ages ended and
M o dern Ti m es began In 1 4 53 the Turks battere d the walls of this
.
,
celebrated m etropolis with cannon and finally capt u red the city ; the ,
Byzantine E mpire fel l to ri se no m ore Calam itous as was this event

,
.
to the East it acted fa v orably u pon the progress of learning in the

,
West A great nu mber of learned Greeks fled into Italy bringing with
.
,
the m precious m anuscripts of Greek literature This contri buted .
vastly to the revi v ing of classic learning Up to this ti m e Greek mas .

,
ters were known only through the often very corrupt Arabic m a nu
scripts but n ow they began to be studied from original sources and
,
in their own language The first English transl ation of Euclid was
.
m ade in 1 5 7 0 fro m the Greek by S i r H en ry B i l l i ngsl ey assisted by ,
John D ee 1
About the m id dle of the fifteenth century printing was
.
,
invented ; books beca m e cheap an d plentiful ; the printing press trans -
form ed Europe into an au dience — roo m Near the close of t he fifteenth .
century A m erica was discov ered and soon after the earth was cir
, , , ,
c u m n av i g a t ed The pulse and pace of the world began to quicken

. .
M en s m inds beca m e less serv i le ; they becam e clearer and stronger

’
.
The in di st inctness of thought which was the characteristic feature of

,
m edi aeval learni n g began to be re m e died chiefly by the steady cultiva

,
tion of P ure M athe m atics and Astronomy D ogmatism was attacked ; .
there arose a long struggle with the authority of the Church and the
establish ed schoo l s of ph il osophy The Copernican Syste m was set .
up in opposition to the tim e honored P tolemaic Syste m The long

-
.
and eager contest between the two cul minated in a crisis at the ti m e
of Ga l i leo and resulte d in the victory of the new syste m Thus by
,
.
,
slow degrees the m in ds of m en were cut adrift from their old scholastic
,
moorings and sent forth on the wide sea of scientific inquiry to dis ,
cover new islands and continents of truth .
The Ren ai ss an ce
With the sixteenth century began a period of increased intellectual

activity The hu man m ind m ade a vast e ffort to achieve its freedom
. .
Atte mpts at its em ancipation from Church authority had been m ade
before but they were st ifle d an d re n dere d abort ive The first great
, .
and successful re v olt against ecc l es i astical authority was made in

G B H al s t e d i n A m f f M ath V ol I I ,
1
. . . ou r . o , . 1 8 79.
1 30
THE RENAISSANCE 31
Germany The n ew desire for j udging freely and in depen dently I n

.
matters of religion was prece ded and acco mpa n ied by a grow i ng spirit
of scientific inquiry Thus it was that for a ti m e Germany led the .
, ,
van in science She produced Regi omon tan u s C oper ni cu s Rhwti cu s

.
, ,
and K epl er at a period when France and England had as yet brought
, , ,
forth hardly any great scientific thinkers This re markable scientific .
producti v eness was no doubt d u e to a great extent to the co mmercial , ,
prosperity of Germany M aterial prosperity is an essential condition .
for the progress of knowle dge As long as every individual is obliged .
to collect the necessaries for his subsistence there can be no leisure ,
for higher pursuits At this ti m e Germany had accu mulated con .

,
s i der abl e wealth The Hanseatic League commanded the trade of

.
the North Close co mmercial relations existed between Germany and

.
Italy Italy too excelled in comm ercial activ ity and enterprise
.
, , .
We need only m ention Venice whose glory began with the crusades , ,
and Florence with her ban k ers and her manufacturers of silk and wool
, .
These two cities becam e great intellectual centres Thus Italy too .
, , ,
prod uced m en in art literature and science who shone forth in fullest
'
, , ,
splen dor In fact Italy was the fatherland of what is term ed the R e
.
,
naissance .
For the first great contributions to the m athe matical sciences we

m ust therefore look to Italy and Ger many In Italy brill i ant acces
, , .
sions were m a de to al gebra in Germany progress was m a de in astron ,
o my a n d trigono metry .
On the threshold of this new era we m eet in Germany with the figure
of John M ueller more general l y called R e g io mon tan u s ( 1 43 6
,
C hiefly to him we owe the re v i v al of trigono m etry He studied as .
t ro n omy and trigono m etry at Vienna u nder the ce l ebrated George

P eu rb ach The l atter percei v ed that the existing Latin translations
.
of the Al magest were full of errors and that Arabic authors had not ,
rem ained true to the Greek original P eu rb ach therefore began to .
m ake a tra nslation directly fro m the Greek B ut he di d not live to .
finish it His work was continued by Regiomontanus who went be

.
,
yond his m aster Regiomontanus learned the Greek language from

.
Cardinal B essarion whom he followed to Italy where he remained , ,
eight years collecting manuscripts from Greeks who had fled thither
from the Turks In addition to the transl ation of and the c omm en
.
tary on the A l mag es t he prepared transl ations of the C on i cs of Apol ,
l on i u s of Archi m e d es and of the m echanical works of Heron Regio

, ,
.
m ontanus and P e u rb ach adopte d the Hindu s i n e in p l ace of the Greek

c hord of dou bl e the a rc The Greeks and afterwards the Arabs divided .
the radius into 6 0 equal parts and each of these again into 6 0 sm aller ,
ones The Hin du expressed the length of the rad ius by parts of the
.
circu mference saying that of the 2 1 6 0 0 equal d iv isions of the latter

, , ,
i t took 343 8 to m easure the radius Regiomontanus to secure greater .

,
precision constructed one table of sines on a radius divided into

,
13 2 A HISTORY or M ATHE M ATICS
parts and another on a ra di us divi ded decirn al l y into

,
divisions He emphasiz ed the use of the tangen t in trigo

.
n om e t ry . Following out some ideas of his master he calcu l ated a ,
table of tangents Germ an m athematicians were not the first Euro

.
peans to use this function In England it was known a century earlier

to B radw ar din e who speaks of tangent (u mbr a vers a)
.
and cotangen t
(u mbr a r ecta)and to John M au di th Even earlier in the twelf th
,
.
, ,
century the u mbra versa and u mbr a r ecta are used in a translation from
,
Arabic into Latin e ff ected by Gerard of Cremona of the Tol edian

, ,
Tables of Al Z ark ali who lived in Toledo about 1 0 80 Regiomontanus

-
, .
was the author of an arithm etic and also of a co mplete treatise on

trigonom etry containing solutions of both plane and spherical tri
,
angles So m e innovations in trigonom etry formerly attributed to

.
,
Regiomontanus are now known to have been introduced by th e Arabs

,
before him Nevertheless m uch credit is due to hi m His complete

.
,
.
-
m astery of astronom y and m athematics and his enthusiasm for them , ,
were of far reaching influence throughout Germ any So great was his
-
.
reputation that P ope Six tus I V call ed him to I taly to improve the
,
calendar Regiomontanus left his beloved city of N ii rn b erg for Rom e

.
,
where he died in the following year .
A fter the tim e of P e u rbach and Regio— montanus

— trig onom etry and -
0 0
,
e calculation of tables c ofit in u edl t o occupy Germ an schol

0
e sp e i
g al y
l t
‘
h
” g.
-"
ars M ore refined as tron omi c ar ifl s t rm en t s were made which gave

“ n o o
.
,
observations of greater precision ; but these would have been useless

without trigonometrical tables of correspon ding accuracy Of the sev .
eral tables calculated that by Georg J oachi m of Feldkirch in Tyrol gen

—
e ti c u s ( 1 5 1 4 1 5 6 7 )
”
, ,
e ral l y called Rh a deserves special m ention He cal

”
.
c u l a t e d a table of S ines with the radius = and from 1 0

to 1 0 and later on another with the radius =
, ,
"
and proceeding fro m 1 0 to He began also the construction of
tables of tangents and secants to be carried to the sam e degree of ,
accuracy ; but he died before finishing them For twelve years he had .
had in continual e mploym ent several calculators The work was c om .
pl e t ed in 1 5 96 by his pupil Val e n ti n e O th o ( 1 5 50 ? This was

—
,
indeed a gigantic work a monument of Germ an d iligence and in de ,
fatigable perseverance The tables were rep ubl i shed in 1 6 1 3 by B ar

th ol o alu s P ti c s £1 56 1 1 6 1 3 )—
.
m i of Heidelberg who spared no pains

'
s u ,
”
'
to free theri ifi eiiY ors P itiscus was perhaps the first to use the word
'
“
trigonometry Astronomical tables of so great a degree of accu
.
racy had never been dream ed of by the Greeks Hindus or Arabs , ,

.
That Rhaet ic u s was not a ready calculator only is indicated by h i s ,
views on trigonometrical lines Up to his ti me the trigonometric .

,
functions had been considered always with relation to the arc ; he was
the first to construct the right triangle and to make the m depend d i
re c tl y upon its angles It was fro m the right triangle that Rhee ti c u s
.
got his idea of calculating the hyp otenuse ; i e he was the first to plan . .
O F M ATHE M ATICS
'
1 34 A HISTORY
22 d . Each contestant proposed thirty problems The one who could .
solve th e greatest num ber within fifty days should be the victor Tar .
taglia solved the thirty proble ms proposed by Floridas in two hours ;

Floridas could not solve any of Tartaglia s From now on Tartaglia ’
.
,
studied cubic equations with a will In 1 54 1 he discovered a general .
2= t
solution for the cubic x px3i
o by transfor ming it into the for m ,
x
3i
The news of Tartaglia s victory spread all over Italy ’
.
Tartaglia was entreated to m ake known his m ethod but he declined ,
to do so saying that after his completion of the translation from the

,
Greek of Euclid and Archimedes he would publish a large al gebra ,
containing his m ethod B ut a scholar from M ilan nam ed H i e r oni mo

.
,
C ar d an o ( 1 50 1 after many solicitations and after giving the ,
most solemn and sacred pro mises of secrecy succeeded in obtaining ,
from Tartaglia a knowle dge of his rules Cardan was a singular mix .
ture of genius folly self conceit and mysticism He was successively

, ,
-
.
professor of m a them atics and m edicine at M ilan P avia and Bologna , ,
In 1 5 70 he was imprisoned for debt Later he went to Rom e was .

,
admitted to the college of physicians and was pensioned by the pope .
At this tim e Cardan was writing his A r s M agn a and he knew no ,
better way to crown his work than by inserting the m uch sought for
rules for solving cubics Thus Card an broke his m ost solem n vows
.
,
and publi shed i n 1 54 5 in his A r s M agn a Tartaglia s solution of cubics

”
’
.
However Cardan did cred i t his friend Tartaglia with the discov ery
,
of the rule Nevertheless Tartagl i a beca m e d esperate His most

.
, .
cherishe d hope of giving to the world an imm ortal work which should
,
be the m onum ent of his deep learning and power for original research ,
was suddenly d estroyed ; for the crow n intended for hi s work had
been snatched away His first step was to write a history of his i n
.
v e n t i on ; but to completely annih ilate his enem ies he challenged

, ,
Cardan and his pupil Lodovico Ferrari to a contest : each party

S hould propose thirty one questions to be solved by the other within
-
fifteen days Tartaglia solved most questions in seven days but the
.
,
other party did not send in their solutions before the expiration of th e
fifth m onth ; m oreover all their so l utions except one were wrong A
, .
replication and a rejoinder followed Endless were the problem s pro .
pose d and sol v ed on both sides The dispute produce d m uch chagrin .
and heart burnings to the parties and to Tartaglia especially who

-
, ,
m e t with m any other d isappoint m ents After having reco v ere d hi m .
self again Tartaglia began in 1 556 the publ i cation of the work which
, , ,
he had h ad in hi s m in d for so long ; but he die d before he reached the

consideration of cubic equations Thus the fon dest wish of his life r e
m ained unfulfilled H O W mu c h c r e di t for the algebraic solution of the
’
general cubic I S due to Tartaglia an d how m uch to D el Ferro it is now

impossible to ascertain d efinitely D el Ferro s researches were ne v er .
’
publ i she d and were lost We k now of the m only through the rem arks
.
of Car dan and his pupil L Ferrari who say that Del Ferro s an d Tar .
’
THE RENAISSAN CE 135
t ag l i a methods
were alike Certain it is that the customary des ig
”
’
s .
“
nation Cardan s soluti on of the cubic ascribes to Cardan what
,
’
belongs to one or the other of his predecessors .
Remarkable is the great interest that the solution of cubics excited

throughout I taly I t is but natural that after this great conquest
.
mathe maticians S hould attack b i quadratic equations A S in the case -

.
of cubics so here the first impulse was given by Colla who in 1 540
, , , , ,
proposed for solution the equation x + 6 x + 3 6 = 6 0 x To be sure

4 2
.
,
Cardan had studied particular cases as early as 1 539 Thus he solved .
the equation 1 3x x + 2 x + 2 x+ 1 by a process similar to that em

2 4 3
ployed by D iophantus and the Hindus ; nam ely by adding to both ,
S ides 3 x and thereby rendering both nu m bers co mplete squares

2
B ut .
Cardan failed to find a general solution ; it re mained for his pupil

Lo dovi c o Ferrari ( 1 5 2 2 —1 56 5 )of B ologna to make the brilliant di s
c o ve ry of the general solution of bi quadratic equations Ferrari re
2— 2 =
-
d u c ed Colla s equation to the form (x l 6 ) 6 0 x+ 6 x

.
’ 2
In order to .
give also the right m ember the form of a co mplete square he added to
both members the expression containing a new u n
known quantity y This gave him 2 y)
2
x + 6 0 x+
——
( 1 2y l y )The condition that the right m e mber be a complete square
.
is expressed by the cubic equation ( 2 y+ 6 ) ( 1 2y+ y )90 0 Ex tract

.
2 =
.
—
ing the square root of the bi quadratic he got x + 6 + y= x xf 2y+ 6
2
,
Solving the cubic for y and substituting it remained ,
only to determine x from the resulting quadratic L Ferrari pursued . .
a similar m ethod with other nu merical b i quadratic equations Car 1 -

.
dan ha d the pleasure of publishing this discovery in his A rs M agn a

'
in 1 54 5 Ferrari s solution is som etim es ascribed to R B ombel l i but

.
’
.
,
he is no m ore the discoverer of it than Cardan is of the solution called

by his name .
To Cardan algebra I s m uch indebted Inhis A rs M agn a he takes .
notice of negative roots of an equation calling them fi cti ti ou s while , ,
the positive roots ar e called real He paid some attention to compu .
t a t i o n s involving the square root of negative nu mbers but failed ,
to recogni z e i maginary roots Cardan also observed the diffi culty .
in the irre d ucible case i n the cubics which l ike th e quadrature of the
”
, ,
circle has S ince so m uch torm ented the perverse ingenuity of m athe
,
“
m aticians B ut he di d not un derstan d i ts nature It rem aine d for

. .
Raph a e l B omb ell i of B ologna who published in 1 5 7 2 an algebra of,
great m erit to point out the reality of the apparently imaginary ex

,
pression which a root assu mes also to assig n i ts value when rational
‘
, , ,
and thus to lay the foundation of a more intim ate knowledge of imagi
nary quantities Cardan was an inveterate gambler In 1 6 6 3 there
. .
was published posthu mously his gambler s m anual De l u do al ece ’

, ,
1
H H an k el ,
. op ci t . .
, p 36 8
. .
which conta ins discussions relating to the chances favorable for throw
ing a particular nu mber with two dice and also with three dice Car .
dan considered another problem in probabilities S tated in general .
terms the problem is :What is the proper div ision of a stake between
,
two players if the gam e is interrup ted and one player has taken s 1
,
points the o ther s z points s points being required to win Cardan

,
1
,
.
gives the ratio ( 1 + 2 + + [s 2+ + [s Tar taglia

gives (s + s l —s 2) /( + 2 s
s s
— B oth of these answers are wrong Car
”
.
dan considered also what later became know n as the f P eter sbu rg ‘
p roblem .
After the brilliant success in solving equations of th e third and

fourth degrees there was probably no one who doubted that wi th
, ,
aid of irrationals of hi gher degrees the solution of equations of any ,
degree whatever could be found B ut all atte mpts at the algebraic .
solution of the quintic were fruitless and finally Abel demonstrated , , ,
that all hopes of finding algebraic solutions to equations of higher

than the fourth degree were purely Utopian .
Since no solution by radicals of equations of higher degrees co uld

be found there rem ained nothing else to be done than the d evising of
,
processes by which the real roots of nu merical equations could be

found by approximation The Chinese m ethod used by them as early .
as the thirteenth century w as unknown in the Occid ent We have .
seen that in the early part of the thirteenth century Leonardo of P isa
solved a cubic to a high degree of approxi mation but we are ignorant ,
of his m ethod The earliest known process in the Occident of ap

.
p ro ach i n g to a root of an a ffected nu m erical equation was invented by

Nicolas Chu q u e t who in 1 4 84 at Lyons w rote a work of high rank
, , , ,
entitled L e tri party en l a sci en ce des n ombr es It was not printed until .
If then C hu q u e t takes the interm ediate value

it;
as a closer approxim ation to the root x He finds a series of successive .
interme di ate values We stated earlier that in 1 4 98 the Arabic writer

.
M iram Chelebi gave a method of solv ing x + Q = P x which he attrib

3
utes to A tab eddi n J amshid This cubic arose in the computation of .
x = S In
The earl iest printed m ethod of approxim ation to the roots of af
f ec t ed equations is that of Cardan who gave it in the A rs M agn a
”
, ,
1 54 5 under the title of r egu l a au r ea

,
It is a skilful application of .
the rule of false position and is applicable to equations of any de

“
,
gree This m ode of approxim ation was exceedingly rough yet this
.
,
fact hardly explains why Clavius S te v in and Vieta did not refer to it , .
1
M C an tor , I I Au fl , 1 900 , pp 50 1 , 5 2 0 , 5 3 7
—
.
,
2 . . .
2
P ri n t ed i n t h e B u l l eti n o B on compagn i , T xii i , 1 880 ; see pp 6 5 3 6 5 4 S ee a l so
”
. .
A H i s t o ry of t he A ri t hme t i cal M e t ho d s o f A pp ro xima t io n to the

“
F C aj o ri ,
.
Roo t s of N u meri c al Eq u a t i o n s o f o n e U n k n ow n Q uan ti ty i n C ol or ado Col l eg e

P u bl i cati on , G en eral S eri es N os 5 1 an d 5 2 , 1 9 1 0 . .
also to goniom etry de v eloping such relations as sin a = sin
,
‘
a )
—sm ( 6 0 a )csc ° a
—ctn a + cs c a = t a n
,
—w 1th
a .
th e
2
aid of whi ch he could compute from the functions of angles below

3 0 or 4 th e functions of the re maining angles below essentially
°
by addition and subtraction alone Vieta is the first to apply alge .
braie transformation to trigonometry particularly to the m ultisection ,
of angles Letting 2 cos a = x he expresses cos n a as a function of x

.
,
2x
”
for all integers n < 1 1 ; letting 2 sin a = x and 2 S in 2 a = y he expresses
2
s i n n a in ter m s of x and y
‘ “
Vieta exclaims : Thus the analysis .
,
of angular sections involves geom etric and arithm etic secrets which
hitherto have been penetrated by no one .
”
An ambassador fro m Netherlands once told Henry IV that France
did not possess a S ingle geom eter capable of sol v ing a problem pro
pounded to geo meters by a B el gian mathe m atician A dri an u s R o ,
m anus I t was the solution of the equation of the forty fif th degree

.
-
— 3
4 sr 3 7 95y + 95 6 34y
5
+ o4 sy
11 43
4 5y + r
45 =
C
‘
-
Henry IV called Vieta who having al ready pursued S i m ilar inv esti
, ,
g a t i o n s saw at once that this awe inspiring proble m was simply the
-
,
equation by which C 2 S i n cl)was expressed in terms of y = 2 si nf g d);

that S ince 4 5 = 3 it was necessary only to di v ide an angle once
—
.
,
into 5 equal parts and then twice into 3 a division which could be
, ,
efl ec t ed by corresponding equations of the fifth and third degrees .
Bril liant was the discovery by Vieta of 2 3 roots to this equation i n ,
stead of only one The reason why he did not find 4 5 solutions is
.
,
that the remaining ones involve negative S ines which were u n in tel ,
ligible to him D etailed investigations on the famous old problem

.
Of the section of an angle into an odd nu mber of equal parts led Vieta ,
to the discovery of a trigonom etrical solution of Cardan s irreducible ’
case in cubics He appl ied the equation ( 2

.
—
cos q5) 3 3
2 c os qS to the solution of x when 3b by placing x

3 2 = 2
3 a x a 6 a > , ,
2a and determining q rom b= 2 a c os qb .
The m ain principle e mployed by him in the solution of equations

is that of r edu cti on He solves the quadratic by making a suitable
.
substitution which will rem ove the term containing x to the first de
gree Like Cardan he reduces the general expression of the cubic to
— z )z and su b s ti
,
.
the form then assu m ing z
G— 3
,
tut ing he gets z bz P utting z y he has a quadratic

3=
In the solut i on of b i—
, , .
qua d ratics Vieta still re m ai ns true to his principle

,
of reduction This giv es hi m the well known cubic resolvent He

.
-
.
thus a dheres throughout to his fav orite principle and thereby i n ,
t ro du c e s into algebra a un i fo rm ity of m etho d which clai m s our lively

a dmiration In V i eta s a l gebra we d iscov er a partial knowl e dge of
.
’
the relations existing between the c oefli c i en ts and the roots of an equa
TH E RENAISSANCE 1 39
tion He S hows that if the coeffi cient of the second term in an equa
.
tion of the second degree is minus the su m of two nu mbers whose

product is the third term then the two nu mbers are roots of the equa ,
tion Vieta rej ected all except positi v e roots ; hence it was impossible
.
for him to fully perceive the relations in question .
The most epoch m aking innovation in algebra due to Vieta is the -
denoting of general or indefinite quantities by letters of the alphabet .
To be sure Regiom ontanus and S tifel in Germany and Cardan in

, ,
Italy used letters before him but Vieta extended the idea and first
, ,
m ade it an essential part of algebra The new algebra was called by .
hi m l ogi s ti ca s peci os a in distinction to the old l ogi s ti ca n u merosa .
Vieta s form alism diff ered consid erably from that of to day The
’
-
.
equation was written by him a c u bus

”
“
+ 6 i n a quadr 3 + a in b quadr cubo aeq u al ia a + b cubo

. In . .
num erical equations the unknown quantity was denoted by N its ,
square by Q and its cube by C Thus the equation x 8 x + 1 6 x = 403 2
—
, .
was written 1 C 8 O+ I 6 N ( equ al 40 Vieta use d the term c o . .

“
effi c i en t
1
but it was little used before the close of the seventeenth
,
century So metimes he uses also the term polynom ial

.
“
Observe .
”
that exponents and our symbol for equality were not yet in use ;
but that Vieta employed the M altese cross as the short hand -
symbol for a ddition and the for subtraction These two Char ,
.
”
a c t e r s had not bee n in very general use before the ti m e of Vieta It “
.
“
is very s ingular says Hallam that discoveries of the greatest con
, ,
v e n i e n ce and apparently not above the ingenuity of a village school

, , ,
m aster S hould hav e been overlooked by men of extraor dinary acute

,
nes s lik e Tartaglia Cardan and L Ferrari ; and har dly less so that by
’
, ,
.
, ,
d int of that acuteness they dispensed with the aid of these c on t ri v ,
pressio n consists ”
ane c s in which we suppose that so much of the utility of algebraic ex
Ev en after improvements in notat i on were once
.
proposed it was with extre m e slowness that they were admitted into
,
general use They were m ade oftener by accident than design and
.
,
their authors had little notion of the effect of the Change which they
were m aking The intro duction of the and . symbols seem s to be
du e to the Germ ans who although t h ey d i d not enrich algebra d u r , ,
ing the Renaissance with great inventions as did the Italians still cul , ,
ti v at ed it with great z eal The arith m etic of Joh n Wi dmann brought .

,
out in 1 48 9 in Leip z ig is the earliest printed book in wh i ch the and ,
-
symbols have been found The sign is not restricted by hi m to
ordinary addition ; it has the more general m eaning e t or and “
.
”
as in the heading regula au g m en t i decrem enti The S ign is
”
“
.
,
used to indicate subtraction but not regular ly so The word plus “

,
.
d oes not occur in Wi dm an n s text ; the word m inus is use d only two
“ ’
or three t imes The symbols an d .are use d regularly for ad d i

1
Encycl oped i c des s c i en ces mathémal i q u es , Tome I , V ol . 2 , 1 90 7 , p . 2.
1 40 A HISTORY OF M ATHE M ATI CS
tion and subtraction in in the arithm etic of Gr ammateu s
(Heinrich Schreiber died I 5 2 5 )
, ,
a teacher at the University of Vienna

, .
His pupil Ch ri s tofi Ru dol fl the writer of the first text book on algebra
, ,
-
in the German language (printed in e mploys these symbols also .
So did S tifel who brought out a second edition of R u dol fl s C oss in

,
’
1 553 Thus by slow degrees their adoption became universal Sev

.
, ,
.
eral independent p aleographic studies of Latin m anuscripts of the

fourteenth and fifteenth centuries m ake it alm ost certain that the
S ign comes from the Latin et as it was cursively written in m anu ,
scripts j ust before the time of the i nvention of printing The ori 2
.
gin of the S ig n is still uncertain There is another short hand .

-
symbol of which we ow e the origin to the Germans In a manu .
script published sometim e i n the fifteenth century a dot placed ,
before a num ber is m ade to signify the extractio n of a root of

that n umber This dot is the e mbryo of our present symbol for the
.
“
square root Christoff R u dolff in his algebra re marks that the
.
”
, ,
radix quadrata is for brevity designated in his algorithm wi th the, ,
character w/ as V4 Here the dot has grown into a symbol m uch

.
like our own This sam e symbol was used by M i chael S tif el Our
—
. .
S i g n of equality is due to Rob e rt R e c or d e ( 1 5 1 0 1 5 the author of

The Whets ton e of Wi tte ( I 5 which is the first E nglish treatise on
algebra He selected this symbol because no two things could be
.
m ore equal than two parallel lines The S ign for division was
first used by Johan n H ei nri ch Rahn a Swiss in his Teu tsche A l gebr a , , ,
Zurich 1 6 59 and was introduced in England through Thom as

, ,
B ran ck e r s translation of Rahn s book London 1 668

’ ’
.
, ,
M i ch ae l S ti f e l ( 1 4 86 P the greatest German algebraist of the

sixteenth century was born in Esslinge n and died i n Jena He was
, ,
.
educated in the monastery of his native place and afterwards be ,
came P rotestant m inister The study of the S ignificance of m ystic .
numbers in Revelation and in Daniel drew him to m athe matics He .
studied Germ an and I talian works and publishe d in 1 544 in Latin , , ,
a book entitled A ri thmeti ca i ntegr a M elanchthon wrote a preface to .
it Its three parts treat respectively of rational nu mbers irrational

.
,
numbers and algebra S tifel gives a table containing the nu merical

, .
values of the binomial coeffi cients for powers below the 1 8 th He ob .
serves an advantage in letting a geom etric progression correspond to

an arithmetical progression and arriv es at the designation of integral ,
powers by numbers Here are the germ s of the theory of expone n ts .
and of logarith ms In 1 54 5 S t ifel published an arithm etic in German

. .
His edition of R u dol ff s C oss contains rules for solving cubic equations ’
,
d erived from the writings of Cardan .
1
G En est m i n B i bl i th ca m th m ti
. ro 3 S V l 9 9 8 —9 pp
—
55 5 7 ;
o e a e a ca , . .
, o .
,
1 0 0 ,
. 1 1
V ol . 1 4, 1914 , p . 2 78 .
For re fe re n ces see M

2
. C a n tor , o p . ci t .
,
V o l I I, . 2 . Ed .
,
1 9 00 , p . 23 1 ; J . Tr op fk e,
op ci t , Vol I , 1 90 2 , pp
. . . . 1 3 3 , 1 34 .
century From the notes of P appus he attempted to restore the miss
.
,
ing fifth book of Apollonius on maxi ma and mi ni ma His Chief work is .
his m asterly and original treat ment of the conic sections wherein he ,
discusses tangents and asymptotes m ore fully than Apollonius had

done and applies them to various physical and astronom ical problems
,
.
To M au rol yc u s has been ascribed also the discov ery of the inference
by mathematical induction I t occurs in his introduction to his Opu s
1
.
cu l a ma thema ti ca Venice 1 575 Later m athematical induction was

, ,
.
,
used by P ascal in his Tr ai l e du tr i angl e ari thméti qu e P rocesses

akin to m athematical induction som e of which would yield the mod ,
ern m athematical induction by introducing som e S light change in the

mode of presentation or in the point of view were given before M au
Gi ovan ni C a mpa n o (latini z ed for m Cam panus )
,
r ol yc us . of Novara ,
in Italy in his edition of Euclid

,
proves the irrationality of the
golden section by a recurrent m ode of inferen ce resulting in a reductio
ad absurdum B ut he does not descend by a regular progression from n
.
to n 1 n 2 etc but leaps irregularly over perhaps sev eral integers

, ,
.
, , ,
.
Campano s process was used later by F erma t A recurrent mo de of

”
'
’
.
inference is found in B hask ara s cyclic m ethod of solving inde

“ ’
term inate equations i n Theon of S myrna (about 1 30 A D ) ,

and in . .
P ro c l u s s process for finding nu m bers representing the sides and di

’
a g on al s of squares ; i t is found in Euclid s proof (E l emen ts IX 2 0 ) that ’

,
the nu mber of prim es is infinite .
2
The foremost geom etrician of P ortugal was P e d r o N u n e s ( 1 50 2
1 5 7 8) or N on i u s He showed that a ship sailing so as to m ake equal
.
angles with the m eri dians does not travel in a straight line nor usually
”
,
along the arc of a great circle but describes a path called the l oxo ,
d rom ic cur v e Nunes invented the nonius and described it i n

“
.
his De cr epu scu l i s Lisbon 1 54 2 I t consists in the juxtapositio n of

, ,
.
equal arcs one a re di v i ded into m equal parts and the other into m+ 1
,
”
equal parts Nonius took m = 8 9 The instrum ent is also called
.
a vernier after the French m an P i erre Ver n i er who r e invente d it

“
,
.
,
-
in 1 6 3 1 The forem ost French m athem atician before Vieta was P e te r

.
Ramu s ( 1 5 1 5 who perished in the m assacre of S t B artholom ew . .
Vi eta possessed great fam iliarity with ancient geom etry The n ew .
form which he gave to algebra by representing general quantities by ,
letters enabled him to point out m ore easily how the construction of
,
.
the roots of cubics depended upon the celebrated ancient problem s of

the duplication of the cube and the trisection of an angle He reached .
the interesting conclusion that the former problem includes the solu
tions of all cubics in which the radical in Tartaglia s form ula is real ’
,
but that the latter problem includes o nly those leading to the i rredu
cible case .
G V acca i n B ull eti n A m M ath S oci ety, 2 S , V ol

1 16, 1 909 , p 70 S ee al so
F C aj o ri i n V ol 1 5 , pp 40 7 —
. . . . . . . .
1 .
40 9 . . .
2
S e e R G ui mar ae s, P ed ro N u n es , C oi mp r e, 1 9 1 5
. .
THE RENAISSANCE 1 43
The problem of the quadrature of the circle was revived in this age ,
and was z ealously studied eve n by men of e minence and m athematical

ability The ar my of circ l e squarers becam e most formidable q ing
.
-
the seventeenth century A mong the first to revive this problem was
.
the Germ an Cardinal N i c ol au s Cu san u s ( 1 40 1 who had the

reputation of being a great logician His fallacies were expose d to .
full view by Regio montanus A S in this case so in others e v ery quad .

, ,
rator of note raised up an opposing mathematician : O ron c e Fine was

‘
m et by Jean B uteo ( c 1 49 2 1 57 2 ) — and P Nunes ; Joseph Scaliger by

. .
Vieta A drian u s Romanus and Cla v ius ; a Qu erc u by Adriaen A n

, ,
thon i sz ( 1 5 2 7 Two mathem aticians of Netherlands Adri anu s

Roman u s ( 1 56 1 —1 6 1 5)
,
and Lu d ol ph van Geu l e u ( 1 540 oce n

pie d themsel v es with appro xi mating to the ratio between the circumfer
ence and the diam eter The form er carried the value 71 to 1 5 the lat
.
,
”
ter to 3 5 p l aces The value of 7r is t herefore often nam ed L u dolph s “ ’
.
,
nu mber His performance was considered so e xtraordinary that the

nu mbers were cut on his to mb stone ( now lost )
.
,
in S t P eter s church -
.
’
yard at Leyden These m en had used the A rch imedian m ethod of

,
.
i n and C ircu m S cribed polygons a m ethod refined in 1 6 2 1 by Wi l l e

-
brord S n el l i u s ( 1 5 80 —1 6 2 6 )
,
who showed how narrower limits m ay be

obtained for 71 without increasing the nu mber of S ides of the poly
gon s Snellius used two theore ms equivalent to 1 ( 2 sin 6 tan 0)
. A 94
csc 0+ cot The greatest refinem ents in the use of the geo
metrical m ethod of Archi m edes were reached by C Huyghens in his .
De ci r cu l i magn i tudi n e i n ven ta 1 6 54 and by J am e s G r e g or y ( 1 6 3 8

, ,
167 professor at S t Andre w s and Edinburgh in his E xer ci tati on es

.
,
geometri cae 1 668 and Ver a ci r cu l i et hyper bol a e q u adr a tu r a 1 6 6 7

, , ,
.
Gregory gave s everal form ulas for approximating to 71 and in the

second of these publications bol dly attem pted to prov e by the Ar
c hi m e dean algorith m that the quadrature of the circle is i mpossible .
Huyghens S howed that Gregory s proof is not conclusive although ’

,
he himself believed that the quadrature is impossible Other attempts .
to prove this impossib i lity were m ade by Thom as Fau ta t D e Lagny

—
( 1 6 6 0 1 734) ,
—
of P aris in 1 7 2 7 Joseph Saurin ( 1 6 59 1 7 3 7) in 1 7 2 0
, ,
Isaac Newton in his P ri n ci pi a I 6 lemm a 2 8 E Waring L Euler , , , .

,
.
,
1 77 1
That these proofs w ould lack rigor was al most to be expected as ,
long as no distinction was made between algebraical and t ran sc en

dental nu mbers .
The earliest explicit expression for i r by an infinite nu mber of op

e ra ti on s was found by Vieta Considering regular polygons of 4 8 .
, ,
16 ,
sides inscribed in a circle of unit r adi us he found that the
, ,
area of the circle i s

from which we obtain
W I
which may be derived from Euler s formul a ’ 1
1
x/i
2
« 5
S in 0
cos 9/4 C05 0/8
c 0 5 9/2
As m entioned earlier it was Adri anu s Roman u s ( 1 56 1— 1 6 1 5) of L ou

vain who propounded for solution that equation of the forty—
,
fif t h d egree
solved by Vieta On receiving Vieta s solution he at once departed for
.
’
,
P aris to m ake his acquaintance with so great a master Vieta proposed

, .
to him the Apollonian problem to draw a circle touching three given ,

“
circles Adri an u s Rom anus solved the proble m by the intersection of
.
two hyperbolas but this solution did not possess the rigor of the ancient
geom etry Vieta caused him to see this and then in his turn pre
.
sented a solution which had all the rigor desirable 2

Rom anus
, ,
.
” ,
did m uch toward S implifying spherical trigonom etry by reducing by ,
means of certain proj ections the 2 8 cases in triangles then considered,
to only six .
M ention m ust here be m ade of the i mprovem ents of the J ulian

cal endar The yearly determination of the movable feasts had for
.
a long tim e been connected with an untold am ount of confusion The .
rapid progress of astronomy led to the consideration of this subject ,
and many new calenda rs were proposed P ope Gregory XIII con .
v ok ed a large nu mber of m athe m aticians astrono m ers and prelates , , ,
who decided upon th e adoption of the calendar proposed by the Jesuit

C h r i s top ho ru s C l av iu s ( 53 7 1 6 1 2 )
1
— of Rom e To rectify the errors of .
the Julian calendar it was agreed to write in the new calendar the 1 5 th
of October imm e diately after the 4 th of October of the year 1 58 2 .
The Gregorian calen dar m e t with a great deal of opposition both

among scientists and a mong P rotestants Clavius who ranked high .
,
as a geom eter m e t the obj ections of the form er m ost ably and eff ec
,
ti v el y ; the prejudices of the latter passed away with ti m e .
The passion for the study of mystical properties of nu mbers de

scended fro m the ancients to the moderns M uch was written on .
numerical m ysticism even by such e minent men as P ac i ol i and Stifel .
The N u mer oru m M ysteri a of P eter B ungus covered 70 0 q uarto pages .
He worked wi th great industry and satisfaction on 6 66 which is the ,
number of the beast in Revelation (xiii the sym bol of Antichrist ,

.
He reduced the nam e of the i mpious M artin Luther to a form whi ch _
may express this form idable number P lacing a = 1 b = 2 etc k = 1 0

.
, ,
.
, ,
l 2 0 etc he finds after m isspelling the name that M

,
.
, , ,
constitutes the number required .
These attacks on the great reform er were not unprovoked for his ,
1
E . W H ob son , S q u ari ng the Ci rcl e, C amb r idg e , 1 9 1 3 , pp 2 6 , 2 7 , 3 1
. . .
Q ue t el e t , Hi stoi r e des S ci ences mathémati qu es cl phys i q u es chez l es B el ges

2
A . .
B ru xel l es , 1 86 4 , p . 1 37.
now began to blossom Cardinal Richelieu during the reign of Louis
.
,
XIII pursued the broad policy of n o t favoring th e opinions of any

,
sect but of pro moting the interests of the nation His age was re
, .
m arkable for the progress of knowle dge It produced that great secu .
lar literature the counterpart of which was found in England in the

,
S ixteenth century The seventeenth century was m ade illustrious

.
also by the great French mathe maticians Roberval D escartes D es , , ,
argues F erma t and P ascal

, , .
M ore gloomy is the picture in Ger many The great changes which .
revolutioni z ed the world in the S ixteenth century and which led Eng ,
land to national greatness led Germ any to degradation The first , .
e ffects of the Reform ation there were salutary At the close of the .
fifteenth an d during the sixteenth century Germany had been con ,
spi cu ous for her scientific pursuits She had been a leader in as .
t ro n omy and trigono metry Algebra also excep t ing for the disco v eries.
,
in cubic equations was before the ti me of Vieta in a m ore a dvanced

, , ,
state there than elsewhere B ut at the beginning of the seventeenth .
century when the sun of science began to rise in France it set in Ger
, ,
m any Theologic disputes and religious strife ensued The Thirty

Years War ( 1 6 1 8—1 64 8 )
. .
’
proved ruinous The German e mpire was .
S hattered and beca m e a m ere lax confederation of petty despotis m s

, .
Co mmerce was d estroye d ; national feeling died out Art disappeared .

,
and in literature there was only a sl avish i mitation of French arti

fi c i ali ty Nor di d Ger m any recover fro m this low state for 2 0 0 years ;
.
for in 1 7 56 began another stru ggle the Seven Years War which ,
’
,
turned P russia into a wasted l and Thus i t followed that at the b e .
ginn i ng of the seventeenth century the great Kepler was the only ,
German mathe matician of e m inence and that in the interval of 2 00 ,
years between Kepler and Ga uss there arose no great mathematician ,
in Germany excepting Leibniz .
Up to the sev enteenth century mathe matics was cul tivated but l ittle ,
in Great Britain D uring the sixteenth century she brought forth

.
,
no mathe m atician comparable with Vieta S tifel or Tartaglia B ut , ,

.
with the tim e of Recorde the English becam e conspicuous for nu meri ,
cal S kil l The first i mportant arith metical work of English authorship
.
was published in Latin in 1 5 2 2 by Cu thb e rt Ton s tal l ( 1 4 74 He

h ad stu d ied at Oxfor d Ca mbri dge and P a dua and dre w freely fro m
, , ,
the works of P a c i ol i and Regiomontanus Reprints of his arith metic .
appeared in England and France After Recorde the higher branches .
of mathematics began to be stu died Later Scotland brought forth .

,
John Napier the inventor of logarith m s The instantaneous app re

,
.
c i a t i on of their value is d oubtless the result of superiority in calcula
tion In Italy and especially in France geo metry which for a l ong
.
, , ,
ti me had been an al most stationary science began to be studied with ,
success Galileo To rri c el l i Roberval F e rma t Desargues P ascal

.
, , , , , ,
Descartes a nd the English Wallis are the great revoluti oners of thi s
,
VIETA TO D ES CARTES 1 47
science Theoretical mechanics began to be studied The foundations

. .
were laid by F erma t and P ascal for the theory of numbers and the
theory of probability .
We S hall first consider the i mprovements made in the a r t of c al c u

lating The nations of antiquity experimented thousands of years
.
“ ”
upon numeral notations before they happened to stri ke upon the so
called Arabic notation In the si mple expedient of the cipher
.
,
which was perm anently introduced by the Hindus mathe matics re

”
,
c ei v ed one of the m ost powerful im pulses I t would see m that after .
the Arabic notation was once thoroughly understood decim al

“
,
fractions would occur a t once as an obvious extension of it B ut it .

“
is curious to think how m uch science had attempted in _ physical re

search and how deeply nu mbers had been pondered before it was per
c ei v e d that the all —
,
powerful simplicity of the Arabic notation was as ‘ ’
1 ”
valuable and as m anageable in an infi nitely descending as in an i n
finitely ascending progression Simple as decim al fractions ap
.
pear to us the inv ention of them is not the result of one mind or even
,
of one age They came into use by al m ost imperceptib l e degrees The
. .
first m athematicians identified with their history did not perceive

their true nature and i mportance and failed to invent a suitable no,
t a ti on . The idea of decim al fractio ns m akes its first appearance in

methods for appro xi mating to the square roots of nu mbers Thus .
John of Seville presu mably in imitation of Hindu rules adds 2 n ci

, ,
p h e r s to the nu m ber t h en finds the square root and takes this as the
, ,
nu merator of a fraction whose deno minator is 1 followed by n ciphers .
The same method was followed by C ardan but it failed to be generally ,
adopted even by his Italian contemporaries ; for otherwise it would

certainly have been at least mentioned by P i etr o C a taldi ( died 1 6 2 6 )
in a work devoted exclusively to the extraction of roots Cataldi .
,
and before him Bombelli in 1 5 7 2 find the square root by m eans of ,
continued fractions— a m ethod ingenious and novel but for p ractical

purposes inferior to Cardan s Or once Fi ne ( 1 4 94—1 55 5)
,
’
in France
( called al so O ron ti u s F i n aeu s)and Wil l i am B u c k l e y ( died about
.
1 550 )
,
,
in England extracted the square root in the sa m e way as

Cardan and John of Seville The invention of decim als has been
.
frequently attributed to Regiom ontanus on the ground that i n ,
stead O f placing the sinus to t u S in trigonometry equal to a m ultiple

, ,
of 6 0 like the Greeks he put i t = 1 0 0 o oo B ut here the t rig o n ome t

, , , .
r i cal lines were e xpressed in i n teg er s and not in fractions Though

, .
he adopted a decim al division of the rad ius he and his successors ,
d id not app l y the idea outside of tr i gono m etry an d indeed had no , ,
notion whatever of d eci mal f r acti on s To S i mo n S tevi n ( 1 548

1 6 20)
.
of Bruges in Belgiu m a m an who did a great d eal of work in

,
most d iverse fields of science we owe the first system atic treat m ent of
d ecim al fractions In his L a Di s me ( r 5 8 5)
,
. he describes in very express

1
M ark N api er , M emoi rs of J ohn N api er of M erchi ston . Edi n b u rg h, 1 8 34 .
terms the advantages not only of decimal fractions but also of the , ,
decimal division in systems of weights and measures

“
S tevin applied
the new fractions to all the operations of ordinary arithmetic 1
.
.
”
What he lacked was a suitable notation In place of our decimal point
‘
.
,
he used a cipher ; to each place in the fraction was attached the cor
responding index Thus i n his notation the nu mber . wo uld be , ,
0 1 2 3
or
59 1 2 These indices though cum brous in practice are , ,
of interest because they e mbody the notion of powers of nu mbers

,
Stevin considered also fractional powers He says that g placed “

.
” .
within a circle would mea n x / but he does not actually use his nota 2
3
,
tion This notion had been advanced m uch earlier b y O resme but
.
,
it had re mained unnoticed Stevin found the greatest common di .
visor of x +x and x + 7x + 6 by the process of continual division

3 2 2
,
thereby applying to polyno mials Euclid s mode of finding the greatest ’
comm on divisor of nu mbers as explained in B ook VII of his El emen ts , .
Stevin was enthusiastic not only over decimal f ractions but also over ,
the decimal div ision of weights and m easures He considered it the .
duty of gov ern ments to establish the latter He advocated the deci .
m al subdivisio n of the degree N 0 i mprove ment was made in the .
notation of deci mals till the beginning of the seventeenth century .
After Stevin decimals were used by J oos t B urg i ( 1 55 2

,
a Swiss
by birth who prepared a manuscript on arithmetic soon after 1 592 and
, ,
by Joh ann H art mann B ey er who assu mes the invention as his own , .
In 1 6 0 3 he published at Frankfurt on the M ain a L ogi sti ca Deci mali s

, .
Historians of m athe matics do not yet agree to whom the first intro
duction of the decim al point or c omma should be ascribed Among .
the candidates for the honor are P ell os B ii rg i P itiscus

( 1 60 8 ,
Kepler Napier ( 1 6 1 6 This divergence ,
of opinion is due m ainly to different standards of j udgm ent If the .
require ment m ade of candidates is not only that the decimal point or
co mma was actually used by them but that they must give evidence ,
that the numbers used were actually deci mal fractions that the point ,
or comma was with them not m erely a general symbol to indicate

a sepa ration that they must actually use the dec imal po int i n opera
,
tions including m ultiplication or div ision of deci mal fractions then ,
it would seem that the honor falls to John Napier who e xhibits such ,
use in his Rabdol ogi a 1 6 1 7 P erhaps Napier received the suggestion

,
.
for this notation from P itiscus who according to G En estrOm uses 2

,
.
,
the point in his Tr i gon ometri a of 1 60 8 and 1 6 1 2 not as a regular deci ,
mal point but as a more general S ign of separation N api er s decimal

’
.
,
point did not meet with i mm ediate adoption W Ou ghtred in 1 63 1 . .
designates the fraction 56 thus 0 | 56 Al ber t Gi r ard a pupil of S tevin , .

, ,
in 1 6 2 9 uses the point on one occasion J ohn Wal lis in 1 6 57 writes .
A Q ue tel e t p ci t p
1
.
58 ,
o . .
,
. 1 .
2
B i bl i otheca ma themati ca , 3 S . .
, Vo l 6 , . 1 90 5 , p . 1 09 .
1 50 A HISTORY OF M ATH E M ATICS
DE its logarithm We notice that as the m otion proceeds B C
.
,
decreases in geo metrical progression while DE increases In arith ,

7
m etical progression Let A B a 1 0 let x = DF y= B C then
= = .
, , ,
d ( a —y)
AC = a— y The velocity of the point C is
.
y; this gives
dt
—nat . log y = t+ c . When t= o , then y =a and c
—nat log . a . Again ,
dx
=a be the velocity of the point F, then x = at Substituting for
dt
.
7
t and c their values and reme mbering that a = 10 and that by defini
tion x = N ap log y we get
—
.
,
Nap log = 1 07 nat log

.
y .
y
I t is e v ident from this formula that Napier s logarithms are not the ’
sam e as the natural logarith m s N api e r s logarithm s increase as the ’
nu mber itself decreases He took the logarith mof sin

.
. i e . .
the logarith m of The logarith m of S i n or increased from z ero

as a decreased from Napier s genesis of logarith ms from the con ’
c ep ti on of two flowing points re m inds us of Newton s doctrine of

’
fl u xion S The relation between geo metric an d arith metical pr og res

.
sions so skilfully utiliz ed by Napier had been observed by Archi

, ,
m edes Stifel and others What was the base of Napier s system of
’
, .
,
“ ”
logarith m s ? To this we reply that not only did the notion of a
base nev er suggest itself to him but it is inapplicable to his ,
system This n ot io n deman ds that z ero be the logarithm of 1 ; in

'
7
Napier s syste m z ero is the logarith m of 1 0
’
,
Napier s great i n .
’
v en t i on was given to the world in 1 6 1 4 in a work entitled M i r ifi ci

l oga ri thmor u m ca non i s descri pti o In it he exp l ained the nature of .
his logarithm s and gave a logarith mic table of the natural S ines of
,
a quadrant fro m m inute to m inute In 1 6 1 9 appeared Napier s .

’
M i r ifi ci l ogar i thmor u m ca n on i s con s tr u cti o as a posthu m ous work i n , ,
which his m ethod of calculating logarith ms is explained An English .
translation of the Con s tru cti o by W R M acdonald appeared in ,

. .
,
Edinburgh in 1 88 9 ,
.
H e n ry B rigg s ( 1 556 in Napier s ti me professor of geometry ’
at Gresham College London , and afterwards professor at Oxford

, ,
was so struck with ad m iration of N apier s book that he left his studies ’
,
in Lon don to do ho mage to the Scottish ph ilosopher Briggs was de

”
.
layed in his journey and Napier complained to a comm on friend Ah

,
“
, ,
John M r Briggs will not com e

, . At that very mom ent knocks were .
heard at the gate and B riggs was brought into the lord s chamber
,
’
.
Alm ost one quarter of an hour was spent each beholding the other
-
,
w ithout speaking a word At last Briggs began : M y lord I have

“
.
,
undertaken this long j ourney purposely to see your person and to ,
know by what engine of wit or ingenuity you cam e first to think of

VIETA TO DES CARTES 1 51
this m ost excellent h elp in astrono my v iz the l ogarithm s ; but my , .

,
lord being by you foun d out I wonder nobody found it out before
, , ,
when now kno w n it is so easy B riggs suggested to Napier the ad .
vanta ge that would result fro m retaining z ero for the logarithm of the
whole sine but choosing 1 0 0 00 00 0 0 00 for the logarith m of the r o th
, , , ,
part of that same S ine i e of 5 44 Napier said that he had al

, . .
0
° ’
ready thought o i the change and he pointed out a slight i mprovem ent ,
on Briggs idea ; vi z that z ero

’
.
that of the whole

i s ti c of nu mbers greater than uni
gested by Briggs Briggs ad mitted .
invention of B r igg ian logarith ms occurred therefore to Briggs

“
, ,
-
and Napier indepen dently The great practical advantage of the n ew .
system was that its fun da mental progression was acco mm odated to
the base 1 0 of our nu merical scale B riggs d e v oted all his energies
, ,
.
to the construction of tables upon the new plan Nap ier died in 1 6 1 7 .
,
with the satisfaction of having found in Briggs an able fri en d to bring

to completion his unfinished plans In 1 6 2 4 B r i ggs published his .
A r i thmeti ca l ogari thmi ca c ontaining the logarit hm s to 1 4 places of

‘
numbers from 1 to
,
and from to The gap fro m
to was filled up by that illustrious successor of Napier
and Briggs A dri an Vl aca ( 1 60 0 ?
_ ,
He was born at Gouda in
Holland and lived ten years i n Lon don as a bookseller and publishe r .
B eing dri v en out by London bookdealers he settled I n P aris where he ,
m e t opposition aga i n for selling foreign books He died at The Hague

,
. .
John M ilton in his Def en s i o s ecu nda publishe d an abuse of hi m

, ,
.
V l ac q published in 1 6 2 8 a table of logarith m s fro m 1 to of

which were calcul ated by him self The first publ i cation of .
B r ig gi a n logarith m s of t rigono m etric functions was ma d e in 1 6 2 0 by

Ed mu n d G u nt e r ( 1 58 1 — 1 6 26)of London a colleague of Br i ggs who , ,
found the logarith m ic S ines and tangents for every m inute to seven
places Gunter was the inventor of the words cosi n e and cotangen t
.
The word cosi n e was an abbreviation of compl emen tal si n e The .
invention of the words tan gen t and s ecan t is d u e to the physician and
m athematician Thomas Fi n ch a native of Flensburg who use d them
, , ,
in his Geometr i a r otu ndi Basel 1 583 Gunter is known to engineers ,

.
“
for his Gunter s chain I t is tol d of hi m that When he was a stu
’
.
d ent at Christ College it fell to his lot to preach the P assion ser m on
, ,
which so me ol d divines that I knew di d hear but they said that i t ,
was said of hi m then in the Univ ersity that our Savior never su ffered
one .
”
so m uch since his passion as in that sermon it was such a lamented
1
Briggs devoted the last years of h i s l i fe to calculating more
,
extensive B r igg ia n logarith m s of tri gonom etric functions but he d ie d ,
in 1 63 1 leaving his work unfinished It was carried on by H e nr y G el .
1
Au br ey
’
s B r i ef Li ves , Edi t i on A C l ark , . 1 8 98 , V ol I , p
. . 2 76 .
—
l b an d ( 1 5 9 7 1 6 3 7
i r )of
Gresham College in London and then pub ,
li shed by V l ac q at his own e xpense Briggs divided a degree into .
1 0 0 parts as was done also by N Roe in 1 6

, 33 W O u g h t r ed in 1 6 5 7 .
,
.
,
John Newton in 1 6 58 but owing to the publication by V l ac q of tr igo

,
n ome t r i cal tables constructed on the old sexagesim al division Briggs

’
,
innovation did not prevail B riggs and V l ac q published four funda .

‘
m ental works the results of which have not been superseded by any
,
subsequent calculations until very recently

” .
The word characteristic as used in logarithm s first occurs in

”
“
, ,
Briggs A r i thmeti ca l ogari thmi ca 1 6 2 4 ; the word mantissa was i n

’ “
,
t ro du ced by J ohn Wallis in the Latin edition of his A l gebr a 1 6 93 , ,
p 4 1 and was used by L Euler in his I n tr odu cti o i n anal ysi n in 1 748
.
,
.
,
p 85
. .
The onl y riv al of John Napier in the invention of logarith ms was the
Swiss J oo s t B ii rg i ( 1 55 2 —1 6 3 He publishe d a table of logarith ms ,
A r i thmeti s che u nd Geometri sche P r ogr ess tabu l en P rague 1 6 2 0 but he , , ,
conceived the idea and constructed his table in dependently of Napier .
He neglected to have it published until Napier s logarithm s were ’
know n and adm ired throughout Europe .
Among the various inventions of Napier to assist the m em ory of

“
the student or calculator is N api er s rule of circular parts for the
,
’ ”
solution of S pherical right triangles I t is perhaps the happiest .
, ,
example of artificial m e m ory that is known Napier gives in the .
Des cr i pti o a proof of his rule ; proofs were given later by Johann
Heinrich Lambert ( 1 7 6 5) and Leslie Ellis Of the four for
”
m ulas for oblique S pherical triangles which are so m eti m es called N a
“
pier s Analogies only two are due to Napier hi m self ; they are giv e n
’
,
in hi s C on str u cti o The other t wo were added by B riggs in his an

.
notations to the C on stru cti o .
A m od ification of Napier s logarith m s was m ade by J oh n S pe i d e ll

’
,
a teacher of m athem atics in London who published the N ew L og a ,
r i thmes London 1 6 1 9 containing the logarithm s of S ines tangents

, , , ,
and secants Speidell did not advance a new theory He simply

. .
aimed to i mprove on N api er s tables by m aking all logarithm s posi ’
tive To achie v e this en d he subtracted Napier s logarithm ic nu mbers

.
’
from 1 0 and then discarded the last two digits Napier gave l og si n
8
.
Subtracting this from 1 0 leaves 5 2 586 1 48 Speidell

8
.
wrote l og s i n 5 25 86 1 I t has been said that S peid el l s logarith ms

.
’
of 1 6 1 9 are logarithm s to the natural base e This is not quite true .

,
on account of co mplications arising from the fact that the logarith ms

in Spei del l s table appear as i n tegr al nu mbers and that the natural
’
trigonom etric values ( not printed in Sp ei del l s tables ) are likewise ’
written as integral nu mbers If the last five figures in Sp ei del l s log ’
ari thms are taken as deci m als (m antissas )

.
then the l ogarith ms are ,
t he natural logar i th m s (with 1 0 a dd ed to e v ery negati v e character

R M o t i z A m M th M thl y V l
1
. r , 9 5 p 22
. a . on ,
o . 2 2, 1 1 ,
. 1 .
Third Table . Each column is a geom etric progression of 21 terms
with 1 as the comm on r atio . The 69 first or top nu mbers in
the 69 colum ns the mselves constitute a geometric progression hav ing
the rat the first top num ber being 10 7
,
the second 990 0 0 0 0 ,
”
and so on The last nu mber in the 6 9th colu m n is 4998 60 9 40 34
Thus this Third Table giv es a series of nu mbers very nearly but ,
.
not exactly i n geom etrical progression and lying between 1 0 and 7

,
“
v ery nearly Says Hutton these tables were found in the
,
m ost si mple m anner by little more than easy subtractions

,
The .
nu mbers are taken as the S ines of angles between 90 and Kine °
ma t i cal considerations yield hi m an upper and a lower li m it for the

'
logarith m of a giv e n sine B y these lim its he obtains the logari th m

“
of each nu mber in his Third Table
.
To obtain _the logarithm s of.

”
sines between 0 and 30 Nap i er in dicates two methods By one of
° °
.
“
the m he co mputes log sin 6 by the aid of his Third
,
Table and the form ula sin 2 S in d sin ( 90 A repetition °
of this process gives the logarith ms of S ines down to and

so on .
Burgi s m ethod of computation was m ore primitive than N api er s

’ ’
.
“
In his table the logarith m s were printed in red and were called red
nu mbers the antilogarith m s were in black The expressions r = I o n . n ,
where ro = o, and u = 1, 2, 3,
indicate the m ode of computation . Any term bn of th e geom etric

1
series is obtained by addi n g to the preceding term b _ the n 1, 4
th part
of that term . P roceeding thus Burgi arrives at r = 2 30 2 70 0 2 2 and , ,
this last pair of nu mbers being obtained by inter

p o l a t i on .
In the Appendix to the C on stru cti o there are described three m eth
ods of co mputing logarith m s which are probably the result of the
j oint lab ors of Napier and B riggs The first method rests on the .
successive extractions of fifth roots The second calls for square .
roots only Taking log

. and log find the logarithm
of the m ean proportion between 1 and 1 0 There follows log x 10 .
log then log

i and so on Substantially this m ethod was
-
.
used by Kepler in his book on logari th m s of 1 6 2 4 and by V l ac q The .
third m ethod i n the Appen dix to the C on stru cti o lets log 1 = 0 log 1 0 = ,
and takes 2 as a factor 1 0 ti m es yielding a number composed

10
,
of 30 1 0 2 9996 figures ; hence log

VIETA TO DESCARTES 1 55
method ”
A famous method of co mputing logarith ms is th e so called rad ix
I t requires the aid of a table of radices or nu mbers of the
.
-
for m It with their logarithms . The logarithm of a number is
found by resolving the nu mber into factors of the form

then adding the logarith ms of the factors The earliest appearance
“
of this method is in the anonym ous Appendix (very probably due
.
”
to O u g h t red) t o Ed w a rd Wright s 1 6 1 8 e d ition of N ap i er s D es cri pti o
1
’
’ ’
.
I t is fully d eveloped by Briggs who in his A ri thmeti ca l og ari thmi ca , ,
1 6 24 gives a table of radices The m etho d has been frequently re

,
.
discovered and given in various form s 2

A S light S im plification of .
Briggs process was gi ven as one of three m ethods by Robert Fl ow er in

’
a tract The Radi x a n ew w ay of maki ng L ogari thms London 1 7 7 1

, , , .
He di v ides a given number by a power of 1 0 and a S ingle digi t so as ,
to reduce the first figure to 9 and then m ultipli es by a procession of .

,
ra dices until all the d igits beco m e nines The ra dix m etho d was re .
d iscovered in 1 7 8 6 b l Geor ge A tw ood ( 1 7 4 6

”
Atwood s machine in A n ess ay on the A ri thmeti c of Factors and
’
,
the inventor of
,
again by Z ecchi n i L eon el l i in 1 80 2 by Thom as M anning ( 1 7 7 2 ,
scholar of Caius College Cambridge in 1 8 0 6 by Thomas Weddle in , , ,
1 84 5 Hearn in 1 8 4 7 and Orchard in 1 8 4 8

,
Extensions and v ariations .
of the radix m ethod have been published by P eter Gray ( 1 80 7 ?

a writer on life contingencies Thom an A J Ellis ( 1 8 1 4 ,
and , . .
others The three distinct methods of its application are due to B riggs
.
,
Flower and Wed dle .
Another m ethod of co mputing common logarith m s is by the re

p ea t e d for m ation of geo m etric m eans If A = I B = 10 then C .
, ,
V A B = 3 1 6 2 2 7 8 has the logarithm 5 D = V B C = 5 6 2 3 4 1 3 has the

. .
,
.
logarith m 7 5 etc P erhaps suggested by Napier s rem arks in the

.
,
.
’
C on s tru cti o this m ethod was d eveloped by French writers of whom

Jacques Oz an am ( 1 6 40 1 7 1 7 )
, ,
— in 1 6 7 0 was perhaps the fi r s t O zan am

3
.
is best known for his Recr ea ti on s mathéma ti qu es cl phy s i qu es 1 6 94 , .
Still d iff erent d evices for the co mputation of logarith m s were i n

vented by Brook Taylor John Long William Jones ,
Roger Cotes An d rew Reid J am es D odson Abel

Burja and others 4
.
1
J . W
L Gl ai sh e r , i n Quar terl y f ou r of M a th s , V ol 4 6 , 1 9 1 5 , p 1 2 5
. . .
’
. . .
2
For t h e de t ai l ed hi s to ry o f t hi s m e t hod co n su l t a l so A J E lli s i n P r oceedi n gs
—
)
. .
of the Roya l S oc i ety ( L o n do n , V o l 3 1 , 1 88 1 , pp 3 98 4 1 3 ; S L u p to n , M a thema ti cal
z —
.
—
Ga ette, Vo l 7 , 1 9 1 3 , pp 1 4 7 1 5 0 , 1 7 0 1 7 3 ; C h H u t t o n 5 I n t r o d u c t i o n t o hi s
. .
’
.
.
.
M athemati cal Ta bl es .
3
S e e J W L G l ai sh er I n Q u ar terl y J ou r n al of P u re and A ppl M d th s , V o l 4 7 ,
’
—
. . . . .
1 91 6 pp 2 49 30 1
4
Fo r d e t ail s see C h H u t t o n 3 I n t r o du c t i o n t o h i s M a thema ti ca l Ta bl es , al so t he
”
’
.
En cycl opedi c des s c i ences mathé mati q u es , 1 90 8 ; I , 2 3 , T a b l es d e l o

“
g ar i t h me s .
1 56 A H ISTORY O F M ATH EM ATICS
After the labor of computing logarithm s was practically over the ,
facile methods of computing by infinite series came to be discovered .
Ja mes Gregory Lord William B rounk er ( 1 6 2 0

, Nicholas M er
cator ( 1 6 2 0 John Walli s and Ed mund Halley are the pioneer
workers M ercator in 1 668 derived what amounts to the infinite
.
series for log Transformations of this series yielded rapidly

converging results Wallis in 1 6 95 obtained 1 log
.
( I — z)
z+ §
5
2 + G Vega in his Thes au ru s of 1 7 94 lets z 1 /( 2y
= 2
The theoretic view point of the logarith mwas broadened som ewhat
.
during the seventeenth century by the graphic representation both ,
in rectangular and polar co or d inates of a variable and its variable ,
logarithm Thus were invented the logarith mic curve and the loga
.
r i th mi c spiral I t has been thought that the earliest refere nce to the
.
logarith m ic curve was m ade by the Italian Evangelista Torricelli i n

a letter of the year 1 6 44 but P aul Tannery m ade it practically certain
,
that Descartes knew the curve in Descartes described the log

arithmic spiral in 1 6 3 8 in a letter to P M ersenne but does not give its .
,
equation nor connect it with logarithms He describes it as the curve

, .
which makes equal angles with all the radii drawn through the origin
The name logarith mic S piral was coined by P i err e Va r i gn on in a
“ ” .
paper presented to the P aris acade my in 1 7 0 4 and published in

The m ost brilliant conquest in algebra during the six teenth century
had been the solution of cubic and biquadratic equations All a t .
tempts at solving al gebraically equations of higher degrees rem aining

fruitless a n ew line of inquiry—the properties of equations and their
,
roots— was gradually opened up We hav e seen that Vieta had at .
t ai n ed a partial knowle dge of the relations between roots and c o

efli c i en t s J a cqu es P el eti er ( 1 5 1 7
. a French man of letters poet ,
and m athem atician had observ ed as early as 1 558 that the root of
, ,
an equation is a div isor of the last term In passing he writes equa .
tions with all term s on one S ide and equated to z ero This was done ,
.
also by B uteo and Harriot One who extended the theory of equa
.
tions somewhat further than Vieta was Al b e rt G ir ar d ( 1 590 ? ,
a mathe matician of Lorraine Like Vieta this ingenious author ap .

,
plied algebra to geo metry and was the first who understood the use
,
of negative roots in the solution of geom etric problem s He spoke of .
i m aginary quantities inferred by in duction that ev ery equation has

,
as many roots as there are units in the num ber expressing its degree ,
and first S howed how to express the su ms of their powers in term s of

the c oefli c i en t s Another algebraist of considerable power was the
.
English Th oma s H arr i ot ( 1 56 0 He acco mpanied the first

colony sent out by Sir Walter Raleigh to Virginia Af ter having sur .
S ee G L o r i a B i bl i otheca ma th , 3 S , V ol 1 , 1 900 , p 7 5 ; L i n ter medi a i r e des

1 ’ ‘
. . . . .
,
mathémati ci ens , Vo l 7 , 1 900 , p 95

”
. . .
2
Fo r d e t a i l s a n d r e fe re n ce s see F C a j o r i ,
,
H i s to ry o f t he Exp o n e n t i al ' a n d
.
Log a ri thmi c C o n c ep t s , A m M a th M on thl y, V o l 20 , 1 9 1 3 , p p 1 0 , 1 1

. . . . .
1 58 A HISTORY O F M ATHE M ATICS
by Z C L M Hence in des i gnating ratio I use not one point but two
'
.
points which I use at the sam e tim e for division ; thus for your
, , , ,
I write dy :x = dt :a; for dy is to x as dt is to a is indeed the , ,
sa me as dy d iv i d ed by x is equal to dt d ivided by a From this equa

, .
tion follow then all the r ul es of proportion This conception of .
ratio and proportion was far in advance of that in contempora ry

arith m etics Through the aid of C hr i s ti an Wolf the dot was generally
.
adopted in the eighteenth century as a symbol of m ultiplication .
P resu m ably Leibniz had no knowle dge that Harriot in his A r ti s

an al yti cw pr a xi s 1 63 1 used a dot for multiplication as in aaa 3
, , , .
bba = + 2 ccc Harriot s dot received no attention not even fro m Wallis
’
. .
, .
O u g h t r ed and so m e of his English conte mporaries Richard N o r ,
wood John Speidell and others were prominent in introducing abb re

”
,
v i a t i on s for the trigono m etric functions : s s i or s i n for s i n e; s co or , ,
s i co for sine co mple m ent or cosi n e se for s ecan t etc O u gh t red

‘‘
, ,
.
did not use parentheses Term s to be aggregated were enclosed b e

tween double c ol ons He wrote x/ (A +E ) thus wl q l—
.
E : The two -
—
.
,
d ots at the end were som eti m es o m itted Thus C :A +B E m eant

(A +B E ) B efore O u gh t r e d the use of parentheses had been sug
.
—
,
3
.
gested by Clavius in 1 6 0 8 and Girard in 1 6 2 9 In fact as early as .

,
_
/ ID thus R v ( R 2 8 m en R 1 0 )
1 55 6 Tartaglia wrote x w’ 28 ‘ F where ,
.
“
R v m eans radix universalis
. but he did not use parentheses in i n ,
di ca t i n g the product of two expressions 1

P arentheses were used by
I Er rar d de B ar l e —
.
. D uc Jacobo de Billy -
Richard
Norwood Sam uel Foster nevertheless parentheses did
not beco m e popular in algebra before the time of Leibniz and the
B ernoullis
I t is noteworthy that O ugh t red denotes 3—
.
7
and 1 33 the approxi 1
,
m ate ratios of the circumference to the diameter by the symbol ’ it

S
,
occurs in the edition and I n the later editions of his Cl ovi s mathe
1 64 7
mati cce O u g h t re d s n otation was a dopted and used extensively by

’
.
Isaac B arrow I t was the forerunner of the notation 7r =

.
first used by William Jones I n 1 70 6 in his S ynopsi s pal mari oru m ma

thes eos London 1 70 6 p 2 6 3
, L Euler first used 7r = 3 1 4 1 59
, ,
. . . .
1 73 7 In his tim e the symbol m e t with general adoption

.
, .
O u gh t red stands out pro m inently as the in v entor of the circular

and the rectilinear S lide rules The circular slide rule was described .
in print in hi s book the C i rcl es of P ropor ti on 1 6 3 2 His rectilinear

, , .
slide rule was described in 1 633 in an A ddi ti on to the above work .
B ut O u gh tred was not the first to describe the circular slide rule in
print ; this was done by one of his pupils Richard D elamain in 1 6 3 0 , , ,
in a booklet entitled Gr ammel ogi a A b i tter controv ersy arose b e

2
, .
1
G En est ro m i n B i bl i otheca mathemati ca , 3 S , V ol 7 , p 2 96
. . . . . .
2
S ee F C aj o r i , Wi l l i a m O u ghtr ed, C h i c a g o a n d L on d on , 1 9 1 6 , p 46
. . .
VIETA TO D ESCARTES 59
tween Dela m ain and O ug h t red Each accused the other of having .
stolen the inv ention fro m him M ost probably each was an i n .
d ependent inventor TO the inventio n of the rectilinear slide rule

.
O ug h t red has a clear title He states that he designed his sli d e rules .
as early as 1 6 2 1 The S li de rule was improv ed in England during the

.
seventeenth and eighteenth centuries and was used quite e xtensiv el y 1

.
Som e of the stories told about O ug h tr ed are doubtless apocryphal ,
as for instance that his econom ical wife denied him the use of a candle
,
for study in the evening and that he died of joy at the Restoration , ,
after drinking a glass of sack to his M aj esty s heal th D e M organ

“ ’
.
”
“
hum orously rem arks It S hould be added by way of excuse that h e
was eighty—
, , ,
S i x years old .
Algebra was now in a state of s ufficient perfection to enable Des

cartes and o thers to take that importa nt step which form s one of the
grand epochs in the history of m athem atics —the application of alge ,
brai e analysis to define the nature and investigate the properties of .
algebraic curves .
In geometry the determ ination of the areas of curv ilinear figures

,
was diligently studied at this period P au l G u l di n ( 1 5 7 7 a .
Swiss m athe matician of considerable note re di scov ered the following ,
theorem published in hi S _C en tr obaryca which has been nam ed after

, ,
hi m though first found i n the M athema ti cal C ol l ecti on s of P appus :

,
The volu me of a solid of revolution is equal to the area of the g en er a t

ing figure m ultiplied by the C ircu m ference described by the centre of
,
grav ity We S hall see that this m ethod excels that of Kepler and
.
Cav alieri in following a m ore exact and natural course ; but it has the
disadvantage of necessitating the determination of the centre of grav
ity which in itself m ay be a more diffi cult problem than the original
,
one of finding the v olu m e Gul din made som e atte mpts to pro v e his .
theorem but Cavalieri pointed out the weakness of his de monstration

Joh ann e s K e pl e r ( 1 57 1 —1 6 30 )
.
,
was a native of Wii r temb e rg a n d i m

b ib ed Copernican principles while at the University of T ubi n g en His .
pursuit of science was repeate dly interrupted by war religious perse ,
c u t i on pecuniary e m barrassm ents frequent changes of resid ence

, , ,
and family troubles In 1 60 0 he beca me for one year assistant to the

.
Danish astrono mer Tycho B rahe i n the observatory near P rague

, ,
.
The relation between the two great astronom ers was not always of an
agreeable character Kepler s publications are v olum inous His first a t
.
’
.
te mpt to explain the solar system was m ade in 1 596 when he thought ,
he had discovered a curious relation between the five regular solids

and the number and distance of the planets The publication of this .
pseudo discov ery brought him m uch fam e : At one tim e he tried to
-
represent the orbit of M ars by the ov al curv e which we now write i n

polar coordinates p 2 r cos 0 M aturer reflection and intercourse
= 3
,
.
with Tycho Brahe an d G al i l eo l ed hi m to investigations and results

1
S ee F Caj ori , Hi s tory
.
f
o the Logar i thmi c S lide Ru l e, N ew York , 1 90 9 .
wor thy of his genius Kepler s laws He enriched pure math e ’
.
mati cs as well as astronomy I t is not strange that he was interested

.
in the m athem atical science which had done him so much serv ice ; for
”
“
if the Greeks had not cultivated conic sections Kepler could not ,
have superseded P tolemy 1

The Greeks never dream ed that these
.
curves would ever be of practical use ; Arist ae us and Apoll onius

studied them m erely to satisfy their intellectual cravings after the
ideal ; yet the conic sections assisted Kepler in tracing the march of
the planets in their elliptic orbits Kepler m ade also extended use of .
logarith m s and decim al fractions and was enthusiastic in d iffusin g ,
a knowledge of them At one time while purchasin g wine he was

.
, ,
struck by the inaccuracy of the ordinary modes of d eterm ining the

contents of kegs This led h im to the study of the vol um es of solids
.
of rev olution and to the publication of the S tereometri a Dol i oru m in

1615 In it he deals first with the solids know n to Archimedes and
.
then takes up others Kepler m ade wide application of an old but

.
neglected idea that of infinitely great and infinitely small quantities

, .
Greek m athem aticians usually shunned this notion but with it modern ,
mathe maticians co mpletely revolutioniz ed the science In comparing .
rectilinear figures the method of superposition was employed by the

,
ancients but in comparing rectilinear and curvilinear figures wi th

,
each other this m ethod failed because no addition or subtraction of

,
rectilinear figures could ever produce curvilinear ones To meet this .
case they devised the M ethod of Exhaustion which was long and
, ,
d ifficult ; it was purely syn thetical and in general required that the ,
conclusion should be known at the outset The new notion of infinity .

,
led gradually to the invention of m ethods irnm easu rabl y m ore power
ful Kepler conceived the circle to be composed of an infinite nu mber
.
of triangles hav ing their comm on vertices at the centre and their ,
bases in the C ircumf erence ; and the sphere to consist of an infinite

nu mber of pyram ids H e appl i ed conceptions of this kind to the de
.
'
term ination of the areas and volu mes of figures generated by curv es ‘
revolving about any line as axis but succeeded in solving only a f ew ,
of the simplest out of the 84 problem s which he proposed for investi

g a t i on in his S ter eometri a
Other points of m athem atical interest in Kepler s works are ( 1 )
.
the ’
assertion that the circu mference of an ellipse whose axes are 2 a and
(2)
,
2 b is nearly 7r
,
a passage from which it has been i nk n ed
that Kepler knew the variation of a function near its m axim um value
to disappear ; (3) the assu mption of the principle of continuity (which
diff erentiates m odern from ancient geo m etry)when he shows that ,
a parabola has a focus at infinity that lines radiating from this c ee c u s ,
focus are parallel and have no other point at i n finity .
The S ter eometri a led Cavalieri an Italian Jesuit to the consideration , ,
1
Will i am Wh ew ell ,
H i story o f the I nducti ve S ci ences , 3 rd Ed .
, N ew York , 1 8 58 ,
Vol I , p 3 1 1
. . .
There is an important curve not known to the ancients which now , ,
,
”
began to be studied with great z eal Roberval gave it the na me of
“
trochoid P ascal the nam e of roulette Galileo the name of cy
.
,
” “
c l o id The invention of this cu rve see m s to be due to Charl es B ou

.
vel l es who in a geo m etry publi shed in P aris in 1 50 1 refers to this cu r ve
in connection with the problem of the squaring of the circle Galileo .
value d it for the graceful form it woul d give to arches in architecture .
He ascertained its area by weighing paper figures of the cycloid against

that of the generating circle and found thereby the first area to be ,
nearly but not exactly thrice the latter A m athematical determina .
t i on was made by his pupil Evan g el i s ta Torri c elli ( 1 6 0 8 ,

who
is more widely known as a physicist than as a m athem atician .
By the M ethod of Indivisibles he dem onstrated its area to be triple

that of the revolving circle and pub l ished his solution This sam e
quadrature had been e ffe cted a few y ears earlier ( about 1 6 3 6 )
, .
by
Roberval in France but his solution was not known to the Italians , .
Roberval being a m an of irritable and violent disposition unjustly

, ,
accused the m ild and am iable Torricelli of stealing the proof This .
accusation of pla giarism created so m uch chagrin with Torricelli that

it is considered to have been the cause of his early death Vin c e n zo .
Vivi ani ( 1 6 2 2 another prom inent pup il of Galileo determined ,
the tangent to the cycloid Thi s was accompli shed in France by .
Descartes and F ermat .
In France where geom etry began to be cultivated with greatest

,
success Roberval F ermat P ascal e mployed the M ethod of Indivis

, , , ,
i bl es and m ade new i mpro v e m ents in it G il e s P e r s o n e d e R o b e rval .
( 1 60 2 for forty years professor of m athematics at the College

of France in P aris clai med for hi m self the invention of the M ethod of
,
Indivi sibles Since his complete works were not published until after
.
his death it is difli c u l t to settle questions of priority M on tu cl a and

,
.
Chasl es are of th e Opinion that he invented the m e thod independently

of and earlier than the I talian geom eter though the work of the latter ,
was published much earli er than Roberval s M arie finds it diffi cult ’
.
to believe that the Frenchman borrowed nothing whatever from the

Italian for both could not have hit independently upon the word
,
I n di vi si bl es which is applicable to infinitely sm all quantities as con

, ,
cei v ed by Cavalieri but not as conceived by Roberval Roberval

,
.
and P ascal improved the rational basis of the M ethod of In divisibles ,
by consi dering an area as m a d e up of an indefinite nu mber of rectangles

instead of lines and a solid as composed of indefinitely sm all solids
,
instead of surfaces Roberval applied the m ethod to the finding of

.
areas volumes and centres of grav ity He e ffected the quadrature

, ,
.
m m
of a parabola of any degree y a x and also of a parabola y
1 m ‘
a
m
“ “
x
n
We have already m entioned his qua drature of the cycloid
11
. .
Roberval is best known for his m ethod of drawing tangents which , ,
however was invented at the same tim e if not earlier by T orri c el l i

, , , .
VIETA To D ES CARTES 163
Torricelli s appeared in 1 6 44 under the title Oper a geometri ca Rober

’
.
v a l gives the fuller exposition of it Som e of his special applications

.
were published at P aris as early as 1 6 44 in M er se nn e s C ogi ta ta physi co ’
mathemati ca Roberval presented the full develop m ent of the sub

.
j ec t to the French A c a d em y Of S ei-on c es in 1 66 8 which published it

' S
in its M émoi r es This academy had grown out of scient ific m eetings
.
held with M ersenne at P aris I t was founded by M inister Richelieu

.
in 1 6 3 5 and reorganiz ed by M inister Colbert in 1 666 M ari n M er sen n e

( 1 588 1 6 4 8 )
.
— rendered great services to science His polite and e n .
gaging m anners procured him m any friends inclu ding D escartes and ,
F erma t He encouraged scientific research carried on an ex tensiv e

.
,
correspondence a n d thereby was the medium for the i n ter c ommu n ic a

,
tion of scientific intelligence .
Roberv al s m ethod of drawing tangents is allied to Newton s prin

’ ’
c ip l e of fl uxi on s : Arch im edes conceived his spiral to be generated by
a double m otion This idea Roberv al exten ded to all curves P lane
. .
curves as for instance the conic sections m ay be generated by a point

, ,
acted upon by two forces and are the resultant of two m otions If
, .
at any point of the curve the resultant be resolv ed into its components ,
then the diagonal of the parallelogram determ ined by them is the tan
gent to the curve at that point The greatest difficulty connecte d .
wi th this ingenious m ethod consisted in resolv ing the resultant into

components hav ing the proper lengths and directions Roberval did .
not always succee d i n doing this yet his new idea was a great step in
,
advance He broke off from the ancient definition of a tangent as

.
a straight line hav ing only one point in comm on with a curve a defi —
,
n i ti on which by the m etho d s then available was not adapted to bri ng
out the properties of tangents to curves of higher degrees ; nor e v en of

curves of the second degree and the parts they may be made to play
in the generation of the curves The subj ect of tangents receive d .
special attention also from F erma t D escartes and Barrow and , , ,
reached its highest develop m ent after the invention of the differential
calculus Fermat and D escartes d efined tangents as secants whose
.
two points of intersection with the curve coincide ; B arrow considered

a curve a polygon and called one of its sides produced a tangent
, .
A profound schola r in all branches of learning and a m athem atician

of exceptional powers was P i e rr e d e F e r mat ( 1 6 0 1 He studied
law at Toulouse and in 1 6 3 1 was m ade councillor for the parliament
,
of Toulouse His leisure tim e was m ostly devoted to m athem atics

.
,
which he stu died with irresistible passion Unlike D escartes and .
P ascal he led a quiet and unaggressive l i fe Fermat has left the im .
press of his genius upon all branches of mathem atics then known
,
A great contribution to geom etry was his D e maxi mi s et mi ni mi s .
About twenty years earl i er Kepler had first observ e d that the incre
,
m ent of a var i able as for instance the or di nate of a curv e is evan

, , , ,
e sce n t for values very near a m axi m u m or a m in i m um value of the

v ariable D eveloping this idea F erma t obtained his rule for maxima
.
,
an d minima He substituted x+ e for x in the given function of x and

.
then equated to each other the two consecutive values of the function
and div i d ed the equation by e If e be taken 0 then the roots of this .
,
equation are the v alues of x m aking the fun ction a maximum or a ,
m inim u m F e rma t was in possession of this rule in 1 6 2 9 The main

. .
difference between it and the rule of the differential calculus is that it

introduces the indefinite quantity e instead of the in fi nitely s mall dx .
F erma t m ade it the basis for his m ethod of d rawing tangents which ,
inv ol v ed the determ ination of the length of the subtangent for a giv en
point of a curve .
Owing to a want of explicitness in statement Ferm at s method of ,

’
m axim a and m ini m a and of tangents was severely attacked by hi s

, ,
great conte mporary D escartes who cou l d never be brough t to render

, ,
due j ustice to his m erit In the ensuing dispute F erm a t found t w o.

,
z ealous d efenders in Roberval and P ascal the father ; whi le C M y , .
dorge G D esargues an d Claude Hardy Supported D escartes

,
.
,
.
Since F e rm a t intro d uce d the conception of infinitely small di ffer

e n c e s between consecutive values of a function and arrived at the
principle for fin ding the m axim a and m inim a it was m aintained by ,
Lagrange Laplace and Fourier that F erma t may be regarded as the

, , ,
first in v entor of the diff erential calculus This point is not well taken .
,
as will be seen from the words of P oisson him self a Frenchman who , ,
rightly says that the differential calculus consists in a system of rules “
proper for finding the di fferentials of all functions ra th er than in the ,
use which may be m ade of these infinitely s mall variations in the s o

l u t io n of one or two isolated proble m s )
”
A conte mporary m athe m atician whose genius perhaps equalled that ,
of the great F erma t was B l ai s e P as c al ( 1 6 2 3

, He was born at
Clerm ont in Au v ergne In 1 6 2 6 his father retired to P aris where he
.
,
dev oted hi m self to teaching his son for he would not trust his educa ,
tion to others Blaise P ascal s genius for geometry showed itself when
.
’
he was but twel v e years old His fa ther was well skilled in m athe .
m aties but di d not wish his son to study it until he was perfect l y
,
acquainted with Latin and Greek All m athem atical books were .
hidde n out of his sight The boy once asked his father what m athe .
“
m at i c s treated of and was answered i n general
,
that it was the , ,
m ethod of m aking figures with exactness and of finding out what ,
proportions they relati v ely had to one another He was at the same .
ti me forb i dden to talk any m ore about it or ever to think of it B ut ,

.
his genius could not sub m i t to be confined within these bounds Start .
ing with the bare fact that m athematics taught the m eans of making
figures infall i bly exact he e mployed his thoughts about it and with
,
a piece of charcoal drew figures upon the tiles of the pave ment trying ,
the metho d s of d raw i ng for example an exact circle or equ i lateral , ,
triangle He gave names of his own to these figures and then formed
.
Huygens Wren and F erma t solved som e of the questions The chief
, , .
disco v eries of C hri s toph e r Wr e n ( 1 6 3 2 the celebrated architect

of S t P aul s Cathe d ral in Lon don were the rectification of a cycloidal
.
’
,
arc and the determ ination of its centre of gravity F erma t found the .
area generated by an arc of the cycloid Huygens invented the c y .
c l oi dal pendulu m .
The beginning of th e seventeenth century witnessed also a revival of

synthetic geo m etry One who treated conics still by ancient m e thods
.
,
but who succeeded in greatly simplifying m any proli x proofs of Apoll o

nius was C l au d e M yd or g e ( 1 58 5—1 6 4 7 ) i n P aris a friend of D escartes
B ut it re m ained for G ir ar d D e s ar g u e s ( 1 593—1 6 6 2 )
, , ,
.
of Lyons and for ,
P ascal to leave the beaten track and cut o ut fresh paths They intro
,
.
d u c e d the important m ethod of P erspective All conics on a cone with .

'
c i rcular base appear circular to an eye at the apex H en ce D e sarg u es .
and P ascal concei v ed the treatment of the conic sections as proj ections
of circles Two i mportant and beautiful theorem s were given by D es
.
argues : The one is ou the involution of the s i x points in which a

“
,
”
transversal m eets a conic and an inscribed quadrangle ; the other is
that if the vertices of two triangles S ituated either in S pace or in
, ,
a plane lie on three lines m eeting in a point then their S ides m eet in
, ,
three points lying on a line ; and conversely This last theore m has .
been employed i n recent tim es by B rian ch on C S turm G erg onn e ,

.
, ,
an d P oncelet P oncelet m a d e it the basis of his beautiful theory of

.
ho mol ogical figures We owe to D esargues the theory of involution

.
and of transv ersals ; also the beautiful conception that the two ex
t r emi t i es of a straight line m a y be considered as m eeting at infi nity ,
a n d that parallels d i ff er fro m othe r pairs of lines only in having their
points of intersection at infinity lH e r e— invented the epicycloid and .
showed its applicat i on to the construction of gear teeth a subj ect ,
elaborated m ore fully later by La Hire P ascal greatly admired

Desargues results saying ( in his E ss ai s pou r l es C on i qu es ) I wish to
.
’
, ,
acknowle dge that I owe the little that I have discovered on this sub
j ec t to his writings
,
.
”
P ascal s and D esargues writings contained
’ ’
some of the fundam ental ideas of mo dern synthetic geom etry In .
P ascal s wonderful work on conics written at the age of S ix teen and

’
,
now lost were given the theorem on the anharm onic ratio first found
, ,
in P appus and also that celebrated proposition on the mystic hexagon

,
known as P ascal s theore m viz that the oppos i te s i des of a hexa

“ ’
,
” .
,
gon inscribed in a conic intersect in three points which are collinear .
This theore m form ed the keystone to his theory He him self said .
that from this alone he deduced over 40 0 corollaries e mbracing the ,
conics of Apollonius and m any other results Less gi fte d than D es .
argues a n d P ascal was P h ili ppe d e l a H ir e ( 1 6 40 At first

activ e as a pa i nter he afterward s d e v ote d him self to astronomy and
,
m athe matics a n d beca m e professor of the Co l l ege de France in P aris

, .
He wrote three works on conic secti ons published in 1 6 73 1 6 7 9 and , ,

VIETA TO D ES CARTES 167
1 68 5 . The last of these the S ecti on es C on i ca e was best known

,
La ,
.
Hire gav e the polar properties of circles and by proj ection transferred , , ,
his polar theory from the circle to the conic sections In the c on struc
tion of maps D e la Hire used globular projection in which the eye “ ” .
is not at the pole of the sphere as in the P tole maic stereographic pro ,
j ec ti on but on the radius pro duced through the pole at a distance

,
r sin 4 5 outside the sphere Globular projection has the advantage

°
.
that everywhere on the map there is approxim ately the same degree
of exaggeration of distances This m ode of projection was modified .
by his countryman A P arent D e la Hire wrote on roulettes on . .

,
graphic methods epic y cloids c on choidsr md on m agic squares The

‘ ‘
‘
, c .
,
labors of D e la Hire the genius of D esargues and P ascal uncovered

, ,
several of the rich treasures of m o dern synthetic geom etry ; but owing
to the absorbing interest taken in the analytical geom etry of D escartes
and later in the di fferential calculus the subject was a l most entirely ,
neglected until the nine t eenth century .
In the theory of numbers no new results of scientific value had been

reached for over 1 0 0 0 years extending fro m the times of D iophantus ,
and the H indus until the beginning of the seventeenth century B ut .
the illustrious period we are now consi dering produced m en who

rescued this science from the real m of m ysticis m and superstition ,
in which i t had been so long i mprisoned ; the properties of nu mbers

bega n again to be stu died scientifically Not being in possession of .
t h e Hin d u indeter m inate analysis m any beautiful results of the ,
B rahmi ns had to be r e discovered by the Europeans Thus a solution

-
.
in integers of linear indeterminate equations was r e discovered by the -
Frenchm an B a c h e t d e M ézir i ac ( 1 58 1 who was the earliest

noteworthy European D i opha n t i s t In 1 6 1 2 he published P r obl emes .
pl ai san ts ci dél ecta bl es qu i s e f on t par l es n ombr es and in 1 6 2 1 a Greek ,
edition of Di ophan tu s with notes An interest in pri m e nu mbers is

disclosed in the so called M ers en n e s nu mbers of th e form M p =
~
.
’ ”
—1 with p pri m e M arin M ersenne asserted in the preface to his
,
29 ,
.
C ogi ta ta P hysi co M a thema ti ca 1 6 44 that the only values of p not

-
, ,
greater than 2 5 7 which m ake M D a prim e are 1 2 3 5 7 1 3 1 7 1 9 , , , , , , , ,
3 1 6 7 1 2 7 and 2 57 Four mistakes have n ow been detecte d in

M erse n n e s classification v i z M 6 7 is compos i te ; M 6 1 M 8 9 and M I O7
, , , .
’
,
.
, ,
are prim e M 1 8 1 has been found to be compos i te M ersenne gave in

. .
1 6 44 also the first eight perfect nu m bers 6 2 8 4 96 8 1 2 8 2 3 5 50 33 6 , , , , ,
8 58 986 90 56 1 3 7 43 86 9 1 3 2 8 2 3 0 5 8 43 0 0 8 1 3995 2 1 2 8
,
In Eucl i d s El e
,
.
’
men ts Bk 9 P rop 3 6 is g i v en the form ula for perfect num bers

, .
,
.
,
where 2 1 is pri m e The above eight perfect nu mbers

1
(2
P
‘
P P 1 “
2 -
.
are repro d uced by taking p= 2 3 5 7 1 3 1 7, 1 9 3 1 A ninth perfect , , , , , , .
nu m ber was found i n 1 8 8 5 by P S eelh off for which p= 6 1 a tenth .

, ,
in 1 9 1 2 by R E P owers for which p= 8 9 The father of the m o dern

. .
,
.
theory of numbers is F e rm at He was S O uncommunicative in di s .
position that he generally concealed his m ethods and m ade known

,
hi s res ul ts only In some cases later analysts have been greatly
.
pu zzled in the attempt of supplying the proofs Fermat owned a copy .
of B ach e t s Di ophantus in which he entered num erous marginal notes

’
, .
In 1 6 7 0 these notes were incorporated in a new edition of Di ophantus ,
brought out by his son Other theore ms on numbers due to F ermat

were publi shed in his Oper a vari a ( edited by hi s son )
,
.
,
and i n Walli s s ’
C ommerci u m epi s tol i cu m of 1 6 58 Of the foll ow ing theorems the .

,
first seven are found in the marginal notes : 1
( 1) is i mpossible for integral values of x y and 2 when , , ,
n> 2
”
.
This famous theorem was appended by Fermat to the problem of

D iophantus II 8 : To divide a given square number into two squares
, .
Fermat s m arginal note is as foll ows : On the other hand it is im

’ “
possible to separate a cube into two cubes or a biquadrate into two ,
biquadrates or generally any power e xcept a square into two powers

”
,
with the sam e exponent I have discovered a truly m arvelous proof

.
of this which however the m argin is not large enough to contai n

, .
That Ferm at actually possessed a proof is doubtful N 0 general .
proof has yet been published Euler proved the theorem for n = 3 .
and n = 4 ; D irichlet for n = 5 and u = 1 4 G Lamé for n = 7 and K um ,

.
m er for m any other values Repeatedly was the theorem m ade the
.
priz e question of learned societies by the Academy of Sciences in ,
P aris in 1 8 2 3 and 1 8 50 by the Acade m y of B russels in 1 883

,
The .
recent history of the theorem foll ows later

(2 )
.
A prim e of the form 4u + 1 is only once the hypo thenuse of a

right triangle ; its square is twice ; its cube is three times etc Ex , .
a mple :
(3)A prime of the form can be expressed once and only 4u + 1 ,
once as the su m of two squares P roved by Euler

(4)
. .
,
A n um ber composed of two cubes can be resolved into two

other cubes in an infinite multiplicity of ways
5)
.
Every nu mber is either a triangular number or the sum of two

or three trian g ular n umbers ; either a square or the sum of two three , ,
or four squares ; either a pentagonal number or the sum of two three , ,
four or five pentagon al nu mbers ; sim ilarly for polygonal numbers

,
in general The proof of this and other theorem s is promised by

.
F erm at in a future work which never appeared This theorem is .
also given with others in a letter of 1 63 7

,
addressed to P ater
,
M er sen n e
(6)
.
A S m any num bers as you please may be found such that the ,
square of each re mains a square on the addition to or sub traction from

it of the sum of all the numbers .
1
fu l l er hi s t o ri c al acco u n t o f F e rm a t s D i op han t in e t heo re ms an d p rob
’
For
—
a
l e m s , s e e T L H ea t h , Di opha n tu s of A l exa n dr i a , 2 E d , 1 9 1 0 , pp 2 6 7 3 2 8 S ee
—
. . . . . .
a l so A n n a l s of M a themati cs , 2 S , Vol 1 8 , 1 9 1 7 , pp
. . .1 6 1 1 87 . .
factor of the form 4u + 1 From the above supposition it would follo w

that 5 is not the sum of two squares—a conclusion contrary to fact
.
Hence the supposition is false and the theorem is estab l ished F erma t , .
applied this m ethod of descent with success in a large nu mber of

theorem s By this method L Euler A M Legendre P G L Di ri ch
. .
,
. .
,
. . .
let proved se v eral of his enunciations and many other nu merical

,
propositions .
F erma t was interested in magic squares These squares to which .

,
the Chinese and Arabs were so partial reached the Occi d ent not l ater ,
than the fifteenth century A m agic square of 2 5 cells was found by .
M Curtz e in a Ger man m anuscrip t of that ti m e The artist Albrecht

. .
,
D ii re r exhibits one of 1 6 cells in 1 5 1 4 in his painting calle d M ela n

“
Choli e The abo v e na med B er n ha rd Fr eni cl e de B essy ( about 1 6 0 2

-
1 6 7 5)
.
brought out the fact that the nu mber of m agic squares increased
enormously with the order by writing do w n 8 8 0 magic squares of
the or der four Ferm at gav e a general rule for finding the number of
.
m agic squares of the order n such that for n = 8 this nu mber was , , ,
but he seem s to hav e recogniz ed the falsity of his

ru l e B achet de M ézi riac i n his P r obl emes pl ai s an ts cl dél ectabl es
.
Lyon 1 6 1 2 gave a rule des terrasses for writ i ng down m agic

, ,
” ,
squares of odd order Fr en icl e de B essy gave a process for those of

.
1
e v en order In the seventeenth century magic squares were studied
.
by Antoine Arnauld Jean P re s t e t J O z anam ; in the eighteenth cen

, ,
.
tury by P oignard D e la Hire J Sauveur L L P ajot J J Rallier

, ,
.
,
. .
,
. .
des Ourm es L Euler and B enja m in Franklin In a letter B Franklin

,
. . .
“
said of his m agic square of 1 6 cells I m ake no question but you
2
, ,
will read ily allo w the square of 1 6 to be the m ost m agically m agical
of any m agic square ev er m a d e by any m agician .
A correspondence between B P as cal and P Fermat relating to a . .
certain ga me of chance was the germ of the theory of probabilities ,

.
of which som e anticipations are foun d in Cardan Tartaglia J Kepler , ,

.
and Galileo Che v alier de M ere proposed to B P ascal the funda

m ental P roble m of P oints
“
.
2
to determ ine the probability which ,
” .
each player has at any given stage of the gam e of winning the game
, , .
P ascal and F e rma t supposed that the players have equal chances of
winning a S ingle point .
The former co mmunicated this proble m to F ermat who studied ,
it with li v ely interest and sol v ed it by the theory of combinations a ,
theory which was diligently stu died both by him and P ascal The .
calculus of probabilities engaged the attention also of C Huygens . .
The m ost i mportant theore m reached by him was that if A has p ,
chances of wi nning a su m a and q chances of winning a su m b then , ,
En cycl opedi c des s ci en ces math s , T I , V ol 3 , 1 90 6 , p 6 6

1 ’
—
. . . .
2
Oeu es c
v r o m l
p e es de
t B l a i s e P a sca l ,
T I ,
P a r i s ,
1 86 6 , pp
2 2 0 23 7 S ee a l so I
. . . .
To d h u n te r , H i s tor y of the M a themati cal Theory of P r oba bi li ty, C a mb ri dg e a n d

L o n do n , 1 86 5 , C h ap t er I I .
VIETA TO D ES CARTES 1 71
15
he may expect to win the su m
0 6 2
. Huygens ga v e his results in
1
a treatise on probabili ty ( 1 6 which was the best account of the
subj ect until the appearance of Jakob B ernoulli s A r s conj ectandi ’
which containe d a reprint of Huygens treatise An absurd abuse of ’

.
m athem atics in connection with th e probability of testi mony was

made by J ohn C r ai g who in 1 6 99 concluded that faith in the Gospel
so far as it depended on oral tradition expired about the year 80 0 ,
and so far as it depended on written tradition it would expire in the

year 3 1 50 .
Connected with the theory of probability were the investigations

on mortal ity and insurance The use of tables of mortality does not
.
seem to have been altogether unknow n to the ancients but the first ,
na m e usually m entioned in this connection is Captain John Gr au nt

who published at London in 1 6 6 2 his N atu ral an d P ol i ti cal Obs erva
ti on s made u pon the bi l l s of mor tal i ty basing his de d uctions upon ,
records of deaths which began to be kept i n London in 1 592 and were

first intended to make known the progress of the plague Graunt was .
careful to publish the actual figures on which he based his conc l usions ,
comparing him self when so doing to a S illy schoolboy com ing to

“
say his lessons to the world ( that peevish and tetchie m aster)who
, , ,
”
,
brings a bundle of rods wherewith to be whipped for every m istake

,
he has co m mitted 1
Nothing of marked i mportance was done after
.
Graun t until 1 6 93 when Ed m und Halley published in the P hi l o

1
s ophi cal Tr an s acti on s ( London )his celebrated m e m oir on the D egr ees
f M or tal i ty of M an k i nd
o A ttempt to as cer ta i n the P r i ce of
w i th an
A n n u i ti es u pon Li ves To find the val u e of an annuity , m ultiply the

.
C hance that the individual concerne d will be alive after n years by
the present value of the annual paym en t due at the end of n years ;
the n su m the results thus obtaine d for all values of n from 1 to the
extrem e possible age for the life of that individual Halley considers .
also annuities on joint lives .
Am ong the ancients Archim edes was the only one who attained
,
clear and correct notions on theoretical statics He had acquired .
fi rm possession of the idea of pressure wh i ch lies at the root of me ,
c h an i c al science B ut his ideas slept nearly twenty centuries until

.
,
the ti me of S S tevi n a n d G al il e o G al il e i ( 1 56 4
. Stevin deter
m i ned accura t el y the force necessary to sustai n a body on a plane
inclined at any angle to the horizon He was in possession of a c om .
pl e t e doctrine of equilibriu m While Stevin inv estigated statics

.
, ,
Gal i leo pursued principally dynam ics Galil eo was the first to abandon .
the idea usually attributed to Aristotle that bodies descend more

q uickly in proportion as they are heav ier ; he established the first law
of m otion ; determ ined the laws of falling bo dies ; and h avi ng obtained ,
1
I To dh u n t e r , H i s tor y
.
f
o the Theory f
o P roba bi l i ty, p p 3 8 , 4 2
. .
1 72 A H ISTORY OF M ATHE M ATICS
a clear notion of acceleration and of the indepen dence of diff erent
m otions was able to prove that proj ectiles move in parabolic curves
,
.
Up to his tim e it was believ ed that a cannon ball moved forward at -
first in a straight line and then suddenly fell vertically to the ground .
Galileo had an understanding of cen tri fu gal f orces and gave a correct ,
definition of momen tu m Though he formulated the fundam ental

.
principle of statics ; known as the par al l el ogr am of f orces yet he did ,
not fully recogniz e its scope The principle of virtual velocities was.
partly conceived by G u i d o Ub al do (died and afterwards more

fully by Galil eo .
Galileo is the founder of the science of dynamics Am ong his con .
t e mporaries it was chiefly the novelties he detected in the sky that

m ade h i m celebrated but J Lagrange clai m s that his astrono mical
, .
discoveries required only a telescope and perseverance while it took ,
an extraor dinary genius to discover laws from phenom ena which we ,
see constantly and of which th e true e xplanation escaped all earlier

philosophers Galileo s dialogues on m echanics the Di scors i e demos
.
’
,
tr azi on i ma tema ti che 1 6 3 8 touch also the subject of infinite aggregates

, ,
.
The author displays a keenness of vision and an originality which

was not equalled before the tim e of D edekind and Georg Cantor .
Salviati who i n general represents Galileo s own ideas in these dia ’
”
,
1 “
l og u e s says
, ,
infinity and indivisibility are in their very nature i n
comprehensibl e to us Simplicio who is the spokes man of Aris
”
.
,
t o t el i a n scho l astic philosophy re marks that the infinity of points

“
,
in the long line is greater than the infinity of points in the short line .
“
Then co m e the rem arkable words of Salviati : This is one of the
diffi culties which arise when we atte mpt with our finite m in ds to , ,
discuss the infinite assigning to it those properties which we give to

,
the finite and unlim ited ; but this I think is wrong for we cannot ,
speak of infinite quantities as being the one greater or less than or

equal to another We can on l y infer that the totality of all
.
nu mbers is infinite and that the n u mber of squares is infinite and

, ,
that the nu mber of the roots is infinite ; neither is the nu mber of squares
less than the totality of all nu mbers nor the latter greater than the ,
former ; and fi nally the attributes equal greater and l eS S are ‘

,
’ ‘
,
’ ‘ ’
not app l icable to infinite but only to finite quantities ,

O ne .
l i ne does not contain m ore or less or just as man y poi n t s as another

”
'
but e ac h l i n e contains an infinite nu m ber From the time of

'
Galileo an d D escartes to Sir W i ll i am Hamilton there was held the ,
doctrine of the fi n i tu de of the hu man mind and its consequent in

ability to conceive the infinite A D e M organ ridiculed this saying . .
, ,
”
the argument a mounts to this who drives fat oxen should himself
“
,
be fat .
Infin i te series which sprang into pro m i nence at the tim e of the
,
S ee G al i l eo s Di a l og u es con cer n i n g two n ew S ci en ces , t ra n sl a t ed b y H e n ry C rew

”
’
1
a n d Al fo n so d e S a l v i o , N ew Y o rk , 1 9 1 4,
“
F i rs D ay, pp 30 3 2 t .
— .
D escartes considered m athe matical studies absolutely pernicious as a

m eans of internal culture In a letter to M ersenne D escartes says : .
,
“
M D esargues puts me under obligations on account of the pains
.
that it has pleased h i m to have in me i n that he S hows that he is ,
sorry that I do not wish to study m ore in geometry but I have re ,
sol v ed to quit only abstract geo metry that is to say the consideration , ,
of questions which s er ve onl y to exer ci se the mi nd and this in order to , ,
study another kind of geo metry which has for its obj ect the e xp l ana ,
tion of the phenom ena of nature

is nothing else than geo metry
You know that all my ph y sics
The years between 1 6 2 9 and 1 649 .
” .
were passed by h im i n Holland in the study principally of physics , ,
and m etaphysics His residence in Holla nd Was during the m ost.
brilliant days of the D utch state In 1 63 7 he published his Di scou rs .
de l o M éthode containing a mong others an essay of 1 0 6 pages on

,
geo metry His Geometri c is not easy reading An edition appeared

. .
subsequently with notes by his fr iend De B eau n e which were inten ded ,
to re mov e the difficulties The Geometr i c of D escartes is of epoch .
m aking i mportance ; ne v ertheless we cann ot accept M ichel Chasles

’
state ment that this work is pr ol es s i ne matre crea ta—a child brought
into being without a m other I n part D escartes ideas are found in .
,
’
Apollonius ; the applicatio n of algebra to geo metry is found in Vieta

G he tal di O u g h t red and e v en a mong the Arabs F e rma t D escartes
, ,
.
,
contemporary advanced i deas on analytical geom etry akin to his

,
own in a treatise entitled A d l ocos pl an os cl s ol idos i s agoge which '
,
-
,
howe v er was not published until 1 6 7 9 in Ferm at s Vari a oper a In

,
’
.
D escartes Géométri e there is no syste matic dev elop ment of the

’
m ethod of analytics The m ethod m ust be constructe d fro m iso l ate d

.
state ments occurring in di ff erent parts of the treatise In the 3 2 .
geometric d ra w ings illustrating the text the a xes of coord inates are
in no case explicitly set forth The treatise consists of three book s .
“
.
”
The first deals with p roble ms which can be constructed by the a id “
of the circle and straight line only The second book is on the
” .
”
“
nature of curved lines The third book treats of the construction .
of proble ms solid and more than solid I n the first book it is ma d e .
clear that if a proble m has a finite nu mber of solutions the final

, ,
equation ob tained will have o nly one unknown that if the final ,
”
“
equation has t w o or more unknowns the problem is not whol l y ,
“
determined 1 If the final equation has two unkno w ns then since
.
there is always an infinity of diff erent points which satisfy th e d e

m and it is therefore required to recogniz e and trace the line on which
,
all of the m m ust be located (p To acco mplish this D escartes ” .
C J K eyser , M athemati cs , 1 90 7 ,
—
44 ; F C aj o r i i n P opul ar S ci ence M on thl y,
— pp
. . . 20 .
191 2, pp 3 6 0 3 7 2
. .
1
D esc a r t e s Géometr i e, ed
’
p 4
’
We a re h ere g u ided by G En e st rom i n

1 886 ,
—
. . . .
B i bl i otheca ma thema ti ca , 3 S , V o l 1 1 , pp
2 4 0 2 43 ; V ol
. 1 2 , p p 2 73 , 2 74 ; Vo l
. . 14, . . . .
p 35 7 ,
. a n b
d y H Wi e l e i t n e r i n V o l. 1 4 , pp 2 4 1 -
2 43 , 3 2 9 , 33 0 . . .
D ES CARTES TO NEWTON 1 75
selects a straight l ine which he som eti mes calls a diam eter (p 3 1 ) .
and associates each of its points with a point sought in such a way that
the latter can be constructed whe n the form er point is assumed as
“
known Thus on p 1 8 he says J e c hoises une ligne droite co mm e
.
,
.
,
EC
,
”
A B pour rapporter a ses d ivers points tous ceux de cette l igne courbe
Here D escartes follows Apollonius who related the points of
a conic to the points of a dia meter by distances ( ordinates )
.
which ,
m ake a constant angle with the diam eter and are determined in length
by the positio n of the point on the dia meter This constant angle is .
with D escartes usually a right angle The n e w feature introduced by .
Descartes was the use of an equ ati on wi th mor e than one u n k n own so
that (in case of two unknowns )
,
for any value of one unknown (ab

scissa )the length of the other ( ordinate )
,
could be co mputed He .
uses the letters x and y for the abscissa and ordinate He makes it .
plain that the x and y may be represen t ed by other distances t han the
ones selected by hi m (p that for instance the angle form ed by
.
, ,
x and y need not be a right angle I t is noteworthy that Descartes .
and F e rma t and their successors down to the mid dle of the eighteenth
,
century used oblique co ordinates m ore frequently than did later

,
analysts I t is also note w orlthy that D escartes does not formally

.
introduce a second a xis our y axis Such formal introduction is found

,
-
.
in G Cra mer s I n tr odu cti on d l an al yse des l i gn es cou r bes al gébri qu es

.
’ ’
1 750 ; earlier publications by de Gua L Euler W M ur d och and others
contai n o nly occasional references to a y— ”

”
.
,
.
,
- axis The words abscissa .

“
,
“
ordinate were not used by D escartes In the strictly techni cal .
“ ”
sense of anal ytics as one of the coordinates of a point th e word
ordinate was used by Leibniz i n 1 6 94 but i n a less restricted sense
,
”
,
such e xpressions as o rdi n a tim a ppl i ca tae occur m uch earl ier in
F C o mman din u s and others The technical use of abscissa is “
”
. .
observed i n the eighteenth century by C Wo l f and others In the . .
“
m ore general sense of a d istance it was used earlier by B Cavalier i .
in his Indiv i sibles by S tef a no degl i A ngel i ( 1 6 2 3

,
a professor
; c oOrdi n a tae i n 1 6 92
‘ ”
of m athe matics in Ro me and by others Leibniz introduced the word
,
To guard aga inst certain current historical

.
.
errors we qu ote the following fro m P Tannery : One frequentl y

“
.
attributes wrongly to D escartes the introduction of the convention

of reckoning coordinates positiv ely and negati v ely in the sense in ,
which we start the m fro m the origin The truth is that in this respect .
the Geometri c of 1 6 3 7 contains only certain re marks touching the

interpretation of real or false (positive or negative ) roots of equations .
If then w e examine with care the rules given by D escartes in

his Geometri c as well as his application of the m we notice that he
, ,
adopts as a principle that an equation of a geometric locus is not

vali d except for the angle of the coordinates ( quadrant ) in which it
was established and all his contemporaries do likewise The extension
of an equation to other angles ( quadrants )
.
,
was freely made in par ti cu

lar cases for the interpretation of the negative roots of equations ;

but while it served particular conventions (for e xample for reckoning
distances as positive and negative )it was in reality quite long in ,
co mpletely establishing itself and one cannot attribute the honor for
it to any particular geom eter
,
.
”
D escartes geo metry was called analytical geometry partly
’
,
because unlike the synthetic geometry of the ancients it is actually

, ,
a n al yti ca l in the sense that the word is used in logic ; and partly b e
,
cause the practice had then already arisen of designating by the term ,
a n al ys i s the calculus with general quantities .
”
The first important example solved by D e scartes in hi s geometry
“
is the proble m of P appus ; v iz Given several straight li nes in a
“
.
plane to find the locus of a point such that the perpendiculars or more
, ,
generally straight lines at given angles drawn from the point to the
, ,
given lines S hall satisfy the condition that the product of certain of
,
them S hall be in a give n ratio to the product of the rest Of this .

”
celebrated proble m the Greeks solved only the special case when the
,
nu mber of giv en lines is four in which case the locus of the point ,
turns out to be a conic section By D escartes it was solv ed c om .
pl e t el y and it a fforded an excellent exa mple of the use which can be

,
m ade of his analytical m ethod in the study of loci Another solution .
was give n later by Newton in the P ri nci pi a D escartes illustrates .
“
his analytical m ethod also by the ovals n ow nam ed after him cer , ,
catoptrique ”
taines ovales que vous verrez etre tres utiles pour la th éorie de la
These curves were studied by D escartes probably as
.
-
, ,
early as 1 6 2 9 ; they were intended by him to serve in the construction

of converging lenses but yielded no results of practical value In
,
.
the nineteenth century they received m uch attention 1

.
The power of D escartes anal ytical m ethod in geom etry has been
’
vividly set forth recently by L Bolt zmann in the rem ark that the .
form u l a appears at ti mes cleverer than the man who in v ented it Of .
all the problem s which he solved by his geom etry none gave him as ,
great pleasure as his m ode of constructing tangents It was published .
earlier than the m ethods of F ermat and Roberval which were noticed
on a preceding page .
D escartes m ethod consisted in first finding the norm al Through

’
.
a given point x y of the curve he drew a circle which had its centre
at the intersection of the norm al and the x—
,
axis Then he imposed .
the condition that the circle cut the curve in two coincident points
x y
,
. In 1 63 8 D escartes indicated in a letter that in place of the ,
circle a straight line may be used This idea is elaborated by Fl ori

,
.
mond de B eau n e in his notes to the 1 6 49 edition of D escartes Géométr i e

’
.
In finding the point of intersection of the normal and x axis D escartes -

,
used the method of I ndeter mi n ate Coeffi ci en ts of which he bears the ,
honor of invention Indeterm inate coeffi cients were e mployed by

.
S ee G Lori a Ebene Cu rvou ( F S c hut te)

1
. I 19 p 74 .
, ,
10 , . 1 .
1 78 A H ISTORY O F M AT H EM ATIC S
of its beautiful properties and the controversies which their discovery

occasioned Its quadrature by Roberval was generally considered a
.
brilliant achieve ment but D escartes co mmented on it by saying that ,
any one m oderately well versed in geom etry might ha v e done this .
He then sent a S hort demonstration of his own On Roberval s i n .

’
t i ma t i n g that he had been assisted by a knowledge of the solution ,
D escartes constructed the tangent to the curve and challenged ,
Roberval and F erm a t to do the sam e Fermat acco mplished it but .

,
Roberval never succeeded in solving this p roblem which had cost ,
the genius of D escartes but a m oderate degree of attention .
The application of algebra to the doctri ne of curve d lines reacted

favorably upon algebra A S a n abstract Science D escartes i mproved .
,
it by the introduction of the modern exponential notation In his .
Géométr i e 1 6 3 7 he writes ao o n a pour m ultiplier a par s oi meme ;

”
“ 2
,
”
,
et a
3
pour l e m ultiplier encore une fois par a e t ainsi a l i nfi n i ,
’
.
“ 3
Thus while F Vieta represented A by A c u b u s and Ste vin x
,
3
.
by a figure 3 within a s mall circle D escartes wrote a In his Geometri c

3
,
.
he does not use negative and fractional exponents nor l iteral ex ,
p on en t s His notation was the outgrowth and an i mprovem ent of

.
notations e mployed by writers before him Nicolas C hu q u e t s m anu .

’
1 3
script work L e Tri party en l a sci ence des n ombr es 1 4 84 gives 1 2 x
, , ,
5 8
and r ox and their product 1 2 0 x by the symbols 1 2 1 0 1 2 0
5
,
8 3
, , ,
respectiv ely C hu q u e t goes even further and writes 1 2 x and 7x

.
°
thus he represents the product of 8x and 7x by 56

3 1 2
J
‘
. .
B urgi R eym er and J Kepler use Ro man nu m erals for the exponen
,
.
tial symbol J Burgi writes 1 6x thus 2 I I Thom as Harriot S imply

16
. .
repeats the letters ; he writes in his A rti s an al yti coe praxi s

a
" 1 0 2 4 a + 6 2 54 a thus : a aaa
2
1 0 2 4 aa + 6 2 54 a .
,
D escartes exponent i al notation sprea d rap i dly ; about 1 6 60 or

’
1 6 7 0 the positive integral exponent h a d w o n an un d i sputed place in
“ ”
algebraic notation In 1 6 5 6 J Wallis S peaks of negative a n d fractional
.
indices in his A r i thmeti ca i nfi n i toru m but he does not actually

,
.
_ 1
—
write a for or a
’
/s for x/a It was I Newton who in his fam ous
3
. .
,
letter to H Oldenburg dated June 1 3 1 6 7 6 and containing his a n

.
, , ,
n ou n c em en t of the bino m ial theorem first uses negative and fractional ,
exponents .
With D escartes a letter represented always only a positiv e nu mber .
I t was Johann H u dde who in 1 6 5 9 first let a letter stan d f o r negative

as well as positive values
”
.
D escartes also estab l ished so m e theore m s on the theory of equa

tions Celebrate d is his rule of signs for determining the nu mber
. .
“
B u l l etti n o B on compag n i , V ol
’
1
C hu q ue t s L e Tr ip a r ty , . 1 3, 1 8 80 , p .
7 40 .
D ESCARTES TO NEWTON 1 79
of positiv e and negative roots He gives the rule after pointing out .
the roots 2 3 4 5 a n d the corresponding bino m ial factors of the

, , ,
1— 3—
equation x 4x 1 9x + 1 0 6 x 1 2 0 = 0
‘ 2
His exact words are as -
.
follo ws .
“
On c o nn oi t aussi de ceci combien il peut y avoir de vraies racines
e t co mbien de fausses en chaque eq u a t i o n : a sa v oir i l y en peut a v oir
autant de v raies que les S ignes et s y trouvent de fois etre

’
c ha n g es e t autant de fausses qu il s trou e de fois eux ignes ’ ’

, y v d S
ou d eux S ig n es qui s e n t re suivent Co mm e en la derniere a cause

’
.
,
q u apres + x il y a qui est u n change ment d u signe e n

’ 4
e t apr es — 1 9x
2
i l y a + r o 6 x e t apres + r o 6 x il y a —1 2 0 sont
qui
, ,
encore d eux autres ch ange ments ou c onn oi t qu il y a tro i s vraies ’ .
racines ; e t une fausse a cause que les deux S ignes ,

de 4x e t 1 9x
3 2
s e n t re—sui v ent
’
.
This state me n t lacks co mpleteness For this reason he has been .
frequently critici z ed J Wallis clai med that D escartes failed to

. .
notice that the rule breaks down in case of i maginary roots but
“
D escartes does not say that the equation al w ays has but that it may ,
have so m any roots

, D id D escartes recei v e any suggestion of his
.
rule fro m earlier writers ? He m ight have received a hint from H .
Cardan whose re marks on this subj ect have been sum mariz ed by
,
G En e s t r6 m as follows : If m an equation of the secon d third or

1
fourth degree ( 1 )
.
,
th e last ter m is negative then one variation of S ig n

signifies one and only one positive root ( 2 )
, ,
the last term is positive , ,
the n t wo variations indicate either several positive roots or none .
Cardan does not consider equations ha v ing more than two variations .
G W Leibniz was the first to erroneously attribute the rule of signs

. .
to T Harriot D escartes was charged by J Wallis with availing

. . .
himself without acknowledgment of Harriot s theory of equations

, ,
’ -
particularly his m ode of generating equations ; but there see ms to be

no goo d ground for the charge .
In m echanics D escartes can hardly be said to have advanced b e

,
yond Gal ileo The l atter had overthrown the ideas of Aristotle on
.
”
this subject and D escartes S i mply threw himself upon the enem y
”
“
,
that had already bee n put to the rout

“
His state ment of the first .
and second laws of motion was an improvem ent in form but his third ,
law is false in substa n ce The m otions of bodies i n their direct i mpact

.
was i mperfectly understood by Galileo erroneously giv en by D escartes , ,
an d first correctly stated by C Wren J Wall i s and C Huygens .

,
.
, . .
One of the most devoted pupil s of D escartes was the learned

P ri n cess El i za beth daughter of Frederick V ,
She applied the new
analytical geo m etry to the so l utio n of the Apollon ian problem
.
.
”
His second royal follower was Qu een C hri s ti n a the daughter of Gus ,
tav us Adolphus She urged upon D escartes to com e to the Swe dish
.
court After m uch hesitatio n he accepted the invitation in 1 6 49

. .
1
B i bl i otheca mathema ti ca , 3 rd S .
, V ol 7 ,. 1 90 6
—7 , p . 2 93 .
He died at S tockhol m one year later His life had been one long war .
fare against the prej udices of men .
I t is most re markable that the m a thematics and philoso phy of

D escartes should at first have been appreciated less by his country
m en than by foreigners The indiscreet temper of D escartes alienated
.
the great contemporary French m athem aticians Roberv al F erma t , , ,
P ascal .They continued in in v estigations of their own and on som e ,
points strongly opposed D escartes The univ ersities of France were .
under strict ecclesiastical control and did nothing to introduce his

m athe matics and philosophy It was in the youthful universities of
.
1
Holland that the eff ect of Cartesian teachi ngs was most immediate
and strongest .
The only prominent French man who i mme diately followed in the
footsteps of the great master was F l o ri mon d d e B eau n e ( 1 6 0 1 1 6 5 -
He was one of the first to point out that the properties of a curve
can be deduced fro m the properties of its tangent This m ode of .
inquiry has been called the i nver se method of tangen ts He contributed .
to the theory of equations by consid ering for the first tim e the upper
and lo w er limits of the roots of nu merical equations .
In the Netherlands a large nu mber of d istinguished m athe maticians

were at once struck with ad miration for the Cartesian geo metry .
Fore most a m ong these are va n S chooten John de Witt van H eu rae t , , ,
S l u z e and H u dde Fr an c i s c u s van S c hoo t e n ( died

,
. professor
of m athe m atics at Leyden brought out a n edition of D escartes
,
’
geom etry together with the notes thereon by D e B eaune His chief
, .
work is his Exerci tati on es M athemati cce 1 6 57 in which he applies the , ,
analyt i cal geom etry to the solutio n of m any interesting and d ifficult
proble ms The noble hearted Joh ann d e Wi tt ( 1 6 2 5
.
-
grand
pensioner of Holland celebrated as a states man and for his tragical
,
end was an ardent geometrician He conceived a new and ingenious

, .
way of generating conics which is essentially the same as that by

,
projective pencils of rays in m odern syn thetic geometry He treated .
the subj ect not synthetically but with aid of the Cartesian analysis
R e n é F r an coi s d e S l u s e ( 1 6 2 2 —1 6 8 5)
.
,
and Joh ann H u dd e ( 1 633

1 7 0 4) m ade so m e i mprove m ents on D escartes and Ferm at s m ethods ’ ’
of drawing tangents and on the theory of maxim a and minima With

,
.
H u dde we find the first use of three variables i n analytical geom etry
, .
He is the author of an ingenious rule for fin ding equal roots We .
illustrate it by the equation x 3

Taking an arith
metical progression 3 2 ,
of which the highest term is equal to
,
the degree of the equation and m ultiplying each term of the equation
,
respecti v ely by the correspon ding term of the progression we get

3— 2— 2—
,
3x 2x 8 x 0 or 3 x
=
,
2x This last equation is by one
d egree lower than the original one Find the G O D of the two
equations This i s x —2 ; hence 2 is on e of the two equal roots Had
. .
. .
there been no common divisor then the original equation woul d not ,
ad and obtained a geometric series that was i nfi ni te How
i nfi ni tu m .
ever infinite series had been obtained before him by A l varu s Thomas
, ,
a nati v e of Lisbon in a work L i ber de tri pl i ci motu ,

and possibly , ,
”
by others B ut S t Vincent was the first to apply geom etric series to
.
the Achill es and to look upon the paradox as a question in the

“
.
s ummation of an infinite series M oreover St Vincent was the first .

,
.
to state the e xact tim e and place of overtaking the tortoise He .
spoke of the li mit as an obstacle against further advance similar to ,
a rigid wall Apparently he was not troubled by the fact that in hi s

”
.
theory the variable does not r ea ch its l im it His exposition of the

, .
“
Achi l les was favorably received by G W Leibniz and by writers . .
over a century afterw ard The fullest account and discussion of .
Zeno s argu ments on m otion that was published before the nineteenth
’
century was given by the noted French skeptical philosopher P i er r e

B ayl e i n an article
,
Zenon d El ée in his Di cti on n a i r e hi stori qu e et ’ ” ,
cr i ti qu e ,
The prince of philosophers in Holland and one of the greatest ,
scientists of the seventeenth century was C h ri s tian H u yg e n s ( 1 6 2 9 ,
1 69 a native of The Hague E m inent as a physicist and astronomer .

,
as well as m athe matician he was a worthy predecessor of Sir Isaac ,
Newton He studied at Leyden under Fr a ns Va n S chooten The

. .
perusal of som e of his earliest theore ms led R D escartes to predict .
his future greatness In 1 6 5 1 Huygens wrote a treatise in which he.
pointed out the fallacies of Gregory S t Vincent on the subject of .
quadratures He hi mself gave a re markably close and convenient

.
approxi m ation to the length of a circular arc In 1 66 0 and 1 663 he .
went to P aris an d to London In 1 6 6 6 he was appointe d by Louis .
XIV m e mber of the French Academ y of Sciences He was induced .
to rem ain in P aris from that time until 1 68 1 when he returned to hi s ,
native city partly for consideration of his health and partly on ac

,
count oi the revocation of the Edict of Nantes .
The m ajority of his profound discoveries were m ade with aid of the
ancient geo metry though at ti mes he used the geo m etry of R D es
,
.
cartes or of B Cavalieri and P Fermat Thus like his illustrious

. . .
,
friend Sir Isaac Newton he al w ays sho w ed partiality for the Greek
, ,
geom etry Ne w ton and Huygens were kind r ed min d s and had the
.
,
greatest ad miration for each other Newton always speaks of hi m

as the Sum mus H ug en i u s
“ ” .
To the two curves ( cubical parabola and cycloid )

.
previously recti
fi e d he adde d a third — the cissoid A French physician Clau dius ,
.
,
P errault proposed the question to d eter mine the path in a fixed plane
, ,
of a heavy point attached to one en d of a taut string whose other end

m oves along a straight line in that plane Huygens and G W Leibniz . . .
studied this proble m in 1 6 93 generaliz ed it and thus worked out the , ,
1
H Wi el ei tn e r i n B i bli otheca ma themati ca , 3 F , B d 1 9 1 4 , 1 4 , p
—
.
,
. . . . 152 .
2
S ee F C aj or i i n A m M ath M on thl y, V o l 2 2 , 1 9 1 5 , p p 1 0 9 1 1 2
. . . . . .
D ESCARTES TO NEWTON
geometry of the the problem of th e tractrix ” Huygens solved
.
1
catenary determined the surface of the parabolic and hyperbolic

,
conoid and disco v ered the properties of the logarith mic curve an d
,
the solids generated by it Huygens De horol og i a os ci l l atori o (P aris ’
1 6 73)
.
,
is a work that ranks second only to the P ri n ci pi a of Newton

and constitutes h istorically a necessary introduction to it The book .
opens with a description of pendulum clocks of which Huygens IS the ,
inventor Then follows a treatm ent of accelerated m otion of bodies

fall ing free or sl iding on inclined planes or on given curves —cul
.
, , ,
m i n a ti n g in the brilliant discovery that the cycloid is the tautochronous
“
evolutes ”
curve To the theory of curves he added the important theory of
.
After explaining that the tangent of the evolute is

.
normal to the involute he applied the theory to the cycloid and , ,
showed by si mple reasoning that the evolute of this curve is an equal

cycloid Then co mes the co mplete general discussion of the centre
.
of oscillation This subject had been proposed for investigation by

.
M M ersenne and discussed by R D escartes and G P Roberval

. . . . .
In Huygens assumption that the common centre of gravity of a

’
group of bodies oscillating about a horiz ontal axis rises to its original
, ,
height but no higher is expressed for the first time one of th e most
, ,
beautif ul principles of dynamics afterwards called the principle of ,
the conserv ation of vi s vi va The thirteen theore m s at the close of .
the work relate to the theory of centrifugal force in circular motion . .
This theory aided Ne w ton in d isco v ering the l aw of gravitation 2

.
Huygens wrote the first formal treatise on probability He pro

posed the wave—
.
theory of light and with great sk i ll applie d geom etry

to its develop m ent This theory was long neglecte d but was revived .
,
and elaborated by Thomas Young and A J Fresnel a century later . . .
Huygens an d his brother i mproved the telescope by devising a better

way of grin ding and pol i sh i ng lenses With m ore effi cient i n s tru .
m ents he d eterm ined the nature of Saturn s appendage and sol v ed ’
other astronom ical questions Huygens Opu s cu l a pos thu ma appeared .

’
I n 1 70 3 .
The theory of combinations the prim itive notions of which go ,
back to ancient Greece received the attention of Wi l li am B u ckl ey ,
of Ki ng s College Cambridge (d ied 1 5

’
and especially of Blaise
,
P ascal who treats of it in his A r i thmeti cal Tr i a n gl e B efore P ascal .

,
thi s Triangle had been constructe d by N Tartaglia an d M Stifel . . .
Ferm at applied co mb i nations to the stu dy of probability The earliest .
m athe m atical work of Leibniz was his De a r te combi n a tor i a The .
subject was treated by John Wal l is in his A l gebra

Joh n Wal li s ( 1 6 1 6 1 70 3 )
.
— was one of the m ost original ma th e ma t i

c i an s of his day He was e ducated for the Church at Cambridge an d en
.
1
G L o ri a , Eben e C u r vou ( F S c h u tt e I I 1 9 1 1 , p 1 8 8
. .
) ,
. .
2
E D uhri n g , K r i ti sche Geschi chte der A ll geme i n en P ri nc i pi en der M echa n i k
. .
z
L e ip i g , 1 88 7 , p 1 3 5 . .
t er e d Holy Orders B ut his genius was e mployed chiefly in the study of
.
mathe matics In 1 6 4 9 he w as appointed S av i l ia n professor of geo metry

.
at Oxford He was one of the original m e mbers of the Royal Society

.
,
which was founded in 1 6 6 3 He ranks as one of the world s greatest de .

’
C ipherers of c ryptic writing

1
Walli s thoroughl y grasped the mathema t .
ical m ethods both of B Cavalieri and R D escartes His C oni c S ecti ons . . .
is the earliest work in which these curves are no longer considered as

sections of a cone but as curves of the second degree and are treated
, ,
analytically by the Cartesian m ethod of c o ord inates In this work -

.
Wallis S peaks of D escartes in the highest term s b ut in his Al gebr a ,
( 1 6 8 5 Latin edition 1 6 9 he without good reason accuses D escartes

, , ,
of plag i ariz ing fro m T Harriot I t is interesti ng to observe that in . .

,
his A l gebr a Wallis discusses the possibility of a fourth dimension

,
.
Whereas nature says Wallis doth not admit of m ore than three
“
(local )
, ,
dimensions it may justly see m very improp er to talk of

a solid drawn into a fourth fi fth s i xth or further dim ension , , ,
.
Nor can our fan si e im agine h ow there should be a fourth local dimen
sion beyond these three 2
The first to busy himself with the nu mber .
”
of dimensions of space was P tole my Wall i s felt the need of a m ethod .
of representing i maginaries graphically but he failed to discover a ,
general and consistent representation He published Nasir—

3
Eddin s .
’
proof of the parallel postulate and abandoning the idea of equi ,
distance that had been e mployed without success by F C om ma n di n o .

,
C S C l a v io P A Cataldi and G A B ore l li gave a proof of his own

. .
,
. . . .
,
based on the axiom that to e v ery figure there exists a S i milar figure ,
of arbitrary m agnitude 4
The existence of si milar triangles was as .
su med 1 00 0 years before Wallis by Aga mis who was probably a ,
teacher of Sim plicius We h av e a l ready m entioned else w here Wal l is s

.
’
solution of the priz e questions on the cycloid which were proposed by ,
P ascal .
The A r i thmeti ca i nfi n i tor u m published in 1 6 5 5 is his greatest work , , .
By the application of analysis to the M etho d of In d iv isibles he greatly ,
increased the power of this instru ment for e ffecting quadratures He .
created the arith metical conception of a li mit by considering the

successive values of a fraction for med in the study of certain ratios ; ,
these fractional values steadi ly approach a li miting v alue so that ,
the d iff erence becom es less than any assignable one and v anishes
when the process is carr i e d to infinity He a dv ance d beyond J Kepler
by making more extended use of the law of continuity and placing
.
” .
1
D E S mi t h i n B u ll A m M a th S oc , Vol 2 4 , 1 9 1 7 , p 8 2
—
. . . . . . . . .
2
G En es t r Orn i n B i bli otheca ma thema ti ca , 3 S , V o l 1 2 , 1 9 1 1 1 2 p 8 8
. . . .
, . .
S e e Wal l i s A l gebr a , 1 6 8 5 , p p 2 6 4 2 7 3 ; see al so En es t r Om i n B i bl i otheca mathe

’
3 -
mati ca , 3 S , V ol 7 , pp 2 6 3—
.
. . . 269 . .
4
R B on o l a , op ci t , p p 1 2 1 7 S ee al so F En g el u P S t ack e l , Theor i e der
—
-
. . . . . . . .
P ar al l elli ni en von E u cl id bi s a uf Ga uss , L e i p ig , 1 8 95 , pp 2 1 3 6 Thi s t rea t is e z . .
g i v es t r a n sl a t i o n s i n t o G e rma n o f S ac c h e r i , a l so t h e e ss ays o f L amb e r an d Ta u r in-

us, t
an d l e t t ers of G auss .
responding to and the curves represented by the equations y
— — —
x,
y ( 1 x )y ( 1 x )y ( 1 x )etc are expressed in

2 1 2 2 2 3
(1 = = =
, , , .
,
functions of the circum scribed rectangles havi ng x and y for their

sides by the quantities forming the series
,
x
— 3
1x 3 ,
_ 1 5
x § x3+ x 5 7
,
x 1x + § x 1x etc , .
When x = 1 these values becom e respectively

, 1 15 etc N ow 1, ,
3
, .
= —
since the ordinate of the circle is y ( 1 x )the exponent of which is
2 i
,
1 or th e m ean value between 0 and 1 the question of this quadrat ure ,
reduce d itself to this If 0 1 etc oper ated upon by a certain law

—
.
, , ,
.
,
give 1 3 15 5 what will give when operated upon by the sam e

4 8 1
, , ,
law ? He atte mpted to solve this by i n terpol ati on a _m ethod first ,
brought into prominence by him and arrived by a highly complicated ,
and difficult analysis at the following very remarkable expression :

"
71
He did not succeed in m aking the interpolation itself because he ,
did not e mploy li teral or general exponents and could not conceiv e a ,
series with m ore than one term and less than two which it seeme d ,
to him the interpolated series m ust have The consideration of this

dimc u l ty led I Newton to the discovery of the B inom ial Theore m
.
. .
This is the best place to S peak of that discovery Newton virtually .
assum ed that the sam e conditions which underlie the general ex

pressions for the areas given above m ust also hold for the expression
to be interpol ated In the first place he observed that i n each ex
.
,
pression the first term is x that x i ncreases in odd powers that t e

signs alternate and 3
and that the second term s 1x 1x 1x 1x
3 3 h3
,
,
,
,
, ,
are in arithm etical progression Hence the first two terms of the
interpolated series m ust be x He nex t considered that the de
3
no minators 1 3 5 7 etc are in arith m etical progression and that
, , , , .
, ,
the coefli c i en t s in the num erators in each expre ssion a re the digits
‘ ’
of some power of the number 1 1 ; nam ely for the first expression 1 1 0
, ,
or 1 ; for the seco nd 1 1 or 1 1 ; for the third 1 1 or 1 2 1 ; for the

1
,
2
, , , ,
fourth 1 1 or 1 3 3 1 ; etc He then discovered that having give n

3
the second digit ( call it m)the remaining digits can be found by con
.
, , , , ,
— — —
m o m r m 2
t I n u al m u l ti pl I c a tI on of the term s of the ser i es
773 —2
etc . Thus if ,
m= 4 , then 4 . gives 6; 6 . gives 4;
D ESCARTES To NEWTON 18 7
gi v es 1 . Applying this rule to the required series since , t he
second term is we hav e m 1 and then get for the succeeding

,
3
coeffi cients in the num erators respectiv ely -
1 ,
“
1
1 111 etc .
;
3 5 7
hence the required area for the circular segm ent is x 1x 1x 1 x
3 5 7
etc Thus he found the interpolated expression to be an infinite series
.
,
instead of one having m ore than one term and less than two as Wallis ,
believ e d it m ust be This interpolation suggeste d to Newton a mode

—
of expanding ( 1 x )or m ore generally ( 1
.
2 i
into a series He
, , , .
observed that he had only to o mit from the expression just found the
denominators 1 3 5 7 etc and to lower each power of x by unity
, , , ,
.
, ,
and he had the desired expression In a letter to H Oldenburg . .
(June 1 3 ,
Newton states the theorem as follows :The ex traction
of roots is much shortened by the theorem
n 111 —2 17 ,
B Q+
where A means the first term P B the second term C th e third ,

n
, ,
term etc He verified it by actual m ultiplication but gave no regular

, .
,
proof of it He gave it for any exponent whatever but m a d e no dis

.
,
tinction between th e case when the exponent is positive and integral ,
and the others .
I t S hould here be mentioned that very rude beginnings of the bi

nom ial theorem are found very early The Hindus and Arabs use d
the expansions of ( a + b)and (a + b)for extracting roots ; Vieta knew
.
2 3
the expansion of but these were the results of S im ple multi

plication without the discovery of any law The binomial coefficients .
for positive whole exponents were known to som e Arabic and Euro
pean m athem aticians B P ascal derive d the coeffi cients from the
m ethod of what is called the “
arithm etical triangle
.
Lucas de
.
.
”
Burgo M Stifel S S te v inus H B riggs and others all possessed
,
.
,
.
,
.
, ,
s omething from which one would think the binomial theorem could
”
“
have been gotten with a little attention if we did not know that ,
such S imple relations were diffi cult to discover .
Though Wallis had ob ta ined an entirely n ew expression for 7r he ,
was not satisfied with it ; for instead of a finite number of term s yield
ing an absolute value it contained an infinite number approaching , ,
nearer and nearer to that value He therefore induced his friend Lor d .
,
B r ou n c k e r the first presi d ent of the Royal Society to investigate

, ,
this subject Of course Lord B rou n c k e r did not find what they were
.
after but he ob tained the following beaut iful equality

,
1 88 A H ISTO RY O F M ATH EMATICS
49
etc 2+ .
Continued fractions both ascending and descending appear to have

, ,
been known alrea dy to the Greeks a nd Hindus though not in our ,
present notation B rou n c k e r s e xpression gave birth to the theory of

.
’
continued fractions .
Wallis m ethod of quadratures was diligently studied by his dis

’
c ipl es Lord B rou n c k e r obtained the first infinite series for the area
.
of the equilateral hyperbola xy= 1 between one of its asymptotes and

1 1 1
the ordi nates for x= 1 and x= 2 ; V IZ . the area
L ogari thmotechni a (London ,
1 668 )of N i col au s
3
M er cator is often said
to conta i n the ser i es log In real I ty I t con
2 3
tains the nu m erical values of the first few term s of that series tak ,
ing a = 1 also a = 2 1 He adhered to the m ode of exposition which

.
, . .
favored the concrete special case to the general form ula Wallis was .
the first to state M ercator s logarithm ic series in general symbols ’

.
M ercator d e d uce d his results from the grand property of the hyper
bola deduced by Gregory S t Vincent in B ook VII of his Opu s geo .
metri cu m Antwerp 1 6 4 7 : If parallels to one asym ptote are drawn

, ,
between the hyperbola and the other asymptote so that the successive ,
areas of the m ixtilinear qua drilaterals thus form ed are equal then ,
the lengths of the parallels form a geom etric progression Apparently .
the first writer to state this theorem in the language of logarithm s

was the B elgian Jesuit A lf ons A n ton de S aras a who defended Gregory ,
S t Vincent against attacks m ade by M ersenne M ercator showed

. .
how the construction of logarithm ic tables could be reduced to the

quadrature of hyperbolic spaces Following up som e suggestions of .
Wallis Wi l l i am N ei l succeeded in rectifying the cubical parabola and

, ,
C Wr en in rectifying any cycloidal arc

. Gregory St Vincent i n . .
,
P art X of h i s Opu s describes the construction of certain quartic cu rves ,
often called virtual parabolas of S t Vincent one of which has a shap e

2 —2 = 4
— x )
.
,
m uch l ike a lem niscate and in Cartesian c o ordinates is d (y

2
y .
Curves of this type are mentioned in the correspondence of C Huy .
gens with R d e Sluse and with G W Leibniz

.
,
. . .
A prom inent English m athem atician and contemporary of Wallis

was I s aac B arr ow ( 1 6 30 He was professor of m athematics
in Lon don and then in Cambri dge but in 1 6 6 9 he resigned his chair
, ,
Wallis in 1 68 5, and Edm und Halley in Ja m es Gregory and

B arrow gav e also the integral tan 0 d 9= log sec 0; B Cav al ieri in .
1 64 7 established the i ntegral x

” dx . Sim il ar results were obtained
by E Torricelli Gregory S t V i ncent
.
, .
,
P . Fermat G ,
. P . Roberval and
B P ascal J
.
2
.
,
N ewton to Eu l er
I t has been seen that in France prodigious scientific progress was

m ade during the beginning and m iddle of the seventeenth century .
The toleration which m arked the reign of Henry IV and Louis XIII
was acco mpanied by intense intell ectual activity Extraordinary con .
fiden c e cam e to be placed in the power of the hu m an m ind The bold .
intellectual conquests of R D escartes P Fer mat an d B P ascal en .

,
.
,
.
riched m ath em atics with i mperishable treasures D uring the early .
part of the reign of Louis XIV we behold the sunset splendor of this
glorious period Then followed a night of mental effe m inacy This
. .
lack of great scien t ific thinkers during the reign of Louis XIV may be
due to the S imple fact that no great m inds were born ; but according ,
to Buckle it was due to the paternalism to the spirit of dependenc e

, ,
a n d subordination and to the lack of toleration which marked the

, ,
policy of Louis XIV .
In the absence of great French thinkers Louis XIV surrounded ,
him self by em inent foreigners O ROmer from Den m ark C Huygens . .

,
.
from Holland D om in i c Cassini from Italy were the m athem atician s

, ,
and astronomers a dorning his court They were in possession of a .
brilliant reputation before going to P aris Simply because they per .
formed scientific work i n P aris that work belongs no more to France ,
than the disco v eries of R D escartes belong to Holland or those of .

,
J Lagrange to Ger m any or those of L Euler and J V P oncelet to

.
, . . .
Russia We m ust look to other countries than F ran c e f or the great

.
scientific m en of the latter part of the seventeenth century .
About the tim e when Louis XIV assu med the direction of the
French govern m en t Charles II beca m e king of England At this .
tim e England was extending her comm erce an d navigation and a d ,
v an c i n g considerably in m ater i al prosper i ty A strong intellectual .
m o v e m ent took place which was unwittingly supporte d by the king

,
.
The age of poetry was soon followed by an age of science and philos
o phy In two successive centuries England produced Shakespeare
.
and I Newton ! .
S ee F C aj or i i n B i bli otheca mathema ti ca , 3 S , Vol 1 4 , 1 9 1 5 , pp 3 1 2 - 3 1 9

1
)
. . . . . .
2
H G Z e u t h e n , Ges chi chte der M ath ( d e u t sc h v R M eye r , L eip ig , 1 90 3 ,
. . . . . z
pp 2 5 6 ff
. .
NEWTON To EULER 1 91
Germany still continued in a state of national degra dation The .
Thirty Years War had dism embered the e mpire and brutalized the
’
people Yet this darkest period of Germany s history produced G W

.
’
. .
Leibniz one of the greatest geniuses of m odern times

,
.
There are certai n focal points in history toward which the lines of
past progress converge and fro m which rad iate the adv ances of the ,
future Such was the age of Newton and Leibniz in the history of
.
mathematics D uring fifty years preceding this era several of the

.
brightest and acutest m athem aticians bent the force of their genius
in a direction which finally led to the discovery of the infinites imal
calculus by Newton and Leibniz B Cavalieri G P Roberval P . .
,
. .
,
.
F erma t R Descartes J Wallis and others had each contributed to

,
.
,
.
,
the new geo m etry So great was the adv ance m ade and so near was
.
,
their approach toward the invention of the infinitesimal analysis that ,
both ] Lagrange and P S Laplace pronounced their countryman

. . .
,
P F erm a t to be the first inventor of it

.
,
The differential calculus .
,
therefore was not so m uch an individual discov ery as the grand result
,
of a succession of discover i es by different m in d s Indeed no great .

,
discovery eve r flashed upon the mind at once and though those of
”
,
Newton will influence mankind to the end of the world yet it must be ,
“
adm itted tha t P ope s lines are only a poetic fancy : ’
N ature an d Nature s l aw s lay h i d i n n ig ht ;

’
Go d sai d , Let Newton be , an d all was l i g ht

‘ ’
.
I s aac N e w ton ( 1 6 4 2 —1 727 was born atWoolsthorpe in L incoln ) ,
shire , the sam e year in which Galileo died At his birth he was so .
s mal l and weak that his life was despaired of His m other sent him .
at an early age to a village school and in his twelf th year to the public ,
school at Grantham A t first he see ms to have been very inattentiv e

. .
‘
to his studies and very low in the school ; but when one day the little , ,
Isaac received a severe kick upon his sto m ach fro m a b oy who was ‘
above him he labored har d till he ran k e d higher in school than his
,
antagonist From that tim e he continued to rise until he was the

.
l
head boy At Grantham Isaac showed a decided taste for m echan

1
.
,
ical inventions He constructed a water clock a wind mill a carriage

.
-
,
-
,
m oved by the person who sat in it and other toys When he had a t ,
.
t ain e d his fifteenth year his m other took h i m ho m e to assist her in

.
the m anagement of the farm but h is great dislike for farmw ork and ,
his irresistible passion for study in d uced her to send h im back to ,
Grantham where he re mained till his e ighteenth year when he en

, ,
t ered Trinity College Ca mbridge Ca mbridge was the real

,
b i rthplace bf Newton s genius So m e id ea of his strong intuiti v e

’
.
powers may be drawn from the fact that he regarded the theorems of
ancient geom etry as self ev ident truths and that without any pre -
, ,
li minary study he m ade h i m se l f m aster of D escartes Geometry He

’
.
,
1
D B r ew s te r , The M emo i rs
.
f
o N ew ton , Edin b u rg h , V ol I , . 1 8 55, p 8
. .
92 .
afterwards regarded thi s neglect of ele m entary geometry a mistake
in his m athem atical studies and he expressed to Dr H P e mberton , . .
his regret that he had applied him self to the works of D escartes and
“
other algebraic writers before he had consid ered the El emen ts of Euclid
with that attention which S O e xcellent a writer deserves B esides R .
” .
D escartes Geometry he studied W O ug h t red s Cl avi s J Kepler s

’ ’ ’
.
, ,
.
Opti cs the works of F Vieta v a n S c ho o t en s M i scel l an i es I B arrow s

’ ’
.
,
.
, ,
L ectu res and the works of J Wallis

,
He was particularly delighted . .
with Wallis A ri thmeti c of I nfi n i tes a treatise fraught with rich and
’
,
varied suggestions Newton had the good fortune of ha v ing for a

.
teacher and fast friend the celebrate d D r Barrow who had been .
,
elected professor of Greek in 1 660 and was made L u casian professor ,

'
of mathe m atics in 1 6 6 3 The mathe m atics of Barrow and of Wallis .
were the starting points fro m which Newton with a higher power
-
,
.
than his masters moved onward into wider fields Wallis had ef
’
,
.
f ec te d the quadrature of curves whose ordinates are expressed by any

integral and positive power of ( 1 x ) We have seen how Wallis
— 2
.
attemp ted but failed to interpolate between the areas thus calculat ed ,
the areas of other curves such as that of the circle ; how Newton at ,
tacked the proble m e ff ected the interpolation and discovered the , ,

’
B inom ial Theorem which aff orded a much easier and direct access to
,
the quadrature of curves than did the m ethod of interpolation ; for

even though the bino mial expression for the ordi n a te b e raised to a
fractional or negativ e power the binomial could at once be expanded ,
into a series and the quadrature of each separate term of that series
,
could be e ffected by the m ethod of Wallis Newto n introduced the .
system of literal indices .
Newton s study of quadratures soon led hi m to another and most

’
profound invention He himself says that in 1 6 6 5 and 1 6 6 6 he c on

.
c eiv ed the m ethod of fl u xi o n s and applied the m to t he quadrature of
curves Newton did not co mmunicate the in v ention to any of his

.
friends till 1 6 6 9 when he placed i n the hands of Barro w a trac t e n

, ,
titled De A n al ys i per E q u a ti on es N u mer o Termi n oru m I nfi n i tas which ,
was sent by Barrow to John Collins who greatly ad mired it In ,

.
this treatise the principle of fl uxion s though distinctly pointed out , ,
is on l y partially developed a ri d explained Supposing the abscissa to .
increase uniformly in proportion to the ti me he looked upon the area ,
of a curve as a nascent quantity increasing by continued fl u xi on in

the proportion of the length of the ordinate The expression which .
was obtained for the fl uxi on he expanded into a finite or infinite series
of m ono mial term s to which Wallis rule was applicable Barrow,
’
.
urged Newton to publish this treatise ; but the m odesty of the author ,
of which the excess if not culpable was certainly in the present i n

stance very unfortunate prevented his compliance
,
1
Had this tract
,
,
.
”
J h P l yf ai
o n P rog ess Of t he M athemati cal and P hysi ca l S cien ces i n Eu
a r, r
pa di a B r i ta n ni ca , 7 th Edi tion .
which ( time ) another space x b y I ncreasing with an uniform celerity ,
x measures and exhibits as described : then 2 xx will represent the

,
celerity by which the space y at the same mo ment of tim e proceeds , ,
to be described ; and con traryw i se .
“
B ut whereas we need not consider the time here any farther than ,
it is expounded and m easured by an equable local motion ; and b e

sides whereas only quantities of the sa m e kind can be compared to
,
gether and also their velocities of Increase and decrease therefore in

, , ,
what follo w s I shall have no regard to ti me formally co n sidered but ,
I Shall suppose so me one of the quantities proposed being of the same ,
kin d to be increased by an equable fl u xi on to which the rest may be

, ,
referred as it were to time ; and therefore by way of analogy it

, , , ,
may not i mproperly receive the na me of tim e In this statem ent of .
Newto n there is contained his answer to the obj ection w hich has been
raised against his m ethod that it introduces into analysis the foreign ,
idea of m otion A quantity thus increasing by uniform fluxi on is

.
,
what we now call an i ndepen dent variable .
Newton conti n ues : N ow those quantities which I consider as “
gradually and i n definitely increasing I S hall hereafter call fl u en ts or , ,
fl owi n g q u an ti ti es and S hall represent them by the final letters of the

,
alphabet v x y and z; , ,
and the velocities by which every fluent
, ,
is increase d by its generating m otion (which I may call fl u xi ons or

simply velocities or celerities )I shall represent by the same letters
,
, ,
pointed thus v x y z That is for the celerity of the quantity v

, , , , ,
.
,
I S hall put v and so for the celerities of the other quantities x y and
z I shall put x y a n d z respectively
,
,
,
I t m ust here be observ ed that
, ,
.
” , ,
Newton does not take the fl u xi on s the mselves infinitely sm all The .
“
m om ents of fl u x i on s a term introduced further on are infinitely , ,
s m all quantities These mom ents as defined and used in the

.
,
M ethod of Fl u xi on s are substantially the d i fferentials of Leibniz D e

,
.
M organ poi n ts out that no s m al l am ount of confusion has arisen fro m

the use of the word fl u xi on an d the notatio n x by all the English writers
previous to 1 70 4 excepting Newton and George Cheyne i n the sense
, ,
of an infinitely sm all increm ent 1

S trange to say even in the C om .
,
mer ci u m epi s tol i cu m the words momen t and fl u xi on appear to be used

as synon ymous .
Af ter show ing by examples how to solve the first problem Newto n ,
proceeds to the demonstration of his solution

The mom ents of flowi n g quantities ( that is their indefinitely
“
,
small parts by the accession of which in infinitely sm all portions of

time they are continually increased )
, ,
,
are as the velocities of their
flowing or increas i ng
Wherefore if the m oment of any one (a s x)
.
“
,
be represented by the
product of its celerity x into a n i nfinitely sm all quantity 0 (i e by . .
1
D e M o rg a n ,
A . O n t he E a rl y H i s t o ry of I n fin i t e sirn al s , i n P hil osophi cal
M agazi n e, N o v emb e r , 1 8 5 2 .
NEWTON To EULER 1 95
x0 )the moments of the others

,
will be represented by v0 yo
,
v, y, z, , ,
20 because v0 x0 yo and 230 are to each other as v x y and

'
, , , , , ,
Now S ince the m o ments as x0 and yo are the indefinitely little

, ,
accessions of the flo w ing quantities x a nd y by which those quantities ,
are increased through the several indefinitely little intervals of tim e ,
it follows that those quantities x and y after any in definitely small

, ,
interval of tim e becom e x+ xo and y+y0 and therefore the equation

, , ,
which at all times indifferently expresses the relation of the flowing

quantities will as well express the relation between x + x0 and y+ y0
, ,
as between x and y; so that x+ x0 and y+ y0 m ay be substituted in

the sam e equation for those quantities instead of x and y Thus let
3— 2 —
.
,
any equation x ax + axy y 0 be giv en and substitute x+ x0 for

3=
,
x and y+y
, 0 for y and there will arise
,
3 3
+ 3x x0 + 3xx0 xo + x
3 2
x o
dxx axo xo
2
2 ax 0
+ axy+ ayxo + ax0 y0

+ a xyo
—y3 —sy ro —syyoyo —y 0“
Now by supposition x ax + axy y 0 which therefore being

, ,
3 2 3=
, ,
expunged and the rem aining term s being divid ed by 0 there will ,
rem ai n
2
3x x 2 ax x+ ayx+ axy 3y y+3xxx0 2
xx0 + axy0
a 3yyyo
3 —
+ x0 0 y0 0 = 0
3
.
B ut whereas z ero is supposed to be infinitely little that it may r epr e ,
sent the m o ments of quantities t he term s that are m ultiplied by it

,
will be nothing in respect of the rest (ter mi n i i n com du cti pr o n i hi l o

possu n t haberi cu m al i i s cal l al i )
; therefore I rej ect the m and there ,
remains
3x x x+ ayx+ axy 3y y
2 2
2 ax 0,
as above in E xampl e I‘ Newton here uses i n fi n i t e simal s .
M uch greater t han g n the first problem were the difficulties en

e
countered i n the sdII‘It i on of the second proble m involving as it does , , ,
in verse operations which ha v e been taxing the skill of the best ana
l ys t s since his tim e Newton gives first a S pecial solution to the second
.
p roble m i n which he resorts to a rule for which he has given no proof .
I n the general solution of his second proble m Newton assu m ed ,
homogeneity with respect to the fl u xi on s and then considered three

ca ses : ( 1 ) when the equation contains two flu xi on s of quantities and
but one of the fl uen t s ; ( 2 )
when the equation involves both the fl u en t s
as well as both the fl u xio n s ; (3 ) when the equation contains the flu
ents and the fluxion s of three or more quantities The first case is the .
dy
easiest since it requires s im ply the integration of
d} f (x)to which ,
k
hi s special solution is applicable The second case demanded .
nothing less than the general solution of a di ff erential equation of the

first order Those who kn ow what e ff orts were afte rwards needed
.
for the complete exploration of this field in analysis wil l not depre ,
ciate Newton 5 work even though he resorted to solutions In form of

’
in fin ite series Newton 5 thi rd case co mes now under the solution of
.
’
partial differential equations He took the equation 2 x z+xy= 0 .
and succeeded In finding a particular integral of i t .
The rest of the treatise is devoted to the determination Of m axim a

and m ini ma the radius of curvature of curves and o ther geom etrical
, ,
applications of his fl uxion ary calcul us All this was done previous .
to the year 1 6 7 2 .
It must be observed that in the M ethod of Fl u xi on s (as well as in

his De A n al ysi and all earli er papers) the m ethod e mployed by New
ton is strictly i nfi n i tesirn al and i n substance like that of Leibniz ,
.
Thus the original conception of the calculus in England as well as

, ,
on the Continent was based on infi n i tesimal s The fundam ental

,
.
principles of the fl uxion ary calculus w ere first given to the world in
the P ri n ci pi a but i t s peculiar notation did not appear until publi shed
,
in the second vol um e of Wall is A l gebr a in 1 6 93 The expositi on ’

.
given in the A l gebr a was a contribution of Newton ; it rests on i n

fi n i tesimal s In the first edition of the P ri nci pi a ( 1 6 8 7 )
. the descrip
tion of fluxi on s is l ikewise founded on i nfi ni t esimal s but in the second
( 1 7 1 3)
,
the foun d ation is som ewhat altered In B ook II Le mm a II .

, ,
of the first e dition we read : Cave tam en i n tel l exeri s par ti cu l as

fi n i ta s . M omen ta q u am pri mu m fi n i tce su n t magn i tu di n i s , desi n u n t
es se momen ta Fi n i ri en i m repu gn at
. a l i qu aten u s perpetu o eoru m
i n cr emen to vel decremen to I n t elli g en da . sunt principia jamjam nas
centia fi n i taru m mag ni tud i n um In the
second edition the two .
sentences whi ch we print in italics are replaced by the foll owing :

”
“
P artic ul ar: fi ni tm non sunt mom enta sed q uantitates ip sas ex mo
mentis g en i tw Through th e diffi culty of the phrases in bo th ex
.
tracts this much distinctly appears that in the first m oments are
, , ,
infin i tely sm all quantities What else they are in the second is not .
C lear In the Qu adr atu re of Cu rves of 1 70 4 the i nfinitely smal l

1
.
,
quantity is completely abandoned I t has been shown that in the .
M ethod of Fl u xi on s Newton rej ected term s invol v ing the quantity 0 ,
because they are i nfi nitely small compared with other terms This .
reasoning is unsatisfactory ; for as long as 0 is a quantity though ,
ever so small this rej ection cannot be m ade w ithout aff ecting the
,
result Newton seems to have felt this for in the Qu adr atu e of C u rves
.
,
r
”
he remarked that in m athematics the m inutest errors are not to be
“
neglected (errores quam m inimi in rebus ma th emat i cis non sunt

contem nendi ) .
The early distinction between the syste m of Newton and Leibniz

1
A De. M org an l oc, . ci t .
,
1 85 2 .
apart by a sm al l angle fro m the tangent CH B ut when CK c o .
incides with CH and the lines CE E c cC reach their ultimate

, , ,
ratios then the points C and c accurately coincide and are one
,
and the sam e Newton then adds that in mathematics the

”
“
.
minutest errors are not to be neglected Thi s is plainly a re .
j ec ti on of the postulates of Leibniz The doctrine of infinitely .
small quantities is here renounced in a manner which would lead

one to suppose that Newton had never held it himself Thus it .
appears that Newton s doctrine was diff erent in difl er en t periods ’

.
Though in the above reasoning the Charyb dis of i nfi n i tesimal s is

, ,
safely avoided the dangers of a Scyll a stare us in the face We are

, .
required to believe that a point m ay be consi dered a triangle or that ,
a triangle can be inscribed in a point ; nay that three dissim ilar tri ,
angles becom e S i milar and equal when they have reached their ulti
m ate for m In one and the sa m e point
In the introduction to the Qu adr atu re of Cu rves the fi uxi on of x
.
”
is deter mined as follows .
In the sam e tim e that x by flowing becom es x+ 0 the power , , ,

"
x beco m es i e by the m ethod of infinite series
”
. .
2 —
x +n o x +
n
— — n
2
0 x + etc n n 1 2
.
,
2
and the increments

2-
n n
and " 1
+
‘
0 no x
2
are to one another as

1 to ”+
ux
‘
1
n
2
n
Let now the incre ments vanish and their last proportion will b e ,
1 to n x
”
: hence the fl u x i on of the quantity x is to the fl u xi on of the
n I
‘
" —
quantity x as 1 : n ae I
“
The fl u xion of lines straight or curved in all cases whatev er as , , ,
also the fl u xio n s of su pe rfi c i es angles and other quantiti es can be , , ,
obtaine d in the sa m e m anner by the m ethod of prim e and ultimate

ratios B ut to establ i sh in this way the analysis of infinite quantities
.
,
an d to i n v est i gate pri m e and ultim ate ratios of finite quant i t i es nas ~ ,
cent or ev anescent is i n har m ony with the geo m etry of the ancients ;
”
,
a n d I ha v e en d eavored t o S how that in the m etho d of fl u x i on s it is ,

,
not necessary to intro d uce into geo m etry infinitely sm al l quantities .
This mo d e of d ifferent i ating d oes not rem ove all the difficulties con
n e c t e d with the subj ect When 0 beco m es nothing then we get the .
,
0
r a tI O nx
n ‘
I
, t ch nee ds further e l u c I da t l o n . In dee d the
,
m ethod
0
of Newton as delivered by hi m self is encu mbered with diffi culties

, ,
NEWTON To EULER 9
and obj ections Later we S hall state B ishop B erkeley s obj ection to
.
’
this reasoning Even among the ablest ad mirers of Newton there

”
.
,
have been obstinate disputes respecting his explanation of hi s m ethod

of prime and ultim ate ratios
“
.
The so called me thod of limits is frequently attributed to New

-
ton but the pure meth od of limits was never adopted by him as hi s
,
method of constructing the calculus All he did was to establish in .
hi s P ri n ci pi a certain principles which are applicable to that me thod ,
but which he used for a different purpose The first lemma of the .
first book has been m ade the foundation of the m ethod of limits
Q uantities and the ratios of quantities which in any fini te tim e
“
,
converge continually to equality and before the end of that tim e ap

”
,
proach nearer the one to the other than by any given diff erence b e ,
come u l tirn atel y equal .
In this as well as in the lemmas follow ing thi s there are obscurities
, ,
and diffi culties Newton appears to teach that a variable quantity

.
and its limit will ultimately coincide and be equal .
The full title of Newton s P r i n ci pi a is P hi l os ophi w N atu ral i s P r i n

’
ci pi a M a themati ca I t was printed in 1 6 8 7 under the direction and

.
,
at the expense of Edm und Halley A second edition was brought

, .
out in 1 7 1 3 with m any alterations and improvem ents and aecom ,
pan i ed by a preface fro m Roger Cotes It was sold out in a few .
m onths but a pirated edition published in Am sterda m supplied the

,
d e mand The third and last edition which appeared in England during
.
Newton s lifetim e was published in 1 7 2 6 by Henry P e mberton The

’
.
P r i n ci pi a consists of three books of which the first two constituting , ,
the great bulk of the work treat of the mathe matical principles of
'
natural philosophy namely the laws and conditions of motions and

, ,
forces In the third book is draw n up the constitution of the universe

.
as deduced from the foregoin g principles The great principle under .
lying this m em orable work is that of universal gravitation The first .
book was completed on April 2 8 1 686 After the remarkably short ,

.
period of three months the second book was finished The third book
, .
is the result of the next nine or ten m onths labors I t is only a sketc h ’
.
of a m uch m ore extended elaboration of the subj ect which he had

p lanned but which was never brought to com pletion
,
.
The law of gravitation is enunciated in the first book Its discovery .
env elops the name of Newton in a halo of perpetual glory The cur .
rent version of the discovery is as follows : it was conj ectured by ‘
Robert Hooke ( 1 6 3 5 C Huygens E Halley C Wren I N ew .

,
.
, .
,
.
ton and others that if J Kepler s third l aw was true ( its absolute ’
accuracy was doubted at that tim e)then th e attraction betw een the
, .
, ,
earth and other m embers of the solar system varied i n vers ely as the
square of the d istance B ut the proof of the truth or falsity of the
.
guess was wanting In 1 6 6 6 Newton reasoned in substance that if

.
, ,
g represent the acceleration of gra v i ty on the surface of the earth r ,

be the earth s radius R the distance of the m oon fro m the earth T
’
, ,
the tim e of lunar re v olution and a a degree at the equator then if

, , ,
the law is true ,
R
'
4 71
2_
or _
_ 1 80 a
2’ 2
.
T T
The data at Newton s command gave R = 6 o 4r T=
’
seconds ,
.
, ,
but a only 6 0 instead of 6 9 1 English miles This w rong valu e of a .
rendered the calculated value of g smaller than its true value as ,
known from actual m easure m ent It looked as though the l aw of .
inverse squares were not the true l aw and Newton laid the calculatio n ,
aside In 1 6 84 he casually ascertai ned at a m eeting of the Royal

.
Society that Jean P icard had m easured an arc of the m eridian and ,
obtained a m ore accurate value for the earth s radius Taking the ’
.
corrected value for a he found a figure for g which correspon ded to

,
the known value Thus the law of inverse squares was verified In a
. .
scholiu m in the P ri n ci pi a Newton acknowle dged his indebted n ess to

,
Huygens for the laws on centrifugal force e mployed in his calculation .
The perusal by the astrono m er Adam s of a great mass of u n pub

l i shed letters and m anuscripts of Newton for m ing the P orts m outh
collection (which re mained private property until 1 8 7 2 when its
owner placed it i n the hands of the University of Cam bridge )
,
see m s to
indicate that the d iffi culties encountered by Ne w to n i n the above
calculation were of a diff erent nature According to Adam s Newto n s .
,
’
nu m erical veri fication was fairly complete in 1 6 6 6 but Newton had ,
not been able to determ ine what the attraction of a spherical shell
upon an ex ternal point would be His letters to E Halley S ho w . .
that he did not suppose the earth to attract as though all its m ass
were concentrated into a point at the centre He could not have .
asserted therefore that the assu m ed law of grav ity was verified by
, ,
the figures though for long d istances he m ight have claim ed that it
,
yielded close approxim ations When Halley vis i ted Ne w ton in 1 6 84 .

,
he requested Newton to deter mine what the orbit of a planet would

be if the law of attraction were that of inverse squares Newton had .
solved a si m ilar problem for R Hooke i n 1 6 79 and replied at once .

,
that it was an ellipse Af ter Halley s visit Newton with P icard s

.
’
, ,
’
n ew value for the earth s ra di us reviewed his early ca l culation a n d

’
, ,
was able to S how that if the distances between the bodies i n the solar
syste m were so great that the bo dies m ight be considered as points ,
then their m otions were in accordance with the assu m ed law of gravi
t a t io n
. In 1 6 8 5 he co mplete d his disco v ery by showing that a sphere
whose density at any point depends only on the d istance from the
centre attracts an external point as though its whole m ass were con
c en t ra t e d at the centre .
Newton s unpublished m anuscripts in the P orts m outh collect io n

’
show that he had worked out by m eans of fl uxi on s and fl u en t s hi s , ,

by Albert Girard ta ke the explicit form as do also the general formul a ,
d erived later by E Waring Newto n uses his formul ae for fix ing an . .
upper lim it of real roots ; the su m of any even power of all the roots
m ust exceed the same even power of any one of the roots He estab .
li shed also another lim it : A nu mber is an upper li m it if when sub

stituted for x it gives to f (x)
, ,
and to all its derivatives the sa me S ign

,
.
In 1 74 8 Col in M aclauri n proved that an upper limit is obtained by

adding unity to the absolute value of the large st negative c oefli ci en t ‘
‘
of the equation Newton showed that in equations w ith real c o

.
effi cients im aginary roots al w ays occur in pairs His inventive genius
,
.
is grandly displaye d in his rule for determ ining the inferior li mit of the
nu mber of im aginary roots and the superior limits for the number ,
of positiv e and negative roots Though less expeditious than D es .
cartes Newton s rule always gives as close and generally closer

’
,
’
, ,
limits to the number of positive and negative roots Newton did .
not prove his rul e .
Som e light was thrown upon it by George Campbell and Col in

M aclaurin in the P hi l os ophi c al Tr an s acti on s of the years 1 7 2 8 and
, ,
1 72 9 B ut no co mplete de m onstration was found for a century and a

.
half until at last Sylvester established a re markable general theorem

, , ,
which includes Newton s rule as a special case Not without interest ’

.
is Newton s suggestion that the conchoid be adm itted as a curve to

’
be used in geom etric constructions along with the straight line and ,
circle since the conchoid can be used for the duplication of a cube and
trisectio n of an angle—to one or the other of which every problem
,
in v olving curves of the third or fourth degree can be reduced .
The treatise on M ethod of Fl u xi on s contains Newton s method of ’
approxim ating to the roots of nu m erical equations Substantiall y .
the sam e explanation is given in his D e an al ysi per cequ ati on es nu mero
ter mi n oru m i nfi n i tas He explains it by working one exa mple nam ely
.
,
the now fam ous cubic y 2y 1 3

The earl i est printed account
appeared in Wallis A l gebr a 1 6 8 5 chapter 94 Ne w ton assu mes that
’
, ,
.
an approxim ate value is already known which d iffers from the true ,
value by less than one tenth of that value He takes y= 2 and sub -
.
2 + p in the equation which beco m es p + 6 p + 1 0 p

3 2
s t i tu t es y =
,
Neglecting the higher powers of p he gets 1 op Taking ,
he gets From
he gets q = o o 54 + r and by the sa me process r = 0 0 0 0 4 8 53
.
, ,
. .
F i nally y = 2 + 1 0 0 54 .
5 147 Newton arranges
. .
his work in a paradigm He seem s quite aware that his m ethod m ay .
fail If there is d oubt he says whether p= 1 is sufficiently close to

.
, ,
.
the truth find p fro m 6p + r o p 1 = o He does not show that even

2
,
.
th is latter m ethod will always ans w er By the sam e m ode of pro .
1
Fo r q u ot a t io n s f ro m N ew t o n , see F C aj o r i ,
”
H i s t o ri ca l N o t e o n t he N e w t on
R ap h so n M e t hod o f App roxi ma t io n , A mer M a th M on thl y, V o l 1 8 , 1 9 1 1 , pp 2 9
.
. . . .
NEWTON TO EULER 203
c e du re ,Newton finds by a rapidly converging series the value of y

—
, ,
in terms of a and x i n the equation y + axy+ aay x 2 a o

3 3
,
3=
.
In 1 6 90 Joseph R aphs on ( 1 6 4 8
,
a fello w of the Royal Society
of London p ublished a tract A n al ysi s wqu ati onu m u n i versal i s His
, ,
.
m e thod closely resembles that of Newton The only diff erence is .
this that N ewton deriv es each successive step p q r of approach to

, , , , ,
the root fro m a n ew equation while R aph son finds it each time by
, ,
substitution in the origi n al equation I n Newton s cubic R aphson .

’
,
would not find the second correction by the use of x + 6 x + 1 0 x 1 = 0

3 2
,
but would substitute 2 1 + q in the original equation finding q .

,
0 0 54
. He would then substitute 2 o g46 + r in the original equation
. .
,
fin ding r 53 and so on R aph s on does not m ention , .
Newton ; he evidently considered the difference suffi cient for his

method to be classed independently To be e mphasiz ed is the fact .
that the process which in modern texts goes by the nam e of New
ton s method of approxim ation is really not Newto n s m ethod but
’
,
” ’
,
Raph so n
’
m odification of it The f or m now so fa miliar f (a )
was
(a )
s .
,
a
not used by Newton but was used by R aphso n To be sure Raphs on '
does not use this notation ; he writes f (a ) and f (a )

.
, ,
out i n full as poly ’
n omi al s It is d oubtful whether this m ethod S hould be nam ed after

.
,
Newton alone Though not identical with Vieta s process it re

.
’
,
se mbles Vieta s The chief diff erence lies in the d ivisor used The
’
. .
divisor is m uch simpler and easier to compute than Vieta s ,

’
divisor Raphs on s version of the process represents what J Lagrange

.
’
.
recogniz e d as an advance on the schem e of Ne w ton The m ethod is

” .
”
“ “
plus S imple que celle de Newton 1
P erhaps the na m e Newton .
R aph s o n m ethod would be a designation m ore nearly representing

the facts of history We m ay a dd that the solution of nu m erical
.
equations was considered geom etrically by Thom as B aker in 1 6 84

and E dmund Halley in 1 6 8 7 but i n 1 6 94 Halley had a very great
”
“
,
desire of doing the sam e in numbers The only difference betwe en .
Hall ey s and Newton s own m ethod is that Halley solves a quadratic

’ ’
equation at each step Newton a linear equation Halley m odified ,

.
also certain al gebraic expressions yielding approxim ate cube and

fif th roots give n i n 1 6 9 2 by the French man Thomas Fan tet de L agny
, ,
( 1 66 0 1 7 -
I n 1 7 0 5 and 1 7 0 6 Lagny outlines a m ethod of di fferences ;
such a m ethod less syste matically developed had bee n previously
, ,
explained i n England by John Collins B y this m ethod _ if a b c .

, , , ,
are in arith m etical progression then a root m ay b e foun d app roxi

m ately from the first second and higher diff erences of f ( a) f (b)
,
f (a)
, , , ,
”
Newton s M ethod of Fl u xi on s contai ns also Newto n s parallelo
’ ’
gram wh i ch enable d hi m in an equation f (x y)

= 0 to find a ser i es
, , , , ,
1
L ag rang e , R es o l u ti on des eq u al . nu m .
,
1 7 98 , N o t e V , p . 1 38 .
in powers of x equal to the variable y The great utility of this rul e .
lay in its determ ining the f or m of the series ; for as soon as the law was ,
k n own by which the e xponents in the series v ary then the e xpansion ,
could be effected by the m ethod of indeterm inate coefficients The .
rule is stil l used in determining the infinite branches to curves or their ,
figure at m ultiple points Newton gave no proof for it nor any clue .
,
as to how he discovered it The proof was supplied half a century .
later by A G K astner and G Cram er independently 1

'
.
,
. . .
,
In 1 704 was published as an appendix to the O pti cks the E nu , ,

-
merati a l i nearu m terti i ordi n i s which contains theore ms on the theor y ,
of curv es Newton divi d es cubics into seventy tw o S pecies arranged

.
-
”
,
in larger groups for which his co mmentators have supplied the nam es
,
“ “
genera and classes recogniz ing f o urteen of the form er and seven
( or four)
,
of the latter He overlooked six S pecies dem anded by his .
principles of classification and after w ards added by J S tirling Wil ,

.
,
liam M urdoch ( 1 7 54 and G Cram er He enunciates the r e . .
“
m arka ble theorem that the five S pecies which he nam es divergent
parabolas give by their p rojection every cubic curve whatever AS .
a rule the tract con tains no proofs I t has been the subj ect of frequent
, .
conjecture how Newton de d uced his results Recently we have gotten .
at the facts since m uch of the analysis used by Newton and a few
,
additional theorems hav e been discov ered am ong the P ortsm outh
papers An account of the four holograph m anuscripts on this sub
.
jcet has been published by W W Rouse B all in the Tr a n s acti ons of . .

,
the L ondon M a thema ti ca l S oci ety ( vol xx pp 1 0 4 It is inter .

,
.
esting to observe how Newton begins his research on the classification

of cubic curves by the algebraic m ethod but finding it laborious , , ,
attacks the p roblem geometrically and after w ards returns again t o ,
analysis .
Space d oes not perm it us to do m ore than m erely mention Newton s ’
prolonged researches in other departm ents of science He con ducted .
a long series of experim ents in optics and is the author of the corpus
c u l ar theory of light The last of a nu mber of papers on optics
”
.
,
which he contributed to the Royal Society 1 6 8 7 elaborates the theory , ,

“
of fits He explained the decomposition of light and the theory
.
of the rainbow By him were invented the reflecting telescope and

.
the sextant (afterwards r e invented by Thom as Godfrey of P hila -
delphia and by John Hadley)He d educed a theoretical e xpression

2
.
for the velocity of sound in air engaged in experi ments on chem istry , ,
elasticity m agnetism and the l aw of cooling and entered upon geo

, , ,
logical speculations .
D uring the two years following the close of 1 6 92 Newton su ff ered ,
1
S G u n t h er , Vermi schte U n ters uchu ngen
. z ur Ges chi chte d math . . Wi s s .
,
L eip i g ’ z
1 8 76 , 1 36 1 87
-
pp . .
2
F C aj or i , Teac hi n g
. a nd H i s tory of M a themati cs i n the U S . Wa s h i n g ton ,
1 8 90 ,
p 42
. .
went to London and re mained there fro m January till M arch He
, .
there becam e incidentally acquainted with the m athe matician John

P ell to who m he explained a m ethod he ha d found on the su mm ation
,
of series of nu mbers by their diff erences P el l told h im that a similar

form ula had been published by Gabriel M outon ( 1 6 1 8—1 6 94)as
.
early as 1 6 70 and then called his attention to N M ercator s work

, .
’
on the rectification of the parabola While in London Leibniz ex .

,
hi bi t ed to the Royal Society his arith m etical m achine which was .

,
S im ilar to B P ascal s but m ore e ffi cient and perfect After his re
’
.
, .
turn to P aris he had the leisure to study m athe m atics m ore syste m
,
at i cal l y
. With in d o mitable energy he set about re m o ving his ig n o
rance of higher m athe matics C Huygens was his principal master . . .
He studied the geo metric works of R D escartes H on orari us Fabri .

, ,
Gregory S t Vincent and B P ascal A careful st udy of infinite

.
, . .
series led hi m to the discovery of the following expression for the

ratio of the C ircu mference to the dia meter of the circle previously ,
discovered by J ames Gregory :

—+
.
77 1
= I +s
I l l
etc
z
s r s .
This elegant series was found in the same way as N M ercator s on .

’
the hyperbola C Huygens was highly pleased with it and urged

. .
him on to new invest i gations In 1 6 73 Leibniz derived the seri es

—1
.
3
+ 1x
3
a r e tan x = x x
from which m ost of the practical m etho ds of computing 7T have been

obtained This series had been previously disco v ered by Ja mes
Gregory and was used by A br aham S ha r p ( 1 6 5 1 —1 74 2 )under i n
.
s t ru c t i o n s fro m E Halley for calculating i t to 7 2 places In 1 7 0 6

—
. .
John M achi n ( 1 6 80 1 7 professor of astronomy at Gresha m Col

lege in London obtained 1 0 0 places by using a n expression that is
,
obtained from the relation

— 4 are tan —arc tan 2 11 ,
4
by substituting Gregory s infinite series for ’
ar e ta n 1 and a re tan 1 1g .
’
i i 2 —
M achin s for ula was used I n 1 8 74 by W l l am S han ks ( 1 8 1 1 88 2 )
m
for computing to 70 7 places .
Leibniz entered into a detailed study of the quadrature of curves

and thereby became inti mately acquainted with the higher m ath
ema ti cs .Am ong the papers of Leibniz is still found a manuscript
on quadratures written before he left P aris in 1 6 7 6 but which was
, ,
never printed by him The m ore important parts of it were e mbodied

.
in articles published later i n the A cta er u di tor u m .
In the study of Cartesian geometry the attention of Leibniz was

NEWTON TO EULER 20 7
drawn early to the direct a n d inverse proble ms of tangents The .
direct proble m had been sol v ed by D escartes for the si mplest curves
only ; while the inverse had co mpletely transcended the power of his
analysis Leibniz investigated both proble ms for any curve ; he
—
.
constructed what he called the tri an gu l u m char acteri s ti cu m an

infinitely s mall triangle between the infinitely small part of the curve
coinciding with the tangent and the diff erences of the ordinates and ,
abscissas A curve is here considered to be a polygon The tri angu l u m

. .
char acter i sti cu m is si m ilar to the triangle for m ed by the tangent the ,
ordinate of the point of contact and the sub tangent as well as to ,

-
,
that between the ordinate norm al and sub norm al It was e mployed , ,
-
.
by I Barrow i n Englan d but Leibniz states that he obtained it from

.
,
P ascal From it Leibniz observed the connection e xisting between the

.
direct and inverse proble ms of tangents He saw also that the latter .
could be carried back to the quadrature of cu rves All these results .
are contained in a m anuscript of Leibniz written in 1 6 7 3 O n e mode ,

.
used by h im i n e ffecting quadratures was as follows : The rectangle

form ed by a sub normal p and an elem ent a (i e infinitely s mall part
-
of the abscissa)
. .
is equal to the rectangle form ed by the ordinate y

and the elem ent l of that ordinate ; or in symbols pa = yl _B ut the ,
.
summation of these rectangles from z ero on gives a right triangle

equal to half the square of the ordinate Thus usin g Cavalieri s no .
,
’
ta t i on he gets
,
2
o mn p . a = o mn .
yl
=y
1
2
( omn m eaning omni a all )
.
,
.
B ut y
= om n . l; hence
l o mn l
mn mn
.
o . o .
This equation is especially interesting since it is here that Leibniz ,
first introduces a n ew notation He says : I t will be useful to write .

“
for o mn .
,
as l for o mn l , . that is the ,
su m of the l
’
S
”he then
;
writes th e equation thus :
Fro m this he deduced th e S implest integrals such as ,
Since the sy mbol of su mm ation raises the d im ensions , he con

cluded that the opposite calculus or that of diff erences ,
d, would
ya
lower them . Thus if ,
l = ya , then l The symbol d was at
d
first placed by Leibniz In the denom inator because the lowering of ,
the power of a term was brought about in ordinary calculation by

division The m anuscript giving the abov e is dated October 2 9th
.
,
This then was the m e morable day on which the notatio n

—
, ,
of the n ew calculus cam e to b e a notation which contributed enor ,
mou sl y to the rapid gro w th and perfect develop m ent of the calculus .
Leibniz proceeded to apply his n ew calculus to the solution of

certain proble ms then grouped together u n der the name of the In
v erse P roble m s o f Tangents He found the cubical parabola to be .
the solution to the following : To find the c u rv e in which the sub '
norm al is reciprocally proportional to the ordinate The correctness .
of his solution was tested by him by applying to the result the m ethod
of tangents of B aron R en e Fra n goi s de Sluse ( 1 6 2 2 1 6 8 5)
and reason -
ing backwards to the original supposition In the solution of the .
x
third problem he changes his notation from to the now usual nota
d
tion dx I t is worthy of rem ark that i n these investigations Leibniz
.
,
nowhere explains the S ignificance of dx and dy except at one place ,
x
In a m arg i nal note : Idem est dx et ,
id est differentia inter duas
,
d
x proxim as Nor does he use the term difi er en ti al but al w ays differ
.
,
en ce Not till ten years later in the A cta eru di tor u m did he give
.
, ,
further explanations of these symbols What he aim ed at principally .
was to d eterm i ne the change an expression undergoes when the sym

or d is placed before it . It m ay be a consolation to students
wrestling with the elem ents of the differential calculus to know that
it required Leibniz considerable thought and attentio n to determ ine
2
dx
is the sa m e as d (xy)and
j
whether dx dy ,
the sam e as df . After
dy y
considering these questions at the close of one of his manuscripts he ,
conclude d that the expressions were not the sam e though he could ,
not give the true value for each Ten days later i n a m anuscript
dated November 2 1 1 6 7 5 he found the equation ydx = dxy —
,
.
xdy
giving an expression for d (xy)which he observed to be true for all

, , ,
curves He succeed ed also in eliminating dx fro m a diff erential

.
equation so that it contained only dy and thereby led to the solution

, ,
of the problem under consideration “

B ehold a most elegant way .
,
C J G h d t E td ck g d h h r n A l ysi s Hal l e 8 55 p
1
. . er ar ,
n5 e un er o e e na .
,
1 , . 12 .
C J G h d t E td k g d r D ifl enzi l h g d ch L ei b i z H al l
'
2
. . er ar ,
n 8 48
ec un e er a rec nun ur n , e, 1 ,
pp . 2 5, 41 .
by Leibniz to Tschi rn hausen during a controversy which they had
had on this subject Fearing that Ts chi rnh au sen might claim as his
.
own an d publish the notation and rules of the differential calculus ,
Leibniz d ecide d at last to m ake public the fruits of his inventions

, , .
In 1 684 or nine years after the new calculus first dawned upon the
,
m ind of Leibniz and nineteen years after Ne w to n first worked at

,
fl uxi on s and three years before the publicatio n of Newton s P ri n ci pi a

’
, ,
Leibniz published in the A cta eru di toru m his first paper on the differ
, ,
en t i al calculus He was unwilling to give to the world all his treasures

.
,
but chose those parts of his work which w ere most abstruse and least
perspicuous This epoch m aking paper of only S ix pages bears the
.
title : Nova me thodu s pro maxi mi s e t m inim is i t emq u e t an g en tib u s

“
, ,
qu a nec frac tas nec irrationales quantitates moratur e t S ingulare

e
pro illis calculi genus The rules of calculation ar e briefly stated

.
” ,
without proof and the meaning of dx and dy is not m ade clear

, .
P rinter s errors increased the diffi culty of comprehending the subj ect
’
.
It has been inferred fro m this that Leibniz him self had no definite
a n d settled ideas on this subj ect Are dy and dx finite or infinitesi m al .
quantities ? At first they appear i n deed to have been taken as finite , , ,
when he says : We now call any line selected at random dx then ,
we designate the line which is to dx as y is to the sub tangent by dy -

, ,
which I S the d i fference of y Leibn iz then ascertains by his calculus .

, ,
in what way a ray of light passing through two di ff erently refracting

m edia can trav el easiest fro m one point to another and then closes
, ,
h i s article by giv ing his solution in a few words of F de B e au n e s

’
proble m T w o years later ( 1 6 86 )Leibniz published in the A cta

.
, ,
er u di tor u m a paper containing the rudi m ents of the integral calculus .
The quantities dx and dy are there treated as i n finitely s mall He .
S howed that by the use of his notation the properties of curves could ,
be fully expressed by e q u a ti on s Thus the equation .
y / —
x zx x
2
+
characteri zes the cycloi d .

1
The great invention of Leibniz now m ade public by his articles in ,
the A cta eru di toru m m a d e little impression upon the m ass of m athe
,
m a t i c i an s In Germ any no one co mprehen ded the n ew calculus

.
except Ts chi r nh a u s en who re mained indiff erent to it The author s

, .
’
statem ents were too S hort and succinct to make the calculus generally
un derstood The first to take up the study of it were two fore i gners
the Scotch m an J ohn C r a i g and the Swiss Ja k ob (Ja mes )
.
,
B ern ou l l i ,
.
The latter wrote Leibniz a letter in 1 6 8 7 wi shing to be initiated into ,
the m ysteries of the n ew analysis Leibniz was then travelling abroad .

,
so that this letter rem ained unanswered till 1 6 90 Jam es B ernoulli .
1
C J G e rh a rd t , Gesc hi chte der M athemati k i n Deu tschl a nd , M u n ch e n ,
. . 1 8 7 7,
p . I 59 .
NEWTON TO EULER 21I
succee ded meanwhile by close application in uncovering the secrets

, , ,
of the differential calculus without assistance He and his brother .
John prov ed to be mathem aticians of exceptional power They app l ied .
the mselves to the new science with a success and to an ex tent which
made Leibniz declare that it was as m uch theirs as his Leibniz .
carried on an ex tensive correspondence with the m as well as with other ,
mathem aticians In a letter to John B ernoulli he suggests a mong

.
,
other things that the integral calculus be improved by reducing i n

,
t eg r al s back to certain funda m ental irreducible for m s The integra .
tion of logarithm ic expressions was then studied The writings of .
Leibniz contain m any innovations and anticipations of since pro m ,
nent methods Thus he m ade use of variable param eters laid the
.
,
foundation of a n al ysi s i n s i tu introduced in a manuscript of 1 6 7 8 the

notion of determ inants (previously used by the Japanese )in his
,
e ffort to simplify the expression arising in the elim ination of the u n

known quantities from a set of linear equations He resorted to the .
device of breaking up certain fractions into the s u m of other fractions

for the purpose of easier integration ; he e xplicitly assu med the prin
c i pl e of continuity ; he ga v e the first instance of a S ingular solution ,
”
and laid the foun dation to the theory of envelopes in two papers one ,
of which contains for the first time the term s co ordi nate and axes of -
co or di n ates
-
He wrote on osculating curves but his paper contained
the error (pointed out by John B ernoulli but not a dmitted by Leibniz )
.
,
that an osculating circle will necessarily cut a curv e in four consecutive

points Well known is his theore m on the n th diff erential c oefli c i en t
.
of the product of two functions of a variable Of his m any papers o n .
mechanics so m e are valuable while others contain grave errors

, ,
.
Leibniz introduced I n 1 6 94 the use of the word f u n cti on but not i n ,
the modern sense Later in that year Jakob B ernoulli used the word
.
in the Leibniz ian sense In the appendix to a letter to Leibniz dated .

,
July 5 1 6 98 John B ernoulli uses the word in a m ore nearly m odern

, ,
“
sense : earum [appl i ca taru m] q u aec u n q u e fu n c ti o n e s per alias appl i
catas P Z e xpress es In 1 7 1 8 John B ernoulli arri v es at the definitio n
.
”
of function as a quantity composed in any manner of a variable and
any constants (O n appelle ici fonction d une grandeur variable
.
’
,
une quantité co mpos ée de quelque maniere que c c soit de cette gran

deur variable e t de constantes ) 1
.
Leib n iz m ade i mportant contributions to the notation of mathe

ma t i c s Not only is our notation of the diff erential and integral
.
calculus due to him but he used the S ign of equality i n writing pro
”
,
portions thus a :b = c :d I n Leibni z ia n m anuscripts occurs

similar and “
for equal and S im ilar or congruent
z
2
. for
Says .
”
S ee M C an to r , op c i t , V ol I I I , 2 Ed 1 90 1 , pp 2 1 5 , 2 1 6 , 4 5 6 , 4 5 7 ; E nc ycl o
1
—
. . .
. . .
,
pedi c des sci ences ma thémati q u es , Tome I I , Vo l I , p p 3 5

‘
. . .
2
L ei bn i , Wer k e E d G erh ar d t , 3 F o l g e , B d V , p 1 5 3
z . S ee al so J Trop fk e ,
. . . . .
op c i t , V ol I I , 1 90 3 , p 1 2
. . . . .
E B J ourdain
”
“
P . . . Leibniz himself attributed all of his ma the
,
1
ma ti cal discoveries to hi s i mprove ments in notation .
B efore tracing the further develop m ent of the calculus we shall

S ketch the history of that long and bitter controversy be tw een English
and Continental m athem aticians on the invention of the calculus .
The question was did Leibniz invent it independently of Newton or

, ,
was he a plagiarist ?
We must begin with the early correspondence betw een the parties
appearing in this dispute Newton had begun using his notation of .
fl u xi on s in In 1 6 6 9 I B arrow sent John Collins Newton s ’

.
tract De A n al ysi per equ ati on es etc

, ,
.
The first visit of Leibniz to London e xtended fro m the r 1 th of Jan

uary until M arch 1 6 7 3 He was in the habit of comm itting to writing
,
.
i mportant scientific comm unications received from others I n 1 8 90 .
C J Gerhardt discovered in the royal library at Hanover a sheet of

. .
m anuscript with notes taken by Leibniz during this journey 3

They .
are headed O b serv a ta P hil osophi ca in itinere Anglicano sub i n i ti um

anni 1 6 73 The shee t is divi ded by horiz ontal lines into sections .
The sections giv en to C hymi c a M ec han i c a M agnetica Botanica , , , ,
Anatomica M edica M iscellanea contain extens i ve m em oranda while

, , , ,
those devoted to m athem atics have very few notes Under Geo .
m etrica he says only this : Tangentes o m niu m fi g u raru m F i g u rar um .
g eom e t ri ca r u m exp li c a t i o per m o t u m p u n c ti in m oto lati We sus .
p ec t fro m this that Leibni z had read Isaac B arrow s lectures Ne w ton
’
.
is referre d to only under Optica Evidently Leibniz did not obtain a .
knowle dge of fl uxi on s during this visit to London nor is it claimed ,
that he did by his opponents .
Various letters of I Newton J Collins and others up to the b e .

,
.
, ,
ginnin g of 1 6 7 6 state that Newton inv ented a method by which tan

,
gents coul d be drawn without the necessity of freeing their equatio ns

from irrational terms Leibniz announced in 1 6 74 to H Oldenburg . .
,
then secretary of the Royal Society that he possessed very general ,
analytical m ethods by which he had found theore m s of great im,
portance on the quadrature of the circle by m eans of series In answer .

,
Oldenburg stated Newton and James Gregory had also discovered

metho ds of quadratures which e xtended to the circle Leibniz de , .
sired to have these m ethods communicated to him ; and Newton at ,
the request of Oldenburg and Collins wrote to the form er the cele ,
b ra t ed letters of June 1 3 and October 2 4 1 6 7 6 The first contained ,

.
the Binomial Theorem and a variety of other m atters relating to

infi nite series and quadratures ; but nothing directly on the m ethod of
1
P E B Jou rdai n , The N a tu r e of M athemati cs , L o n do n , p 7 1
”
. . . . .
J Edl e ston , Cor res ponden ce “of S i r I saac N ewt“on a nd P r of essor Cotes , L on don ,
2
.
1 8 50 , p xxi ; A . D e M o rg an , . F l u xi on s and C omm erc i um Ep i s toli c u m i n

t h e P en ny C ycl ope di a .
3
C J G e rh ard t ,
. .
“
z
L e i b n i i n L o n don i n S i t u ngs ber i chte der K P reuss i schen z .
A cademi c d Wi ssensch zu B er l i n , Feb , 1 8 9 1

. . . .
ace to a volu me of his works that the calculus di ffe ren tial i s was N ew
ton s m ethod of fi ux i o n s which had been com municated to Lei bniz
’
in the Oldenburg letters A review of Wallis works in the A cta .

’
,
er u di tor u m for 1 6 96 re minded the reader of Newton s own ad m issio n

’
,
in the scholiu m above cited .
For fifteen years Leibniz had enjoyed unchallenged the honor of

being the inventor of his calculus B ut i n 1 6 99 Fati o de Du i l l t er
'
—
.
( 1 6 6 4 17 a Swiss who had settled in England stated i n a m athe

, ,
mat i cal paper presented to the Royal Society his convictio n that
, ,
1 Newton was the first i n ventor ; addi n g that whether Leib n iz the
.
, ,
second in v entor had borrowed anything fro m the other he would

, ,
leave to the judg m ent of those who had see n the letters and manu
scripts of Newton This was the first distinct insinuatio n of plagiar
.
i sm . It would see m that the English m athematicians had for some

time been cherishing suspicions unfavorable to Leibniz A feeling .
had doubtless long prevailed that Leib niz during his second visit to ,
Lon don in 1 6 7 6 had or m ight have see n a mong the papers of Joh n
,
Collins Newton s A n al ysts per a qu ati on es etc which contained ap

,
’
,
.
,
plications of the fi u xi ona ry m ethod but no syste matic develop ment ,
or e xplanation of it Leibniz certainly did see at least part of this

.
tract D uring the week spent in London he took note of whatever

.
,
i n terested h im a m ong the letters and papers of Collins His m e mo ’
randa disco v ered by C J Gerhardt i n 1 8 49 i n the Ha n over library. .
fill two sheets The one bearing on our question is headed E xcerpta
1
.
ex t rac t a t u N e w t on i M s c
minoru m i n fi n i t as
”
de A n al ys i per aeq ua tion es nu mero ter
The notes are very brief e xcepting those De
.
.
fl
r es ol u ti on e cequ a ti on u rn a ecta r u rn of which there is a n al most c o m ,
p l e t e copy This part was evidently n ew to him If he exa mi n ed

. .
Newton s entire tract the other parts did not particularly i mpress
’
him Fro m it he see m s to have gained nothi n g pertaining to the i n

.
fi n i t e s imal calculus By the previous introductio n of his ow n a l

.
m he had m ade greater progress y what ca me to his

or i t h t h a n ~b
g
knowle dge i n London Nothing m athe matical that he had recei v ed.
engaged his thoughts i n the i mm ediate future for on his way back ,
to Holland he co mposed a lengthy dialogue on m echanical subjects .
Fatio de D u i ll ie r s insinuations lighted up a fla me of discord which

’
a whole century was hardly suffi cie n t to e xtinguish Leibniz who .

,
had never contested the priority of Newton s discovery and w ho ’

,
appeared to be quite satisfied with Newton s adm ission in his scholiu m ’

,
now appears for the first time i n the controversy He m ade an a n i .
mated reply i n the A cta eru di tor u m and co mplained to the Royal
Society of the injustice done him .
Here the affair rested for so m e ti me In the Qu adr atu re of Cu rves .

,
published 1 7 04 for the first time a for mal expositio n of the m ethod
, ,
a n d notation of fl u xi on s was m a d e public I n 1 7 0 5 appeared a n u m

C J G e ha d t1
L i b iz i Lo d
. .
” l c it
r r ,
“
e n n
.
n on , o . c .
NEWTON TO EULER 215
favorab l e revie w of this i n the A cta erudi toru m stating that Newton ,
uses and al w ays has used fl u xio n s for the di ff erences of Leibniz This .
was considered by Ne w ton s friends an i mputation of plagiaris m o n ’
th e part of their chief but this interpretation was al w ays strenuously

,
resisted by Leibniz J ohn K ei l l ( 1 6 7 1 . professor of astrono my

at Oxford undertook with m ore z eal tha n j udgment the defe n ce of
,
Newton In a paper inserted in the P hi l os ophi cal Tr an sacti ons o f

.
1 7 0 8 he clai m ed that Ne w to n was the first inventor of fl ux i on s and

,
”
“
that the sa m e calculus was afterw ard published by Leibniz the
,
,
name and the m ode of notation being changed Leibniz complained .
to the secretary of the Royal Society of bad treat ment and requested
the interference of that body to induce K e ill to disavow the i n tentio n
of imputing frau d John K eil l was not m ade to retract his accusation ;
.
o n the contrary was authoriz ed by Newton and the Royal Society

,
to explain and d efen d his state ment This he did i n a long letter . .
Leibniz thereupon complained that the charge was n ow more ope n

tha n before and appealed for j ustice to the Royal Society and to
,
Ne w ton himself The Royal Society thus appealed to as a j udge

.
, ,
appointed a co mmittee which collected a nd reported upon a large

mass of d ocu m ents —m ostly letters fro m and to Ne w ton Leib n iz , ,
Wallis Colli n s etc This report called the C ommerci u m epi s tol i cu m
, , .
, ,
appeared i n the year 1 7 1 2 and agai n i n 1 7 2 2 and 1 7 2 5 with a Recensio ,
prefixed and a ddi tional notes by K e ill The final co n clusion i n the
,
C ommer ci u m epi s tol i cu m was that Ne w ton was the first inventor
“
.
.
”
B ut this was not to the point The question w as not whether Ne w to n .
was the first inventor but whether Leibniz had stolen the m ethod
,
.
The co mmittee had not form ally ventured to assert their belief that
Leibniz was a plagiarist I n the follo w ing se n tence they insinuated .
that Leibn iz did take or m ight have taken his method fro m that of
Newton : And we find no m ention of his (Leib n iz s )
,
“
havi n g any other ’
Difi er en ti al M ethod than M ou ton s before his Letter of 2 1 s t of Ju n e

’
,
1 6 77 which was a year after a Copy of M r N ew ton s Letter of the

’
, .
,
r o t h of D ecember 1 6 7 2 had been sent to P a ri s to be co mm unicated

, ,
to him ; and about four years after M r C ol l i n s began to co mmunicate .
that Letter to his Corresponde n ts ; i n which Letter the M ethod of

Fl u xi on s was suffi ciently des c ri b d to any intelligent P erson
’
.
”
About 1 8 50 it was show n that what H Olde n burg se n t to Leibniz .
was not Newton s letter o f D ec 1 0 1 6 7 2 but only excerpts fro m it

’
.
, ,
which o mitted Newton s m ethod of drawi n g tangents a n d coul d not ’
possibly convey an idea of fl u xi on s Oldenburg s letter was fou n d .

’
a mong the Leibniz ma n uscripts i n the Royal Library at Hano v er a n d ,
was published by C J Gerhardt i n 1 846 1 848 1 849 and 1 8 5 and

. .
, ,
again later .
1
S ee Essa ys on the Lif e an d Wor k of N ew ton b y A u g u s t u s D e M o rg a n , e di t ed , w i th
n o t es an d a pp e n d i ces , b y P hil i p E B Jo u r d a i n , C hi c a g o a n d L o n do n , 1 9 1 4
. . Jo ur .
dain g i ves on p 1 0 2 t he b i b l io g rap hy o f t he p u b l i ca t i o n s o f N ew to n an d L e ib ni

. z .
2 16 A HI STORY OF M ATHE M ATI CS
M oreover ,
when J Edlesto n in
published the C orrespondence
. 1 8 50
of S i r I s aac N ew ton a n d P r of ess or C otes it beca m e known that the ,
Royal Society in 1 7 1 2 had not one but two parcels of Collins One , , .
parcel contained letters of Ja m es Gregory and Isaac Newton s letter ,

’
”
“
of D ec 1 0 1 6 7 2 in full ; the other parcel which was m arked To
.
, , ,
Leibnitz the 1 4 th of June 1 6 7 6 About M r Gregories remains

, ,
.
,
contained an abridgm ent of a part of the contents of the first parcel ,
with nothing but an allusion to Newton s method d escribed in his ’
letter of D ec 1 0 1 6 7 2 In the C ommer ci u m epi stol i cu m Newton s

.
, .
’
letter was printed in full and no mention was m ade of the existence
“
of the second parcel that was marked To Leibnitz Thus the .
C ommer ci u m epi s tol i cu m conveyed the i mpression that Newton s u m

’
curtailed letter of D ec 1 0 1 6 7 2 had reached Leibniz in which fl uxi on s

“
was suffi ciently described to any intelligent person while as a
.
, ,
,
”
m atter of fact the method is not described at all in the letter which
Le i bniz received .
Leibniz protested only i n private letters against the proceeding of

the Royal Society declaring that he would not answer an argu m ent
,
so weak J ohn B ernoulli in a letter to Leibniz which was published

.
, ,
later in an anonym ous tract is as decide dly unfair towards Newton ,
as the friends of the latter had bee n towar d s Leibniz John K eil l .
replied and then Newton and Leibniz appear as m utual accusers in

,
se v eral letters addressed to third parties I n a letter dated April 9 .

,
1 716 ,
and sent to Antonio S chi n el l a Conti ( 1 6 7 7 an Italian
priest then residing in London Leibni z agai n rem inded Newton of ,
the ad m ission he ha d m ade i n the scholium which he was n ow desirous ,
of disav owing ; Leibniz also states that he al w ays believ ed Newton ,
but that seeing h i m connive at accusations which he m ust have

known to be false it was natural that he (Leibniz )
,
should begin to
,
d oubt .Newton did not reply to this letter but circulated som e r e ,
marks am ong his friends which he publishe d i m m ediately after hearing

of the death of Leibniz Nove mber 1 4 1 7 1 6 This paper of Newto n , , .
gives the following explanatio n pertaining to the scholiu m i n question :

He [Leibniz ] pretends that in my book of principles I allowed hi m
the in v ention of the calculus di ff eren t ial i s i n dependently of my own ; ,
and that to attribute this inventio n to myself is co n trary to m y

knowledge there av o w ed B ut in the paragraph there referred unto
I do not find one word to this purpose I n the third e d ition of the
.
.
”
P r i n ci pi a 1 7 2 6 Newto n o m itted the scholiu m and substituted in its
, ,
place another in which the nam e of Leibniz does not appear

,
.
National pr id e and party feeling long prevented the adopt i on of

impartial opini ons in England but n ow it is generally ad m itted by ,
We re c o mm e n d B B i o t a n d F L e fo r t s e di ti on o f t h e C ommer ci u m epi s tol i c u m,

J . . .
’
P a r i s , 1 8 5 6 , w hi c h e xh i b i t s a l l the a l t e ra t io n s ma d e i n t h e d i ff e ren t rep r i n t s o f t hi s

p u b l i c a t io n an d r e p ro d u c es a l so H O l den b u rg s l e tt e r t o Le i bn i o f J u l y 2 6 , 1 6 7 6 ,
’
. z
a n d o ther i mp or t an t d oc u me n t s b eari ng o n t h e c on t rov er sy .
2 18 A HI STORY OF M ATHE M ATIC S
attention It was again proposed in 1 7 1 6 by Leibniz to feel the pulse
.
,
of the English mathem aticians .
This may be considered as the first defiance proble m professedly

aimed at the English Newton solved it the same evening on which
.
it was delivered to him although he was m uch fatigued by the day s

,
’
work at the m int His solution as published was a general plan of

.
, ,
an investigation rather than an actual solution and was on that , ,
account criticised by Johann B ernoulli as being of no value B rook

, .
Taylor undertook the defence of it but ended by using very r ep re ,
h en si bl e language Johann B ernoulli was not to be outdone in i n

.
civ ility and m ade a bitter reply Not long afterw ards Taylor sent
,
.
an open defiance to Continental m athematicians of a proble m on the

integration of a fl u xi on of co mplicated form which was known to
very few geo meters in England and supposed to be beyond the power
of their adversaries The selection was injudicious for J ohann
.
,
B ernoulli had long before explained the m ethod of this and similar
integrations I t serv ed only to display the skill and augm ent the
.
triu mph of the followers of Leibniz The last and m ost unskil ful .
'
challenge was by John K eill The problem was to find the path of a .
projectile in a m ed iu m which resists proportional ly to the square of

the velocity Without first m aking sure that he himself could sol v e
.
it K eil l bol dly chall enged Johann B ernoulli to produce a solution

, .
The latter resol v ed the question in very short tim e not on l y for a ,
resistance proportional to the square but to any power of the velocity ,

.
Suspecting the weakness of the adversary he repeate dly off ered to ,
send his solution to a confidential person in London provided K eil l ,
would do the sam e K eill never m ade a reply and Johann Bernoulli
.
,
abused him and cruelly exulted ov er him 1

.
The explanations of the funda m ental principles of the calculus as ,
giv en by Newton and Leibniz lacked clearness and rigor For that , .
reason it m e t with opposition from several quarters In 1 6 94 B ern hard

N i eu w en tij t ( 1 6 54—
1 7 1 8)
.
of Holland denied the existence of differentials

of higher orders and objected to the practice of neglecting infinitely
s mall quantities These obj ections Leibniz was not able to meet
.
dr
satisfactorily . In his reply he said the value of _ in geom etry could
dx
be expressed as the ratio of finite quantities In the interpretation .
of dx and dy Leibni z vacillated 2

At one ti m e they appear i n his
.
wr i tings as finite lines ; then they are called infinitely s mall quantities ,
a n d again q u an ti ta tes i n as s i gn a bi l es which spring fro m q u a n ti tates

, ,
ass i gn a bi l es by the law of continuity In this last presentation Leibni z

.
approached nearest to Newton

”i
.
1
John P l ayfai r , P rog re s s of th e M at hema ti cal an d P hy si c al S ci en ce s
“
n
En cycl opcedi a B r i tan n i ca , 7 t h Ed , co n t i n u ed i n t h e 8 th E d b y S i r John L e sli e
. . .
2
C o n su l t G Vi v an ti , I l con cetto d I nfi n i tesi mo S aggi o s tor i co N uo va edi ion e
.
’
. . z .
N ap ol i , 1 90 1
NEWTON TO EULER 9
In England the principles of fl uxi on s were boldly attacked by

B i s h o G
p_ eor g e B e r k e l e y ( 1 68 —
5 17 the eminent metaphysician in ,
a publication called the A n al yst He argued with great acute

ness contending among other things that the fun da mental idea of
, , ,
supposing a finite ratio to exist betw een terms absolutely evanescent

“
the ghosts of departed quantities as he called the m—was absurd ,
”
and unintelligible B erkeley claimed that the second a nd third
.
fi uxi o n s were even m ore m ysterious than the first fl u xi on His c on .
tention that no geo m etrical quantity can be exhausted by division is

in consonance with the claim m ade by Zeno in his dichoto my “
,
”
and the claim that the actual infinite cannot be realiz ed M ost m odern .
readers recogniz e these contentions as untenable B erkeley declared .
as axiom atic a lemm a involving the shifting of the hypothesis : If x

receives an increm ent i where i is expressly supposed to be some
,
,
quantity then the i n crement of x divided by i is found to be n x + ”

, ,
n
"
I
"
n (u x i+
‘
2
If n o w you take i = 0 the hypothesi s i s s hif ted ,
and there is a m anifest sophis m in retaining any result that was ob

t ai n ed on the supposition that i is not z ero B erkeley s le mma fou n d ’
.
no favor a mong English m athe maticians until 1 8 0 3 when Robert

Woodhouse openly accepted it The fact that correct results are .
obtaine d in the di fferential calculus by incorrect reasoning is explained

by Be rkeley o n the theory of a co mpensation of errors This theory .
”
was later ad v anced also by Lagrange and L N M Carnot The . . . .
publication of B erkeley s A n al ys t was the m ost spectacular m athe

’
ma t i cal event of the eighteenth century in England P ractically all .
B ritish discussions of fl uxi on al concepts of that tim e involve issues

raised by B erkeley B erkeley s object i n writing the A n al ys t was to
.
’
show that the principles of fl u xi o n s are no clearer than those of Chris

t ia n i ty He referred to a n infi d el m I t h e ma t i c i an ( E d m und Halley )
.
“ ” ,
of whom the story is told that when he j es ted concerning theological

1
,
”
“
questions he was repulsed by Newton with the re m ark I have
, ,
studied these things ; you have not A friend of B erkeley when on a .

,
be d of sickness refused spiritual consolation because the great

, ,
m athe m aticia n Halley had convinced h i m of the inconceivability of

the doctrines of Christianity This induced B erkeley to write the .
A n al yst
—
( 1 6 84 1 750 )
.
Replies to the A n al yst were published by Ja mes J u ri n
C an tab rig ie n si s
”
of Tri nity College Cambridge under the pseudonym of P hi l al e thes
,
and by J ohn Wal ton of D ublin There followed .
several rejoi nders J u ri n s d efence of Newton s fl uxi on s did not meet

.
’ ’
the approval of the mathe matician B e n j ami n R o b i n s ( 1 70 7

In a Journal called the Republ i c/e of L etter s (Londo n)
,
,
and later in
the Wor k s of the L ea r n ed a long and acri monious controversy was
,
carried on bet w ee n Juri n and Rob i n s an d later betw ee n Juri n and ,
Henry P emberton ( 1 6 94 the editor of the third editio n of

1
M ach M echa n i cs ,
1 90 7 , 8 —
pp 4 4 4 49
. .
2 20 A H ISTO RY O F M AT H E M ATI C S
New ton s P ri n ci pi a The question at issue was the precise m eaning
’
.
of certain passages in the writings of Ne w ton : D id Newton hold that

”
”
“
there are variables which reach their lim i ts ? Jurin answered Yes ;
Robins and P emberton answered No “
The debate betw een Jurin .
and Robins is important in the history of the theory of limits Though .
holding a narrow vie w of the concept of a lim it Robins deserves credit

for rej ecting all infinitely s mall quantities and giving a logically quite
coherent presentation of fi u xion s in a pamphlet called A D i scou rs e ,
C er tai n ty of S i r I s aac N ew ton s M ethods of

’
c on cer ni n g the N atu r e an d
Fl u xi on s , This and
1 73 5 . M acl au r i n s Fl u xi on s , 1 7 4 2 , m ark the top
’
notch of mathe m atical rigor reached during the eighteenth century ,
in the exposition of the calculus B oth before and after the period .
of eight years 1 834—1 84 2 there existed during the eighteenth century

, ,
in Great B ritain a m ixture of Continental and British conceptions of

the new calculus a superposition of B ritish symbols and phraseology
,
upon the older Continental concepts Newton s notation was poor and .
’
Le i bniz s ph i losophy of the calcul u s was poor The mix ture r epr e
’
.
sented the temporary survival of the least fit of both syste ms The .
subsequent course of events was a superposition of the Leibniz ian

notation and phraseology up o n the li mit concept as developed by -
Newton Jurin Robins M aclaurin D Al emb er t and later writers

, , , ,
’
.
In France M i chel Rol l e for a ti m e rej ected the differential calculus

and had a controversy with P V ar ig n on on the subj ect P erhaps the . .
m ost powerful argu m ent in favor of the new calculus was the con
sistency of the results to which it led Fam ous is D Al emh er t s advice
”
’ ’
.
to y oung students : Allez en avant e t la foi vous vien dra

“
,
.
Am ong the m ost vigorous prom oters of the calculus on the Conti
nent were the B ernoullis They and Euler m ade B asel i n Swi tz erland
.
fa mous as the cra dle of great m athem atic i ans The fam ily of B er .
n ou l li s furnished in course of a century eight m e m bers who dist i n
g ui sh ed the m selves in m athem atics We subjoin the following g en ea .
logical table
N i col au s B ern ou l l i the Father ,
J ak ob —
1 6 54 1 7 0 5 N i col au s J oh ann , 1 667
—1 748
N i col au s , 1 6 8 7 —7 591 N i col au s , 1 6 95— 1 726

—
.
D ani e , 1 7 0 0 1 7 8 2
l
J ohan n , 1 7 1 0 — 1 7 90
Dan i el ,
J ohan n , 1 7 4 4
—
18 07 J a k ob, 1
—
7 59 7 8 9
1
M ost celebrated were the two brothers Jakob (Jam es) and Johann
(John ) ,
and Daniel the son of John Jakob a n d Johann were staunch
,
.
friends of G W Leibni z and worked han d in han d wi th him J ak ob

—
( 54 7 5)
.
)
. .
( J a m e s B e r n o u l l i 1 6 1 0 was born in B asel B eco m i n g inter .

222 A HI STORY OF M ATHE M ATI C S
n ou ll i s theore m
’
If where the letters are integers and
t = r + s is expanded by the bino m ial theore m then by taking n large
, ,
enough the ratio of u ( denoting the su m of the greatest term and the
n prece d ing terms and the n following ter ms ) to the sum of the re
maining term s m ay be m ade as great as we please Letting r and s .
be proportional to the probability of the happe n i n g and failing of an

event in a single trial then i t corresponds to the probability that i n n t
trials the nu mber of times the event happens will lie bet w een n (r 1 )
,
”
“
and n (r + both i n clusive B ernoulli s theorem will ensure hi m a .
’
permanent place in the history of the theory of probability 1

P ro m .
i ne n t conte mporary workers on probability were M ont mort in France

and D e M oivre in England In D ece mber 1 9 1 3 the Acade my of .
, ,
”
“
Sciences of P etrograd c el eb ra t ed the bicentenary of the law of large /
nu mbers Jakob B ernoulli s A rs conj ectandi having been p ublished

,
’
at Basel i n 1 7 1 3 Of his collected works in three volu mes one was

.
, ,
printed in 1 7 1 3 the other t w o i n 1 744

—
J oh an n ( Jo h n ) e n o u lli ( 1 66 7 1 748)
.
,
B r was initiated into m athe

m at ic s by his brother He after w ards visited France where he m e t .
,
Nicolas M alebranche Giovanni Dom enico Cassini P de _L ahi re P , ,

.
, .
V ar ig n on and G F de l H o spi ta l For ten years he occupied the ’

. . .
,
mathe matical chair at Groni n ge n and the n succeeded his brother at

Basel He was one of the m ost e n thusiastic teachers and m ost suc
.
c e ss fu l original investigators of his ti me He was a m e mber of al most .
every learned society i n Europe His co n troversies were al most as .
nu merous as his discoveries He was ardent in his frie n dships but

unfair m ean and violent toward all who i n curred his dislike —eve n
.
,
, ,
his own brother and son He had a bitter dispute with Jakob on the .
isoperi metrical proble m Jakob convicted him of several paralogis ms . .
After his brother s death he atte mpted to substitute a disguised solu

’
tio n of the form er for an incorrect one of his own Johann ad mired .
,
the merits of G W Leibniz and L Euler but was bli n d to those of

. . .
,
I Newton He i mm ensely enriched the i n tegral calculus by his labors

. . .
A mong his discoveries are the exponential calculus the line of s w iftest ,
descent and its beautiful relation to the path described by a ray

,
passing through strata of variab l e de n sity In 1 6 94 he e xplai n ed in .
a letter to l H ospi tal the method of evaluating the indeterminate

’
He treated trigonometry by the analytical m ethod , studied

0
caustic curves and trajectories Several ti mes he was given priz es .
by the Academy of Science in P aris .
Of his sons N i c ol au s and D an i el were appointed professors of

,
mathem atics at the sam e ti me i n the Acade my of S t P etersburg The . .
former soon died in the prim e of life ; the latter returned to B asel i n
1 7 33 where he assu m ed the chair of experim e n tal philosophy
, His .
1
1 To dh u n ter , Hi story
.
f
o Thear . o f P r ob , p 7 7
. . .
NEWTON TO EULER 23
first mathe matical publication was the solution of a differential equa

tion proposed by J F R i c ca t i He wrote a work on hydrodynamics
. . . .
He was the first to use a suitable notation for inverse trigono metric
functions ; in 1 7 2 9 he used AS to represent arcsine ; L Euler in 1 7 3 6 . .
used At for arctangent Daniel B ernoulli s investigations on prob

1
.
’
ability are re markable for their boldness and originality He pro .
posed the theory of moral expectati on which he tho ught would give ,
results more i n accordance with our ordinary notio n s than the theory
of mathemati cal pr obabi l i ty He applies his m oral expec tation to the
s o called
-
.
P etersburg proble m : A throws a coi n i n the air ; if head

“ ”
appears at the first thro w he is to receive a shilling fro m B if head ,
d oes not appear until the second thro w he is to receive 2 shillings if ,
head does not appear until the third throw he is to receive 4 S hillings ,
and so on : required the expectation of A B y the mathe matical .
theory A s expectation is infinite a paradoxical result A given sum

,
’
,
.
of m oney not being o f equal i mportance to every m an account should ,
be taken of r el ati ve values Suppose A starts with a s um a then the

.
,
moral expectation i n the P etersburg proble m is finite according to ,
D aniel B ernoulli when a is finite ; it is 2 when a = o about 3 when

, ,
a = 1 0 about 6 whe n a =
,
The P etersburg problem was discussed
by P S Laplace S D P oisson and G Cram er D aniel B er n oulli s
. .
,
. . . .
’
m oral expectation has beco m e classic but no one ever m akes use ,
of it He applies the theory of probability to insurance ; to determine

.
the m or tality caused by s m all pox at various stages of life ; to deter -
m ine the nu mber o i survivors at a given age fro m a give n nu mber of

births ; to determ ine how m uch inoculation lengthens the average
duration of life He S howed h o w the di fferential calculus could be
.
used in the theory of probability He and L Euler enjoyed the ho n or . .
of hav ing gained or shared no less tha n ten pri zes fro m the Acade my
of Sciences in P aris Once while travelling with a learned stranger
who asked his nam e he said I am D aniel Bernoulli
“
.
,
,
The stra n ger

,
.
”
could not believe that his co mpanio n actually was that great celebrity
“
and replied I am Isaac Newton ” ,
J oh ann B e rn o u l l i ( born 1 7 1 0 )
.
succeeded his father i n the professor

ship of m athe matics at Basel He captured three priz es (o n the cap
stan the propagatio n of light and the m agnet)
.
fro m the Acade my o f

Sciences at P aris N i c ol au s B e rn o u ll i (bor n 1 68 7)
, ,
. held for a ti me the

mathe matical chair at P adua which Galileo had once filled He p ro v ed .
In 1 74 2 that —= —
2
5 A 3 A
2
Joh ann B e r n ou l l i (born 1 7 44 )at the age
btau Su at
of nineteen was appointed astronom er royal at B erlin and after ,
wards d irector of the m athe matical d epart m ent of the Aca d e m y H is .
brother Ja kob took upon him self the duties of the chair of e xp e r i
1
G En e s t rom i n B i bl i otheca ma thema ti ca , V ol 6 , pp 3 1 9—
.
3 2 1 ; Vo l . . . 1 4, p .
78 .
2
I To dhu n ter , Hi s t of the Theor of P r ob , p 2 20
. . . . . .
24 A HISTORY OF M ATHE M ATIC S
m ental physics at B asel previously perform ed by his uncle J akob , ,
and later was appointed m athem atical professor in the Academy at

St P etersburg
. .
Brief m ention will n ow be m ade of some other ma thematicians

belonging to the period of Newton Leibniz and the elder B ernoullis , , .
G u illa u m e F ran coi s An toi n e l H O S pi tal ( 1 6 6 1 a pupil of ’
Johan n B ernoulli has already been m entioned as taking part i n the

,
challenges issued by Leibniz and the B ernoullis He helped pow er .
fully i n m aking the calculus of Leibniz better known to the m ass of

m athematicians by the publication of a treatise thereon the A n al ys e ,
des i nfi n i men t peti ts P aris 1 6 96 This contai n s the m ethod of find ing
, ,
.
the li miting value of a fraction whose two terms tend to w ard z ero
at the sam e ti me due to Johann B ernoulli ,
.
Another z ealous French ad v ocate of the calculus was P i e rr e Var ig

n on ( 1 6 54 I n M em de P a ri s Ann ée M D CCIV P aris 1 7 2 2 he.
, , , ,
follows Ja B ernoulli in the use o f polar co ordinates p and w Letting

.
-
, .
x = p and y = l w the equations thus changed represent wholly di fferent

,
m m“
curv es For instance the parabolas x a y beco me Fermatia n
=
Jo s e ph S a u ri n ( 1 6 59—1 73 7 )
.
,
S pirals . solved the delicate proble m of

how to determine the tangents at the m ultiple poi n ts of algebraic
cur v es \ Fr an cms N1col e ( 1 6 83 1 758 )
.
-I n 1 7 1 7 issued an ele m entary
.
treatise o n finite differences i n which he finds the su m s of a consider ,
able nu m ber of interesting series He wrote also on roulettes par ti c u .

,
l a rl y S pherical epicycloids and their rectification Also interested i n

,
.
finite differences was P i err e Raym o n d d e M o n tmo rt ( 1 6 7 8

His chief writings on the theory of probability ; served to stim ulate
,
his more distinguished successor D e M oivre M ontmort gav e the ,

.
first general solution of the P roble m of P oints J e an P a u l d e G u a ;
( 7 3 1 7 8 5)
— gave the de monstration of Descartes rule of signs n ow ’
1 1 ,
gi v en i n books This skilful geo m eter wrote in 1 7 40 a work o n analyt

.
ical geo m etry the obj ect of which was to S ho w that most investiga
,
t ions on curves could be carried on with the analysis of D escartes quite

as easily as with the calculus He shows how to fi n d the tangents .
,
asymptotes and various singular points of curves of all degrees and

, ,
proves by perspective that several of these points can be at infinity

M ich e l Roll e ( 1 6 5 2 — 1 7 1 9)
.
is the author of a theore m nam ed after h im .
That theore m is not found in his Tr ai tad al gébre of 1 6 90 but occurs ’

,
“ ’ ”
in his M ethode pou r r és ou dre l es egali tez P aris
Rolle s theorem was first used by M W D rob i sch ( 1 8 0 2 1 8 96 )
The na m e
— of
, ,
”
. .
Leipzig in 1 834 and by Giusto B el l av i ti s in 1 846 His A l gebre contains .

‘
his m ethod of cascades

“
In an equation in 7)which he has trans
.
form ed so that its signs becom e alternately plus and minus he puts ,
v= x+ z and arranges the result according to the descending powers

of x The coeffi cients of x x
. when equated to z ero are ” ,
n
‘
l
, ,
Theorem i n B i bl i otheca ma themati ca ,

’
1
S ee F C aj o ri o n t he hi s t o ry f Roll e
—
. o s
3 r d S , V o l I I , 1 9 1 1 , pp 3 0 0 3 1 3
. . . .
correct T sc hi rn hau s en concluded that in the researches relating to
,
the properties of curves the calculus might as well be dispensed with .
After the death of Leibniz there was in Germany not a S ingle mathe
mat i c ian of note Ch ri s ti an Wolf ( 1 6 7 9— 17 professor at Halle
.
,
was a mbitious to figure as successor of Leibniz but he forced the

'
ingenious ideas of Leibniz into a pedantic scholasticism and had the ,
unenviable reputation of having presented th e elements of the arith

metic algebra and analysis developed since the time of the Renais
sance in the form of Euclid —
, ,
of course only in outward for m for into
the S pirit of the m he was quite unable to penetrate ( H Hankel )

,
” .
,
The conte mporaries and im mediate successors of Newton in Great

Britain were men of no mean merit We have reference to R Cotes . .
,
B Taylor L M aclaurin and A de M oivre We are told that at the

.
, .
, . .
death of R o g er C ot e s ( 1 6 8 2 Newton exclaimed If Cotes had

”
“
,
lived we m ight have k n ow n some thi ng

,
I t was at the request of ,
.
Dr B entley that R Cotes undertook the publication of the se gond

. .
edition of Ne w ton s P r i n ci pi a His m athem atical papers were pub

’
.
li shed after his death by Robert S m ith his successor in the P l u mbia n ,
professorship at Trinity College The title of the work H a rmoni a .

,
M en su rar u m was suggested by the following theore m contained in it :

,
If on each radius vector through a fi xed point 0 there be taken a , ,
point R such that the reciprocal of OR be the arith metic m ean of the
,
reciprocals of OR ] OR then the locus of R will be a straight

,
line In this work progress was m ade in the application of logarithm s

.
and the properties of the circle to the calculus of fl u en ts To Cotes .
we owe a theore m in trigono metry which depends on the form ing of

—
factors of x I In the P hi l os ophi cal Transa cti on s of London pub
n
.
,
li sh e d 1 7 1 4 he develops an i mportant form ula reprinted I n his H ar

, ,
mon i a M en su r aru m which I n m odern notation is i gb = log ,
s i n cp Usually this form ula IS attributed to L Euler Cotes studied

. . .
the curve p 0 a to which he gave the nam e lituus

2 = z “
,
Chief among .
the ad mirers of Newton were B Taylor and C M aclaurin The quar . . .
rel between English and Continental m athematicians caused them to

work quite independently of their great contemporaries across the
Channel
B roo k T aylo r ( 1 68 5— 1 73 1 )
.
was interested in m any branches of

learning and in the latter part of his life engaged m ainly in religious
,
and philosophic S peculations His principal work M ethodu s i n cre

—
.
,
men toru m di r ecta cl i n ver sa London 1 7 1 5 1 7 1 7 added a new branch

to mathem atics now called finite diff erences of which he was the
,
, ,
,
” ,
inventor He m ade many i mportant applications of it particularly

.
,
to the study of the form of m ovem ent of vibrating strings the r edu c ,
tion of which to mechanical principles w as first attempted by h i m .
This work contains also Taylor s theore m and as a S pecial case

”
“ ’
, ,
of it what is now called M ac l au ri n s Theorem

,
Taylor di scovered ’
.
his theorem at least three years before its appearance in print He .

NEWTON TO EULER 7
gave it in a letter to John M achin dated July 2 6 1 7 1 2 I ts i mportance , ,

.
was not recognize d by analysts for o v er fifty years until J Lagrange ,

.
poin ted out its power His proof of it does not consider the question .
of conv ergency and is quite worthless The first more rigorous proof
,
.
was given a century later by A L Cauchy Taylor gave a singular . . .
solution of a di fferential equation and the m ethod of finding that

solution by di fferentiation of the di ff erential equation Taylor s .
’
work contains the first correct explanation of astronom ical refraction .
He wrote also a work on linear perspective a treatise which like his , ,
other writings su ff ers for want of fulness and clearness of expression

,
.
At th e age of twenty three he gave a rem arkable solution of the prob -
l em of the centre of oscillation published in 1 7 1 4 His claim to ,

.
priority was unj ustly disputed by Johann B ernoulli In the P hi l o

s ophi cal Tr an s acti on s Vol 3 0 1 7 1
7 Taylor applies Taylor s series
“
, .
, ,
.
’ ”
to the solution of num erical equations He assu m es that a rough
approxi mation a to a root of f (x)
.
= 0 has been found Let .

, ,
and x = a + s He expands by his

”
.
theorem discards all powers of s above the second substitutes the

, ,
values of k k k and then solves for s By a repetition of this

,
’
, , .
process close approximations are secured He m akes the importa nt

, .
observation that his method solves also equations involving radicals

.
and transcendental functions The first appl i cation of the Newton .
Raph so n process to the solution of transcendental equations was

made by Thom as Si mp son in his Ess ays on M a thema ti ck s ,
London 1 740 , .
The earliest to suggest the m ethod of recu rri ng seri es for finding
roots was D ani el B ern ou l l i ( 1 70 0 — 1 78 2)who in 1 7 2 8 brought the
quartic to the form then selected arbitrarily
four numbers A B C D and a fifth E thus , , , , , , ,
also a six th by the sa me recursion formula F = aE + bD + cC + eB

and so on If the last two nu mbers thus found are M and N then
.
,
x = M + N is an appro xi mate root D aniel B ernoulli giv es no proof .

,
but is aware that there is not always convergence to the root This .
m ethod was perfected by Leo n hard Euler in his I n tr odu cti o i n an al ysi n
i nfi ni toru m 1 748 Vol I Chap 1 7 and by Joseph Lagrange in Note
, , .
,
.
,
VI of hi s Res ol u ti on des equ ati ons n u méri qu es .
Brook Taylor in 1 7 1 7 expressed a root of a quadratic equation in

the form of an infinite series ; for the cubic Fran goi s Nicole did sim i
l arl y in 1 7 38 and Clairaut in 1 7 46 A C Clairaut i n serted the process . . .
i n his El emen ts d al gébre Thom as Simpson determ ine d roots by r e

’
.
version of series in 1 743 and by infinite series in 1 74 5 M arquis d e

Courtivro n ( 1 7 1 5— 1 7 8 5)
.
also expressed the roots in the for m of i n

finite series while L Euler devoted several articles to this topic
, .
1
.
At this time the matter of convergence of the series did not receiv e
1
Fo r r efe ren ces see F C aj or i , i n C ol or ado C ol l eg e P u bl i cati on , G en e r al S e ri es 5 1 ,
.
p . 212 .
proper att en tion except in som e rare instances James Gregory of
,
.
,
”
Edinburgh i n his Ver a ci r cu l i cl hyperbol ce qu adr atu r a
used the terms conv ergent and d iv ergent series while Wil l ia m
first
“ ” ,
B ro u n c k er gav e an argu m ent which a m ounted to a proof of the con

vergence of his series noted above
C oli n M a c l au ri n ( 1 6 98 —1 746 )
.
, ,
was elected professor of mathematics

at Aberdeen at the age of nineteen by competitiv e exam ination and ,
in 1 7 2 5 succeeded Jam es Gregory at th e Univ ersity of Edinburgh .
He enj oyed the frien dship of Newton and i nspired by Newton s , ,

’
disco v eries he published in 1 7 1 9 his Geometr i a Organi ca containing

, ,
a new and re m arkable m ode of generating co n ics know n by his nam e , ,
”
and referring to the fact wh i ch becam e know n later as Cram er s “ ’
paradox that a curve of the n order is not always determ ined by

,
th
points that the number may be less A second tract De

,
.
,
Li n ea r u m g eometr i c a r u m pr opr i eta ti bu s 1 7 2 0 is re m arkable for the , ,
elegance of its d em onstrations I t is based upon two theorem s : the

.
first is the theorem of Cotes ; the second is M acl au ri n s : If through ’
any point 0 a line be drawn m eeting the curve in n points and at ,
these points tangents be drawn and if any other line through 0 cut ,
the curve in R 1 R 2 etc and the system of n tangents in r l r g etc

, ,
.
, ,
.
,
then 2 This and Cotes theorem are generaliz ations of ’
theorem s of Newton M aclaurin uses these in his treatm ent of curves

.
of the second and third degree culm inating in the remarkable theorem
,
that if a quadrangle has its v ertices and the two points of intersection
of its opposite sides upon a curv e of the third degree then the tangents ,
d rawn at two opposite vertices cut each other on the curve He de .
du c e d in d epen d ently B P ascal s theore m on the hexagra m So m e

’
. .
of his geom etrical results were reached independently by Wi l l i am

B r ai k en r i dge ( about 1 7 0 0 —
after a clergym an in Edinburgh
The follow ing is known as the B ra ik en ri dg e M aclaurin theorem : “
-
” .
If the sides of a polygon are restricted to pass through fixed points

while all the vertices but one lie on fixed straight lines the free vertex ,
d escribes a conic section or a straight line M ac l au ri n s m ore general ’
state ment (P hi l Tr an s 1 73 5)
.
. is thus :If a polygon m ov e so that each

.
,
of its sides passes through a fixed point and if all its summ its excep t ,
one describe curv es of the degrees m n p etc respectively then the , , ,

.
, ,
free summ it m oves on a curve of the d egree 2 mnp which reduces

to mn p when the fixed points all lie on a straight line M ac
“
laurin was the first to write on pe dal curves a nam e due to Olry ,
” .
T e rq u em ( 1 7 8 2 M aclauri n is the author of an A l gebra The .
object of his treatise on Fl u xi on s was to found the doctrine of fl u xion s

on geom etric d emonstrations after the m anner of the ancients and ,
thus by r i gorous exposition answer such attacks as B erkeley s that

’
, ,
th e doctrine rested on false reasoning The Fl u xi on s contained for .

2 30 A HI STORY O F M ATHE M ATIC S
to the hyperbola His work on the theory of probability surpasses

.
anything done by any other ma them atician except P S Laplace . . .
His principal contributions are his i nvestigations respecting the

D uration of P lay his Theory of Recurring Series and his e xtension
, ,
of the value of Daniel B ernoulli s theorem by the aid of S tirling s ’ ’
theorem 1
His chief works are the D octri n e of Chances 1 7 1 6 the
.
, ,
M i s cel l an ea A n al yti ca 1 7 30 and his papers in the P hi l os ophi cal

, ,
Tr an sacti on s Unfortunately he did not publish the proofs of his

.
results in the doctrine of chances and J Lagrange more than fif ty , .
years later found a good exercise for his skill in supplying th e proofs .
A generaliz ation of a problem first stated by C Huygens has re .
c ei v ed the nam e of
“
D e M o ivr e s P roble m : Given n dice each ’
,
having f faces d eterm ine the chances of throwing any give n num ber
,
of points It was solved by A de M oivre P R de M ontm ort P S

. .
, . .
, . .
Laplace and others D e M oivre also generaliz ed the P roblem on the

.
D uration of P lay so that it reads as follows :Suppose A has m counters

, ,
and B has n counters ; let their chances of winning in a single gam e be

as a to b; the loser in each gam e is to give a counter to his adversary :
required the probability that when or bef ore a certai n nu mber of games
has been pl ayed one of the players W ill have won all the counters of
,
his ad v ersary D e M o iv re s solution of this problem constitutes his

.
’
m ost substantial achieve m ent in the theory of chances He e mployed .
in his researches the m ethod of ordinary finite differences or as he ,
called it the m ethod of recurrent series

, .
A fam ous theory involving the notion of inverse probability was

ad vanced by Thomas B ayes I t was published in the London P hi l o .
s ophi ca l Tr a n s acti on s Vols 53 and 54 for the years 1 7 6 3 and 1 76 4

,
.
,
after the death of B ayes wh i ch occurred i n 1 7 6 1 These researches ,

.
originated the discussion of the probab i lities of causes as inferred

from observed e ffects a subject developed m ore fully by P S Laplace
,
. . .
Using m odern symbols Bayes fund am ental theore m may be sta ted ,
’
thus : If an event has happened p tim es and failed q ti m es the

2
,
probability that its chance at a si n gle trial lies bet w een a and b is
x? ( 1
—x)q
( 1
— )dx ? x .
A m em oir of John M ichell On the probable P arallax and M ag ni

tude of the fixed Stars in the London P hi l os ophi cal Tr an sacti on s ” ,
Vol 5 7 I for the year 1 76 7 contains the fa mous argu m ent for the
.
, ,
existence of design drawn from the fact of the closeness of certain

stars like the P leiad es
,
We m ay take the six brightest of the .
P leia d es and supposing the whole num ber of those stars which are
, , ,
equal in splendor to the faintest of these to be about 1 50 0 we shall , ,
1
I To dhu n t er , A H i s tor y of the M athemati cal Theor y f P roba bili ty, C amb ri dg e
—
.
o
a n d L on don , 1 86 5 , pp 1 3 5 1 93 . .
2
I To d hu n te r , op ci t , p 2 9 5
. . . . .
E ULER LAGRANGE AND LAP LACE
, 31
find the odds to be near to 1 that no s ix stars out of that , ,
nu mber scattered at rando m in the whole heavens would be w ithin

,
so small a distance from each other as the P leiades are

,
,
,
.
”
Eu l er , L agr an ge, and L apl a ce
In the rapid development of mathema tics during the eighteenth

century the leading part was taken not by the universities but by , ,
the academies P articul arly prominent were the academies at B erlin

.
an d P etrograd This fact is the more singular because at that time

.
,
Germany and Russia did not produce great m a t hematicians The .
academ ies received t heir adornment mainly from the Swiss and
French I t was after the French Revolution that s chools gained their
.
ascendancy over academ ies .
D uring the period from 1 7 30 to 1 8 20 S w itz erland had her L Euler ; .
France her J Lagrange P S Laplace A M Legendre and G M onge

,
.
, . .
,
. .
,
. .
The m ediocrity of French m athem atics which marked the tim e of

Louis XIV was now foll owed by one of the very brightest periods of
all history England on the other hand which during the u np ro
.
, ,
d u c t i v e period in France had her Newton could n ow boas t of no great ,
m athem atician E xcept young Gauss Germ any had no great na m e

.
,
.
France now waved the m athematical sceptre M athematical studies .
am ong the English and German people had su n k to the lowest ebb .
Am ong them the d irection of original research was ill chosen The .
form er adh ered with e xcessive partiality to ancient geo m etrical

m ethods ; the latter produced the co mbinatorial school which brought ,
forth nothing of great value .
The labors of L Euler J Lagrange and P S Laplace lay in higher

.
,
.
,
. .
analysi s a n d this they developed to a wonderful degree By them

,
.
analysis cam e to be completely sev ere d fro m geo m etry D uri ng the .
preced i ng period the effort of m athe m aticia n s not only in England ,
but to som e extent eve n on the continent had been directe d to w ard
, , ,
the solution of problem s clothed in geom etric garb and the results of ,
calc ul ation were usually reduced to geom etric form A change now .
took place Euler brought about an em ancipation of the analytical

.
calculus from geo m etry and established it as an i n depen dent science .
Lagrange and Laplace scrupulously adhered to this separati on .
B ui l d ing on the broad foundation laid for higher analysis a n d m e

c h an i c s b y Newton and Leibni z Euler with m atchless fertility of
'
, ,
m ind erected an elaborate structure There are few great ideas pur
,
.
sued by succee ding analysts which were not suggeste d by L Euler .

,
or of which he d id not share the honor of invention With perhaps .

, ,
less exuberance of inventi on but with m ore co mprehensive genius and ,
profoun der reasoning J Lagrange d evelope d the i n finitesim al calculus

,
.
and put analyt i cal m echan i cs into the for m i n which we now know i t .
P S Lapla ce appl i e d the calculus a n d m echan i cs to the elaboration

. .
232 A HI STORY OF M ATH E M ATIC S
of the theory of universal gra vita tion and thus largely extending and , ,
supplem enting the labors of Newton gave a full analytical discussion ,
of the solar system H e also wrote an epoch marking work on P rob

.
-
abil ity Am ong the analytical branches created during this period
.
,
are the calculus of Variations by Euler and Lagrange Spherical Har ,
m on i cs by Legendre and Laplace and Elliptic Integrals by Legendre ,

.
Comparing the growth of analysis at thi s time wi th the growth

d uri ng the time of K F Gauss A L Cauchy and recent m a the . .
,
. .
,
ma ti c i an s we observe an i mportant diff erence

,
D uri ng th e form er .
period we witness m ainly a develop ment with reference to form P lac .
ing al m ost implicit confidence in results of calculation ma themati ,
c i an s did not always pause to discover rigorous proofs an d were thus ,
led to general propositions so me of which have since been found to ,
be true in only special cases The Combinatorial School In Germany .
carried this tendency to the greatest extreme they worshipped ,
form alis m and paid no attention to the actual contents of form ulae .
B ut in recent tim es there has been added to the dex terity in the formal
treatm ent of problems a much needed rigor of demonstration A ,
-
.
good example of this increased rigor is seen in the present use of i n

finite series as compared to that of Euler and of Lagrange in his earlier ,
works .
The ostracism of geo m etry brought about by the m aster m inds of ,

-
this period could not last perm anently Indeed a n ew geom etric
, .
,
school sprang into existence in France before the close of this period .
J Lagrange would not perm it a single diagram to appear in his

.
M eca n i qu e an al yti qu e but thirteen years before his death G M onge

, , .
published his epoch m aking Géometri e descri pti ve ’
L e o nh ar d Eul e r ( 1 7 0 7—1 783 )

.
was born in B asel His father a .

,
m inister gave him his first instruction in m athem atics and then sent
,
hi m to the University of B asel where he becam e a favorite pupil of ,
Johann B ernoulli In his nineteenth year he composed a dissertatio n

.
on the m asting of ships which received the second priz e from th e ,
French Acade m y of Sciences When Johann B ernoulli s two sons . .

’
,
Daniel and Nicolau s went to Russia they induced Catharine I in

, , ,
1 7 2 7 to invite their friend L Euler to S t P etersburg where D aniel

, . .
, ,
in 1 733 was assigned to the chair of mathem atics I n 1 7 3 5 the solving

, .
of an astronom ical problem proposed by the Academy for which , ,
several e minent m athem aticians had dem anded som e m onths time ’
,
was achieved in three days by Euler with aid of improved m e thods of

his own B ut the eff ort threw h im into a fever and deprived him of
.
the use of his right eye With still superior m ethods this sam e problem
.
was solved later by K F Gauss in one hour ! 1

The despotism of
. .
Anne I caused the gentle Euler to S hrink from public a ff airs and to
d evote all his t im e to science After his call to B erlin by Frederick the .
1
W . S ar t ori u s Wal ter sh au sen , Gauss , zu m Gedachtn i ss , Leip z ig , 1 8 56 .
but also the B eta and Gamma Functions and other original investi
g a t i on s ; M ethodu s i n ven i endi l i n eas cu rvas maxi mi mi n i mi ve pr opri etate
gauden tes , which displaying an 1 744 , ,
am ount of m athem atical genius
S eldo m rivall ed contained his researches on the calculus of v ariations
,
to th e invention of which Euler was led by the study of th e researches

of Johann and Jakob B ernoulli One of the earliest problem s bearing .
on this subj ect was Newton s solid of revolution of least resistance ’

, ,
reduced by him in 1 6 8 6 to a diff erential equation (P ri n ci pi a Bk II

Sec VII P rop XXXIV Scholiu m )Johann B ernoulli s problem of
.
,
.
,
’
.
,
. .
,
the brachistochrone sol v ed by h im in 1 6 97 and by his brother Jakob , ,
in the same year stim ulated Euler The study of isoperim etrical , .
curves the brachistochrone in a resisting m ediu m and the theory of

,
geodesics previously treated by the elder B ernoullis and others led

, ,
to the creation of this new branch of m athem atics th e Calculus of ,
Variations His method was essentially geom etrical which m akes

.
,
the solution of the simpler proble m s very clear Euler s Theori a .

’
motu u m pl an eta ru m et co metar u m, 1 74 4 , Theor i a motu s l u n ar, 1 7 53 ,
Theor i a motu u m l u n ae, 1 772 , are his chief works on astronom y ; S es

l ettr es a u n e pr i n cesse d A l l emagn e su r qu el qu es suj ets de P hysi q u e
’
et de
P hi l os ophi e, 1 7 7 0 , was a work which enj oyed great popularity .
We proceed to mention the principal innov at i ons and inv entions

“
of Euler In his I n tr odu cti o ( 1 74 8 every analytical expression in
.
) ”
. .
”
x , i e every expression m ade up of powers , logarith m s , trigono m etric
”
functions etc is called a function of Som etim es Euler used “
,
.
,
x .
another d efin ti on of function namely the relation between

i y
and expresse d in the —plane by any curve drawn freehand libero
, ,
”
“
x x y ,
m anus duetu In m odified form these two rival definitions are

.
1
,
traceable in all later history Thus Lagrange proceeded on the i dea .
in v olved in the first definition Fourier on the idea involved in the ,
second .
Euler treated trigonometry as a branch of analysis and consistently

”
treated trigonom etric values as ratios The term trigonom etric “
function was introduced in 1 7 7 0 by Georg S i mon K l u gel ( 1 73 9—1 8 1 2 )

.
of Halle the author of a m athematical dictionary Euler d eveloped

,
2
.
and system atiz ed the m ode of writing trigonom etric form ulas taking , ,
for instance the S inus to tu s equal to 1 He simplified form ulas by

,
.
the S imple expedient of designating the angles of a triangle by A B C , , ,
and the opposite S ides by a b c respectively Only once before have , , , .
we encountered this S imple device I t was used in a pamphlet pre .
pared by Ri Rawl i n s on at Oxford so m etim e between 1 6 5 5 and

.
This notat i on was re i ntroduce d sim u l taneously with Euler by Thomas -
Simpson in England We m ay add here that in 1 734 Euler use d the

notation f (x)
.
“
to indicate function of x that the use of e as the ,
1
F Kl e i
. El m t m th m tik v hoh S t ndp k te a s I L eip z ig
n, e en ar9 8 p 43 8 a e a . . a un u .
, , , 1 0 ,
. .
2
M C an t o r
.
, o p . ci t . V o l I V , 1 90 8 , p 4 1 3
,
. . .
3
S ee F C aj ori i n . N a tu r e, V ol 94 , 1 9 1 5 , p 6 4 2
. . .
E UL ER LAGRANGE AND LAP LACE
,
235
symbol for the natural base of logarith m s was introduced by him in

that in 1 7 50 he used S to denote the half su m of the sides of a
,
“
triangle that i n 1 7 55 he introduced 2 to signify su mmation that
-
,
”
in 1 7 7 7 he used i for a notation used later by K F Gauss . . .
We pause to rem ark that in Euler s ti m e Th o ma s S i mps o n ( 1 7 1 0 ’
an able and self taught English m athem atician for m any years -
,
professor at the Royal M ilitary Acade m y at Woolwich and author of ,
several text books was active in perfecting trigonom etry as a science

-
,
.
His Tri gon ometry London 1 748 contains elegant proofs of two
fo rm ulas for plane triangles (a + b) B) b)
, , ,
c = cos %(A :s i n § C and (a :

—B )
,
c = s i n %(A : cos %C which have been ascribed to the Ger m an as ,
t ron om er K arl B r and an M al tw ei de ( 1 7 7 4 who develope d them

m uch later The first formula was given in di fferent notation by I
. .
Newton in his Un i versal A ri thmeti qu e; both form ulas are given by

Fr i edr i ch Wi l hel m O ppel in
E ul er laid down the rules for the transform ation of c o— ordinates in
space gave a m etho dic analytic treatment of plane cur v es and of
,
surfaces of the second order He was the first to discuss the equation .
of the second degree in three variables and to class ify the surfaces ,
represented by it By criteria analogous to those used in the classi

.
fi ca ti o n of conics he obtained five species He de v ised a m ethod of .
sol v ing biquadratic equations by assu ming x = x/ i with ,
the hope that it would lead him to a general solution of algebraic

equations The m ethod of elim ination by sol v ing a series of linear
equations ( invented independently by E B éz ou t)
.
and the m etho d of .
elim ination by sym m etric functions are due to him Far reaching ,
.
are Euler s researches on logarithm s Euler d efined logarithm s as

’
.
exponents thus abandoning the old view of logarith m s as term s of

3
,
an arith m etic series in one to one correspondence with ter m s of a - -
geom etric series This union between the exponential and logar i th mic
.
concepts had taken place so mewhat earlier The possibility of de .
fining logarith m s as e xponents had been recogniz ed by John Wallis ‘
in 1 6 8 5 by Johann B ernoulli in 1 6 94 but not till 1 74 2 do we find a ,
syste matic exposition of logarith ms based on this idea I t is giv en ,

.
in the introduction to Gardi ner s Ta bl es of L oga r i thms London 1 7 4 2

”
’
.
, ,
“
This introd uction is collected wholly fro m the papers of W i lliam
Jones Euler s influence caused the ready adoption of the new defi n i
.
’
tion That this view of logarithms was in every way a step in advance
.
has been doubted by som e writers Certain it is that it i nvol v es i n .
ternal diffi culties of a serious nature Euler threw a stream of light .
upon th e subtle subject of the logarithm s of negativ e and im aginary

numbers In 1 7 1 2 and 1 7 1 3 this subj ect had been discussed in a
.
1
G En est rom , B i bl i otheca ma thema ti ca , V ol 1 4 , 1 9 1 3
. .
—9 41 1 p 81
,
. .
2
A v B rau n m ii hl , op ci t , 2 Teil , 1 9 0 3 , p 93 ; H
. . . . . . . Wi el e i t n e r i n B i bl i otheca
mathema ti ca , 3 S , V ol 1 4 , pp 3 4 8 , 34 9
. . . . .
3
S ee L E ul er , I n tr odu cti o, 1 7 4 8 , C h ap V I ,
. . 10 2 . .
2 36 A H I STO RY O F M ATHE M ATIC S
correspondence between G W Leibniz and Johann B ernoul li L eib . . .

1
n iz m aintained that since a positive logari th m corresponds to a nu mber
larger than unity and a negative logarith m to a positive number less

,
than unity the logarith m of 1 was not really true but i magin ary ;
, ,
hence the ratio havi ng no logari thm is itself imaginary ,

.
M oreover if there really existed ,

— a logarith m of 1 then hal f of it ,
would be the logarithm of 1 a conclusion which he considered ,
absurd The statements of Leibniz involve a double use of th e term

imaginary :( 1 ) in the sense of non — existent ( 2 )
.
in the sense of a number ,
of the typ e x/ T I Johann B ernoulli m aintained that 1 has a -
Since dx : x = dx : —x there results by integration

.
logarithm
log (x) og —x)
.
,
= l ; the logarith m ic curve y
= lo
g x has therefore two
branches symm etrical to the y= axis as has the hyperbola The corre
, ,
.
spo n d en c e between Leibniz and Johann B ernoulli was first published
in 1 74 5 In 1 7 1 4 Roger Cotes developed in the P hi l os ophi cal Tran s

.
acti on s a n i mportant theore m which was republished in his H a r mon i a
men su r aru m In m odern notation it is i ¢ = log (cos ¢ + t si n (b) .
In the exponential form it was discovered again by Euler i n 1 748 .
Cotes was aware of the periodicity of the t rig o n om e t ri c functions .
Had he applied this idea to his formula he m ight have anticipated ,
Euler by m any years in show ing that the logarithm of a number has
an infinite nu mber of d ifferent values A second discussion of the .
logarithm s of negative numbers took place in a correspondence b e

tween young Euler and his revered teacher Johann B ernoulli in th e
B ernoulli argued as before that log x = l og — x)
, ,
years 1 7 2 7 , ,
.
Euler uncovered the diflfic ul ti es and inconsistencies of his own and

Bernoulli s views without at that tim e being able to a dv ance a
’
, , ,
satisfactory theory He showed that Johann B ernoul li s expression

.
’
4 v i ?
which is in compatible with B ernoulli s claim that log Be
’
tween 1 7 3 1 and 1 74 7 Euler m ade steady progress i n the m astery of

relat i ons involving im aginaries In a letter of Oct 1 8 1 740 to . .
, ,
Johann B ernoulli he stated that y 2 cos x and y e

= = \/ e x I -
,
2
dy
were both integrals of the d iff erential equation + y
=0 and were
22
2
equal to each other Euler knew the corresponding expression for .
si n x B oth expressions are given by hi m in th e M i scel l an ea B er ol i n en

.
s i a 1 7 4 3 and aga i n in his I n tr odu cti o 1 7 4 8 Vol I 1 0 4

, ,
He gave the , ,
.
, .
value 1 7 V 57 6 3 as early as 1 7 4 6 in a letter to Chris

1
,
tian Goldbach ( 1 6 90 but makes no reference here to the i n

1
S ee F C aj o ri
“
H istory
the Expo n en t i a an d L og ari hmi c C on cep t s ,
of l t A mer
—
.
,
i ca n M a h M
2
t o n t hl
.
y,
. V o l 2 0 ,
1 9 3 , p p 39 4 2
1
.
.
S ee F C aj o r i i n A m M a th M onthl y, V ol 2 0 , 1 9 1 3 , pp 44 4 6
.
. .
. .
— .
G W Leibniz nor J akob and J ohann B ernoulli had entertained any
. .
serious doubt of the correctness of the expression 1+
o r
—
Gu i d G a ndi ( 1 6 7 1 1 74 2 )of P isa went so far as to conclude from
this that In the treatment of series Leibniz ad
v an c ed a m etaphysical m ethod of proof which held sway over the
minds of the elder B ernoullis and e v en of Euler 1

The tendency of , .
that reasoning was to j ust ify results which seem highly absurd to
followers O f Abel and Cauchy The looseness of treatm ent can .
best be seen from examples The v ery paper in which Euler cautions
.
against divergent series contains the proof that

1 1
0 as follows
n +n
2
+ .
—I
“
f
l
n it
these added gi e ero v z . Eu l er

has no hesitation to write 1 —7
0 an d no one objected to such results excepting N i c ol a u s
,
B ernoulli the nephew of Johann an d Jakob Strange to say Euler

, .
,
finally succee d e d in converting N i c ol au s B ernoulli to his own erroneous

views At the present tim e it is diffi cult to believe that Euler S hould
have confi dently written si n qS—z S i n —
.
S in 3 2
2 4 sin
0 but such examples aff ord str iking illustrations of the want of
,
scientific basis of certain parts of analysis at that ti m e Euler s proof .

’
of the bino mial form ula for negative and fractional exponents which ,
was widely reproduced in elem entary text books of the nineteenth -
century is faulty A re m arkable developm ent due to Euler is what

,
.
, ,
he nam ed the hypergeo m etric series the su mm ation of which he ,
observed to be depen dent upon the integration of a linear diff erential

equation of the second order but it rem aine d for K F Gauss to point, . .
out that for special values of its letters this series represented nearly ,
all functions then known .
Euler gave in 1 7 7 9 a series for arc tan x di fferent from the series of ,
Jam es Gregory which he applied to the form ula 7r = 2 0 arc tan 1+

,
8 arc tan 7 9 used for computing

3
The series was published in 1 7 98 .
Euler reached re markable results on the summ ation of the reciprocal

powers of the natural nu mbers In 1 73 6 he had found the s u m of the .
reciprocal squares to be 7r /6 and of the reciprocal fourth powers to

2
,
be
‘
In an article of 1 743 which until recently has been gen

er al l y ov erlooked Euler finds the su ms of the reciprocal e v en powers
2
,
of the natural numbers u p to and inclu di ng the 2 6 th power Later .
th e B ernoullian num bers due to Jakob B ernoulli ”

he S howed the connection of coeffi cients occurring in these sum s with
.
Eul er d eveloped the calculus of finite differences in the first chapters

1
R R e i ff , Geschi chte der U n end l i chen Rei hen , T u b i n g en , 1 8 8 9 , p 6 8
— —
. . .
2
P S a
t .c k e l i n B i bl i otheca mathema ti ca , 3
S , V o l 8 , 1 9 7 8 , pp 3 7 60
0 . . . . .
EUL ER LAGRANGE ,
AN D LA P LACE 2
39
of his I nsti tu ti on es cal cu l i difieren ti al i s and then deduced the differen ,
tial calculus from it He established a theorem on hom ogeneous func .
tions known by his name and contributed largely to the theory of

, ,
diff erential equations a subject which had received the attention of ,
I Newton G W Leibniz and the B ernoullis but was still unde

.
,
. .
, ,
v el oped A C Clairaut Alexis Fontaine des B ertins ( 1 70 5

. . .
,
a n d L Euler about the sam e ti me observed criteria of integrability

.
,
but Euler in addition showed how to e mploy the m to determ ine i n

t eg ra t i n g factors The principles on which the criteria rested involve d
.
som e degree of obscurity Euler was the first to make a systematic .
study of S ingular solutio n s of differential equatio n s of the first order .
I n 1 7 3 6 1 7 56 and 1 7 6 8 he considered the two paradoxes which had

,
puzzled A C Clairaut : The first that a solution may be reached by

. .
,
differentiation instead of integration ; the second that a singular ,
solution is not contained in the general solution Euler tried to es .
t abl i sh an a pr i ori rule for determ ining whether a solution is containe d

in the general solution or not Stim ulated by researches of Count .
de Fagnano on elliptic integrals Euler established the celebrated ,
addition theorem for these integrals He i n vented a new algorith m

-
.
for continued fractions which he employed in the solution of the ,
indeterm inate equation ax+ by= c We n ow kno w that sub tantially .

s
the sa m e solution of this equation was given 1 0 0 0 ye ars e arlier by ,
the H indus Euler gave 6 2 pairs of a m icable nu mbers of which 3

.
,
pairs were previously know n : one pair had been di s covered by the
P ythagoreans another by F e rmat and a third by D escartes
,
1
By .
giving the factors of the nu mber when n = 5 he pointed out ,
that this expression di d not always represent prim es as was supposed ,

“
by P F e rma t He first supplied the proof to Ferm at s theore m
. .
’
,
and to a second theorem of F erma t which states that every pri me ,
of the form 4n + 1 is expressible as the s u m of two squares i n one and

“
only one way A third theorem Ferm at s last th eorem that
.
,
’
,
”
x +y = z
n n
has no integral solution for values of n greater than 2
n
, ,
was prov ed by Euler to be correct when n = 4 and n = 3 Euler di s .
cov ere d four theorem s which taken together m ake out the great law
of qua dratic reciprocity a l aw independently discovered by A M ,
. .
Legen dre 2
.
In 1 73 7 Euler showed that the s u m of the reciprocals of all prim e

nu mbers is log (l og thereby initiating a line of research on the
c e
oo
distribution of prim es which is usually not carried back further tha n

to A M Legen dre
. .
3
.
In 1 74 1 he wrote on partitions of nu mbers pa r ti ti o n u me roru m

In 1 7 8 2 he published a discussion of the problem of 3 6 o ffi cers of s ix
d ifferent grades and fro m six different regi ments who are to be placed ,
1
S ee B i bl i otheca mathemati ca , 3 S V ol 9 p 2 6 3 ; V ol 1 4 pp 3 5 1 — 3 54 . .
, .
, . .
, . .
2
O sw al d B a u m g a r t U eber das Q u ad r ati sche Rcc i pr oci tats g es etz
, L eip ig ,
'
. z 1 885 .
3
G En e s tr Om in B i bl i otheca mathema ti ca , 3 S , V o l 1 3 , 1 9 1 2 , p 8 1
. . . . . .
in a square in such a way that in each row and colu m n there are six
offi cers all of diff erent gra des as well as of diff erent regi ments Euler
,
.
thinks that no solution i s ob ta inable when the order of the square is

of the form 2 m od 4 Arthur Cayley in 1 890 reviewed what had been
. .
written ; P A M ac M ahon solved it in 1 9 1 5 I t is called the problem

. .
of the Latin squares because Euler in his notation used n lettres

“ “
,
” ,
.
latines Euler enunciated and proved a well known theorem giving

.
-
,
the relation between the nu mber of vertices faces and edges of cer , ,
tain pol yhedra which however was known to R D escartes The

, , , . .
powers of Euler were directed also towards the fascinating subj ect
of the theory of probability in whi ch he solved som e diffi cult ,
proble ms .
Of no little i mportance are Euler s labors in analytical m echanics ’

.
Says Whewell : The person who did mos t t o give to analysis the
“ ‘
generality and symmetry which are now its pride was also the person
who made m echanics analytical ; I m ean Euler 1
He worke d out .
”
,
the theory of the rotation of a body around a fixed point established ,
the general equations of m otion of a free body and the general equation ,
of hydrodynam ics He solved an imm ense num ber and variety of .
m echanical problem s which arose in his m ind on all occasions Thus

“
on reading Virgil s l i nes The anchor drops the rushing keel is staid
’
,
, ,
.
,
”
,
he could not help inquiring what would be th e ship s m otion in such ’
a case About the sam e tim e as D aniel B ernoulli he published the

.
“
,
”
P r i n ci pl e of the Con s erva ti on of A r eas and defended the principle of
least action advanced by P M aup er tiu s He wrote also on tides . .
and on sound .
Astronomy owes to Euler the m ethod of the variation of arbitrary

constants By it he attacked the problem of perturbations explain
.
,
i n g in case of two planets the secular variations of eccentric i ties

, , ,
nodes etc He w as one of the first to take up with success the theory
”
.
,
of the m oon s m otion by giv ing approxi mate solutions to the proble m
’
of three bodies He laid a sound basis for the calculation of tables

.
of the m oon These researches on the m oon s m otion which captured

.
’
,
two prizes were carried on while he was blind with the assistance of
, ,
his sons and two of his pupils His M echani ca s i ve motu s sci enti a .
a n a l yti ce expos i ta Vol I 1 73 6 Vol II 1 74 2 is in the language of

,
.
, ,
.
, , ,
Lagrange the first great work in which analysis is applied to the

“
,
science of m ovem ent .
P rophetic was his study of the m ovements of the earth s pole He ’

.
showed that if the axis around which the earth rotates is not coincident
w ith the axis of figure the axis of rotation will re v ol v e about the axis,
of figure in a pre d ictable period On the assu mption that the earth .
is perfectly rigid he showed that the period is 30 5 days The earth

is now known to be elastic From observ ations taken in 1 884—5
.
.
,
1
W Whew ell
.
, H i story o f the I ndu cti ve S ci en ces , 3 rd E d .
, Vo l . I , N ew York ,
1 8 58 , p 363
. .
m ission to the Academy of Sciences In 1 754 he was m ade per manent .
secretary of the French Acade my D uring the last years of his life .
he was m ainly occupied with the great French encyclop aedia which ,
was begun by D enis D iderot and himself D Al emb er t declined i n .

’
,
1 7 6 2 an invitation of Catharine II to undertake the e d ucation of her

,
son Frederick the Great pressed him to go to B erlin He m ade a

. .
visit but declined a perm anent residence there In 1 743 appeared

,
.
his Tr ai té de dyn ami qu e founded upon the important general principle ,
bearing his nam e :The impressed forces are equivalent to the eff ective
forces D A l emb er t s principle seem s to have been recogniz ed before
.
’ ’
h i m by A Fontaine and I n som e m easur e by Johann B ernoulli and

.
,
I Newton D Al emb er t gave it a clear m ath ematical for m and made

. .
’
num erous applications of it I t enabled the la w s of m otion an d the .
reasonings depending on them to be represen t ed in the m ost general

f
form in analytical language D Al emb er t applie d it in 1 744 in a

,
.
’
treatise on the equilibrium and m otion of fluids in 1 746 to a treatise ,
on the general causes of winds which obtained a priz e from the B erlin ,
Academy In both these treatises as also I n one of 1 7 4 7 d iscussing

.
, ,
the fa m ous proble m of vibrating Chords he was led to partial differ ,
en ti al equat i ons He was a leader a mong the pioneers in the study of

.
2 2
2 33
1
such equations . To the equation
7 2
1 $
2,
aris ing in the problem
of vibrating chords he gave as ,
the general solution ,
—at) ,
and showed that there is only one arbitrary function if y be supposed ,
to vanish for x = 0 an d x = l Daniel B er n oulli starting with a par .

,
t i c u l ar i n tegral g i ven by B rook Taylor showed that this differential ,
equation is satisfied by the trigonom etric series
y
= a S In
7r x
- — cos .
7rt
-
+B sin — 2 7r x
. c os
2 7r t
l l l
and claimed this expression to be the m ost general solution Thus .
Daniel B ernoulli was the first to introduce F ou ri e r s series into

“ ’
physics He claim ed that his solution being compoun d ed of an i n

.
,
finite nu mber of tones and overtones of all poss i ble intensities was ,
a general solution of the proble m Euler den i ed its generality on .

,
the groun d that if true the doubtful conclusion would follo w that
, ,
the above series represents any arb i trary functio n of a variable .
These doubts were dispelled by J Fourier J Lagrange proceeded to . . .
find the su m of the above ser i es but D A l emb er t obj ected to his ,
’
process on the ground that it involved div ergent series

,
1
.
A m ost beautiful result reached by D Al emb e rt with a i d of his ’

,
principle was the co mplete solution of the problem of the precess i on

,
of the equinoxes which had baffled the talents of the best m i nds
,
.
1
R R e i ff ,
.
p
o . ci t .
,
I I A b sc hn i tt
. .
EULER LAGRANGE AND LAP LACE
, 2 43
He sent to the F rench Academ y in 1 7 4 7 on the sa me day with A C , . .
Clairaut a solution of the proble m of three bodies This had become

,
.
a question of universal interest to m athe maticians i n which each ,
v ied to outdo all others The proble m of two bodies requiring the
.
,
d eter m ination of their m otion when they attract each other with
forces in v ersely proportional to the square of the distance betwee n
”
them had been co mp l etely sol v ed by I Newton The proble m of “
, . .
three bodies asks for the motion of three bodies attracting each
other according to the law of gra v itation Thus far the co mplete .
,
solution of this has transcen d ed the power of analysis The general .
di fferential equations of m otion were stated by P S Laplace but

the difficulty arises i n their integration The solutions giv en at ” .
. .
,
that ti me are m erely convenient m ethods of approxi mation in special

cases when one body is the sun disturbing the m otion of the moon ,
around the earth or where a planet m oves under the influence of the
,
sun and another planet The m ost important eighteenth century.
researches on the proble m of three bo dies are due to J Lagrange In . .
1 7 7 2 a priz e was awarded hi m by the P aris Acade m y for his E ssa i
su r l e pr obl eme des tr oi s cor ps He shows that a co mplete solution of

.
the proble m requires only that we know every mo m ent the sides of
the triangle form ed by the three bodies the solution of the triangle ,
d epe n ding upon t w o di fferential equations of the second order and

one differential equation of the third He found particular solutions .
when the triangles remain all si m ilar .
In the discussion of the m eaning of negative quantities of the ,
fundam ental processes of the calculus of the logarith m s of co mplex ,
numbers and of the theory of probability D A l emb e r t paid so m e

, ,
’
attention to the philosophy of m athe m atics In the calculus he .
favored the theory of lim its He looked upon infinity as nothing but .
a limit which the finite approaches without ever reaching it His .
criticisms were not al w ays happy When stude n ts were halted by

”
.
“
the logical difficulties of the calculus D Al emb e r t would say Alle z ,
’
,
en avant e t la foi vous viendra

,
He argued that when the prob .
ability oi an event is v ery s mall it ought to be taken 0 A coin is to ,

.
be tossed 1 0 0 times and if head appear at the last trial and not before , ,
A shall pay B 2 crow ns By the ordinary theory B S hould giv e A

100
.
1 cro w n at the start which should not be argues D Al e mb e rt b e ’
, , ,
cause B will certainly lose This v iew was taken also by Count de .
B u ff on D Al emb ert raised other obj ections to the principles of

.
’
probability .
The naturalist Comte de B ufi on ( 1 70 7

,
wrote an E ssai
d a r i thméti qu e mor al e 1 7 7 7
’
In the study o i the P etersburg proble m
,
.
-
,
he let a child toss a coi n 2 0 84 ti mes which produced 1 0 0 5 7 crowns ; ,
there were 1 0 6 1 gam es which produced 1 crown 494 which produce d ,
2 crowns and so o n He was one of the first to e mphasiz e the d esir

1
.
re feren c es , see I T o d hu n t e r , H i s tor y f Theor y f

1
Fo r . o o P r oba bil i ty, p 3 4 6 . .
ability of verifying the theory by actual trial He also introduced .
what is called local probability by the consideration of problems

that require th e aid of geometry Some studies along thi s line had
been carried on earlier by Jo A bu hn o ( 1 6 58 1 73 5) —
.
h n r t t and Thomas
Simpson in Englan d Count de B uff on derived the probability that
.
a needle d ropped upon a plane ruled with equidistant parallel lines , , ,
will fall across one of the lines .
The probability of the correctness of judgments determined by a

m ajority of votes was exam ined m athem atically by Jean — A n toi n e
N i col as C a r i tat de C ond or cet ( 1 74 3 His general conclusions
are not of great im portance ; they are that voters m ust be enlightened
men in order to ensure our confidence in their decisions 1
He held .
that capital punishm ent ought to be abolished on the ground that , ,
however large the probability of the correctness of a single decision ,
there will be a large probability that In the course of many decisions

som e innocent person will be condemne d 1
Al e xi s C l au d e C l a ir au t ( 1 7 1 3 1 7 6 5)
.
was a youthful prodigy He .
read G F de l H ospi tal s works on the infinitesimal calculus and on

. .
’ ’
conic sections at the age of ten In 1 7 3 1 was published his Recher ches .
s u r l es c ou r bes a dou bl e cou r bu r e which he had ready for the press ,
when he was six teen It w as a work of remarkable elegance and se

.
cured his admission to the Academy of Sciences when still under legal
age In 1 73 1 he gave a proof of the theorem enunciated by I Newton
. .
,
that ev ery cubic is a projection of one of five divergent parabolas

'
Clairaut form ed the acquaintance of P i er re L ou i s M orean de M au per

—
ti u ( 1 6 98 1 7
s whom he acco mpanied on an expedition to Lapland
to m easure the length of a degree of the m eridian At that tim e the .
shape of the earth was a subj ect of serious disagree m ent I Newton . .
and C H u yg en s h a d concluded from theory that the earth was flat

tened at the poles About 1 7 1 2 Jea n Domi n i qu e Cassi n i ( 1 6 2 5—1 7 1 2 )
. .
—
and his son J acqu es C ass i n i ( 1 6 7 7 1 7 56 )
.
m easured an arc exten d ing

from D unkirk to P erpignan and arrived at the startling result that
the earth is elongated at the poles To decide between the conflicting .
opinions m easurements were renewed M aup er ti u s earned by his

,
“
work in Lapland the title of earth flat ten er by disproving the
.
”
Cassinian tenet that the earth was elongated at the poles and showing ,
t hat Newton was right On his return in 1 743 Clairaut published

.
, ,
a work Theori e de l a figu r e de l a Ter r e which was based on the results

, ,
of C M aclaurin on homogeneous ellipsoi ds I t contains a rem arkable

. .
theorem nam ed after Clairaut that the s u m of the fractions ex

, ,
press i ng the ellipt i c i ty and the I ncrease of gravity at the pole 15 equal
to 2 —t imes the fraction expressing the centr i fugal force at the equator
2 ,
the unit of force being represente d by the force of grav ity at the
equator This theorem is independent of any hypothes i s with respect
.
to the law of densities of the successiv e strata of the earth It em .
I T dh n t 1
Hi t y f Theor y f P r b C h p ter 7
. o u er , s or o o o .
, a 1 .
246 A HI STORY OF M ATHE M ATIC S
To the emperor s fur ther question how he attained this mastery he
”
’
, ,
said L i ke the celebrated P ascal by my own self

“
, ,
.
In his Cos mol ogi cal L etters he m ade som e remarkable prophecies
regarding the stellar system He entered upon plans for a m athe .
mati cal symbolic logic of the nature once outlined by G W L eibniz . . .
In m athem atics he m ade several discoveries which were ex tended

and overshadowed by his great contemporaries His first research .
on pure m athem atics develope d in an infinite series the root x of the

m
equation x + px = q Since each equation of the form
.
m
can be reduced to x + px = q in two ways one or the other of the two ,
resulting series was always found to be convergent and to give a ,
value of x Lam bert s results stim ulated L Euler who extended the
.
’
.
,
m ethod to an equation of four term s and particularly J Lagrange ,

.
,
who found that a function of a root of a = 0 can be expressed
by the series bearing his nam e In 1 7 6 1 Lambert comm un i cated to .
the B erlin Academy a m em oir (published in which he pro v es

rigorously that W is irrational I t is given in simplified form in Note IV .
of A M Legen dre s Geometri c where the proof is exten d e d to 71

. .
’ 2
,
.
Lambert proved that if x is rational but not z ero then ne i ther e "
, ,
nor tan x can be a rational nu mber ; s i nce tan 1r /4 = 1 it follows that ,
7r
or 7T cannot be r a t Ion al . Lambert s proofs rest on the express i on
’
4
1
for e as a continued fraction giv en by L Euler w ho in 1 7 3 7 had sub .
s t a n t i al l y shown the irrational i ty of e and e There were at this

2
.
tim e so m any circle squarers that i n 1 7 7 5 the P aris Aca de m y found it

necessary to pass a resolution that no m ore solutions on the qua drature
of the circle should be exam ined by its offi cials This resolution ap .
plied also to solutions of the duplication of the cube and the trisection
of an angle The con v iction had been growing that the solution of
.
the squaring of the circle was impossible but an irrefutable proof ,
was not discovered until over a century later Lambert s Fr eya P er .

’
s pecti ve 1 7 59 and 1 7 7 3 contains researches on descriptive geom etry

, , ,
and enti tle him to the honor of being the forerunner of M onge In .
his e ff ort to sim pl i fy the calculation of com etary orbits he was led ,
geom etrically to som e rem arkable theorem s on conics for instance ,
thi s : If in two ellipses having a co mm on m ajor axis we take t w o

“
such arcs that their chords are equal and that also the su m s of the ,
ra di i vectores d rawn respectively from the foci to the extrem i ti es of

,
these arcs are equal to each other then the sectors form ed in each
”
, ,
ellipse by the arc an d the two ra dii vectores are to each other as the
square roots of the parameters of the ell i pses 2
.
La mbert elaborate d the subject of hyperbolic functions wh i ch he

designated by si n h x cosh x etc He was however not the first to
, ,
.
, ,
1
R C A rc hib al d i n A m M a th M on thl y, V o l
. . . . . 21, 1 9 1 4, p . 2 53 .
2
M C hasl es, Geschi chte der Geometr i e, 1 8 39 , p
. . 1 83 .
EULER LAGRANGE AND LAP LACE ,
247
introduce them into trigonometry That honor falls upon Vi n cenzo .
Ri oca ti ( 1 7 0 7 a son of Jacopo R i cca ti 1

.
In 1 7 70 Lam bert published a 7 place table of natural logarith ms -
for nu mbers 1 —1 0 0 In 1 7 78 one of his pupils J ohann K arl S chu l ze

.
, ,
published ex tensive tables which included the 4 8 place table of nat -
ural logarithms of prim es and many other numbers up to

which had been computed by the D utch artil lery offi cer Wolf r am ,
.
A feat even more remarkable than Wolfram s was the computation ’
of the common logarith ms of numbers 1 —1 0 0 and of all prim es from

,
1 0 0 to 1 1 0 0 to 6 1 places by A br aha m S har p of Yorkshire who was

, , ,
some time assistant to Flam steed at the English Royal Observatory .
They were published in Sharp s Geometry I mprov d 1 7 1 7 ’ ’
—
( 7 9 1 7 90 )
.
,
J o h n L a n d e n 1 1 was an English m athem atician whose

writings se rved as the starting point of investigations by L Euler -
.
,
J Lagrange and A M Legendre Landen s capital discovery con

’
. .
,
. .
,
t ai n ed in a me m oir of 1 7 5 5 was that every arc of the hyperbola is ,
“ ”
immediately rectified by m eans of two arcs of an ellipse In his
residual analysis he attem pted to obviate the m etaphysical d iffi
.
c u l ti es of fl u xi on s by a d opting a purely algebraic m etho d J La . .
grange s C al cu l des Fon cti ons is based upon this idea Lan d en S howed
’
.
ho w the algebraic expression for the roots of a cubic equation could

be deriv ed by application of the differential and integral calculus .
M ost of the tim e of this suggestive writer was S pent in the pursuits
of active l ife .
Of influence in the teaching of m athe m atics in England was C ha rl es

H u tton ( 1 73 7 for many years professor at the Royal M ilitary
Academ y of Woolwich In 1 7 8 5 he published his M athemati cal Tabl es
.
,
and in 1 7 95 his M a themati cal and P hi l osophi cal D i cti on a ry the best ,
work of its kind that has appeared i n the English language His .
El emen ts of C on i c S ecti on s 1 7 8 9 is re m arkable as being the first work

, ,
in which each equation is rendered conspicuous by being printed in

a separate line by itself 2
.
It is well known that the Newton Raphso n m ethod of appr oxim a -
tion to the roots of nu merical equations as it was handed do w n from ,
the sev enteenth century lab ored un d er the defect of insecurity in ,
the process so that the successive corrections did not always yield
,
results converging to the true value of the root sought The rem oval .
of this defect is usually attributed to J Fourier but he was anticipated .

,
half a century by J Raym M ou rrai l l e i n his Tr ai té de l a r es ol u ti on

. .
des equ a ti on s en gen er al M arseille e t P aris 1 7 6 8 M ou r r a ill e was for

, ,
.
fourteen years secretary of the acade m y of sciences in M arseille ; later

he becam e m ayor of the city Unlike I Newton a n d J Lagrange . . .
,
M ou rrai ll e and J Fourier introduced also geo m etrical cons i d erations

. .
M ou rrail l e concluded that security is insured if the first appro xim ation
1
M C an tor op
.
,
. ci t .
, Vol I V , . 1 90 8 , p 41 1 . .
2
M C an t or , op
. . ci t .
, V ol I V , . 1 90 8 , p 46 5 . .
a is so selected that the curve is convex toward the axis of x for th e

interval between a and the root He shows that this condition is .
suffi cient but not necessary

,
1
.
In the eighteenth century proofs were giv en of D escartes Rule of ’
Signs which its discoverer h ad enunciated without de monstration .
G W Leibniz had pointe d out a line of proof but did not actually
( 6 4 8 1 6 90 )
. .
,
give it In 6 7 5
. 1 J ea n P r es te t 1
— published at P aris in his
E l emen s des ma théma ti qu es a proof which he afterwards acknowledged
to be insuffi cient In 1 7 2 8 J ohann A n dreas S egn er ( 1 70 4—1 7 7 7 )
. pub
l i sh e d at Jena a correct proof for equations ha v ing only real roots .
In 1 7 56 he gav e a general d em onstration based on the consid eration

that m ult iply i ng a pol ynom ial by (x —a )increases the num ber of
,
var i ations by at least one Other proofs were given by Jean P au l de

.
Gu a de M al ves I s aa c M i l n er Fr i edr i ch Wi l hel m S tubn er

'
A br aha m Gotthelf K as tn er Edw ard Wari n g J . A .
Gr u n er t K F Gau ss . . Gauss showed that if the n u m ,
ber of pos i tive roots falls short of the nu mber of v ar i at i ons i t d oes so ,
by an even nu mber E Laguerre later extende d the rule to poly

. .
n om i al s with fractional and inco mm ensurable exponents a n d to i n ,
finite series 2
.I t was established by D e Gua de M alves that the
absence of 2 m successive terms indicates 2 m im aginary roots while ,
the absence of 2 m+ 1 successiv e term s in di cates 2 m+ 2 or 2 m i magin

ary roots according as the two term s between which the deficiency
,
occurs hav e like or unl i ke signs

Edw a r d W a rin g ( 1 7 3 4— 1 7 98 )
.
was born in Shrewsbury studied at ,
M agdalene College Cambridge was senior wrangler i n 1 7 5 7 and

, , ,
L u cas ia n professor of m athe m atics since 1 7 6 0 He published M i s .
c el l a n ea a n al yti ca in 1 7 6 2 M edi tati on es al gebr ai cw in 1 7 7 0 P r opr i eta ti s

, ,
a l gebr ai car u m cu rva r u m in 1 7 7 2 and M edi ta ti on es a n al yti cce in 1 7 7 6

,
.
These works contain m any new results but are diffi cult of co mpre ,
h en s i o n on account of his brevity and obscurity of exposition He is .
said not to ha v e lectured at Cambridge his researches be i ng thought ,
u nsuited for presentation in the for m of lectures He a dm itted that .
he ne v er heard of any one in England outsid e of Cam bridge who had , ,
read an d understoo d his researches .
In his M edi ta ti on es al gebra i cce are som e n ew theorems on nu mber .
Forem ost am ong these is a theorem di scovered by his friend John

”
Wi l son and univ ersally known as Wilson s theorem
”
’
.
Waring gives the theore m known as Waring s theorem that eve ry

“
,
’
,
i nteger is either a cube or the su m of 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 or 9 cubes either , , , , , , ,
a fourth power or the su m of 2 3 or 1 9 fourth powers ; th i s has

,
nev er yet been fully dem onstrate d Also without proof is giv en the .
theore m that e v ery even integer is the su m of two primes and every
S ee F C aj o ri i n B i bl i otheca ma thema ti ca , 3 rd S , V ol 1 1 ,
1
. . . 19 1 1 , pp . 132
—1 3 7 .
2
Fo r re fe re n ces t o t he p u bl ic a t i o n s o f t he se w r i t e rs , see F . C aj o r i i n Col or ado
Coll ege P u bli cati on , G e n er al S e ri es N o 5 1 , 1 9 1 0 , p p 1 8 6 , 1 8 7
. . .
50 A HI STORY O F M ATHE M ATI C S
points or singu lar li nes planes etc at i nfi nity occasion the with
, , ,
.
,
draw a l to i nfinity of certain of t he intersection points ; and this at a

tim e when the nature of such S ingularities had not been dev eloped 1 ”
Lou i s Ar b og as te ( 1 759—1 80 3)
.
of Alsace was professor of m athe

m a ti c s at S trasburg His chief work the C al cu l des Deri vati on s 1 8 0 0
.
, , ,
gives the m ethod known by his nam e by which the successive coeffi ,
c i en t s of a develop m ent are derived from one another when the ex
pression is complicated A D e M organ has pointed out that the . .
true nature of derivation is differentiation accompanied by integration .
In this book for the first time are the sym bols of operation separated
dr
from those of quantity The notation n for is due to him
(E
. .
M ari a G ae tan a Agn e s i ( 1 7 1 8— 1 7 99)of M ilan distin g uished as a ,
linguist mathem atician and ph ilosopher filled the mathematical

, , ,
chair at the University of B ologna duri ng her father s sickness ’

.
A g n e si was a so m na mbulist Several tim es it happened to her that .
she went to her stu dy while in the som nambulist state m ade a light
, , ,
and solv ed som e problem she had left incomplete when awake In .
the m orning she was surprised to find the solution carefully worked
out on pape r In 1 748 she published her I n sti tu zi oni A n al i ti che
”
2
,
.
”
which was translated into English in 1 80 1 The witch of Ag n esi
“
or Versiera is a cubic curve x y a (a —y)

.
“ 2 = 2
treated in Ag n esi s I n ’
s ti tu zi on i but given earlier by P Ferm at in the form ( a x )

,
2 ~ 2 =
y a
3
.
-
.
The curve was discussed by Guido Grandi in his Qu adr atu r a ci rcu l i
et hyper bol ce P isa 1 7 0 3 and ,
In two letters from Grandi to
,
Leibniz in 1 7 1 3 q rves resembling flowers are discussed ; in 1 7 2 8

, ,
Grandi published at Florence his Fl or es geometri ci He considered .
curves in a plane of the type p = r sinn w and also curves on a sphere

, , .
Recent studies along this line are due to B odo Habenicht

E W Hyde
. . H Wi el ei tn er .
The leading eighteen th century historian of m athe matics was J e a n

—
Et i e n n e M on tu cl a ( 1 7 2 5 1 7 99) who published a H i s toi re des mathe
mati qu es in two volu m es P aris 1 7 58 A second edition of these two
, , ,
.
volumes appeared in 1 7 99 A third volu me written by M on tu cl a .

, ,
was partly printed when he died ; the rest of it was seen through the
press by the astronomer Jo s e ph J er Ome l e Fran goi s d e L al an d e
( 1 73 2 who prepared a four th volum e m ainly on the history of ,
astronomy 4
.
J o s e ph L ou i s Lag r an g e ( 1 73 6 one of the greatest m ath e

m a ti cian s of all tim es was born at Turin and d ied at P aris He was
,
-
.
of French extraction His father who had charge of the Sardinian

.
,
1
H S
. . Whi t e i n
B u l l A m M ath S oc , V ol 1 5 , 1 909 , p 33 1
. . . . . . .
2
L I n ter méd i a i r e des ma théma ti ci en s , Vo l 2 2 , 1 9 1 5 , p 2 4 1
’
)
. . .
3
G L ori a , E ben e C u r ven ( F S c h ii t t e , I , 1 9 1 0 , p 7 9
. . . .
For d e t ai l s o n o t h e r m a t hema t i c a l hi s t o ri an s , se e S G u n t her s c hap t er in

4 ’
C an to r , op c i t , V o l I V , 1 90 8 , pp 1 —
.
. . .
36 . .
E UL ER LA G RAN G E,
AN D LAP LACE
military chest was once wealthy but lost all he had in speculation
, ,
.
Lagrange considered this loss his good fortune for otherwise he might ,
not have made m athematics the pursuit of his life While at the .
college in Turin his genius did not at once take its true bent Cicero .
and Virgil at first attracted him more than Archimedes and Newton .
He soon came to ad mire the geo metry of the ancients but the perusal ,
of a tract of E Halley roused his enthusiasm for the anal ytical method
.
,
in the d evelop m ent of which he was destined to reap undying glo ry .
He now applied hi mself to mathematics and in his seventeenth year ,
he becam e professor of mathem atics in the royal mili ta ry academy at

Turin Without assistance or guidance he entered upon a course of
.
study which in two years placed him on a level with the greatest of
his contemporaries With aid of his pupils he established a society
.
which subsequently developed in to the Turin Academy In the first .
five volum es of its transactions appear m ost of his earlier papers .
At th e age of nineteen he comm unicated to L Euler a general m ethod .
of dealin g with isoperimetrical problem s know n n ow as the Cal

“
,
cui us of Variations This comm anded Euler s liv ely ad m iration and
.
’
,
he courteously withh eld for a tim e fro m publication so m e researches

of his own on this subj ect so that the youthful Lagrange m ight com
,
pl e t e hi s investigations and clai m t he inv ention Lagrange did quite .
as m uch as Euler tow ards the creation of the Calculus of Variations .
As it came from Euler it lacked an analytic foundation and this ,
Lagrange supplied He separated the principles of this calculus fro m

.
geom etric considerations by which his predecessor had derived them .
Euler had assum ed as fixed the lim its of the integral i e the extrem ,
. .
ities of the curve to be determ ined but Lagrange rem oved this re ,
striction and allowed all c o ordinates of the curve to vary at the sam e
-
tim e Euler introduced in 1 7 66 the nam e calculus of variations

.
“
,
”
and did m uch to improve this science along the li n es m arked out by
Lagrange Lagrange s investigations on the calculus of variations
.
’
were published in 1 7 6 2 1 7 7 1 1 7 88 1 7 97 1 8 0 6
, , , ,
.
Another subject engaging the attent i o n of Lagrange at Turin was

the propagation of sound In his papers on this subj ect in the M i s
.
cel l an ea Tau r i n en s i a the young m athe m atician appears as the critic

,
of I Newton and the arbiter between Euler and D Al emb e r t By

.
,
’
.
considering only the particles which are i n a straight line he reduced ,
the problem to the sam e partial d iff erential equa t ion that represent s
the motions of vibrating strings .
Vibrating strings had been discussed by Brook Taylor J ohann ,
B ernoulli and his son D aniel by D Al emb e r t and L Euler In solvi ng

,
’
. .
the partial diff erential equations D Al emb er t restricted him self to ,

’
f unctions which can be expanded by Taylor s series while Eu l er

’
,
thought that no restriction was necessary that they could be arbi ,
t ra ry discontinuous
,
The proble m was taken up wi th great skill by
.
Lagrange who introduce d new points of view but decide d in fav or of , Q

,
Euler . Later de Condorcet and P S Laplace stood on the side of
,
. .
D A l emb er t S ince in their judgm ent so m e restriction upon the arbi

’
t r ary functions was necessary From the m odern point of view .

,
neither D A l embe r t nor Euler was wholly in the right : D Al emb er t

’ '
’
insisted upon the needless restriction to functions with a l imitless

number of derivativ es while Euler assum ed that the diff erential and
,
integral calculus could be applied to any arbitrary function 1

.
I t now appears that Daniel B ernoulli s claim that his solution was ’
a general one (a claim disputed by D A l emb er t J Lagrange and L ’
Euler)
. .
,
was fully j ustified The problem of vibrating strings s timu

.
lated the growth of the theory of expansions according to trigonom etric

functions of m ultiples of the argum ent H B urkhardt has pointed . .
out that there was also another line of growth of this subj ect namely ,
the growth in connection with the problem of perturbations where ,
L Euler started out with the develop m ent of the reciprocal distance
.
of two planets according to the cosine of m ultiples of the angle b e

tween their radii v ec t o ri s .
By constant application d uring nine years Lagrange at the age , ,
of twenty S ix stood at the su mm it of European fam e B ut his intens e

-
,
.
studies had seriously weakened a constitution nev er robust and though ,
his physicians in duced him to take rest and exercise his nervous ,
syste m nev er fully recovered its tone and he was thenceforth subject ,
to fits of m elancholy .
In 1 7 6 4 the French Academy proposed as the subject of a priz e

the theory of the libration of the m oon I t dem ande d an explanation .
,
on the principle of universal grav itation why the m oon always turns , ,
with but slight v ariations the sam e phase to the earth Lagrange ,
.
secured the priz e This success encouraged the Aca dem y to propose
.
f or a priz e the theory of the four satellites of Jupiter — a problem of ,
S ix bodies m ore diffi cult than the one of three bo d ies previously
,
treated by A C Clairaut D A l emb er t and L Euler Lagrange over

. .
,
’
,
. .
cam e the diffi culties by m ethods of approximation Twenty four .

-
years afte rwards this subj ect was carrie d further by P S Laplace . . .
Later astrono m ical investigations of Lagrange are on com etary per

t u rb a t i on s ( 1 7 7 8 and 1 7 8 a n d on Kepler s proble m His researches ’
.
on the problem of three bo dies has been referred to previ ously .
B eing anxious to m ake the personal acquaintance of leading m athe

mat i ci an s Lagrange visited P aris where he enjoyed the stim ulating
, ,
delight of conversing with A C Clairaut D Al emb er t de Condorcet . .

,
’
, ,
the Abb é M ar i e and others He had planned a visit to London but

, .
,
he fell dangerously ill after a dinner in P aris and was compel led to ,
return to Turin In 1 7 6 6 L Euler left B erlin for S t P etersburg and

. . .
,
he pointed out Lagrange as the only man capable of filling the place .
Fo r de t ai l s see H B u rk ha r d t s E n twi ckl u n g en n a ch os ci l l i r end en Fu n k ti on en

1 ’
.
u n d I n tegr a ti on der D ifi er en ti a l gl ei chu n g en d cr ma themati s che n P hys i k L ei p i g , . z

1 90 8 , p 1 8. . Thi s i s an e xha ust i ve a n d v a l u a b l e hi s tory o f t hi s t op i c .
self evident Other proofs of this were given by J R Argand K F
-
. . .
,
. .
Gauss and A L Cauchy In a note to the above work Lagrange uses

,
. . .
Fermat s theore m and certain suggestions O f Gauss in eff ecting a com

’
p l e t e algebraic solution of any bino m ial equation .
In the B erlin M émoi res for the year 1 7 6 7 Lagrange contributed a

paper S u r l a r esol u ti on des equ ati on s nu meri qu es He explains the
,
’ ’
separation of the real roots by substituting for x the term s of the

progression 0 D 2 D where D m ust be less than the least dif
, , , ,
ference between the roots Lagrange suggested three ways of com .
puting D : One way in 1 7 6 7 another in 1 7 95 and a third in 1 798 The ,

.
first depends upon the equation of the squared differences of the roots
of the giv en equation E Waring before this had derived this i m . .
portant equation but in 1 7 6 7 Lagrange had not yet seen Waring s

,
’
writings Lagrange fin ds equal roots by computing the highest com

m on factor between f (x) and f (x) He proceeds to develop a new
.
’
.
mode of approxi m ation that by continued fractions P A Cataldi , . . .
had used these fractions in extracting square roots Lagrange enters .
upon greater deta i ls in his A ddi ti on s to his paper of 1 7 6 7 Unlike

”
.
the older m ethods of approxim ation Lagrange s has no cases of ,

’
failure Cette m éthode me laisse ce m e semble rien a d ésirer yet

.
, , , ,
though theoretically perfect it yields the root in the form of a con ,
t i n u ed fraction which is un d esirable in practice .
While in B erlin Lagrange published several papers on the theory

of nu mbers In 1 7 6 9 he gav e a solution i n integers of indete rm inate
”
.
equations of the second d egree which resembles the Hin d u cyclic ,
me thod ; he was the first to prove in 1 7 7 1 “

Wilson s theore m enun , ,
’
,
c i a t ed by an English m an John Wilson and first published by E , ,

.
Waring in his M edi ta ti on es A l gebr ai cce; he inv estigated in 1 77 5 under

what conditions t 2 and i 5 1 and f
3 hav ing been discussed by
: z z ::
L Euler )
. are quadratic resi dues or non resi dues of odd prim e n um ,
-
bers q ; he prov e d in 1 770 B achet de M éz i riac s theorem that every

,
’
integer is equal to the s u m of four or a less number of squares He , ,

.
proved Ferm at s theorem on x + y = z for the case n = 4 also F e r

’ n n fl
, ,
m at s theorem that if a + b c then ab is not a square

’ 2 2= 2
, ,
.
In his m em oir on P yramids 1 7 73 Lagrange m ade considerable use , ,
of determ inants of the third order and dem onstrated that the square ,
of a determ inant is itself a determ inant He never however dealt .

, ,
explicitly and directly with determ inants ; he siIn pl y obtained acci

d enta lly identities which are now recogniz ed as relations between
determ inants .
Lagrange wrote m uch on d ifferential equations Though the sub .
j ec t of contemplation by the greatest m a them aticians (L Euler

D A l emb e r t A C Clairaut J Lagrange P S Laplace )yet m ore
.
,
’
, . .
,
. . .
, ,
than other branches of m athem atics do they resist the system atic
application of fi xed m etho d s a n d princ ipl es The subject of S ingular .
s olutions which ha d been taken u p by P S Laplace in 1 77 1 a n d 1 7 7 4

, . .
,
EULER LAGRANGE AND LAP LACE , 2 55
was investigated by Lagrange who gave the derivation of a S ingular

solution from the general solution as well as from the diff erential
equation itself Lagrange brought to vie w the relation of singular
.
solutions to envelopes Nevertheless he failed to rem ove all mystery .

,
surrounding this subtle subj ect An inconsistency in his theorem s .
caused about 1 8 70 a complete reconsideration of the entire theory of

singular solutions Lagrange s treatment is given in his C al cul des .
’
—
Fon cti ons Lessons 1 4 1 7 He generaliz ed Euler s researches on tota l .
’
,
differential equations of two variables and of the nin th order ; he ,
gav e a solution of partial differential equatio n s of the first order (B erl i n

M emoi rs 1 7 7 2 and ,
and spoke of their singular solutions ex ,
tending their solution i n M emoi rs of 1 7 7 9 and 1 78 5 to equations of

any number of variables The M emoi r s of 1 7 7 2 and 1 7 74 w ere refi ned
— 1 7 8 4)
.
m
in certain points by a young athe atician P aul Charpit
m
whose m ethod of solution was first printed in Lacroix s Trai té du ’
cal cu l 2,
Ed P aris 1 8 1 4 T II p 54 8 The discussio n on partial
. .
, , ,
.
, . .
differential equations of the second order carried on by D Al emb ert ,

’
,
Euler and Lagrange has already been referred to in our a ccoun t of

, ,
D A l emb er t
’
.
Wh ile in B erlin , Lagrange wrote the M écani qu e A nal yti qu e the ,
greatest of his works (P aris From the principle of vi rtual ,
velocities he deduced with aid of the calculus of variations the whole , ,
system of m echanics so elegantly and harm oniously th at it may fi tly

”
“
be calle d in Sir Willia m Rowan Ham ilton s words a kind of sc i en
,
’
,
t ifi c poem It is a most consu mm ate example of analytic generality

. .
”
“
Geom etrical figures are nowhere allowed On n e trouvera point de
figures dans cet ouvrage (P reface )The two divisions of m echanics
.
—statics and dynamics—are in the first four sections of each carried

.
out analogously and each is prefaced by a historic S ketch of principles

, .
Lagrange formulated the principle of least action In their orig inal .
form the equations of m otio n involve the c o ordinates x y z of the

,
-
, ,
‘
diff erent particles m or dm of the system B ut x y z are in general .

, , ,
not independent and Lagrange introduced in place of them any ,
variables 5 Il f) whatever determ ining the position of the point at

“
,
l
,
c
the time These generaliz ed c o ordinates may be taken to be inde

.
, ,
-
”
pendent The equations of m otion may now assu m e the form
.
d dT
— dT
“
L P
di 75
(
7
8?
or when E p ’
, , are the partial diff erential c oefli c i en ts w it h
respect to f p , , of one and the sa m e functio n V, then the form
d dT
—
dT d V
“
L
E ff
E
'
dt dé
The latter is par excel l en ce the Lagrangian form of the equations of
motion Wi th Lagrange originate d the rem ark that m echanics may
.
2 56 A HI STORY O F M ATHE M ATI C S
be regarded as a geom etry of four dim ensions To hi m falls the honor .
of the introduction of the potential into dynamics Lagrange was .
anx ious to have his M écani qu e A n al yti q u e published in P aris The .
work was ready for print in 1 7 86 but not till 1 7 88 could he find a ,
publisher and then only with the condition that after a few years
,
he would purchase all the unsold copies The work was edited by .
A M Legendre
. . .
After the death of Frederick the Great men o f science were no ,
longer respected in Germ any and Lagrange accepted an inv itation ,
of Louis XVI to m igrate to P aris The French queen treated him .
with regard and lodging was procured for h im in the Louv re B ut

, .
he was sei z ed with a long attack of melancholy which d estroyed his

taste for m athem atics For two years his printe d copy of th e M e
—
.
can i qu e fresh fro m the press

, the work of a quarter of a century , ,
lay unopened on his desk Through A L Lavoisier he became i n

ter es t ed in che m istry which he found as easy as algebra
, The
. .
“
.
.
”
disastrous crisis of the French Revolution aroused hi m again to ac
t i v i ty About this time the young and acco mplished daughter of the
.
astronomer P C Le monnier took compassion on the sad lonely

. .
,
L agrange and insiste d upon m arrying him Her dev otion to him
,
.
constituted the one tie to life which at the approach of death he fo u nd

it hard to break .
He was m ade one of the commissioners to establish weights and

m easures having units founded on nature Lagrange strongly favored .
the decim al subdiv ision Such was the m oderation of Lagrange s .

’
character and such the universal respect for him that he was retained
, ,
as presid ent of the commission on weights and m easures e v en after

it had been pu rifi ed by the Jacobins by striking out the nam es of A L . .
Lav oisier P S Laplace and others Lagrange took alarm at the

,
. .
,
.
fate of Lav oisier and planned to return to B erlin but at the estab
, ,
l i shme n t of the E col e N or mal e in 1 7 95 in P aris he was induced to ,
accept a professorship Scarcely had he tim e to eluci date the fou n da

.
tions of arithm etic and algebra to young pupils when the school was ,
closed His additions to the algebra of L Euler were prepared at

. .
this tim e In 1 797 the E col e P ol ytechn i qu e was founded with Lagrange
.
,
as one of the professors The earliest triumph of this institution was .
the restoration of Lagrange to analysis His m athe matical activity .
burst out anew He brought forth the Thear i e des f on cti ons an al yti qu es
.
L egon s su r l e cal cu l des f on cti ons a treatise on the sa me lines ,
as the preceding and the Res ol u ti on des equ ati on s n u meri qu es

which includes papers published m uch earlier ; his m em oir ,
N ou vel l e méthode pou r r és oud r e l es equ ati on s l i tter al es par l e moyen des
’
dill
s er i es ,
’
publi shed 1 7 70 , gives the notation for which occurs

dx ’
however much earlier in a part of a memoir by Fran goi s Davi e t de

derivatives as it was call ed has been generally abandoned He

, , .
introduced a no ta tion of hi s own but it was inconvenient and was , ,
abandoned by h im in the second edition of his M ecani qu e in which ’
he used in fi n i tesim al s The primary object of the Theari e des f on cti ons
.
'
was not attained but its secondary results were far reaching I t
,
-
.
was a purely abstract mode of regarding functions apart from geo ,
m etrical or m echanical considerations I n the further develop m ent .

.
of higher analysis a functio n becam e the leading idea and Lagrange s ,

’
work may be regarded as the sta rti ng point of the theory of functions -
as dev eloped by A L Cauchy G F B Riem ann K Weierstrass

. .
,
. . .
,
.
,
and others .
The first to doub t the rigor of Lagrange s exposition of the calculus ’
were A bel B u rj a ( 1 7 5 2 —1 8 1 6 )
of B erlin the two P olish m athe m aticians ,
H Wr on s ki and J B S n i ad ecki ( 1 7 5 6
. . and the B ohemian
.
B B ol zan o who were all me n of li m ited acquaintance and influence

.
,
.
I t rem ained for A L Cauchy really to in itiate the period of greater

. .
rIg or .
Instructive is C E P icard s characteriz ation of the tim e of La

. .
’
grange : I n all this period especial ly in the second half of the eight
“
,
e en th century what str i kes us with ad m iration and is also so m ewhat

,
confusing is the extrem e i mportance of the applications realiz ed

, , ,
while the pure theory appeared still so ill assured One perceives it .
when certain questions are raised like the degree of arbitrariness i n

the integral of vibrating chord s whi ch gives place to an interm inable ,
and inconclusive discussion Lagrange appreciated these i n suffi c i en ci es.
when he published his theory O f analytic functions where he strov e ,
to give a precise foundatio n to analysis One cannot too m uch .
adm ire the m arvellous presentim ent he had of the rOl e which th e
functions which with him we call analytic were to play ; but we may
, ,
confess that we stand astonished before the demonstration he b e

’ 1
.
”
l i ev ed to hav e given of the possibility of the develop m ent of a function
in Taylor s series
In the treatm ent of infinite series Lagrange displayed in his earlier
writings that laxity com m on to all m athem aticians of his time ex ,
c ep ti n g N i col a u s B ernoulli II and D A l emb er t B ut his later articles ’

.
m ark the beginning of a period of greater rigor Thus in the C al cu l des .

,
f on cti ons he gives his theorem on the lim its of Taylor s theorem La
’
.
grange s mathem atical researches extended to subj ects which have

’
not been mentioned here—such as probabilities finite differences , ,
ascending continued fractions elliptic integrals Everywhere his , .
wonderful powers of generaliz ation and abstraction are mad e manifest .
In that respect he stood without a peer but his great contemporary , ,
P S Laplace surpasse d h i m in practical sagacity

. .
,
Lagrange was .
content to leave the application of his general results to othe rs and ,
so me of the m ost important researches of Laplace (particularly those

1
Congress o f A r ts an d S ci en c e, S t L o u i s ,
. 1 90 4 , V ol I , p 5 0 3
. . .
EUL ER LAGRANGE ,
AN D LAP LACE 2 39
on the velocity of sound and on the secular acceleration of the moon)

are imp l icitly contained in Lagrange s works ’
.
Lagrange was an extrem ely m odest m an eager to avoid co n tro ,
v er sy and even ti mid in conversation

,
and his first words generall y were Je n e sais pas

“
He spoke in tones of doubt
He would never ,
.
.
” ,
allow his portrait to be taken and the only ones that were secured ,
were sketched without his knowledge by persons attending the meet

ings of the Institute
P i e rr e S i m o n Lapl a c e ( 1 749—1 8 2 7)
.
was born at B eaumont en Auge - -
i n Norm andy Very little is known of his early life When at the
. .
height of his fame he was loath to speak of his boyhood spent in ,
pov erty His father was a s mall farm er So me rich neighbors who
. .
recogniz ed the boy s talent assisted him in securing an education

’
.
As an extern he attended the m ilitary school i n B eaum ont where at ,
an early age he beca me teacher of m athe m atics At eighteen he went .
to P aris arm ed with letters of recomm endation to D Al emb er t who

,
’
,
was then at the height of his fam e The letters rem ained unnoticed .
,
but young Laplace undaunted wrote the great geom eter a letter on
, ,
the principles of m echanics which brought the following en thusiastic ,
response : You needed no introduction ; you have recommended your

self ; my support is your due .
”
D A l emb er t secured him a p ositio n
’
at the Ecol e M i li tai re of P aris as professor of mathematics H is future .
was n ow assured and he entered upon those profound researches

,
which brought hi m the title of the Newton of France With .

”
won derful mastery of analysis Laplace attacked the pending problems , ,
in the application of the l aw of gravitation to celestial motions D ur . .
ing the succeeding fifteen years appeared most of his original contri
butions to astronom y His career was one of almost uninterrupted.
prosperity In 1 7 84 he succeeded E B éz ou t as examiner to the royal

. .
a rtillery and the following year he becam e m ember of the Academ y

,
of Sciences He was m ade president of the B ureau of Longitude ; he

.
ai ded in th e introduction of the decim al syste m and taught w ith , ,
J Lagrange ma thematics i n the E col e N ormate When during th e

.
, .
,
Revolution there arose a cry for the reform of everything even of

, ,
the calendar Laplace suggested the adoption of an era beginning with

, '
the year 1 2 50 when ac c ordin g to his calculation the m ajor axis of

, , ,
the earth s orbit had bee n perpendicular to the equinoctial line The
’
.
year was to begin with the vernal equinox and the z ero m eridian was ,
to be located east of P aris by degrees of the centesim al division

of the quadrant for by this m eridian the beginning of his proposed
,
era fell at m idnight B ut the rev olutionists rej ected this schem e and
.
,
m ade the start of the n ew era coincide with the beginning of the
glorious French Republic 1
.
Laplace was justly adm ired throughout Europe as a most sagacious

1 R u dol f Wo l f , Geschi chte der A s l ron omi e, M unch e n , 1 8 7 7, p 334 . .
an d p rofound
scientist but unh appily for his reputation he strove , , ,
not only after greatness in science but also after political honors ,
.
The political career of this e minent scientist was stained by servility

and suppleness After the 1 8 th of B rum aire the day when Napoleon.
,
was m ade emperor Laplace s ardor for republi can principles suddenly ,
’
gave way to a great devotion to the e mperor Napoleon rewarded .
this devotion by giving him the post of m inister of the interior but ,
“
dism issed him after six m onths for incapacity Said Napoleon La .
,
place n e saisissait aucune question sous son véritable point de v u e ; il

cherchait des subtilit és partout n av ai t que des id ées probl emati q u e s ,
’
,
”
e t portait en fi n l e sp r i t des i n fi n im en t petits j usque dans l a dmi n i s t ra
’ ’
tion D esirous to retain his allegiance Napoleon elevated hi m to

.
,
the Senate and bestowed various other honors upon him N ever the .
less he cheerfully gave his voice i n 1 8 1 4 to the dethrone ment of his

,
patron and hastened to tender his services to the B ourbons thereby ,
earning the title of m arquis This pettiness of his character is seen .
in his writings The first edition of the S ysteme du monde was dedi
.
c a t ed to the Council of Five Hundred To the third volu m e of the .
M ecan i qu e C el es te is prefix ed a note that of all the truths contained

’
in the book the one most precious to the author was the declaration he
,
thus m ade of gratitude and devotion to the peace maker of Europe -

.
After this outburst of affection we are surprised to find in the ed i tions

.
,
of the Theari e a n al yti qu e des probabi li tés which appeared after the
’
Restoration that the original dedication to the e mperor is suppresse d

,
.
Though supple and servile in politics it m ust be said that in religion ,
and science Laplace never m isrepresented or concealed his own con

vi c t i on s however distasteful they m ight be to others In m athem atics .
and astronomy his genius shines with a lustre excelled by few Three
—
.
great works did he give to the scientific world the M écani qu e C el este , ,
the E xposi ti on du systeme du monde and the Theori e an al yti qu e des ,
probabi l i tes B esides these he contributed important m emoirs to the

’
French Academ y .
We first pass in brief review his astronom ical researches In 1 773 .
he brought out a paper in which he proved that the m ean m otions

or m ean distances of planets are invariable or m erely subj ect to s mall
periodic changes This was the first and m ost i mportant step in his .
attempt to establish the stability of the solar system To I Newton 1

. .
and also to L Euler it had seemed doubtful whether forces so nu mer

.
ous so variable in position so diff erent in intensity as those in the

, , ,
solar system could be capable of maintaining perm anently a con dition

,
of equilibriu m Newton was of the opinion that a powerful hand .
m ust intervene from tim e to tim e to repair t h e derangem ents occa

s i on ed by the m utual action of the d i ff erent bodies This paper was .
the begin n i ng of a series of profound researches by J Lagrange and

”
.
1
D . F .
J A rag o
.
,
Eu l ogy on L ap l ac e , t ran sl a ted by B . P ow e l l , S mi ths on i a n
Repor t, 1 8 74 .
—
of celestial m otions treating particularly of m otions of com ets of
, ,
our moon and of other satellites The fif th volum e opens with a

,
.
brief history of celestial m echanics and then gives in appendices the ,
results of the author s later researches The M ecani qu e C él este was

’
.
’
such a master piece and so co mplete that Laplace s immediate suc

-
, ,
’
c essor s were able to add co mparatively li ttle The general part of .
the work was translated into Germ an by Johann K arl B u r khardt

( 7 73
1 and appeared in B erlin 1 8 0 0
—1 80 2 N a tha n i el B owdi tch
—
( 773 1 83 8 )
.
,
1 brought out an edition in Engli sh with an extensive com

—
,
m enta ry i n B oston 1 8 2 9 1 839 The M écan i qu e C el es te is not easy

, ,
.
reading The diffi culties lie as a rule not so m uch in the subject
.
, ,
itself as in the want of verbal explanation A complicated chain of .
reasoning receives often no explanation whatever J B B iot who . . .

,
assisted Laplace in revising the work for the press tells that he once ,
asked Laplace som e explanation of a passage in the book which had

been written not long before and that Laplace S pent an hour en deavor ,
,
i
w th the re m ark I l est facile de ,
voir “ ”
ing to recover the reasoning which had been carelessly suppressed
Notwithstanding the i mpor .
tant researches in the work which are due to Laplace him self it , ,
naturally contains a great d eal that is d rawn fro m his predecessors .
It is in fact the organiz ed result of a century of patient toil B ut

, ,
.
Laplace frequently neglects properly to acknowle dge the source fro m

which he draws and lets the reader infer that theorem s and formul a:
,
due to a pred ecessor are really his own .
We are told that when Laplace presented Napoleon with a copy

of the M écan i qu e Cel este the latter m ade the rem ark M Laplace ,
“
,
.
,
they tell m e you hav e written this large book on the syste m of the
universe and have never even m entioned its Creator
,
Laplace is .
”
”
said to have replied bluntly Je n avais pas besoin de cette hy “ ’
o th és e—
,
p la This assertion taken literally is i mpious but may it

.
, , ,
not have been inten d ed to conv ey a meaning som ewhat diff erent
from its literal one ? I Newton was not able to explain by his law of
.
gravitation all questions arising in the m echanics of the heavens .
Thus being unable to show that the solar syste m was stable and
, ,
suspecting in fact that it was unstable Newton expresse d the opinion ,
that the special intervention from time to tim e of a powerful hand , ,
was necessary to preserve order Now Laplace thought that he had .
proved by the law of grav itation that the solar system is stable and ,
in that sense may be said to have felt no necessity for reference to the
Al mighty .
We now proceed to researches which belong m ore properly to pure

m athem atics Of these the m ost conspicuous are on the theory of
.
probability Laplace has done more towards advancing this subject

.
than any one other in v est i gator He publ i she d a series of papers .
,
the m ain results of which were collecte d in his Theori e a n al yti qu e des ’
r obabi l i tes 1 8 1 2 The thir d e d i tion ( 1 8 20) consists of an introduction

’
p , .
EULER LAGRANGE ,
AN D LAP LACE 2 63
and two books The introduction was published separately under

.
the title E ssai phi l osophi qu e su r l es pr obabi l i tés and is an ad mirable

, ,
-
and masterly exposition without the aid of analytical form ul a of the

principles and applications of the science The fir st book contains .
the theory of generating functions which are appli ed in the second , ,
book to the theory of probability Laplace gives in hi s work on

, .
p robabi l i ty hi s me thod of approxi mation to th e values of definite

'
integrals The solution of linear diff erential equations was reduced

.
by him to definite i ntegrals The use of parti al d ifference equations .
was introduced into the study of probability by him about the same
time as by J Lagrange One of the most importa nt parts of the
. .
work is the application of probability to the method of lea st squares ,
which is shown to give the m ost probable as well as the most convem
i en t results .
Laplace s work on probabili ty is very diffi cult reading particularly

’
,
the part on the method of least squares The analytical processes .
“
are by no means clearl y established or free fro m error N 0 one was .
more sure of giving the result of a nalytical processes correctly and ,
no one ever took so little care to point out the various s ma l l con
siderations on which correctness depends (D e M organ ) Laplace s ” .
’
comprehensiv e work contains all of his own researches and m uch

derived from Other writers He giv es m asterly expositions of the .
P roblem of P oints of Jakob B ernoulli s theore m of the problem s ta ken

’
, ,
from B ayes and Count de B u ff on In this work as in his M écani qu e .
C el este Laplace is not in the habit of giving due credit to writers that
,
preceded hi m A D e M organ says of Laplace : There is enough

.
1
.
originating from him self to m ake any reader wonder that one who
could so well aff ord to state what he had taken fro m others should
have set an example so dangerous to his own clai ms .
” ,
Of Laplace s papers on the attraction of el l ipsoids the m ost im

’
,
portant is the one published in 1 7 8 5 and to a great extent reprinted ,
in the third volum e of the M écan i qu e C el este I t gives an exhaustive .
treatment of the general problem of attraction of any ellipsoid upon

a particle S ituated outside or upon its surface Spherical harm onics
or the so called Laplace s coeffi cients constitute a pow erful analytic
-
’
,
” .
,
engine in the theory of attraction in electricity an d m agnetism The , ,

.
theory of spherical harmonics for two di mensions had been previously

given by A M Legendre Laplace failed to m ake due ack n ow l edg
”
. . .
m ent of this and there existed in consequence between the two

, , ,
great men a feeling more than coldness

“
, The potential function .
,
V is m uch used by Laplace and is S how n by h im to satisfy the partial

,
—17 7
,
2 2 2
5 V 5 V a V
diff erential equation 2 1
1 0. This is know n as Laplace s ’
hat 3 ?a
A D e M or g an , A n E ssay
1
. on P r oba bi li ti es , L on do n , 1 838 ( d at e of P r e fac e )
p I I o f A pp e n di x I
. .
equation and was first giv en by hi m in the more complicated form
,
whi ch it assu m es in polar co ordinates The notion of potential was -

.
,
however not introduced into analysis by L aplace The honor of

, .
t hat achievement be l ongs to J Lagrange . .
Regarding Laplace s equation P E P icard said in 1 90 4 : Few

’
,
. .
equations have been the object of so many works as this celebrated

equation The conditions at the limits may be of divers forms The
. .
simplest case is that of the calorifi c equilibriu m of a body of which

we m ainta in the elements of the surface at given temperatures ; from
the physical point of view it may be regarded as evident that the ,
temperature continuous wi thin the interior since no source of heat

,
is there is determined when it is given at the surface A m ore general

, .
case is that where the temperature may be giv en on one portion ,
wh ile there is radiation on another portion These questions .
have greatly contributed to the orientatio n of the theory of partial

diff erential equations They have called attention to types of deter
”
.
mi n at i on s of integrals which would not hav e presented themselves

,
in remaining at a point of view purely abstract 1

.
Am ong the m inor discoveries of Laplace are his m ethod of solving

equations of the second third and fourth degrees his memoir o n
, , ,
singular solutions of di fferential equations his researches in finite ,
differences and in determ inants the establishm ent of the e xpansion ,
theorem in determ inants which had been previously given by A T . .
V an dermon de for a sp ecial case the deter m ination of the co mplete ,
integral of the linear differential equation of the second order In .
the M écani que C él este he m ade a generali z ation of Lagrange s theorem ’
on the develop m ent of functions in series known as Laplace s theorem ’

.
Laplace s investigations in physics were quite extensive We m en

’
.
tion here his correction of Newton s form ula on the velocity of sound ’
in gases by taki ng into account the changes of elasticity due to the

heat Of compression and cold of rarefact ion ; his researches on the
theory of tides ; his m athe m atical theory of capillarity ; his explanation
of astronom ical refraction ; his formul a for m easuring heights by the
barom eter .
Laplace s writings stand out in bol d contrast to those of J Lagrange

’
.
in thei r lack of elegance and symm etry Laplace looked upon mathe .
ma ti cs as the tool for the solution of physical problems The true .
result being once reached he devoted little tim e to explaining the

,
various steps of his analysis or in polishing his work The last years ,
.
of his life were spent m ostly at Arcueil in peaceful retirem ent on a

country place where he pursued his studies with his usual vigor
-
,
until his death He was a great adm irer of L Euler and would often
. .
,
say Lise z Euler lisez Euler c est notre m ai tre a tous

,
“
, ,
’
.
The latter part of the eighteenth century brought forth researches

on the graphic representation of im aginaries all of which remained ,
1
Congr ess o f A r ts an d S ci en ce, S t L ou i s , . 1 90 4 , V ol I , p 50 6
. . .
the Aca demy of Sciences on M arch 1 9 1 7 91 by a committee con , ,
sisting of J C Borda J Lagrange P S Laplace G M onge de Con

This subdivision is found in the Fran coi s Cal l et ( 1 744—1 798)
. . . .
, , ,
. .
,
dorce t .
logarithm ic tables of 1 795 and other tables published in France and ,
Germany Nevertheless the decimal subdivision of the quadrant did

.
not then prevail 1

The com m ission composed of B orda Lagrange
.
, ,
Laplace M onge and Condorcet decided upon the ten m ill ionth part -
of the ear th s quadrant as the primitive unit of length The leng th

,
’
.
of the second s pendulum had been under consideration but was

’
,
finally rejected because it rested upon two dissimilar elem ents

, ,
gravity and tim e In 1 799 the m easurem ent of the earth s quadrant.
’
was completed and the m eter established as the natural unit of length
Al e xan dre Th eoph i l e Van d ermon d e ( 1 7 3 5— 1 7 96 )
.
-
studied music
during his youth in P aris and advocated the theory that all art rested
'
u pon one general law through which any one could becom e a c om ,
poser with the aid of m athem atics He was the first to giv e a con .
n e c t ed and logical exposition of the theory of determ inants and may , ,
therefore almost be regarded as the founder of that theory He and J

, . .
Lagrange originated the m ethod of co mbinations in solving equations

A dri e n M ar i e L e g e n dre ( 1 7 5 2 —1 8 33)
.
was educated at the Col l ege

M azarin in P aris where he began the study of m athem atics under ,
Abb é Joseph F ran coi s M arie ( 1 73 8 His m athem atical genius

secured for him the position of professor of m athematics at the mili
ta ry school of P aris While there he prepared an essay on the curv e
described by projectiles thrown into resisting m edia (ballistic curve)
.
which captured a priz e o ff ered by the Royal Academy of B erlin In .
1 7 8 0 he resigned his position in order to reserve m ore ti m e for the
study of higher mathem atics He was then m ade m ember of several .
public comm issions In 1 7 95 he was elected professor at the Norm al .
School and later was appointed to some m inor govern m ent positions .
O w ing to his timidity and to Laplace s unfriendliness toward him but ’

,
few important public offices comm ensurate with his abili ty were
ten dered to h im .
As an analyst second only to P S Lap l ace and J L agrange Legen

, . . .
,
dre enriched mathem atics by i mportant contributions mainly on ,
elliptic integrals theory of numbers attraction of ellipsoids and least

, , ,
squares The most im portant of Legendre s works is his Foncti ons

.
’
el l i pti q u es issued in two volu m es i n 1 8 2 5 and 1 8 2 6

,
He took up the .
subj ect where L Euler John Landen and J Lagrange had left it .
, , .
,
and for forty years was the only one to cultivate this new branch of
analysis until at last C G J Jacobi and N H Abel steppe d in with
, . . . . .
a dm irable new discoveries Legendre imparted to the subj ect that

2
.
1
For de t ai l s , se e R M eh m k e i n J ahres b d d M a th Verei n i g u ng , L ei p i g , z 1 900 ,
—1 6 3
. . . . .
pp . 1 38 .
2
M El i e de B e au mon t ,
. M emo i r of L eg en dre . T r an sl a t ed by C A A l exan d e r,
. .
S mi thson i a n Repor t, 1 8 6 7 .
EULER LAGRANGE AND LAP LACE
,
67
connection and arrange ment which belongs to an independent science .
S tarting with an integral d epen ding upon the square root of a poly
nom ial of the fourth degree in x he S howed that such integrals can be
,
brought back to three canonical forms designated by F and ,
He also undertook the prodigious task of calculating tables of

arcs of the ellipse for diff erent degrees of amplitude and eccentricity ,
which supply the m eans of integrating a large number of diff erentials .
An earlier publication which contained part of his researches on

elliptic functions was his C al cu l i n tegr al in three volum es ( 1 8 1 1 1 8 1 6 , ,
in which he treats also at length of the two classes of definite

integrals named by him E u l eri a n He tabulated the values of log
I (p)
.
‘
for values of p betw een 1 and 2 .
One of the earliest subj ects of research was the attraction of sph e
roi ds which suggested to Legendre the function P " nam ed after him
, ,
.
His m em oir was presented to the Academ y of Sciences in 1 7 8 3 The .
researches of C M acl aurin and J Lagrange suppose the point a t

. .
tracted by a spheroid to be at the surface or within the spheroid but ,
Legendre showed that in order to d eterm ine the attraction of a

spheroid on any external point it suffi ces to cause the surface of ano ther
spheroid described upon the sam e foci to pass through that point .
Other m e moirs on el lipsoids appeared later .
In a paper of 1 7 88 Legen d re published criteria for distinguishing

between m axim a and m inima in the calculus of v ariations which were ,
show n by J Lagrange i n 1 7 97 to be i n sufli c i en t ; this matter was set

‘
right by C G J Jacobi in 1 83 6
. . . .
The two household gods to which Legendre sacrificed with ever

renewed pleasure in the silence of his closet were the elliptic functions
and the theory of numbers His researches on the latter subject
.
,
together with the nu m erous scattered fragm ents on the theory of

num bers du e to his predecessors in this line were arranged as far ,
as possible into a system atic whole a n d publishe d in two large quarto ,
volum es entitled Thear i e des n ombr es 1 8 30 B efore the publication

, ,
.
of this work Legendre had issued at d ivers tim es prelim inary articles .
Its crowning pinnacle is the theorem of quadratic reciprocity pre ,
v i ou sl y in d istinctly given by L Euler without proof but for the first

.
,
tim e clearly enunciated an d partly proved by Legendre 1

.
While acting as one of the comm issioners to connect Greenwich

and P aris geodetically Legendre calculated the geodetic triangles in
,
France This furnished the occasio n of establishing form ula an d

.
theorem s on geodesics on the treatment of the S pherical triangle as

,
if it were a plane triangle by applying certain corrections to the

,
angles and on the m ethod of least squares published for the first
, ,
tim e by hi m without d e monstration in 1 80 6 .
1
O B au m g ar t , Ueber
. aas Quadrati sche z
R eci pr oci l a l s g cs etz, L e ip ig , 1 88 5 .
Legendre wrote an El emen ts de Géometri e 1 794 which enjoyed ’
, ,
great popularity being generally adopted on the Continent and in

,
the United States as a substitute for Eucli d This great modern rival .
of Eucli d passed through num erous e ditions ; som e containing the

”
elements of trigonometry and a proof of the irrationality of 71 and 71 2
“
With prophetic vision Legendre remarks : I l est mem e probable que
l e nom bre 7r n est pas mem e comp ris dans les i r ra ti on ell e s algébriques
’
c est a—
.
di re qu il n e peut pas etre la racine dune équation algébrique

”
’ ’ ’
-
d un nombre fi n i de term es dont les c oefi c i en t s sont ra ti on el s

’
.
M uch attention was given by Legendre to the subj ect of parallel lines
”
.
In the earlier editions of the El emen ts he m ade direct appeal to the ,
”
“
senses for the correctness of the parallel axio m He then attempted -
.
“
to dem onstrate that axiom but his proofs did not satisfy even ,
him self In Vol XII of the M em oirs of the Institute is a paper by

. .
Legendre containing his last attempt at a solution of the problem

, .
Assum ing space to be infinite he proved satisfactorily that it is i m ,
possible for the su m of the three angles of a triangle to exceed t w o

right angles ; and that if there be any triangle the s u m of whose angles
is two right angles then the sam e m ust be true of all triangles B ut
, .
in the next step to S how that this s u m cannot be less than two right
,
angles his demonstration necessarily failed If it could be granted

,
.
that the su m of the three angles is always equal to two right angles ,
then the theory of parallels could be strictly d e duced .
Another author who made contributions to elem entary geom etry

was the Italian L orenzo M ascheron i ( 1 750 He publ i shed his
Geometri a del compass o (P avia 1 7 97 P alerm o 1 90 3 ; French editions
1
, , ,
by A M Carette appeared in 1 7 98 and 1 8 2 5 a Germ an edition by

. .
,
J P Gruson in
. . All constructions are m ade with a pair of
co mpasses but without restriction to a fixed radius He proved that
,
.
all constructions possible with ruler and compasses are possible with
compasses alone I t was J V P oncelet who proved in 1 8 2 2 that all
. . .
such construction are possible with ruler alone if we are given a fixed ,
circle with its centre in the plane of construction ; A Adler of Vienna .
proved in 1 8 90 that these constructions are possible with ruler alone

whose e dges are parallel or whose e dges converge in a point M asch , .
eron i clai m ed that constructions with co mpasses are m ore accurate
than those with a ruler Napoleon proposed to the French m athe .
ma ti ci an s the problem to divide the circu m ference of a circle into,
four equal parts by the co mpasses only M ascheroni does this by .
applying the radius three tim es to the circu mference ; he obtains the
arcs A B B C C D ; then A D is a diameter ; the rest is obvious -
E W Hobson (M ath Gazette M arch 1 1 9 1 3)

.
, ,
. . a n d others have shown

.
, ,
that all Euclidean constructions can be carried out by the use of

compasses alone .
1
A l ist of M ascheron i s w r i t i ng s i s g i ve n i n L I n ter médi ai r e des mathéma ti ci ens ,
’
Vo l . 1 9, 19 1 2, p 92 . .
2 70 A HI STORY OF M ATHE MA TIC S
tions are form ed by giving each fraction a negativ e coeffi cient in an
equation for its nu merator taken positively and for its deno minator , ,
the su m of the positive coeffi cients preceding it if moreover unity is ,
added to each fraction thus formed then the largest nu mber thus ,
obtainable is larger than any root of the equation In 1 8 2 2 A A . . .
Vene a French ofli cer of engineers S howed :If P is the largest negative
, ,
c oefli c i en t and if S be the greatest coeffi cient among the positive

,
term s which precede the first negative term then will P + S + I be a ,
superior limi t .
Fourier took a prominent part at his home in promoting the Revo

l u ti on Under the French Revolution the arts and sciences seem ed for
.
a tim e to flourish The reform ation of the weights and m easures was
.
planned with grandeur of concep tion The Normal School was .
created in 1 795 of which Fourier becam e at first pupil then lecturer

, ,
.
His brilliant success secured hi m a chair in the P olytechnic School ,
the duties of which he afte rw ards quitted along with G M onge and ,
.
C L B erthollet to acco mpany Napoleon on his ca mpaign to Egypt

. .
,
.
Napoleon founded the Institute of Egypt of which J Fourier becam e ,

.
secretary In E g ypt he engaged not only in scientifi c work but dis

.
,
charged i mportant poli tical functions After his return to France he ;
held for fourteen years the prefecture of Grenoble D uring this .
period he carried on his elaborate investigations on the propagation of

.
heat in soli d bodies published in 1 8 2 2 in his work entitled L a Theor i e

,
A n al yti qu e de l a Chal eu r This work m arks an epoch in the histo ry of

.
both pure and applied m athem atics I t is the source of all moder n .
m ethods in m athem atical physics i nvol v ing the i n tegration of partial

diff erential equations in problem where the boundary values are
s
fixed ( boun d ary value problem s P roble m s of this type involv e
”
“ ’
-
L Euler s second definition of a function in which the relation is

.
’
not necessarily capable of being expressed analytically This concept .
of a function greatly influenced P G L D irichlet The g em of . . . .
“
F ou ri er s great book is F ou ri er s series
’ -
By this research a long ’
.
controversy was brought to a close and the fact recogniz ed that any
arbitra ry function (i e any graphically given function )
,
. . of a real
variable can be represented by a trigonom etric series The first .
announcement of this great discovery was m ade by Fourier in 1 80 7 ,
n = a)
before the French Academy . The trigonom etric series 2 (a,, sin n x+
bn cos nx )represents the function qb (x )for eve ry value of x, if the
coefficients an = p(
< x )i
S n n xdx , and b7, be equal to a similar in
The weak point in F o u r i er s analysis lies in his failure to

t e g ra l .
’
prove generally that the tr i gonom etri c series actually converges to

EULER LAGRANGE ,
AN D LAP LACE 2 7:
the value of the function William Thomson (l ater L ord Kelvi n )

says that on M ay 1 1 840 (when he was only six teen ) I took Fourier
.
”
, ,
out of the University L ibrary ; and in a fortnight I had mastered i t

gone righ t th ro ugh it Kelvin s whole career was in fl uenced by
.
’
-
“
F ouri er s work on hea t of which he said it is diffi cult to say whether
’
, , ,
their uni q uel y original quality or their transcendant interes t or their , ,
to be p raised 1 ”
perennially importa nt instructiveness for physical science is most
Clerk M a xwell pronounced it a grea t ma thematical
.
,
poe m In 1 8 2 7 F ourier succeeded P S Lapla ce as president of the

. . .
council of the P olytechnic School .
About th e time of B udan and Fourier i mporta nt devices w ere ,
invented in I taly and England for the solution of num erical equations .
The I talian scientific society in 1 80 2 off ered a gold m edal for improve
ments in the solution of such equations ; it was awarded in 1 80 4 to
P aolo R ufli n i With aid of the calculus he develops th e t heo ry of
.
transforming one equation into another whose roots are all di m in ished
2
by a certain constant Then follows the m echanism for the practical
.
computer and here Ruffi ni has a device which is simpler than Horner s
,
’
scheme of 1 8 1 9 and practically identical with what is now known as

Horner s procedure Horner had no knowledge of Ruffi ni s m em oir
’
.
’
.
Nor did either Horner or R ufli n i kno w that their m ethod had been
given by the Chinese as early as the thirteenth century Horner s .
’
first paper was read before the Royal Society J uly 1 1 8 1 9 and pub , , ,
l ish ed in the P hi l osophi cal Tr an s acti on s for 1 8 1 9 Horner uses L F A . . . .
A rb og aSt s derivatives
’
The moder n reader is surprised to find that
.
Horner s exposition involves very intricate reasoning which is in

’
m arked contrast with the S imple and ele mentary explanations found
in modern texts P erhaps this was fortunate ; a simpler treatm ent
.
m ight have prevented publication in the P hilosophical Transactio n s
”
.
“
As it was much de m ur was made to the insertion of the paper
,
The .
“
elementary character of the subject said T S Davies was the
”
.
,
.
,
professed objection ; his recondite m ode of trea ting it was the profess ed
passport for its ad mission A second article of Ho m er on his m ethod
.
was refused publication in the P hilosophical Transactions and ap ,
ea r ed i n 1 7 6 5 in the M a thema ti ci a n after the death of Ho m er ; a

p ,
third article was printed in 1 8 30 Both Ho mer and Ruffi ni explained .
their m e thods at first by higher analysis and l ater by elem en ta ry

al gebra ; both o ffered their m ethods as substitutes for the old process
of root extraction of nu mbers R ufli n i s paper was neglected and
-
.
’
forgotten Horner was fortunate in finding two in fluential champions

—
of his m ethod John Radford Young ( 1 7 99 1 88 5) —
.
of Belfast and A .
D e M organ The R uffi n i Horner process _has been used widely in

.
-
England and the United States less widely in Germ any Austria and , ,
1
S P Thomp so n L ife of Wi l l i a m Thoms on , L o n do n , 1 9 1 0 , pp 1 4 , 6 89
. .
. .
x i ma t i o n a n ti c ip a ted b y R u ffi n i , B u ll
j , H o rn er s m e t hod o f app ro—
2 S ee F C a o r i ’
.
.
A m M a th S oc 2 d S , V ol 1 7 , 1 9 1 1 , pp 409 4 1 4
. . . . . . .
I taly and not at all in France In France the Newton Raphson
, .
-
m ethod has held al m ost undisputed sway 1

.
Before proceeding to the origin of m odern geom etry we shall speak

briefly of the introduction of higher analysis into Great B ritain This .
took place during the first quarter of the last century The B ritish .
began to deplore the very s mall progress that science was m aking in
England as co mpared with its racing progress on the Continent The .
first Englishman to urge the study of continental writers was Robert

Woodhou se ( 1 7 73 1 8 2 7 )
“
—
”
of Caius College Cambridge In 1 8 1 3 the
Analytical Society was form ed at Cambridge This was a s mal l
,
.
.
club established by George P eacock John Herschel Charles Babbage , , ,
a n d a few other Ca mbridge students to pro m ote as it was hu m orously
expressed by B abbage the principles of pure D i sm that is the

,
-
”
Leibniz ian notation in the calculus against those of dot—
, ,
age or ,
of the Newtonian notation This struggle ended in th e introduction .
into Cambridge of the notation to the exclusion of the fl ux ion al
nota tion y This was a great step in advance not on acco unt of any
’
.
,
great superiority of the Leibniz ian over the Newtonian notation but ,
because the adoption of the form er opened up to English students

the v ast storehouses of continental discoveries Sir William Thom .
son P G Tait and som e other m odern writers find it frequently con
,
. .
,
v en i en t to use both notations Herschel P eacock and B abbage .

, ,
translated in 1 8 1 6 from the French S F Lacroix s briefer treatise

, , ,
. .
’
on the d i fferential and integral calculus and added in 1 8 20 two

”
,
volu mes of exa mples Lacroix s larger work the Tr ai l e du cal cu l ’ ' ’
”
.
,
difi ér en ti el et i n tegr a l first contained the term di fferential coeffi cient

“
,
“
and definitions of definite and indefinite integrals I t was one .
of the best an d most extensive works on the calculus of that tim e

Of the three founders of the Analytical Society P eacock afterw ards
“
,
” .
did m ost work in pure m athem atics B abbage becam e famous for .
his i n v ention of a cal culating engine superior to P ascal s It was ’

.
nev er finished owi ng to a m isunderstanding with the governm ent

, ,
a n d a consequent failure to secure funds John Herschel the em inent .

,
astronom er displayed his m astery ov er hi gher analysis in m em oirs

,
comm unicated to the Royal Society on new app l ications of m athe

mat i cal analysis and in articles contributed to c yc l op a dias on light
, ,
on m eteorology and on the history of m athe m atics In the P hilo

,
.
1
sophical Transactions of 1 8 1 3 he introduced the notation si n x ‘
—1
tan x for arcsi n x ar ctan x He wrote also l og x cos x
2 2
for l og (l og x)cos (cos x) but in this notation he was anticipated

, , , , ,
1 8 1 7)
, ,
by Heinrich B u rm an n of M annhei m a partisan of the c om

-
,
bi n at ory analysis of C F Hindenburg in Germ any . . .
1
F ef
or r s d f ther d e tai l see C l r d C l l g P bl i cati o Ge n al S e i s
e r en ce an ur ,
o o a o o e e u n, er r e
undisputed supre macy It was reserv ed for the genius of G M onge
. .
to bring synthetic geom etry in the foreground and to open up new ,
avenues of progress His Géométr i e descr i pti ve marks the beginning

.
of a wonderful develop m ent of modern geom etry

Of the two leading problems of descriptive geometry the one—to
.
—
,
represent by drawings geometrical m agnitudes was brought to a

M
high degree of perfection before t e ti e of onge ; the other to
h m —
solve proble m s on figures in space by constructions in a plan e —had
recei v ed considerable attention before his ti m e His most noteworthy .
predecessor in descriptive geometry was the French man Amedee

F ra n goi s F réz i er ( 1 6 8 2 B ut it re mained for M onge to create
descriptive geo metry as a di sti n ct branch of science by imparting to
it geometric generalit y an d elegance All problem s previously treated .
in a special an d uncertain m anner were referred back to a few general

principles He intro d uced the line of intersection of the horiz ontal
.
and the v ertical plane as the axis of projection By revolving one .
plane into the other around this axis or ground line m any advantages -
,
were gained 1
G as par d M o n g e ( 1 7 4 6 —1 8 1 8 )
.
was born at B eaune The constru o .
tion of a plan of h i s nat i v e tow n brought the boy under the notice of
a colonel of engineers who procured for him an appointm ent in the
,
college of eng i neers at M ez ieres B eing of low birth he could not .

,
recei v e a commiss i on in the army but he was permitted to enter the ,
annex of th e school where surveying an d drawing were taught O b

,
.
serv ing that all the O perations connected with the construction of
p l ans of fortification were conducte d by long arithm etical processes ,
he subs t ituted a geom etrical m ethod which the comm andant at first ,
refused e v en to look at ; so short was the tim e in which it could be

practised that when once exam ined i t was recei v e d with avidity
, ,
.
M onge d eveloped these m etho d s further and thus created his d es cr i p

tive geom etry Owing to the riv alry between the French m il i tary
.
schools of that time he was not perm itte d to divulge his n ew m e tho d s
,
to any one outsi de of this institution In 1 76 8 he was made professor of .
m athem atics at M ez i eres In 1 7 80 when convers i ng with two of his

.
,
pup i ls S F Lacroix an d S F Gay de Vernon in P aris he was obliged

,
. . . .
,
to say Al l that I hav e here done by calculation I could have done

, ,
secrets to you ”
with the ruler and compasses but I am not allowed to reveal these
B ut Lacroix set him self to exam ine what the secret
.
,
could be d iscovere d the processes an d published the m I n 1 7 95 The

, , .
m ethod was publ i shed by M onge him self in the sam e year first in ,
the form in which the shorthand writers took dow n his lessons give n
at the Norm al School where he had been elected professor and then
, ,
again in re vised form in th e Jou r n al des écotes n or mal es The next

, , .
—
e dition occurre d in 1 7 98 1 7 99 After an ephe m eral existence of only .
four m onths the Norm al School was clo sed in 1 7 95 In the sam e year .
1
C h i ti
r s Wi
an L h b hd D
en e r, e r t ll d G m t i c L e ip z i g
uc er 8 84 p 2 6
ars e en en eo e r , ,
1 , . .
EULER LAGRANGE ,
AN D LA P LACE 2 75
the P olytechnic School was opened in the establishing of which , .
M onge took acti v e part He taught there descriptive geometry un til .
his departure from France to accompany Napoleon on the E g yptian

campaign He was the first president O f the Institute of Egypt
. .
M onge was a z ealous partisan of Napoleon and was for that reason , ,
deprived of all his honors by Louis XVIII This and th e destruction .
of the P olytechnic School preyed heavily upon his mi nd He did not .
long surv i v e this insult .
M onge s num erous papers were by no means confined to descriptive

’
geom etry His analytical discoveries are hardly less remarkable He

. .
introduced into analytic geomet ry the m ethod ic use of th e equation

of a line He made important contributions to sur faces of the second
degree ( previously studied by C Wren and L Euler )
.
and discovered . .
between the theory of surfaces and the integration of partial d iffer

e n t i al equations a hidden relation whi ch threw new light upon both
,
subjects He gave the diff erential of curves of curvature esta blished

.
,
a general theory of curvature and applied it to the ellipsoid He ,

.
found that the validity of S olutions was not im paired when imaginaries
are involved a mong subsidiary quantities Usually attributed to .
M onge are the centres of si militude of circles and certain theorem s ,
which were however probably kno w n to Apollonius of P erga M onge

, ,
1
.
published the following books : S tati cs 1 7 8 6 ; A ppl i cati on s de l al gebr e ,

’
a l a geometri e 1 80 5 ; A ppl i ca ti on de l a n al y se a l a geometri c The last

’
’
, .
tw o contain most of his m iscellaneous pap ers .
M onge was an inspiring teacher an d he gathered around hi m a ,
large circle of pupils a mong which were C D upin F S ervoi s C J

, .
,
.
,
. .
B rian chon Hachette J B B iot and J V P once l et

, , J ea n B apti s te
. .
,
. . .
B i ot ( 1 7 7 4 professor at the Coll ege de France in P aris cam e in ,
contact as a young man with Laplace Lagrange and M onge In , ,

.
1 80 4 he ascended with Gay Lussac in a balloon They proved that -

.
the earth s magnetism is not appreciably reduced in intensity in

’
regions above the earth s surface B iot wrote a pop ular book on ’
.
analytical geometry and was activ e in m athem atical physics and

geodesy He had a controv ersy wi th Arago who championed A J
. . .
Fresnel s wave theory of light B iot was a man of strong individuali ty

’
.
and great influence .
Ch ar l e s D u pi n ( 1 7 84 for many years professor of mechanics

in the Conservatoire des Arts e t M étiers in P aris published in 1 8 1 3 ,
an important work on Dével oppements de geometri c in which is i ntro ,
d uc ed the conception of conj ugate tangents of a point of a surface
”
,
“
and of the indicatrix I t contains also the theorem known as D u
2
.
pin S theorem
’
Surfaces of the second d egree and descriptive geom
.
1
R C A r chib al d i n A m M a th M on thl y, V o l
. . . . . 2 2, 191 5, pp 6 —
.1 2 ; V ol . 23 , pp . 1 59
161
( F S c h ut t e)L e ipz ig
.
2
G i n o L o r i a , D i e H a u ptsachl i s ten Theori en der Geometr i c .
, ,
1 888 , p 49 . .
e t ry were successfully studied by J ean N i col as P i erre H ochette ( 1 76 9

who be ca m e p rofessor of descriptive geometry at the P oly
technic School after the departure of M onge for Rome and Eg yp t .
In 1 8 2 2 he published hi s Tr ai té de g éométri e descri pti ve .
D escriptive geom etry which arose as we have seen in technical , , ,
schools in France was transferred to Germany at the foundation of , .
technical schools there G Schreiber ( 1 7 99 professor in Karls . .
ruhe was the first to spread M onge s geometry in Germany by the ’
—
,
publica tion of a work thereon in 1 8 2 8 1 8 2 9 In the United S tates

1
descriptive geo m etry was introduced in 1 8 1 6 at the M ilitary Academy

in West P oint by Claude Croz et once a pupil at the P olytechnic ,
2
School in P aris Croz et wrote the first English work on the subj ect
La ar e N i ch o l a s M ar gu e i e C arn ot ( 1 7 53, 1 8 2 3)was born at
—
. .
z r t
Nolay in B urgundy an d educated in his native province He entered , .
the army but continued his mathe m atical studies and wrote in 1 7 84
, ,
a work on m achines containing the earli est proof that kinetic energy ,
is lost in collisions of bodies Wi th the advent of the Revolution he .
threw him self into politics and when coalesced Europe in 1 793 , , ,
l aunched against Fr ance a m illion sol diers the gigantic task of or ,
g an iz i n g fourteen arm ies to m eet th e ene m y was achieved by hi m .
He was banishe d in 1 7 96 for opposing Napoleon s cou p d etat The ’ ’

.
refugee went to Geneva where he issued in 1 7 97 a work still tre , , ,
quently quoted entitled Refl exi on s s u r l a M étaphysi qu e du C al cu l

, ,
’
I nfi ni tes i mal
”
He declared hi mself as an irreconcilable enemy of
’
kings After the Russian campaign he off ered to fight for France
.
,
though not for the em pire On the restoration he was exiled He . .
died in M agdeburg His Geométri e de posi ti on 1 80 3 and his Essay on .

’
, ,
Tr ansvers al s 1 80 6 are i mportant con tributions to m odern geometry

, ,
.
While G M onge revelled m ainly in three dim ensional geom etry

.
-
,
Carnot co n fined him self to that of two By his e ffort to explain the .
“
meaning of the negative S ign in geo m etry he established a geom etry
”
“
of position which however is diff erent from the Geometrie der
, , ,
Lage of to day He invented a class of general theorem s on pro

-
.
j e c tiv e properties of figures which have since been pushed to great ,
extent by J V P oncelet M ichel Chasles and others

. .
, , .
3 “
Thanks to C arn o t s researches says J G D arb oux the con ’
, . .
,
c ep t i on s of the inventors of analytic geo m etry D escartes and F erma t , ,
retook alongside th e infinitesim al calculus of Leibniz and Newton

the place they had lost yet should never have ceased to occupy With ,
.
his geom etry said Lagrange speaking of M onge this dem on of a man
wi ll m ake him self imm ortal
,
.
”
, ,
While in France th e school of G M onge was creating m odern .
1
C . Wi en er , o p 36
p
. ci t . . .
2
F . C aj o ri , Teachi ng and Hi s tor y f M athema ti cs
o in U S . .
, Wa shi ng ton ,
1 8 90 ,
pp . 1 14, 1 17.
3
Congress f
o A r ts a nd S ci en ce, S t L o u i s , . 1 90 4 , V ol . 1, p 53 5
. .
THE NINETEENTH AND TWENTIETH CENT URIES
I n trodu cti on
N EVE R more z ealously and successfully has mathematics been

cultivated than during the nineteenth and the present centuries Nor .
has progress as i n previous periods been confined to one or two

, ,
countries While the French and Swiss who during the preceding
.
,
epoch carried the torch of progress have continued to develop ma the ,
m a t ic s with great success from other countries whole armies of en

,
thu s i as t i c workers have wheeled into the front rank Germ any awoke .
from her lethargy by bringing forward K F Gauss C G J Jacobi . .

,
. . .
,
P . L D irichlet and hosts of m ore recent men ; Great B ritain

.
,
produced her A D e M organ G Boole W R Hamilton A Cayley

.
,
.
,
. .
,
.
,
J J Sylvester besides champions who are still living ; Russia entered

. .
,
the arena with her N I L ob achevs ki ; Norway with N H Abel ;

. . . .
I taly with L Crem ona ; Hungary with her two B olyais ; the United
.
S tates with B enja m i n P eirce and J Willard Gibbs . .
H S White of Vassar College estim ated the annual rate of increase

. .
in m athem atical publication from 1 8 70 to 1 90 9 and ascertained the ,
periods betwee n these years whe n diff erent subj ects of research r e
c ei v ed the greatest e m phasis Taking the Jahrbu ch ii ber di e Fort
1
.
s chr i tte der M a themati k published since 1 8 7 1 ( founded by Carl Ohrt
m ann ( 1 83 9— 1 88 5)
,
of the Konigliche Realschule in B erlin and S ince

1 8 8 5 under the chief editorship of E m il Lampe of the technische
Hochschule in B erlin )and also the Revu e S emes tri el l e published since
1 8 93 ( un d er the auspices of the M athe m atical Society of Am sterda m)
, ,
he counted the nu mber of titles and in som e cases also the number of ,
pages fille d by the reviews of books and articles devoted to a certain

subj ect of research and reached the following approximate results :
(1)
,
The total annual pub licat i on double d during the forty years ;
(2) D uring these forty years 30 % of the publication was on applied ,
m athem atics 2 5 % on geo m etry 2 0 % o n analysis 1 8 % on algebra

7 % on history and philosophy ; 3 )
, , ,
”
,
Geo m etry dominated by P l ii ck er , ,
his brilliant pupil Klein Clifford and Cayley doubled its rate of
, , ,
production from 1 8 7 0 to 1 890 then fell off a third to regain m ost of , ,
its loss after 1 8 99 ; Synthetic geom etry reached its m axi mum in 1 88 7
and then declined during the following twenty years ; the a mount of
anal ytic geometry al w ays exceeded that of synthetic geometry the ,
H S Wh i t e , F or ty Y ears F l uc t u a t i on s i n M a t hema t i c al R esea r ch ,

’
1
S ci ence,
—
. .
N S , V o l 4 2 , 1 9 1 5 , pp 1 0 5 1 1 3
. . . . .
INTRODUCTION 2 79
excess being most pronounced since 1 88 7 ; (4 ) Analysis which takes ,
i t s rise equally fro m calculus fro m the algebra of i maginaries fro m , ,
the intuitions and the critically refined develop ments of geom etry and ,
branches of m athem atics shows a trebling in forty years reaching

,
”
from abstract logic : the common servant and chief ruler of the other
,
its first m aximu m in 1 890 probably the culmination of waves set

“
,
in m otion by Weierstrass and Fuchs in B erlin by Riemann in G ot ,
,
”
tingen by Hermite in P aris M ittag L effi er in S tockh ol m D ini and
B rioschi in I taly ; before 1 88 7 m uch of the growth of analysis is due
,
-
,
to the theory of functions which reaches a maximu m about 1 8 8 7 ,
with a sweep of the cu rve upward again after 1 900 due to the theory
of integral equations and the influence of Hilbert ; ( 5)
,
Algebra i n ,
cluding series and groups experienced during the forty years a steady
,
gain to 2 5 times its original output ; the part of algebra relating to

algebraic form s invariants etc reached i ts acme before 1 8 90 and ~
then declined most surprisin gly ; ( 6 )

, ,
.
,
D ifferential equations increased

in amount S lowly but steadily from 1 8 70 under the combined i n
“
fl u en ce of Weierstrass D arb ou x and Lie ,

showing a slight decline ,
”
“
in 1 886 but followed by a marked recovery and advance during the
,
publication of lectures by Forsyth P icard G ou rsa t and P a in l ev é ;

( 7)
, ,
The m athem atical theory of electricity and m agnetis m rem ained

less than one fourth of the whole applied m athe m atics but rose after
1 8 7 3 steadily toward one —
-
,
fourth by the labors of Clerk M axwell

W Thom son (Lord Kelvin ) and P G Tait ; ( 8)
, ,
. The constant shifting . .
of m athematical investigation is du e partly to fashion .
The progress of m athem atics has been greatly accelerated by the

organiz ation of m athem atical societies issuing regular periodicals .
The leading societies are as follows : L ondon M athema ti cal S oci ety
organiz ed in 1 86 5 L a s oci eté mathémati qu e de Fr ance organiz ed in
,
’
1 8 72 ,
Edi n bu rgh M athemati cal S oci ety organi z ed 1 883 C i rcol o ma te ,
mati co di P al ermo organiz ed in 1 88 4 A meri can M athemati c al S oci ety ,
organized in 1 888 under the nam e of N ew Y or k M athemati cal S oci ety

and changed to its present nam e in Deu ts che M a thema ti k er
Verei n i gu ng organi z ed i n 1 8 90 I ndi a n M a themati cal S oci ety organiz e d ,
in 1 90 7 S oci edad M etemati ca Espaii ol a organiz ed in 1 91 1 M a themati cal

, ,
A ssoci ati on of A mer i ca organiz ed in 1 9 1 5 .
The nu mber of m athem atical periodicals has enorm ously increased

d uring the passed century According to Felix M ii ll er there were
.
2
,
up to 1 70 0 only 1 7 periodicals containing m a them atical articles ;

,
there were in the eighteenth century 2 1 0 such p eriodicals in the

, , ,
nineteenth century 950 of them .
C on su l t Thom as S F i sk e s addre ss i n B u ll A m M ath S oc , Vo l 1 1 , 1 90 5 , p 2 38

’
1 . . . . . .
. .
D r Fi sk e hi mself w a s a l eade r i n t h e org an i a t i on o f t he S oc i e ty

. z .
2
J a hres b d deu ts ch M a them Ver ei n i g u ng , V o l 1 2 1 90 3 , p 4 3 9 S e e al so G A
. . . . .
, . . . .
M il l er i n H i stori cal I ntroducti on to M athemati cal Li teratu r e, N ew Y ork , 1 9 1 6 ,

C haps I , I I
. .
A great stim ulus toward m athe matical progress have been the
international congresses of mathe maticians I n 1 889 there was held .
in P aris a Congres international de bibliographie des scie nces ma th e

mat i q u es In 1 8 93 during the Colu mbian E xposition there was held
.
, ,
in Chicago an International M athem atical Congress B u t by c om .

,
m on agree m ent the gathering held in 1 8 97 at Zurich Switz erland is

, , ,
“
called the first international mathe matical congress The S econd .
was held in 1 900 at P aris the third in 1 90 4 at Heidelberg the fourth

, ,
in 1 90 8 at Rom e the fifth in 1 91 2 at Ca mbridge in England The

, .
obj ect of these congresses has been to promote friendly relations to ,
give re v iews of the progress and present state of di fferent branches of

m athem atics and to d iscuss m atters of term inol ogy and bibliography
, .
One of the great c o operative enterprises intended to bring the

-
results of m odern research in digested form before the tech nical reader
is the E n cykl opadi e der M athemati schen Wi ssen schaf ten the publica
'
tion of which was begun in 1 8 98 under the editorship of Wi lhel m Fr an z

M eyer of KOn in e rg P ro m inent as joint editor was H ei n ri ch B u r k
hardt ( 1 8 6 1 — 1 9 1 4)
.
of Zurich l ater of M unich In 1 90 4 was begun the ,

.
publication of the French revised and enlarged e dition under the

u e l —
editorship of J l s M o k ( 1 8 57 1 9 1 4) of the University of Nancy .
A S regards the productiveness of modern writers Arthur Cayley ,

1 “
said in 1 88 3 : I t is diffi cult to give an idea of the vast e xtent of
m odern m athem atics This word extent is not the right one :I mean
‘ ’
—
.
extent crowded wi th beautiful detail not an extent of m ere uni ,
formity such as an objectl ess plain but of a tract of beautiful country ,
seen at first in the distance but which will bear to be ra mbled through ,
and studied in every detail of hillside and valley stream rock wood , , , ,
and flower I t is pleasant to the m athe matician to think that in his

.
,
as in no other science the achie v e ments of every age re main posses

,
sions forever ; new discoveries seldom disprove older tenets ; seldom

is anything lost or wasted .
If it be asked wherein the utility of som e modern extensions of

mathematics lies it m ust be acknowle dged that it is at present diffi cult
,
to see how som e of them are ever to becom e applicable to questions

of comm on life or physical science B ut our inability to do this S hould .
not be urged as an argument against the pursuit of such studies I n .
the first place we know neither the day nor the hour when these
,
abstract develop ments will find application in the m echanic arts in ,
physical science or in other branches of m athematics For example

,
.
,
the whole subj ect of graphical statics so useful to the practical em ,
g i n eer was m ade to rest upon v o n S ta u d t s Geo metri c der L age W R

’ ’
, , . .
Hami lton s principle of varying action has its use in astrono my ;

’ “
complex quantities general integrals and general theorem s in inte

, ,
g ra t i o n offer advantages in the study of electricity and magnetis m .
1
A r t hu r C ayl ey , I n au g u ral Addre ss b efo re t he B r i t i sh A s so c i at i on , 1 8 83 , Re
por t, p 2 5
. .
2 82 A HI STORY OF M ATHE M ATI C S
of positive construction Chemistry in a modern spirit is stretching .
, ,
out into m athem atical theories ; Will ard Gibbs in his m emoir on the ,
equilibriu m of chem ical systems has led the way ; and though his , ,
way is a path which chem ists find strewn w i th the thorns of analysis ,
his work has rendered incidentally a real service in co ordinating , ,
experim ental results belonging to physics and to chem istry A new .
and generaliz ed theory of stati stics is bein g constructed and a school ,
has grow n up which is applying the m to biological phenom ena Its .
activity howe ver has not yet me t with the sympathetic goodwill of
, ,
all the pure biologists ; and those who remember the quality of the
discussion that took place last year at Cambridge between the biom e
t ri c i an s and so m e of the biologists will agree that if the new school
should languish it w ill not be for want of the tonic of criticism
,
,
.
”
The great characteristic of m odern m athe matics is its generaliz ing
tendency Nowadays little weight is giv en to isolated theorem s
.
,
says J J Syl v ester except as a ff ording hints of an unsuspected n ew

. .
,
sphere of thought like m eteorites detached from so m e undiscovered

planetary orb of speculation
,
In m athe m atics as in all true sciences .

” , ,
no subj ect is considered in itself alone but always as related to or , ,
an outgrowth of other things The develop m ent of the notion of

, .
continuity plays a leading part in m odern research In geom etry .
the principle of continuity the idea of correspondence and the theory , ,
of proj ection constitute the fundam ental m odern notions Continuity .
asserts itself in a m ost stri king way in relation to the circular points
at infinity in a plane In algebra the m odern idea finds expression
.
in the theory of linear transform ations and invariants and in the ,
recognition of the value of ho mogeneity and symm etry .
H F B aker said i n 1 9 1 3 that with the aid of groups a complete

. .
1
,
theory of equations which are soluble algebraically can be given .
B ut the theory of groups has other applications The group of .
interchanges am ong four quantities which leave unaltered the product

of their six diff erences is exactly sim ilar to the group of rotations of a
regular tetrahe dron whose centre is fix ed when its corners are inter ,
changed am ong them selves Then I m ention the historical fact that .
the prob l em of ascertaining when that well known diff erential equa -
tion called the hypergeom etric equation has all its solutions expressible
in finite term s as algebraic functions was first sol v ed in connection ,
w ith a group of si milar ki nd For any linear differential equation it is .
of primary importance to consider the group of interchanges of its

solutions when the independent variable starting from an arbitrary ,
point m akes all possible excursions returning to its initial value

, , .
There is howev er a theory of groups diff erent from those so far

, ,
referre d to in which the variables can change continuously ; this alone

,
is most extensiv e as m ay be j u dge d from one of its lesser applications

, ,
the familiar theory of the invariants of quantics M oreov er perhaps .

,
( B i rming ham)
’
1
Repor t B ri ti sh A ss n , 19 13, L on don , 19 1 4, p 371 . .
INTROD UCTION
the most masterly of the analytical discussions of the theory of
theory of such groups .
”
geom etry has been carried through as a particular application of the
“
If the theory of groups illustrates how a unifying plan works in
mathem atics beneath the bewildering d etail the nex t m atter I refer ,
to well sh ows what a wealth what a grandeur of thought may spring, ,
from what see m slight beginnings Our ordinary integral calculus is .
well nigh powerless when the result of integration is not expressible

-
by algebraic or logarith m ic functions The attem pt to extend the .
possibilities of integratio n to t he ca se when the function to be inte

grated involves the square root of a polynom ial of the fourth order ,
led first after many eff orts

,
to the theory of doubly periodic
,
-
functions To day this is m uch simpler than ordinary trigono metry

.
-
,
and even apart from its applications it is quite incredible that it

, ,
S hould ever again pass fro m being a m ong the treasures of civiliz e d
man Then at first in uncouth form but now clothed with delicate
.
, ,
beauty ca me the theory of general algebraical integrals of which the

, ,
influence is spread far and wide ; and with it all that is systematic
in the theory of plane curves and all that is associated with the con ,
c ep t i on of a Riemann surface After this cam e the theory of multiply

.
periodic functions of any nu mber of variables which though still , ,
ve ry far indeed fro m being complete has I have always felt a m aj esty , , ,
of conception which is unique Q uite recently the idea s evolve d in .
the previous history have prompted a vast general theory of th e

classification of algebraical surfaces according to their essential prop 3
e r t i e s which is opening endless n ew vistas of thought
, .
” -
The nineteenth century and the beginning of the twentieth century

constitute a period when the very foundations of m athem atics have
bee n r e exam ined a n d when fundam ental principles have been worke d
-
out anew Says H F B aker : I t is a constantly recurring need of

.
1 “
. .
science to reconsid er the exact i mplication of the term s e mploye d ;

and as num bers and functions are ine v itable in all m easurem ent the ,
precise m eaning of number of continuity of infinity of limit an d

, , , ,
so on are fundamental questions

,
These notions have m any .
p i tfalls I may cite the construction of a function which is

.
continuous at all points of a range yet possesses no definite di fferential ,
coeffi cient at any point Are we sure that hu man nature is the only
.
co n tinuous variable in the concrete world assum ing it be continuous , ,
which can possess such a vacillating character ? We could take

out of our life all the moments at which we can say that our age is a
certain number of years and days and fractions of day and still
, , ,
have appreciably as long to live ; this woul d be true however often , ,
to whatever exactness we named our age provided we were quick

, ,
enough in nam ing it These inqu i ries

. have been associated
also with the theory of those se ri e s w hi ch Fourier used so boldly and ,
H F B k er l c ci t , p 3 6 9
1
. . a , o . . . .
2 84 A H I STO RY O F M ATHE M ATIC S
so wickedly for the conduction of h eat Like all discoverers he took
,
.
.
,
much for granted P recisely h o w m uch is the problem This proble m

. .
has led to the precision of what is meant by a function of real variables

to the question of the uniform convergence of an infinite series as
,
you may see in early papers of S tokes to n ew form ulation of the ,
conditions of integration and of the properties of m ultiple integ rals ,
and so on A n d it rem ains still incompletely solved

. .
Another case in which the suggestions of physics have caused

grave disquiet to the mathem aticians is the problem of the variation
of a definite integral N 0 one is likely to underrate the grandeur of
.
'
the aim of those who would deduce the whole physical history of the
world from the single principle of least action Everyone must be .
interested in the theorem that a po t en t i al function with a gi v e n , ,
value at the boundary of a volum e is such as to render a certain i n ,
t eg ral representing say the energ y a m inim u m

, ,
B ut in that pro
, ,
.
portion one desires to be sure that the logical processes e mployed are
free from obj ection And alas ! to deal only with one of the earliest
.
,
problem s of the subj ect though the finally sufficient con ditions for
,
a minim um of a si mple integral see m ed settled long ago and could ,
be applied for exa mple to Newton s celebrated problem of the

, ,
’
soli d of least resistance it has since been shown to be a general fact

,
that such a proble m cannot have any definite solution at all And .
,
although the principle of Thomson and D irichlet which relates to ,
the potential proble m referred to was expounded by Gauss and , ,
accepted by Riemann and re mains to day in our standard treatise

,
-
on Natural P hilosophy there can be no doubt that in the form in

, ,
which it was originally stated it proves j ust nothing Thus a n ew , .
inv estigation has been necessary into the foundations of the principle .
There is another problem close l y connected with this subj ect to , ,
which I would allude : the stabil i ty of the solar syste m For those .
who can m ake pronounce m ents in regard to this I have a feeling of

envy ; for their m ethods as yet I have a quite other feeling The
, , .
interest of this problem alone is s ufli c i en t to j ustify the craving of

rigour .
”
the P ure M athem atician for powerful m ethods and unexceptionable
There are others who view this struggle for absolute rigor from a
diff erent angle Horace Lamb in 1 90 4 spoke as follows : a traveller
.
1 “
who refuses to pass over a bridge until he has personally tested the
soundness of every part of it is not likely to go very far ; something
m ust be risked even in M athe matics
,
I t is notorious that even in .
this real m of exact thought discovery has often been in advance of

‘ ’
,
strict logic as in the theory of i maginaries for exa mple and in the
,
whole provi nce of analysis of which F ou ri er s theorem is a type

,
’
,
.
”
Says M axi m e B Och er : There is what may perhaps be cal led the
2 “
A dd res s b efor e S ec t i on A , B ri t i sh A ss n , i n C amb ri dg e , 1 90 4

1 ’
.
2
M axime B ocher i n Con gr ess of A r ts a nd S ci ence, S t L o u i s , 1 90 4 , V ol I , p 4 7 2 . . . .
independently G Frege have been able to make a rather S hort
.
,
list of logical conceptions and principles upon which i t would seem

that all exact reasoning depends B ut the validity of logical prin .
”
c i p l e s m ust stand the test of use and on this point we may never be ,
sure Frege and B ertrand Russell independently built up a theory of

.
arith m etic each starting with apparently self evident logical prin
,
-
c ipl es Then Russell discovers that his principles applied to a very

.
,
general kind of logical cl as s lead to an absur di ty There is evident , .
need of reconstruction somewhere After all are we m erely making .

,
successive appr oxi mati ons to absolute rigor ?

A B Ke mpe s definition is as fol lows : 1 “
M athematics is th e
’
. .
science by which we investigate those characteristics of any subj ect

m atter of thought which are due to the conception that it consists
of a nu mber of di ff ering and non diff ering individuals and pluralities -
.
”
Ten years later M axim e B ocher m odified Kempe s definition thus : 2 ’
“
If we have a certain class of obj ects and a certain class of relations ,
and if the only questions which we investigate are whether ordered

groups of t hose obj ects do or do not satisfy the relations the results ,
of the investigation are called m athem atics B ocher re marks that .
if we restrict ourselves to exact or deductive mathe matics then ,
Ke mpe s definition beco mes coextensive with B P eirce s

’
.
’
.
B ertrand Russell in his P ri n ci pl es of M a themati cs Cambridge

”
, , ,
1 90 3 ,
regards pure mathe matics as consisting exclusively of dedu c
“
tions by logical principles from logical pri n ciples Another def .
inition given by Russell sounds paradoxical but really expresses th e ,
extre m e generality and extrem e subtleness of certain parts of m o d ern

m athem atics : M athe matics is the subj ect in which we never kno w
”
“
what we are talking about nor whether what we are saying is true 3
.
Other definitions along si milar lines are due to E P apperi tz .
G I tel son
. and L C ou tu ra t .
S yntheti c Geometry
The confli ct between synthetic and analytic m ethods in geometry

whi ch arose near the close of the eighteenth century and the beginning
of the nineteenth has n ow com e to an end Neither S ide has com e .
out victorious The greatest strength is found to lie not in the sup
.
,
pression of either but in the friendly rivalry between the two and in
, ,
the sti m ulating influence of the one upon the other Lagrange prided .
himself that in his M ecani qu e A n al yti qu e he had succeeded in avoiding

all figures ; but since his tim e m echanics has received much help from
geometry .
M odern syn thetic geo metry was created by several investigators

about the same tim e I t seem ed to be the outgrow th of a desire for
.
1
P r oceed L ondon M ath S oc , V ol 2 6 , 1 89 4 , p 1 5
. . . . . .
2
M B oc her , op ci t , p 4 66
. . . . .
3
B R u s se ll i n I n ter n ati on a l M on thl y, V o l 4 , 1 90 1 , p 8 4
. . . .
SYNTHETI C G EO M ETRY 287
general methods which S hould serve as threads of Ariadne to guide

the student through the labyrinth of theorems corollaries porisms , , ,
and proble ms Synthetic geom et ry was first cultivated by G M onge

. .
,
L N M Carnot and J V P oncelet in France ; it then bore rich fruits

. . .
,
. .
at the hands of A F M ob i us and Jakob S teiner in Germany an d

. .
Switz erland and was finally developed to still higher perfection by

,
M Chasles in France v on S ta udt in Germany and L Crem ona in

.
, , .
Italy .
J e an Vi ctor P on c e l e t ( 1 7 88 a native of M etz took part in ,
the Russian campaign was abandoned as dead on the bloo dy field ,
of K rasn oi and taken prisoner to S ara toff D eprived there of all

,
.
books and reduced to the rem embrance of what he had learned at

,
the Lyceum at M etz and the P olytechnic School where he had studied ,
with predilection the works of G M onge L N M Carnot and C J .

,
. . .
, . .
B r ian ch on he began to study m athem atics from its ele ments

,
He .
entered upon original researches which afterwards m ade h im i l lus

trio n s While in prison he did for mathe matics what B unyan did for
literature —produced a m uch read work which has re mained of great
.
-
,
value dow n to the present tim e He returned to France in 1 8 1 4 and .

,
in 1 8 2 2 publ i shed the work in question entit l ed Tr ai té des P ropri etés , ,

’
proj ecti ves des figu r es In it he investigated the properties of figures

.
which remain unaltered by proj ection of the figures The projection .
is not e ff ected here by parallel rays of prescribed direction as with ,
G M onge but by central projection Thus perspective proj ection

.
,
.
,
used before him by G D esargues B P ascal I Newton and J H .

, .
,
.
,
. .
Lambert was elevated by him into a fruitful geom etric m ethod

,
.
P oncelet form ulated the so called pr i n ci pl e of con ti n u i ty which asserts -

,
that properties of a figure which hold when the figure varies accor ding
to definite laws wi ll hold also when the figure assum es som e li miting
position .
1 “
S ays J G D ar b o ux could not content him self with
“
P oncelet ,
. .
,
the insuffi cient resources furnished by the m etho d of projections ; to

attain i maginaries he created that famous principle of continuity
which gave birth to such long discussions between hi m and A L . .
Cauchy Suitably enunciated this principle is excellent and can

.
,
render great serv ice P oncelet was wrong in refusing to present it .
as a S imple consequence of analysis ; and Cauchy on the other hand , ,
was not w il ling to recogniz e that his own obj ections app l icable with ,
out doubt to certain transcendent fi gures were without force in the ,
”
applications m ade by the author of the Tr ai té des propri etes proj ec ’ ’
ti ves .
J D G erg onn e characteriz ed the principle as a valuable
. .
instrument for the d iscovery of new truths which nevertheless di d ,
not make stringent proofs su per fluou s By this principle of geom etric
2
.
1
Con gr ess of A r ts and S ci ence, S t L ou i s , 1 90 4 , V ol I , p 5 39 . . . .
2
E K ot t er , Di e En twi ck el u n g der syn theti schen Geometri c
. von M onge bi s au f
z
S ta vdt, L e i p i g , 1 90 1 , p 1 2 3 . .
continuity P oncelet was led to the consideration of points and li nes
which vanish at infinity or b ec omé im aginary The inclusion of such .
ideal points and lines was a gif t which p ure geom etry received from
analysis where i maginary quantities behave m uch in the sam e way
,
as real ones P oncelet elaborated som e i deas of D e L ahi r e F S ervoi s

—
. .
, ,
and J D .G e r g o n n e.into a regular m ethod the me thod of r e cipr o

cal polars To him we owe the P rinciple of D uality as a consequence
.
of reciprocal polars As an independent principle it is due to G erg on n e

. .
D a rb o u x says that the significance of the principle of duality which

was a little vague at first w as sufficiently cleared up by the dis
“ ‘
,
c u s s i on s which took place on this subj ect between J D G e rg o n n e . .

,
J V P oncelet and J P l ii ck er
. . It had the advantage of making
.. .
correspond to a proposition another proposition of wholly diff erent

aspect “
This was a fact essentially new To put it in evidence
. .
,
G e rg o nn e invented the syste m which since has had so much success , ,
”
of m e moirs printed in double colum ns with correlative propositions
in j uxtaposition (B arboux )
Jo s eph D i az G e r g onn e ( 1 7 7 1 —1 8 59)
.
was an offi cer of artillery then ,
professor of m athem atics at the l yceum in N i mes and later professor

at M ontpelli er He solved the Apollonian P roblem and claim ed
.
superiority of analytic m ethods over the synthetic Thereupon .
P oncelet pub l ished a purely geo m etric solution G erg on n e and P once .
let carried on an intense controversy on the priority of discovering

the principle of duality No doub t P oncelet entered this field earlier .
, ,
wh i le G erg on n e had a deeper grasp of the principle Some geom eters .

,
particularly C J B ri an c hon entertaine d doubts on the general val id

. .
,
ity of the principle The controversy led to one new result namely .
, ,
G erg on n e s considerations of the cl ass of a curve or surface as well

’
,
as its order P oncelet wrote m uch on applied mechanics In 1 83 8

1
. .
the Faculty of Sciences was enlarged by his election to the chair of

m echanics .
J G D arb ou x says that presented in opposition to analytic

. .
,
geom etry the m ethods of P oncelet were not favorably r eceived by

,
the French analysts B ut such were their importance and their .
nov elty that without delay they aroused from di v ers sides the
m ost profound researches
,
M any of these appeared in the A nn al es .

” , ,
de ma thema ti qu es published by J D G erg on n e at N i m es from 1 8 1 0

’
. .
,
to 1 83 1 D uring over fifteen years this was the only j ournal in the
.
worl d devoted exclusively to m athe matical researches G erg onn e .
“
collaborated often against their will with the authors of the m em oirs
, ,
sent hi m rewrote them and som etim es m ade them say m ore or less
, ,
than they would have wished G e rg onn e having becom e rector .

,
of the Academ y of M ontpel lier was forced to suspend in 1 83 1 the ,
publication of his journal B ut the success it had obtained the taste .

,
for research it had contribute d to d evel op had comm enced to bear

—64
,
1
E K ott er ,
. o p . ci t .
, pp . 1 60 1 .
2 96 A H I STORY OF M AT H E M ATIC S
J ak ob S te in er ( 1 7 96 ”
the greatest geometrician since the
time of Euclid was born in U tzen dorf in the Canton of B ern He
, .
di d not learn to write till he was fourteen At eighteen he became a .
pupil of P estalo zz i Later he studied at Heidelberg and B erlin

. .
When A L C rell e started in 1 8 2 6 the celebrated mathem atical

. .
, ,
journal bearing his nam e S teiner and Abel becam e leading con ,
t ri b u t or s Through the influence of C G J Jacobi and others the

. . . .
,
chair of geom etry was founded for hi m at B erlin in 1 8 34 This posi .
tion he occupied until his death which occurred after years of bad ,
heal th .
In 1 83 2 Steiner p ublished his S ystemati sche En twi ckel u ng der A b

“
han gi gk ei t geometri scher Ges tal ten von ei n ander in which is uncovered
th e organism by which the most diverse phenom ena (Erschei nu ngen )
”
,
in the world of space are united to each other Here for the first .
time is the principle of duality introduced at the outset This book

, .
and von S tau dt s lay the foundation on which synthetic geo metry in
’
its later form rested The researches of French m athe m aticians cul
.
,
m ina ti n g in the rem arkable creations of G M onge J V P oncelet .

,
. .
and J D G erg on n e suggested a unification of geom etric processes

. .
,
.
This work of uncovering the organis m by which the m ost different

“
forms in the world of space are connected with each other this ex ,
posing oi a s mall num ber of very simple fundamental relations in

which the sche me reveals itself by which the whole body of theore m s
can be logically and easily developed was the task which S teiner
,
”
assu m ed Says H Hankel : In the beautiful theorem that a conic
.
1 “
.
section can be generated by the intersection of two proj ective pencils

( and the dually correlated theorem referring to proj ective ranges) ,
J S teiner recogniz ed the fundam ental principle out of which the

”
.
innu m erable properties of these rem arkable curves follow as it were , ,
automatically wi th pl ayful ease Not only did he fairly complete .
the theory of curves and surfaces of the second degree but he m ade ,
great advances in the theory of those of higher degrees

In the S ystemati sche En tw i ck el u ngen ( 1 8 3 2 )
.
S teiner directed atten

tion to the complete figure ob tained by joining in every poss ible way
“ ”
s ix points on a c onic and showed that in this h exag ramm u m m ys t i c u m
the 6 0 P ascal lines pass three by three through 2 0 points ( Steiner “
points which lie four by four upon 1 5 straight lin es P l ucker

J P l ii ck er had sharply criticiz ed S teiner for an error that had crept
into an earlier state m ent ( 1 8 2 8 )
.
of the last theorem Now Steiner .

,
gave the correct state ment but without acknowledgment to P l ii ck er ,

.
Further properties of the h exag rammu m mys t i c u m are due to T P . .
Kirkm an A Cayley and G Sal mon The P ascal lines of three hexa
,
. . .
gons concur in a new point Kirk m an There are 6 0 Kirk

m an po i nts Correspon ding to three P ascal lines which concur in a
.
Steiner point there are three Kirk m an points which lie upon a straight
,
1
H H an k e l , El emente der P r oj ecti vi schen Geometr i c,
. 1 8 75 , p . 26 .
SYNTHETI C GEO M ETRY 2 9:
line Cayley line

four through 1 5 Sal mon points
“
There are 2 0 Cayley lines which pas s four by
Other new properties of the mystic .
”
hexagon we re obtained in 1 8 7 7 by G Veronese an d L Cre mona 1
. . .
In S teiner s hands synthetic geometry m ade prodigious progress

’
.
New discoveries followed ea ch other so rapidly that he often did not

take tim e to record their demonstrations In an article in Gr el l e s .
’
Jou r n al on A l l gemei n e Ei gen s chaf ten A l gebr ai scher C u rven he gives

without proof theorems which were declared by L O Hesse to be . .
“
like Fermat s theorem s riddles to the present and future genera
’
,
tions . Analytical proofs of som e of them hav e been given S ince by

others but L Crem ona finally pro v ed them all by a synthetic m ethod
,
. .
S teiner discovered synthetically the two pro minent properties of a

surface of the third order ; v iz that it contains twenty seven straight .
-
lines and a pentahedron which has the double points for its vertices
and the lines of the Hessian of the given surface for its edges This .
subj ect will be discussed more fully later S teiner m ade investigations .
by synthetic m ethods on m axima and minima and arri v ed at the ,
solution of problems which at that time surpassed the analytic power

of the calculus of variations I t will appear later that his reasoning .
on this topic is not always free from criticism .
S teiner generaliz ed M alfa tti s prob l em Gi ovann i Fr ancesco M al

2 ’
— )
.
f a tti ( 1 7 3 1 1 8 0 7 of the university of Ferrara in 1 8 0 3 proposed t h e , ,
problem to cut three cylindrical holes out of a three sided pris m in

,
-
such a w ay that the cylinders and the prism have the sam e altitude
and that th e volume of the cylinders be a maximu m This problem .
was reduced to another n ow generally known as M alfa tti s problem :

,
’
to inscribe three circles in a triangle so that each circle will be tangent to

two sides of the triangle and to the other two circles M alfatti gave an .
analytical solution but Steiner gave without proof a construction

, ,
remarked that there were thirty two solutions generaliz ed the problem -
,
by replacing the three lines by three circles and solved the analogous ,
problem for three dimensions This general problem was sol v ed

analytically by C H Schellbach ( 1 80 9—1 8 9 2 )
.
. . and A Cayley and by .
R F A C l eb sch with the aid of the addition theorem of elliptic

. . .
functions 3
A simple proof of S teiner s construction was given by
.
’
A S Hart of Trinity College D ublin in 1 8 56

. .
, , .
Of interest is S teiner s paper Ueber di e geometri schen C ons tru cti onen
’
, ,
au s gefii hr t mi ttel s der ger aden L i n i e u nd ei n es f es ten K r ei s es

in which he shows that all quadratic constructions can be eff ected
with the aid of only a ruler provided that a fixed circle is drawn once ,
for all It was generally known that all linear constructions could be
.
eff ected by the ruler without other aids of any kind The case of
,
.
1
G S al mo n , C on i c S ecti on s , 6 t h Ed , 1 8 7 9 , N o t e s , p 3 8 2
. . . .
2
K a r l F i n k , A B r i ef Hi s tor y of M a thema ti cs , t ra n sl b v W W B em an . . . and D E
. .
S mi t h , C h i ca g o , 1 900 , p 2 5 6 . .
A Wi t t s t ei n , zu r Geschi chte des M a lf a tti s chen P robl ems , N o r dli n g e n ,

3 ’
. 1 8 78 .
cubic constructions calling for the determination of three unk nown
elem ents (poi nts)
,
was worked out in 1 86 8 by Lu dwi g H erman n K or

tu m ( 1 8 3 6 —1 90 4 ) of B onn and Stephen S m ith of Oxford in two r e ,
searches which received the Steiner priz e oi the B erlin Academy ; it

was shown that if a conic (not a circle ) is given to start with then all ,
such constructions can be d one w ith a ruler and compasses Fran z

London ( 1 8 6 3 1 9 1 7)
.
— of B reslau demonstrated in 1 895 that these cubic

constructions can be e ffected with a ruler only as soon as a fi xed ,
cubic curv e is once drawn 1

.
F B u tzb erg er has recently pointed out that in an unpublished

.
2
manuscript Steiner disclosed a knowledge of the principle of inver

,
sion as early as 1 8 2 4 In 1 84 7 Liouville called it the transformation .
by reciprocal radii After S teiner this transform ation was found.
in depen dently by J B el l av i ti s in 1 83 6 J W S tubbs and J R Ingram

in 1 84 2 and 1 843 and by William Tho m son (Lord Kelvin )
. .
, . .
.
,
in 1 84 5 .
Steiner s researches are confined to synthetic geom etry He hated

’
.
analysis as thoroughly as J Lagrange disliked geom etry S teiner s . .

’
Gesa mmel te Wer ke were publishe d in B erlin in 1 8 8 1 and 1 88 2

-
M ich e l Ch a l ( 7 93 1 880 )
.
s e s 1
— was born at Epernon entered the P oly ,
technic School of P aris in 1 8 1 2 engaged afterwards in business which , ,
he later gave up that he m ight devote all his tim e to scientific pursuits .
In 1 84 1 he becam e professor of geodesy and m echanics at the Ecole

“
polytechnique ; later P rofesseur de G éométrie sup érieure a la F ac u l te
,
des Sciences d e P aris He was a volu minous writer on geom etrical

.
subjects In 1 83 7 he published his ad mirable A per gu hi stori qu e s u r

.
l or i gi n e et te dével oppemen t des méthodes en g eometri e containing a

’ ’ ’
history of geo metry and as an appendix a treatise sur deu x principes

g én éraux de la Science
,
”
The A per gu hi s tor i qu e is still a standard
.
,
historical work ; the appendix contains the general theory of H omog

r aphy ( Collineation ) and of duality (Reciprocity )The na me du al i ty .
is due to J D G erg onn e Chasles introduced the term a nhar moni c

. . .
ra ti o corresponding to the Ger man D oppel ver ha l tni ss and to Cli ff ord s
'
’
c r oss r a ti o
-
Chasles an d J S teiner elaborated independently the
. .
m odern synthetic or proj ective geo met ry Nu m erous original m e moirs .
of Chasles were published later I n the Jou rn al de l Ecol e P ol ytechni qu e ’

.
He gav e a reduction of cubics different from Newton s in this that ,

’
,
the fi v e cu rves from which all others can be proj ected are sym metrical
with respect t o a centre In 1 86 4 he bega n the publication in the .
,
”
C omptes r en du s of articles in which he solves by his method of
”
“
,
characteristics and the principle of correspon dence an immense

“
number of problem s He d eterm ined for instance the nu mber of .

, ,
intersect i ons of two curves in a plane The m ethod of characteristics .
contains the basis of enu m erati v e geo m etry .
As regard s Chasles use of i maginaries J G D arboux says : Here ’

,
. .
,
1
J a hr es b d d M a th Ver ei n i g u n g , V ol 4 , p
. . . . . . 1 63 .
2 B u l l A m M ath S oc l 2 0 , 1 9 1 4, p 4 1 4
, Vo
. . . . . . .
The labors of Chasles and Steiner raised synthetic geom etry to an
honored and respected position by the side of analysis
—
( 7 98 1 86 7 )
.
K ar l G eo g C
r h r i s ti a n v nS
o t au d t 1 was born in Rothen
burg on the Tauber and at his death was professor in Erlangen His
, , .
great works are the Geometri c dcr L age N ii rn b e rg 1 84 7 and his , , ,
B ei tr age zu r Geometri c der L age 1 8 56 1 8 6 0— The author cut loose

, .
from algebraic form ul a and from m etrical relations particularly the ,
anha rm onic ratio of J Steiner and M Chasles and then created a
”
,
. .
geo metry of position which is a complete science in itsel f independent

, ,
of all m easure m ents He S hows that proj ective pr operties of fi g ures

.
have no dependence whatever on m easure ments and can be estab ,
”
“
lish ed without any m ention of the m In his theory of throws or .
“
Wii rfe he even gives a geo metrical definition of a number in its
,
rel ation to geo metry as d etermining the positio n of a point Gu stav .
K ohn of the University of Vienna about 1 894 introduced the throw

as a fu ndam ental concept un derl ying the proj ective properties of a
geom etric configuration such that according to a principle of duality
, ,
of this geome try throws of figures appear in pairs of reciprocal throws ;

,
figures of reciprocal throws form a complete analogy to figures of

equal throws Referring to Vo l i S ta u dt s num erical c o ordinates
.
’
-
,
defined without introducing distance as a fundamental idea A N

”
.
, .
“
Whitehead said i n 1 90 6 : The establish m ent of this result is one of
the triu mphs of m odern m athe m atical thought .
The B ei tr age contains the first co mplete and general theory of

i maginary points lines and planes i n proj ective geo metry R epre
, , .
se n t a t i on of an i maginary po int is sought in the co mbination of an
in v olution with a determ inate direction both o n the real line through ,
the point While purely proj ective v on S taud t s m ethod is inti

.
,
’
mately related to the proble m of representing by actual points and

li n es the imaginaries of analytical geom etry Says Kotter : Staudt 1
.
“
was the first who succeeded i n subjecting the im aginary elem ents to
the fundam ental theorem of projective geom etry thus returning to
”
,
analytical geom etry the present which in the hands of geo metri ,
c i an s had led to the m ost beautiful results Von S tau dt s geo metry ’
.
,
of position was for a long tim e disregarded m ainly no doubt because , , ,
his book is extre mely condensed An i mpulse to the study of this .
subj ect was given by C u l man n who rests his graphical statics upo n ,
the work of von Staudt An interpreter of von S taudt was at last

.
found in Theodor Reye of Strassburg who wrote a Geometri c der ,
L ag e in 1 8 6 8 .
The graphic representation of the imaginaries of analytical geom

e t ry was syste m atically undertaken by C F M axi mi l i en M a r i e ( 1 8 1 9 . .
who worked how ever o n entirely d iff erent l i nes fro m those
, ,
of v on Staudt Another in d ependent attemp t was made i n 1 8 93 by

.
F H Loud of C ol orado C ol l eg e
. .
‘
.
1
E K ott er ,
. o p . ci t .
, p . 1 23 .
SYNTHETI C GEO M ETRY 2 95
Synthetic geo m etry was studied with m uch success by Lu i gi Cr e

m o n a ( 1 8 30 who was born in P avia and becam e in 1 860 pro
fessor of higher geo m etry in B ologna in 1 8 6 6 professor of geom etry and ,
graphical s tatics in M ilan i n 1 8 7 3 professor of higher m athematics ,
and director of the engineering school at Ro m e He was influe nced .
by the writings of M Chasles later he recogniz ed v on S ta u d t as the

.
,
true founder of pure geom etry A mem oir of 1 8 66 on cubic surfaces .
secured half of the Steiner priz e fro m B erlin the other half being ,
awarded to Ru dolf Sturm t hen of B rom berg Crem ona used the ,
.
m etho d of enu m eration with great e ffect He wrote on plane cu r ves . .
on surfaces on birational transform ations of plane and soli d space

,
.
The birational transform ations the simplest class of which is now

called the Cremona transformation proved of i mporta nce not
“
,
,
” ,
only in geo metry but in the analytical theory of algebraic functions

,
and integrals I t was developed m ore fully by M N Other and others

. . .
H S White comm ents on this subj ect as follows :

. .
1
Beyond the “
linear or proj ective transform ations of the plane there were known
the quadric inversions of Ludwig I mm anuel M agnus ( 1 7 90 1 86 1 )
— of
B erlin changing lines into conics through three funda menta l points
,
and those exceptional points into singular lines to be discarded ,

.
Cre mona described at once the highest ge n eraliz ation of these trans
fo rmations one to— ,
one for all poi n ts of the plane except a finite set
-
of fundamental points He found that it m ust be m e diate d by a

.
net of rational curves ; any two intersecting in one variable point ,
and in fixed points ordinary or m ultiple which are the funda mental
, ,
poi n ts and which are the mselves t ran form ed into s i ngular rational
curves of the sa m e orders as the indices of m ultiplicity of the
points When the fundam ental points are enu m erated by classes
.
according to their se v eral in d ices the set of class nu mbers for the in ,
verse transform ation is found to be the sam e as for the direct but ,
usually related to d i ffere n t indices Tables of such rational nets of .
l o w orders were m ade out by L Crem ona and A Cayley and a

wide n ew vista seem ed opening ( such indeed it was and is )
. .
,
when si
m u l tan eou sl y three invest i gators announced that the m ost general
Cre m ona transform ation is equivalent to a succession of qua dric
transformations of M agnus s type This seem ed a cli m ax and a
”
’
.
,
set back to certain expectations

-
Cre mona s theory of the trans .
’
form ation of curves a nd of the correspondence of points on cu rves

was extended by him to three di m e n sions There he showed how a .
great variety of particular transform ations can be constructed but

”
“
,
anything l ike a general theory is still in the future Ruled surfaces .

,
surfaces of the second order space curves of the third order an d ,

-
~ ,
the general th eory of surfaces received m uch attention at his hands .
He was interested in map d rawi ng wh ich had engaged the attention -

,
of R Hoo ke G M ercator J Lagrange K F Gauss and others For

.
,
.
,
.
, . . .
1
B ul l A m
. . M ath S oc , V ol . . . 24, 1 9 1 8 , p . 24 2 .
2 96 A HI STORY O F M ATH EM ATIC S
a one one correspondence the surface must be unicursal and this is

-
,
suffi cient L Crem ona is associated with A Cayley R F A C l eb sch

. . .
,
. . .
,
M N Ot her and others in the develop m ent of this theory

.
1
Cre mona s .
’
writings were translated into Ger man by M axi mi l i an Cu rtze ( 1 8 3 7

p rofessor at the gym nasiu m in Thorn The Opera matemati che .
di L u i gi Cremon a were brought a t M ilan in 1 9 1 4 and 1 9 1 5 .
One of the pupils of Crem ona was G i ovan ni B atti s ta G u cci a ( 1 8 55

He was born in P alermo and studied at Rome under Cremona .
In 1 8 8 9 he becam e ex traordinary professor at the Un iv er si ty of P al ’
ermo in 1 8 94 ordinary professor He gave m uch attention to the

,
.
study of curves and surfaces He is best known as the founder in .
1 8 84 of the Ci r col o ma temati c o di P al ermo and director of its Rendi ,
con ti The society has becom e i nternational and has been a po w erful
.
stimulus for mathem atical research i n Italy .
K ar l C u l man n ( 1 8 2 1 professor at the P ol yt echn i c u m in Z u

rich published an epoch m aking work on Di e gra phi s che S ta ti k Zurich
,
-
, ,
1 86 4 which has rendered graphical statics a great rival of analytical
statics B efore C u l mann B arthel emy Edou ard Cou si n cry ( 1 7 90— 1 8 51 )
,
’ ’
.
-
,
a civil engineer at P aris had turned his attention to the graphi cal
,
calculus but he m ade use of perspective and not of m oder n geom etry
,
2
, .
C u l mann is the first to undertake to present the graphical calculus

as a symm etrical whole holding the sam e relation to the new geom
,
e t ry that analytical m echanics does to higher analysis He m akes .
use of the polar theory of reciprocal figures as expressing the relation

between the force and the funicular polygons He deduces this rela .
tion without leav ing the plane of the two figures B ut if the polygons
”
.
be regarded as proj ections of lines in space these lines m ay be treated ,
as reciprocal elem ents of a N ull sys tem This was done by Cl erk .
M axw el l in 1 86 4 and elaborated further by L Cremon a The grap hi

,
. .
cal calculus has been applied by O M ohr of D resden to the elastic .
line for continuous spans H en ry T Eddy ( 1 844 . then of the .
Rose P olytechnic Institute n ow of the University of M innesota gives , ,
graphical solutions of proble m s on the m axim u m stresses in bridges

”
“
under concentrated loads with aid of what he calls reaction poly ,
gons A standard work L a S tati qu e gr aphi qu e 1 8 74 was issued by

.
, , ,
M aurice Lev y of P aris .
D escriptive geom etry [ reduced to a science by G M onge in France .

,
and elaborated further by his successors J N P H achette C Du pi n

Theodor e Ol i vi er ( 1 7 93 1 8 53 )
—
,
. . .
,
.
,
of P aris Ju l cs de l a C ou rn er i e of P aris ] ,
was soon studied also in other countries The French directed their .
attention m ainly to the theory of surfaces and their curvature ; the

Germ ans and Swiss through Guido Schreiber ( 1 799 1 8 7 1 )
,
— of Karls
P roceedi n g s f the Roy S oc f L on don , V ol 75 , L on don ,
1
o . . o . 1 90 5 , pp . 2 77
2 79 .
2
A B o i s , Gr aphi cal S tati cs , N ew York ,
.
J ay d u 1 8 75 , p . x x xn ; M d O cag ne , Tr ai té
.
’
dc N omogr a phi e, P a ri s , 1 899 , p 5 . .

and centroid of a triangle are collinear lying on the Euler line ,

“
.
H C Gossard of the Unive rsity of Oklahom a showed in 1 9 1 6 that

. .
the three Euler lines of the triangles form ed by th e Euler line and the '
sides taken by twos of a given triangle form a triangle triply per

, , ,
sp ec t i v e with the giv en triangle and having the sa m e Euler line Con .
“
spi c u ou s a m ong the new develop m ents is the nine point circle the -
,
discovery of which has been erroneously ascribed to Euler A m ong .
the several independent discoverers is the English m an B enj ami n

3 )
,
B eva n —1 8 8 who proposed in L e b ou rn s M athema ti cal Re os i tor ’
y p y ,
I 1 8 1 80 4 a theore m for proof which practically gives us the nine

, , ,
po int circle The proof was supplied to the Reposi tor y I P art 1
.
, , ,
p 1 43 by John B u tterw orth who also proposed a problem solv ed by

.
, , ,
hi mself and John Whi tl ey; from the general tenor of which it appears
that they knew the circle in question to pass through all nine points .
These nine points are explicitly m entioned by C J B ri an chon and . .
J V P oncelet i n G erg on n e s A n n al es of 1 8 2 1 In 1 8 2 2 K arl Wi l hel m

’
. . .
,
Feu cr bach ( 1 8 0 0 professor at the gym nasium i n Erlangen ,
published a pamphlet in which he arrives at the nine point circle - -

,
an d proves the theorem known by his nam e that this circle touches ,
”
the incircle and the three exc i rc l es The Germ ans call it F eu erb ach s ’
.
Circle The last independent discoverer of this re markable circle so

'
,
.
far as known is T S Davi es in an article of 1 8 2 7 in the P hi l osophi cal

, . .
,
M agazi n e II 2 9—3 1 Feuerbach s theorem was e x tended by A ndr ew

, , .
’
S ea rl c H a r t ( 1 8 1 1 fellow of Trinity College D ublin w ho , ,
S howed that the circles which touch three given circles can be dis
tributed into sets of four all touched by the sam e circle .
In 1 8 1 6 A u gu s t L eopold Cr el l e published in B erlin a paper dealing

wi th certain properties of plane triangl es He showed how to deter .
mine a point 0 inside a triangle so that the

angles ( taken in the same order)
,
form ed by
the lines joining it to the vertices are equal .
In the adjoining figure the three m arked angles

are equal If the construction is m ade so that .
angle Q A C = Q C B = O B A then a second point ’ ’ ’

,
B Q is obtained The study of these new '

.
angles and new points led C rel l e to exclaim :

It is indeed wonderful that so s imple a figure as the triangle is
so inexhaustible in properties How m any as yet unknown proper
ties of other figures m ay there not be ! Investigations were m ad e
.
”
also by K ar l Fri edri ch A ndr eas J acobi ( 1 7 95 1 8 5 5)of P for ta and
—
som e of his pupils but after his d eath in 1 8 55 the whole
, , ,
m atter was forgotten In 1 8 75 the subject was again brought befor e

.
the m athematical public by Henri B rocard ( 1 84 5 whose re

searches were followed up by a large num ber of investigators in France ,
England and Germ any Unfortunately the nam es of geom etrician s .

,
which have been attached to certain re markable points lines and ,

SYNTH ETI C G EO M ETRY 2 99
circles are not always the names of the men who first studied their
”
”
properties Thus we speak of B rocard points and B rocard “ “
.
,
angles but historical research brought out the fact in 1 8 8 4 and 1 886
, , ,
that these were the points and lines which had been stu die d by A L
C re l l e and K F A Jacobi The Brocard Circle is Brocard s own
“ ” ’
. .
”
. . . .
creation In the triangle AB C let ( 2 and Q be the first a n d second

.
,
’
“
B rocard point Let A be the intersection of B 9 and C Q ; B of
.
’ ’ '
AO
’
and C O and A O The circle passing through A .
“
’
B ,
'
C is the B rocard circle

’
A B C is B rocard s first triangle ’ ’ ’ ’
”
. .
“
Another lik e triangle A B C is called B rocard s second triangle
,
’’ ’’ ’ ’
.
”
" "
The points A B C together with Q Q and two other points
, , , ,
’
, ,
lie in the circu mference of the B rocard circle .
In 1 8 73 Emi l e L emoin e ( 1 840 the editor of l I n ter medi ai re ’ ’
des mathémati ci en s called attention to a particular po i nt within a plane

”
”
,
”
triangle which has been variously called the Le moine point “
sym ,
m edian point and Grebe point nam ed after E rn s t Wi lhel m G rebe

—
( 4 1 8 7 4)
, ,
1 8 0 of Kassel If CD is so drawn .
as to m ake angles a and b equal then one ,
of the two lines AB and CD is the an ti .
l l el of the other with reference to C

p a ra ,
the angle O Now OE the bisector of .

,
AB is the medi an and OF the bisector of

, ,
the anti parallel of AB is called the sym

-
,
medi an ( abbreviated fro m symetri qu e dc l a

’
médi an c)The point of concurrence of the

.
three symm edian s in a triangle is called

( 3 1 90 5)
,
after Robert Tu c k
don the symm edian point
,
er 1 8 2
— of Univ ersity College School in Lon
1 8 —
John S turgeon ackay ( 43 1 9 1 4 )
M of .
”
E dinburgh has pointed out that some of the properties of this point ,
brought to l i ght since 1 8 73 were first d i scovered previously to that ,

30 0 A H I STOR Y O F M AT H EMATI CS
date The anti parallels of a triangle which pass through its sym
.
-
”
m edian point m eet its S ides in s ix points which lie on a circle call ed
,
”
”
,
”
“
the second Lemoine circle “
The firs t Le moine circle is a special
.
”
“
case of a Tucker circle and concentric with the B rocard circle
“
.
“
The Tucker circles may be thus defined Let D F = FE = ED .
’ ’ ’
let m oreover the follow ing pairs of lines he anti parallels to each
, ,
-
other : AB and ED B C and FE CA and D F ; then the six points

’
,
’
,
’
“
D D E E F F li e on a Tucker ,
’
,
’
, ,
’
,
circle Vary the length of the equal .
anti parallels and a family of Tucker

circles is obtained Allied to these
-
” ,
are the Taylor circles due to H M , . .
Taylor of Trinity College Cambridge , .
Still different types are the M ackay

”
“
circles and the N eu b erg circles ,
due to Joseph Neuberg ( 1 840 of

C Luxe mburg A syste matic treatise on .
this topic Di e B r ocardschcn Gebi l de was , ,
written by Albrecht E mm erich B erlin 1 8 91 Of the al most i n , , .
nu m erable m ass of new theorem s on the triangle and circle a great ,
nu m ber is given in the Tr eati se on the Ci rcl e a nd the S phcr c Oxford , ,
1 9 1 6 written by J L Coolidge of Harvard University

, . . .
Since 1 88 8 E Le moine of P aris developed a system called g eome t

.
,
rog raphi c s for the purpose of nu m erically co mparing geo m etric con
'
s t r u c t i on s with respect to their S im plicity Coolidge calls thes e .
”
“
the best known and least undesirable tests for the s implicity
of a geo m etrical construction ; A E mch declares that they are “
.
hardly of any practical value in so far as they do not indicate how to

S i mp l ify a construction or how to m ake it m ore accurate
,
.
”
A n ew theore m upon the circum scribed tetraedro n was propounded
in 1 8 97 by A S B ang and proved by J ob Gehrke The theore m is :
. . . .
Opposite edges of a circum scribed tetraedron subtend equal angles at

the points of contact of the faces which contain them I t has bee n .
the starting point for extended developments by Fran z M eyer J

-
,
.
N eub erg and H S White .

1
. .
Li n k moti on -
The generation of rectilinear motion first arose as a practical prob

l em in the design of stea m engines A close approxim ation to such
m otion is the parallel m ot i on d esigned by Jam es Watt in 1 78 4 :
“ ” .
In a freely j ointe d qua d rilateral AB CD with the S ide AD fi xed a ,
”
,
point M on the side B C m oves in nearly a straight line The equa .
tion of the curv e trace d by M so meti mes called Watt s curve

“
,
’
,
was first derived by the French engineer Fr an goi s M ari e dc P rony ,
1
B ul l A m M ath S oc
. . . .
, V ol . 1 4 , 1 90 8 , p . 2 20 .
The barrister at law Alfred B ray Ke mpe of London showed in 1 8 7 6
,
that a link m otion can be found to describe any given algebraic curve ;
-
he is the author of a popular booklet H ow to dr aw a S trai ght Li n e , ,
London 1 8 7 7 Other articles of note on this subj ect were prepared

,
.
by Sam uel Roberts Arthur Cayley W Woolsey Johnson V Lig u in e

, ,
.
, .
of th e University of Odessa and G P X Koenigs of the Ecole P oly , . . .
technique I n P aris The dete rm ination of the linkage with m inim um

.
nu mber of pieces by which a given curve can be described is still an

unsolved problem .
—
P a r al l el L i n es , N on Eu cl idean Geometry and Geometry of n Di mensi on s
D uring the nineteenth century very re markable generali zations were

m ade which reach to the v ery root of two of the oldest branches
,
—
of m athem atics elem entary algebra and geom etry In geom etry .
,
the axio m s have been searched to the bottom and the con ,
c l u si o n has bee n reached that the defin ed b y Eucli d s axio m s

’
is not the only possible non m

.
i c t o ry space Euclid prov ed -
(I 2 7 )
.
,
that if a straight line falling on two other straight lines m ake
“
the alternate angels equal to one another the two straight lines shall
be parallel to one another B eing unable to prove that i n every ” ,
”
.
other case the two lines are not parallel he assu med this to be true in ,
”
“
what is now generally called the 5th axio m by som e the 1 1 th or .
,
the 1 2 th axio m “
.
Simpler and m ore obvious a xiom s have been advanced as sub

“
s t i t u t es As early as 1 6 6 3 John Wallis of O xford recommen d ed : To
.
,
any triangle another triangle as large as you please can be drawn

which is S imi lar to the giv en triangle G S acche ri assu m ed the ex
,
.
” .
, ,
i s t en c e of two si m ilar unequal triangles P ostulates si m ilar to Wallis

’
, .
hav e been proposed also by J H Lam bert L Carnot P S Laplace . .

, .
, . .
,
J. D e l b o e u f A C Clairaut
. assu
. m es the existence of a rectangle ;
.
W Bolyai postulated that a ci rcle can be passed through any three

.
points not i n the sam e straight line A M Legen dre that there e xisted a
finite triangle whose angle —
. .
,
s u m is two right angles J F Lorenz and , . .
Legendre that through every point within an angle a line c a n be

drawn i n t eresc t i n g both sides C L D odgson that in any circle the ,
. .
inscribed equilateral quadrangle is greater than any one of the seg

m ents which lie outside it B ut probably the S i mplest is the ass u mp
.
tion m ade by Joseph Fenn in his e dition of Eucli d s El emen ts Dub ’

,
m
lin 1 7 69 and again sixteen years later by Willia Ludla ( 1 7 1 8 1 m —
, ,
vicar of Norton and adopted by John P layfair : Two straight lines

,
“
.
”
which cut one another can not both be parallel to the sam e straight
line It is noteworthy that this axiom is distinctly stated in
1
P r oc l u s s note to Eucli d I 3 1
’
.
, ,
B ut the m ost nu m erous e ff orts to re move the supposed defect in

T L H ea t h , The Thi r teen B ook s E ucl i d s El emen ts , V ol I , p
’
1
. .
f
o . . 2 20 .
SYNTHETI C GEO M ETRY 39 3
Euclid were a ttempts to prove the parallel postulat ri es

of espera te but fru i tl ess en deal q r the hol d i dea -
the , fi i
m i n s of sev e ral f riath éma ti c i an s tha t a geo m etry m ight be built u p

'
pai l
th e : al l e —a xio m While A M Legendre S till
_
. . .
e n déa Y Of ed tO establish the axio m by rigid proof L ob a ch evsk i brought

' ’
out a publication which assu med the contradictory of that axiom ,
and which was the first of a series of articles destined to clear up Oh

sc u r i t i es in the funda m ental concepts and greatly to extend the field ,
of geo m etry
N i ch ol au s I van ovi ch L ob a ch e vs k i ( 1 7 93— 1 8 56 )
.
was born at M a
karic i in N i zhn i
,
at Kasan and fro m 1 8 2 7 ,
to 1 846 was professor and rector of the University of Kasan His views .
on the foundation of geom etry were first set forth in a paper laid before
the physico mathem atical depart m ent of the University of Kasan in
-
February 1 8 2 6 This paper was never printed and was lost His
, . .
earliest publication was in the Kasan M cssengcr for 1 8 2 9 and then in ,
the Gel ehr te S chrif ten der Uni versi tat K asan 1 83 6 —1 83 8 under the , ,
“
title N ew Ele ments of Geo metry w i th a complete theory of P ar
, ,
allels B eing in the Russian language the work remained unknown to

.
,
foreigners but even at hom e it attracted no notice In 1 840 he pub

, .
l i shed a brief state m ent of his researches in B erlin under the title , ,
Geometr i sche Un tersu chu n gen zu r Theor i e der P aral l el l i n i cn Loba .
c h e vsk i constructed a n i maginary geom etry as he called it wh ich

“
_
”
, ,
“
has b eéITdé scrib ed by W K :Clifford as quite simple m erely Eu c lid
'
'
.
,
withou t the vicious assum ption A re m arkable part of this geo m etry .
is this that through a point an indefinite number of lines can be drawn

,
in a plane none of which g i v en_l i i n the sa m e plane A si m ilar

_ n e
”
.
, ~
sy k temfi i f geom et ry was deduced independentl y by the B olyais i n

Hungary who called it absolute geo metry
“
Wo lf g an g B olyai de B ol ya ( 1 7 75— 1 8 56 )
.
,
was born in S z ekler Land -

,
Transyl v ania After studying at Jena he went to Gottingen where

.
, ,
he bec ame intimate with K F Gauss the n nineteen years old Gauss . .
,
.
used to say that B olyai was the only man who fully understood his
views on the m etaphysics of m athem atics B olyai beca m e professor .
at the Reformed College of M aros V as arhely where for forty seven -

,
-
years he had for his pupils m ost of the later professors of Tran syl
vania The first publications of this remarkable genius were dramas
.
and poetry Clad in old tim e planter s garb he was truly original in
.
-
’
,
his private life as well as in his m ode of thinking He was extre m ely .
m odest No m onu m ent said he should stand over his grave only an
.
, , ,
apple tree i n m emory of the three apples ; the t w o of Eve and P aris
-
, ,
w hich m ad e hell out of earth and that of I Ne w ton which elevated ,

.
,
the earth again into the circle of heavenly bodies His son J oh ann 1
.
,
1 F S h mid t
. c A d m L be zw ei er , g i h r M t hema t ik
us e eJoh n d un ar sc e a er an n un
Wolfg an g B o l ya i v on B ol ya , Gr u ner t s A rchi v,

’
1 86 8 . F r an z S chmi d t (182 7
1 90 1 )
w as an a rc hi ec t t i n B u dapest .
B olyai ( 1 80 2was educated for the army and dist i n g uished
as a profound m athe matician an impassioned violin—
,
player
'
hirn sel f
'
, ,
and an expert fencer He once accepted the challenge of thirteen .
O ffi cers on condition that after each duel he m ight play a piece on his
violin and he vanquished them all

,
.
The chief m athematical work of Wolf gang B olyai appeared in

2 —
two volum es 1 83 1 833 entitled Ten tamen j u ven tu tem s tudi os am i n
, ,
cl emen ta ma thes eos pu r a i n tr odu ccndi I t is followed by an ap .
p en dix com posed by his son Johann Its twenty six pages make the -
.
nam e of Johann B olyai im m ortal He published no thing else but he .

,
l eft behind one thousand pages of manuscript .
While L ob ach ev sk i enjoys priority of publication it may be that ,
Bolyai developed hi s system som ewhat earlier Boly ai S atisfied

self of the non contradictory character of his new g eom et ry on or be
-
— hi m .
h l g
fore there Is som e doub t whether Lob achev sk i had reached this
point in 1 8 2 6 Johann B olyai s fa ther se em s to have been the only
.
’ '
person in Hungary who really appreciated the m erits of his son s ’
work For thi rty fi v e years this appendix as also L ob ach ev sk i s

.
-
,
’
researches rem ained in al most entire oblivion Finally Richard

,
.
Baltz er of the Univ ersity of Giessen in 1 86 7 cal led attention to the , ,
won derful researches .
In 1 86 6 J H oii el translated L ob achev sk i s Geometri sche Un ter

.
’
s u chu n g en into French In 1 8 6 7 appeared a French translation of

.
Johann Bolyai s A ppendi x In 1 891 George B ruce Halsted then of

’
.
,
the University of Texas rendered these treatises easily accessible to ,
American readers by translations brought out under the titles of

J. Bolyai s The S c i en ce A bs ol u te of S pa ce and N L ob ach evs ki s Geo
’
.
’
metr i cal R es ear ches on the Theory of P ar al l el s of 1 840 .
The Russian and Hungarian mathematicians were not the only

ones to who m p a n g e ome try suggested itself A copy of the Tentamen .
reached K F Gauss the elder Bolyai s form er roo mmate at G ottingen

. .
,
’
,
a n d this Nestor of Ger man m athe maticians was surprised to disco v er
in it worked out what he hi mself had begun long before only to leav e ,
it afte r hi m I n hi s papers As early as 1 7 92 he had started on researches .
of that character His letters S how that In 1 7 99 he was trying to prove

.
a pr i or i the reality of Euclid s syste m ; but so m e ti me within the next

’
thi rty years he arrived at the conclusion reached by L ob achevski

and Bolyai In 1 8 2 9 he wrote to F W B essel s tating that hi s con
.
“
. .
,
v i c t i on that we cannot found geo metry co mpletely a pr i or i has b e

come if possible still firm er and that if nu mber is m erely a product
, ,
“
,
”
of ou r m ind S pace has also a r eal i ty beyond our m ind of whi ch w e
,
'
cannot fully foreordain the laws a pr i or i The term n on Eu cl i dean .
eo m etr y is due to Gauss It is surprising that t h e fi rsf l i m se s of

p
g _ .
non Euclid ean geom etry were had I n the eighteenth _centu ry Ger on
-
.
n i mo S a ccher i ( 1 6 6 7 a J esuit father of M ilan i n 1 733 wrote ,

3 06 A H I STORY O F M AT H E M ATIC S
contemporary researches on parallel lines due to A M Legendre in . .
France .
The researches of K F G auss N I L ob achev sk i and J Bolyai . .

,
. .
c '
.
have been considered by F Kl ein as c on s ti t u ti rig the first p eriod I n .
the histo ry of non Euclidean geometry It is a period I n which the -
syhth et i c m
.
eflI Od s of elementary g eom etry were in vogue The .
second period e mbraces the researches of G F B Riemann H Hehn . . .

,
.
holt z S Lie and E B eltra m i and e mp l oys the m ethods of diff erential
,
. .
,
geometry It was in 1 8 54 that Gauss heard from his pupil Riemann

.
, ,
a marvellous dissertation whi ch considered the foundations of g eome

try fro m a new point of view Riem ann was not fa miliar with Lo .
b achev ski and Bolyai He developed the notion of n ply extended .

-
magni tude and the m easure relations of which a manifoldness of n

,
-
dimensions is capable on the assu mption that every line may be ,
measured by every other Rie mann applied his ideas to space He

”
. .
taught us to disti n guish between f infin i t e

‘
.
‘
extent Acco rdi ng to hi m we have I n our m ind a m ore general notion

.
of space i c a notion of non Euclidean space but we learn by axpe

,
. .
-
,
r i en ce that our physical space is if not exactly at least to a high degree , ,
of approxim ation Euclidean space Riemann S profound dissertation

,
.
’
was not published until 1 8 6 7 when it appeared in the Gotti ngen A b ,

’
ha ndl u ngen B efore this the idea of n dim ensions had suggested itself
.
under various aspects to P tolemy J Wallis D A l emb er t J Lagrange ,

.
,
’
,
.
,
J . P l ii c k e r and H G Grass m ann The idea of ti me as a fourth di

,
. . .
men si on had occur red to D Al emb er t and Lagrange About the sa m e

’
.
ti me wi th Rie m ann s paper others were published from the pens of ’

,
H H el mhol tz and E B el tr ami This period marks the beginning

—
. . .
of lively discussions upon this subj ect So me writers J B ell avi ti s

for e xample—were able to see in non Euclidean geo metry and n
. .
,
-
dirn en s i on al space not hi ng but huge caricatures or diseased out ,
growths of mathe matics H Hel mholt z s article w as en t i tl ed That

'
’
. .
sachen w el che der Geometr i c zu Gr u nde l i egen 1 8 6 8 and contained

, , ,
many of the ideas of Riemann Helmholt z popul ariz ed the subj ect in .
lectures and in articles for various m aga zines Starting with the
,
.
idea of congruence and assuming the free m obility of a rigid body éfid
,
the return unchanged to its original position after rotation about an

axis he proves that the square of the line elem ent 15 a homogeneous
,
function of the second degree in the diff erentials Hel mholtz s .

’
investigations were carefully exam ined by S Lie who red uced the .
Riemann Hel mholtz problem to the following for m : To determ ine

-
all the continuous groups in space which in a boun ded region have , ,
the property of displacements There arose three types of groups .

,
S om merv ill e i s t he au thor o f a B i bli ography of n on E ucl idea n g eometr y i n cl udi ng -
the theor y of para ll el s , the f ou ndati on s of geometry, and space of n di mens i on s , L o n don ,
19 1 1 .
1
D M Y S o mm erv il l e ,
. . . op ci t . .
, p . 1 95 .
SYNTHETIC GEO M ETRY 30 7
which characteri ze the three geo metries of Euclid of N I L obach ev , . .
ski and J B olyai and of F G B Rie mann

.
1
,
. . . .
Eu g e ni o B e l trami ( 1 83 5 born at Cremona wa s a pupil of ,
F Brioschi ? H e was professor at Bologna as a colleague of L Cremo n a

.
"
.
,
a t P isa as an associate of E Betti at P av ia as a c o worker w ith F .

,
-
.
C a sora t i and since 1 8 9 1 at Ro m e where he S pent the last years of

,
his career uno degli illustri maestri dell analisi in Italia

,
Beltrami ’
.
”
w rote in 1 868 a classical paper S aggi o di i n ter pr etazi on e del l a g eometri a ,
n on en cl i dea (Gi or n
-
di M atem which is a nalytical ( and lik e
. .
, ,
se v eral other papers S hould be m entioned elsew here were we to adhere

to a strict separation between synthesis and analysis ) He reached
,
the b rilliant and surprising conclu sion t hat in part t he the OremS of "
'
non Euclidem g eome try find thei r fr eal ization u pon surfaces of con
w
-
,
stant neg at ive curvature H e studi ed also surfaces of constant .

, ,
posi tive curvatur e and e nded with the interesting theorem t hat
‘
the spac e o f constant positi v e curvature is contained in the space

“ '
of con sta nt negative curvat u re These researches of B eltrami H

‘
. .
,
Helmholtz and G F B Riem ann cul minated in the conclusion that

,
. . .
on sur faces of constant curvature we may have three geo metries ,
the non Eucli d ean on a surface of constant negative curvature

-
,
the spheri cal On a sur face of constant positive cur vature and the
'
Eucl idean geo metry on a surface of z ero cu rvature The three g e .
o me t r i es do not contra dict each oth er but are me mbers of a system , ,
a geo m etrical trinity The ideas of hyper S pace were brilliantly ex .

-
poun ded and popularised in England by Cl ifford

William Ki n g d on Cl iffor d ( 1 84 5—1 8 79)
.
was b orn at E xeter edu , ,
c a t ed at Tri n ity College , C ambridge and fro m i 8 7 1 until his death

'
professor of applied mathematics in University College L ondon His , "

.
premature death left incomplete several brilliant researche s which

he had entered upon Am ong these are his paper On Cl assificati on .
of L oci and his Theor y o Gr aphs He wrote articles O n the C a n on i cal

f .
Form a nd Di ss ecti on of a Ri eman n s S u rf a ce on B i qn a ter n i on s and

’
, ,
an incomplete work on the El emen ts of Dyn ami c He gave exact

” ”
”
.
meaning in dynamics to such fam iliar words as

”
“
spin twist , ,
“ “
sq ui rt whi rl
,
The theor y of polars o f _c urves and surface s was
.
_
generaliz ed by him and by Reye H i s cl assifi c a ti on of loci 1 8 7 8 .

g , ,
b eii In en erab s t udy of cu rves Wa s an introduction to the study ,
_ m
‘
o f_ i i m n si on a l S pace in a di rec t ip n ainly proj ective Th i s study

ni e
"
; "
.
has been continued since chi efly by G Veronese of P adua C Segre .

,
.
of Turin E Bertini F A schi er i P Del P e zz o of Naples

, .
,
.
,
. .
Beltrami s researches on non Euclidean geom etry were followed

’
-
,
in 1 8 7 1 by important investigations of Felix Klein resting upon

, ,
Cayley s S i xth M emoi r on Qu a nti cs 18 59 The develop m ent of geom

’
,
.
e t ry in the first half of the nineteenth century had led to the separation
1
L i e Th ar i der T nsf ormati on sgru ppen Bd III L ei pzi g 1 893 pp 4 3 7 5 43 ;
,
e e ra ,
.
, , , .
-
B on o l a , o p . ci t .
, p . 1 54 .
3 8
of this science into two parts : the geomet ry of position or descriptiv e

geo metry which dealt with properties that are unaff ected by proj e c
t ion and the geo m etry of m easure m ent in w hi ch the funda mental
,
notions of di stance angle etc are changed by proj ection Cayley S

, , ,
.
’
S i xth M emoi r brought these strictly segregated parts together again

by his definition of distance between two points The question .
whether i t is not possible so to e xpress the metrical properties of

figures that they will not vary by proj ection (or linear transformation )
had been sol v ed for special projections by M Chasles J V P oncelet .
,
. .
,
and E Laguerre but it re mained for A Cayley to give a general

.
,
.
solution by defining the distance between two points as an arbitrary

constant m ultiplied by the logarith m of the anharmonic ratio in which
the line joining the two points is divided by the fundamental quadric .
These researches applying the principles of pure projective geo metry

, ,
m ark t h e third period in the develop m ent of non Euclidean geo m etry -
.
Enlarging upon this notion F Klein S howed the independence of , .
projecti v e geo m etry fro m the parallel axio m and by properly choosing -
,
th e law of the m easure m ent of d i stance deduced fro m proj ecti v e

geom etry the spherical Euclidean and pseudospherical geom etries
, , ,
nam ed by h im respectively the elliptic parabolic and hyperbolic , ,
geom etries This suggestiv e i n vestigation was followed up by nu m er

.
ous writers particularly by G B attaglini of Naples E d O v i dio of

, .
,
.
’
Turin R de P aolis of P isa F A sc hi e ri A Cayley F Lin d emann of

,
.
,
.
, .
, .
M unich E Schering of Gottingen W Story of Clark University

, .
,
.
,
H S ta hl of T ubingen A Voss of M unich H om ersh am Cox A B uch

.
, .
, , .
heim The notion of parallelis m applicable to hyperbolic S pace was

1
.
the only extension of Euclid s notion of pa rallelis m until Cli fford dis ’
covered i n elliptic S pace straight lines which possess m ost of the prop
e r t i e s of Euclidean parallels but di ffer fro m the m in being skew Two
lines are right (or left ) parallel if they cut the sam e right (or left)
,
.
generators of the absolute Later F Klein and R S Ball m ade . . . .
extensiv e contributions to the knowle dge of these lines M ore re .
c en t l y E Stu dy of B o n n J L Coolidge of Har v ard University W

.
,
. .
,
.
Vogt of Hei delberg and others hav e been studying this subject The .
m e thods e m ployed hav e been those of analytic an d synthetic geom etry

as well as those of d iff erential geo metry and vectorial analysis The 2
.
geo metry of n dimensions was stud ied along a line mai n ly m etrical
by a host of writers a mong who m may be m entioned Simon N ew c omb
,
of th e Johns Hopkins Univ ersity L S chl afl i of B ern W I Stringham '
—
( 4 7 1 90 9)
. .
, .
,
1 8 of the Univ ersity of California W Killing of M unster

T Craig of the Johns Hopkins Ru dolf Lipschitz ( 1 83 2 1 90 3 )—
.
, ,
. of B onn ,
.
R S Heath of B irm ingha m and W Kill ing in v estigate d the k i nem at i cs

. . .
a n d m echanics of such a S pace Regular sol i ds in n dim ens ional space -
—
were studied by Str ngham Ellery W D avis ( 1 8 5 7 1 9 1 8)of th e
.
i , .
1
G Lo r i a , Di e ha npts a chl i chs ten Theor i en der Geometr i e,
. 1 888 , p . 10 2.
B u l l A m M a th S oc , V ol 1 7 , 1 9 1 1 , p 3 1 5
. . . . . . .
A n al yti s ch Geometr i s che En twi ckl u n gen

-
in two volum es Therein he .
adopted the abbreviated notation [ used before hi m I n a more restricted

way by Etienne B ob il l i er ( 1 797 professor of m echanics at
Chalons sur M arne] and avoided the tedious process of algebraic
-
,
elim ination by a geom etric consideration In the second volume the .
principle of duality is form ulated analytically With h im duality and .
homogeneity found e xpression already in his system of c o ordinates -

.
The ho mogenous or trilinear system used by him is m uch the same as

the c o ordinates of A F M ob i u s I n the i d entity of analytical opera
-
. . .
tion and geom etric construction P l ii c k er looked for the source of his
p roofs The S
.
ys tem d er A n a l y ti s chen G eo m etri e 1 83 5 contains a , ,
complete classification of plane curves of the third order based on the ,
nature of the points at infinity The Theari e der A l gebrai schen Cu rven .
,
1 8 39 contains besides an enu m eration of curves of the fourth ord er
”
, , ,
the analytic relations betw een the ordinary singularities of plane

”
“
curves know n as P lucker s equations by which he was able to ’
,
“
explain P oncelet s parad ox The discovery of these relations is
’
.
,
”
“
says A Cayley the m ost i mportant one beyond all comparison in
.
,
the entire subj ect of m odern geom etry The four P lucker equa .
tions have been e xpressed in di fferent form s Cayley studied higher .
singularities of plane curves M W Haskell of the University of . . .
California in 1 91 4 S howed from the P l ucker equations that the

, ,
.
m aximu m num ber of cusps possible for a curve of order m is the

g reatest integer i n m (m ( except when m is 4 and 6 i n which ,
case the m aximu m nu mber is 3 and and that there is always a

self dual curve with this m aximu m num ber of cusps
-
.
Certain interrelations of the various geom etrical researches of the

first half and mi ddle of the nineteenth century are brought out by
J G D arb ou x in the following passage : While M C hasles J
1 “
. . . .
,
Steiner and later , v on Staudt were intent on constituting a

, , ,
riv al doctrine to analysis and set in so m e sort altar against altar ,
J D G erg onn e E B ob illi er C Sturm an d above all J P l ii ck er per

. .
,
.
, .
,
.
,
f ec te d the geom etry of R D escartes and constituted an analytic sys .
t em in a m anner adequate to the disco v eries of the geo m eters I t is .
to E B ob ill i er and to J P l ii ck er that we owe the m ethod called

. .
a br i dged n ota ti on B ob ill i er consecrated to it so m e pages truly n ew

.
in the last volu mes of the A n n al es of G erg on n e P l ii ck er comm enced .
to develop it in his first work soon followed by a series of works where ,
are established i n a ful ly conscious m anner the foundations of the

m odern analytic geom etry It is to him that we owe tangential co .
ordinates trilinear c o or dinates employed with ho m ogeneous equa

,
-
,
tions and finally the e mploym ent of canonical form s wh ose val i dity
,
was recogniz ed by the m ethod so deceptive so m etim es but so fru i t

ful cal led the en u mer ati on of con s ta n ts
,
,
.
” ,
In Germ any J P l ii c k er s researches m e t with no favor His m ethod

.
’
.
1
Congr ess f
o A r ts a nd S ci ence, S t L o u i s , . 1 9 04 , Vo l 1, pp 5 4 1 , 5 4 2
. . .
ANAL YTI C GEO M ETRY 311
was declared to be unproductive as compared with the synthetic

m ethod of J Steiner and J V P oncelet ! His relations with C G J
. . . . . .
Jacobi were not altogether friendly S teiner once declared that he .
woul d stop writing for Cr el l e s Jou rn al if P lucker continued to con ’
tribute to i t The result was that m any of P l ii c k er s researches were

1
.
’
published in foreign journals and that his work cam e to be better ,
known i n France and England than in his native country The charge .
was also brought against P l ii ck er that though occupying the chair ,
of physics he was no physicist This induced him to relinquish

, .
m athe m atics and for nearly twenty years to devote his energies to
,
physics I mportant discoveries on Fresnel s wa ve s urface m agnetis m

.
’
-
, ,
spectru m analysis were m ade by him B ut towards the close of his

-
—
.
life he returned to his first love — m athe matics and enriched it with , ,
n ew discoveries By consid ering S pace as m ade up of lines he created

a n ew geom etry of space
“
.
Regarding a right line as a curv e i n .

” ~
volving four arbitrary param eters one has the whole system of lines
.
“
in space B y connecting the m by a single relation he got a co mplex
,
,
”
“
of lines ; by connecting the m with a twofold relation he got a con ,
g r u e n cy of lines His first researches on this subj ect were laid before
.
the Royal Society in 1 8 6 5 His further investigations thereon ap .
p e ared i n 1 8 6 8 i n a posthu m ous work entitled N eu e Geometri e des

Rau mes gegr un det f di e B etr achtu n g der ger aden Li n i e al s Kou mel e
'
au
men t, edited by Felix the elegance Klein P l ii ck e r s analysis lacks

.
’
found in J Lagrange C G J Jacobi L O Hesse and R F A

.
,
. . .
,
. .
,
. . .
C l e b s ch For m any years he had not kept up with the progress of

.
geo m etry so that m any invest igations in his last work had already
,
receiv e d m ore general treatm ent on the part of others The work .
co ntaine d nev ertheless m uch that was fresh a n d origi n al The theory
, , .
of complexes of the second degree left unfinished by P l ucker was , ,
continued by Fel ix Klein who greatly e xtended and supplem ented

the ideas of —
,
h l S m aster
Lu w g O o H s e ( 1 8 1 1 1 8 74) —
.
d i tt e s was born at Konigsberg and ,
stu died at the university of his nativ e place under F W B essel C G J . .

,
. . .
Jacobi F J R i c hel o t and F Neu m ann Ha v ing taken the doctor s

,
. .
,
. .
’
d egree i n 1 84 0 he beca m e docent at K onigsberg and in 1 8 4 5 e x t ra or

, ,
di n a ry professor th ere A m ong his pupils at that ti m e were H ei n ri ch

Du r ege ( 1 8 2 1 — 1 8 93 )
.
of P rague Carl Neum a n n R F A C l eb sc h , , . . .

,
G R Kirchho ff The K onigsberg period was one of great activity

. . .
for Hesse Eve ry new discovery increased his z eal for still greater
.
achievem ent His earliest researches were on surfaces of the second

.
order and were partly synthetic He solved the proble m to construct

, .
any tenth point of such a surface when n ine points are giv en The .
analogous problem for a conic had been solv ed by P ascal by m eans

of the hexagra m A difficult proble m confronting m athem at i c i ans
.
of this tim e was that of el im i nati on J P l ucker had seen that the . .
1
A d D ro n k e , J u l i us P l uck er , B o nn , 1871
‘
. .
m ain adv antage of his special m ethod in analytic geom etry lay in
the avoidance of algebraic elimination Hesse however showed h ow .
, ,
by determ inants to make algebraic elim ination easy In his earl ier .
results he was anticipate d by J J Sylvester who published his dialytic . .

,
m ethod of eli m ination i n 1 840 These advances in algebra Hesse .
applied to the analytic study of curves of the third order By linear .
substitutions he reduced a form of the third d egree I n three variables

,
to one of only four terms an d was led to an i mportant determ inant

,
,
Hessian The Hessian plays a lea d ing part
.
“
.
”
inv ol v ing the second d i fferential coeffi cient of a form of the third
d egree called the
“ ”
in the theory of invariants a subj ect first studied by A Cayley , . .
Hesse sho w e d that his determ inant give s for every curve another
r Hessian
“
,
”
curv e such that the double points of the first are points on the second
Sim i larly for surface s ( C r el l e
. M any of the ,
,
m ost i mportant theorem s o n curves of the third or der are due to

Hesse He d eterm i ne d t h e curve of the 1 4 th order which passes
.
,
through the 5 6 points of contact of the 2 8 b i tangents of a curv e of -
the fourth order His great m e m oir on this subj ect ( C r ell e 1 8 55)
.
,
was published at the sam e tim e as was a paper by J Steiner treating .
of the sam e subj ect .
Hesse s incom e at Konigsberg had not kep t pace with his growi ng
’
reputation Hardly was he able to support himself and family In

. .
1 8 5 5 he accepted a m ore lucrative position at Halle and in 1 8 5 6 one ,
at Heidelberg Here he rem ained until 1 8 6 8 when he accepted a

.
,
posi tion at a technic school In M unich 1

At Heidelberg he revised .
and enlarged upon his previous researches and published I n 1 8 6 1 his ,
Vor l es u n gen ti ber di e A n al yti s che Geometr i e des R au mes , i ns bes on der e
uber Fl a chen 2 Or dn u ng M ore elementary works soon followed
”
. . . .
“
While in Heidelberg he el aborated a principle , his U eb er trag u ng s
princip Accordi ng to thi s , there corresponds to every point in a
.
plane a pair of points in a line and the proj ective geo metry of the ,
plane can be carried back to the geo metry of points in a line .
The researches of Plii ck er and Hesse were continued in England

by A Cayley G Sal mon and J J Sylvester I t m ay be premised
.
,
.
,
. . .
here that amon g the early writers on analytical geom etry in England
was J ame s B oo th ( 1 80 6 whose chief results are e mbo di ed in hi s
Tr eati se on S ome N ew Geometr i cal M ethods and J a m e s M a c C u l l a g h ,
( 1 80 9 who was professor of natural p hi losophy at D ublin ,
and made som e valuable discoveries on the theory of quadrics The .
influence of these m en on the progress of geom etry was insign ificant ,
for the interchange of scientific results between di fl er en t nat i ons w as

not so complete at that tim e as m ight have been desired In further .
illustration of this we m ention that M Chasles in France elaborated

,
.
subjects whi ch had previ ously been disposed of by J Steiner in Ger .
many and Steiner publ i shed researches which had been gi ven by
,
Otto Hess e, M un ch en ,
'
1
G u s ta v B a u er , Ged achtn i ssr ede au f 1 88 2 .
C l e b sc h had shown how elliptic functions could be advantageously
applied to M alfa t ti s problem The idea involved therein vi z the use
’
.
,
.
of higher transcendentals in the study of geom etry led hi m to his great ,
est di scoveries Not o nl y did he apply Abelian functions to geom etry

.
,
but con v ersely he drew geom etry into the servi ce of Abelian functions
,
.
C l eb s ch made liberal use of determ inants His study of curves and .
surfaces began with the determination of the points of contact of lines

which m eet a surface in four consecutive points G Salm on had . .
pro v ed that these points lie on the intersection of the surface with a
—
deri v ed surface of the degree 1 1 n 2 4 but his solution was gi v en in ,
i nconvenient for m C l eb sc h s investigation thereon is a most beautiful

’
.
piece of analysis
The representation of one surface upon another (Fl achen abbi l du ng)
.
so that they have a ( 1 1 )

,
correspondence was thoroughly studied for

, ,
the first ti me by C l eb s c h The representation of a S phere on a plane .
is an old proble m whi ch drew the attention of P tole my Gerard M er ,
cator J H La mbert K F Gauss J L Lagrange Its i mportance in

,
. .
,
. .
,
. . .
the construction of m aps is obvious Gauss was the first to represent .
a surface upon anothe r w ith a view of more easily arriving at its

properti es J P l ucker M Chasles A Cayley thus represente d on a
.
-
.
,
.
,
.
,
.
plane the geom etry of quadric surfaces ; C l eb s ch a n d L Crem ona that .

,
of cubic surfaces Other surfaces have been stu died in the same way
.
by recent writers particularly M ax N other of Erlangen A ng el o

A r men a n te ( 1 844—1 8 7 8 )
, ,
of Ro m e Fel i x Kl ei n Georg H L K or ndorf er

E ttor e C apor al i ( 1 8 5 5—1 8 8 6 )
.
,
.
, ,
of Naples H G Z eu then of Cope nhagen ,

. . .
A funda mental question which has as yet received only a par tial a n
swer is this :What surfaces can be represented by a ( 1 1 ) correspond ,
ence upon a given surface ? This and the analogous question for
curves was stu died by C l eb sch Higher correspon dences between .
surfaces hav e been investigated by A Cayley and M 1 Nother I m . .
portant bearings upon geometry has Riemann s theory of birational ’
transfor m ations The theory of surfaces has been stu died by J os e ph

)
.
Al fr e d S erre t 5 professor at the Sorbonne in P ar i s Jea n

Gaston Da r bou x of P aris J ohn C as ey ( 1 8 2 0 1 8 9 1 )—
,
of D ublin Wi l l i a m
9 1 8 92 )
Rober ts ( 1 8 1 7 1 88 3 ) —
, ,
— of D ublin H e i n r i ch S chr b ter ( 1 8 2 of ,
'
B reslau El wi n B r u n o C hri stofi el ( 1 8 2 9

,
professor at Zurich ,
later at S trassburg Chri stoffel wrote on the theory of potential on

.
‘
minim al surfaces on the so called transfor mation of Christoff el of

"
-
, ,
i sothermic surfaces on the general theory of curved surfaces His

researches on surfaces were ex tended by Ju l i u s Wei ngarten 1 83 6—1 9 1 0 )
.
,
of the University of F r ei b u rg and H a n s von M angol dt of Aachen in ,
1 88 2 A S we shall see m ore ful ly later surfaces of the fourth order ,
were investigated by E E Ku mmer and Fresnel s wave surface

.
’
-
. .
, ,
stu di ed by W R Ham i lton is a part i cular case of Kummer s quartic

. .
,
’
surface with sixteen double points and sixteen S ingular tangent planes
,
1
.
1
A C ayl ey , I nau g u ral A dd ress ,
. 1 88 3 .
ANALYTIC GEO M ETRY 315
P ro m inent in these geometric researches was J ean G as ton Da r

b o u x ( 1 84 2 He was born at Nim es found ed in 1 8 70 w i th the
—
collaboration of Gu i l l a u me J u l es H oitel ( 1 8 2 3 1 886 )
, ,
of B ordeaux and
J u l es Tan n ery the B u l l eti n des s c i en ces ma théma ti q u es et as tr on omi qu es
, ,
and was for half a cent ury conspicuous as a teacher In 1 900 he .
becam e permanent secreta ry of the P aris Academy of Sciences in ,
which position he was succeeded after hi s death by E mil P icard B y .
his researches D arb oux enriched the synthetic analytic and i n fi n

, ,
i t esi mal geo metries as well as rational m echanics and analysis

,
He .
wrote L egons su r l a theori e gen er al e des su rf aces et l es appl i cati on s

’ ’
g éo m etr i u es du cal cu l i nfi n i tes i mal

’
q P aris 1 88 —
7 1 8 96 and L egons su r , , ,
l es systemes or thogon au x ct l es coor donn ees cu r vi l i gn es P aris 1 8 98 He , , .
investigated t riply orthogonal ystem s of surfaces the deformat i on s

,
of surfaces and rolling of applicable surfaces infi nitesimal deforma ,
tion spherical representation of surfaces the develop m ent of the

, ,
moving axes of co ordinates the use of i magina ry geo m etric elem ents
-
, ,
1
the use of isotropic cylinders and dev el opab l es ; he introduced
p entaspherical coordi nates .
“
Eisenhart says : B arbou x was a strong ad vocate of the use of
i maginary el em ents in the study of geo metry He believ ed that their .
use was as necessary in geometry as in analysis He has been i m .
pressed by the success with which they have been e mployed in the
sol ution of the problem of m inimal surfaces Fro m the very beginning .
he m ade use in his papers of the isotropic line the null sphere ( the
isotropic cone )
,
and the general isotropic dev elopable In his first .
m emoir on orthogonal systems of surfaces he S howed that the envelope

of the surfaces of such a system when defined by a S ingle equati on , ,
is an isotropic developable D ar b o u x gi v es to E douard C om

b escu re ( 1 8 1 9— P)
.
the credit of being the first to apply the consi dera

tions of kine matics to the study of the theory of surfaces with the
consequent use of m oving c o or dinate axes B ut to D arb o u x we ar -
.
indebted for a realiz ation of the power of this m ethod and for its ,
systematic development and exposi tion D ar b o u x s ability was .

’
based on a rare co mbination of geo metrical fancy and analytical

power He did not sympathi z e with those who use only geo metrical
.
reasoning in attacking geom etrical problems nor with t hose who feel ,
that there is a certain vi rtue in adhering strictly to analytical proc

esses . In common with M onge he was not content with dis
c ov er i es but fel t that i t was equally important to make di sciples
,
.
Like thi s di stinguished predecessor he developed a large group of

geometers including C Guichard G Koenigs E C o ss era t A D e
,
.
,
.
,
.
,
.
m oulin G Tzi t z ei ca and G D emar t r es Their brilliant researches

,
.
a re the best tribute to his teachi ng

,
.
.
” .
P roceeding to the fuller consi deration of recent de v elop m ents w e ,

’
A m M a th M on thl y, V o l 2 4 1 0 1 7 p 3 54
”
1 “
S ee L P E i sen h ar t s D a rb o u x
’ ’
. . .
, , . . . . s
C o n t r i b u t io n t o G eome t ry i n B ull A m M a th S oc , V ol 2 4 , 1 9 1 8 , p
. . . . . . 2 2 7.
31 6 A H I STORY or M AT H E M ATIC S
quote from H F B aker s address before the International Congress

. .
’
held at Ca mbridge in 1 9 1 2 : The general theory of Higher P lane

1 “
Cur ves would be impossible without the notion of the genus of a

curve The inv estigation of Abel of the nu mber of independent i n
.
t eg ral s in ter m s of which his integral su m s can be e xpressed m ay thus

be held to be of paramount importance for the general theory This .
was further e mphasi z ed by G F B Riem ann s consideration of the no . . .

’
tion of birational transformation as a fundamental principle After .
thi s two streams of thought were to be seen First R F A C l eb s ch . . . .
remarked on the existence of invariants for surfaces analogous to the ,
genus of a p l ane curve Thi s number he defined by a double integral ; .
it was to be unaltered by birational transformation of the surface .
C l eb sc h S idea was carried on and developed by M Noether B ut

’
. .
also A B rill and Noe ther elaborated in a g eom etrical form the
.
results for plane curv es which had been ob tained with t ran s c en
dental consi derations by N H Abel and G F B Riemann Then . . . . . .
the geo meters of Italy took up N o ether s work with very remark ’
able genius and carried i t to a high pitch of perfection and clear

,
‘
ness as a geome t rical theory In connection therewith there arose .
the i mportant fact which does not occur in N oe ther s papers that ,
’
,
it is necessary to cons i der a surface as possessing two genera ; and

the nam es of A Cayley a n d H G Zeuthen S houl d be referred to at
. . .
this stag e B ut at this tim e another stream was running in France

E P icard was develop i ng the theory of Riemann integrals—S ingle
. .
integrals not double integrals— upon a surface How long and

,
.
laborious was the task m ay be j udged fro m the fact that the publica
tion of P icard s book occupied ten years—and may even then have
’
seemed to m any to be an artificial and unproductive i mitation of

the theory of algebraic integrals for a curve In the light of s ub s e .
quent events P icard s book appears likely to remain a permanent

,
’
landmark in the history of geometry For now the two strea m s .

,
the purely geo metrical in Italy the transcendental in France have , ,
united The results appear to me at least to be of the gr eatest i m

.
portance The work of E P icard in question is the Thear i e des

. .
’
fon cti on s al gébri q u es de deu x var i abl es i ndépendan tes which was brought ,
out in conj unction with Georges Si mar t between the years 1 897 and
1 90 6 .
H F Baker proceeds to the enumeration of some indivi dual r e

. .
s u l t s : Gui d o Caste l nuovo of Rom e has shown that the deficiency of
the characteristic series of a linear system of curves upon a surface can

not exceed the di ff erence of the two genera of the surface F ederig o .
Enriques of Bologna has completed this result by show ing that for an
algebraic syste m of curves the characteristic series is complete Upon .
this resul t and upon E P icard s theory of integrals of the second

,
.
’
1
P r oceed of the 5 th I n ter n C on gr ess , V ol I , C a mb r i dg e , 19 1 3 , p 4 9
. . Fo r m o r e . . .
d e t a il , c o n s u l t H B B a k e r i n t he P r oceed of the L on don M a th S oc , V o l 1 2 , 1 9 1 2

. . . . . . .
3 8
theory of cubic surfaces This w a S don e later also by L Cre mona and
”
'
. .
R Stur m between whom in 1 866 the S teiner pri z e was di vided

.
,
.
An elegant notation w as invented by Andrew Hart but the notation ,
which has me t with general adopti on was advanced by L S chl afli of .
B er n i n 1 8 58 i t is that of the double S ix S chl afli s double six theorem .

’
,
“
proved by him and by m any others S ince is as follows : Gi v en fi ve ,
l ines a b c d e whi ch m eet the sa m e straight line X ; then m ay any

, , , ,
four of the five lines be intersected by another li ne Suppose that

A B C D E are the other lines intersecting (b c d e)(c d e a )
.
(d e a b)(e a b c ) and (a b c d)
, , , , , , , , , , , ,
, , ,
will all be me t by one other straight line x

,
respectively T hen A B C D E
, , , , , , ,
.
” .
, , , ,
L S c hl afli first considered a division of the cubic surfaces into

.
species in regard to the reality of the 2 7 lines His final classification

,
.
was adopted by A Cayley In 1 8 7 2 R F A C l eb sc h constructed a . . . . .
“
m odel of the di agon al s u rf ace with 2 7 real lines w hi le F Klein es ,
.
t ab l i sh ed the fact that by the principle of continuity all form s of real

surfaces of the third order can be deri v ed fro m the particular surface
ha ving four conical points ; he exhibited a co mplete set of models ”
of cubic surfaces at the World s Fai r in C hi cago in 1 8 94 In 1 86 9 ’
.
C F Geiser showed that the projection of a cubic surface from a point

. .
upon i t on a plane of proj ection parallel t o the tangent plane at that

,
p oint is a quart i c cur v e ; and that every quartic cur v e can be generate d
,
“
i n this way The theory of var i eti es of the third order says A
.
, .
Henderson that is to say curved geom etric form s of three dim en

, ,
sions contained in a Space of four di mensions has been the subject

of a profound m e moir by C or r ado S egr e ( 1 88 7)
,
of Turin The depth .
and fecundity of thi s paper is evinced by the fact that a large pro
portion of the propositions upon the plane quartic and i ts bi ta ng en t s ,
P ascal s theore m the cubic surface and i ts 2 7 lines Ku m m er s sur

’ ’
, ,
face and i ts configuration of sixteen singular points and pla n es and on ,
the connection between these figures are derivable fro m propositions ,
relating to Segre s cubic variety and the figure of si x points or spaces ’
fro m which i t S prings Other investigators into the properties of thi s .
beautiful and i mportant locus in space of four dim ensions and som e of
its consequences a re G Castelnuovo and H W Richmond . . . .
”
In 1 86 9 C Jordan first proved that the group of the problem of
.
“
the trisection of hyperelliptic functions of the fi rst order is isomorphi c

with th e group of the equation of the 2 7 th degree on which the 2 7
l ines of the general surface of the thir d deg r e e depend In 1 88 7 F
'
,
.
” .
Klein sketched the e ffectiv e reduction of the one problem to the other ,
while H M aschk e H B urkhardt and A Witting completed the work

.
,
.
,
.
outlined by Klein The Galois group of the equation of t he 2 7 lines .
was investigated also by L E Dickson F Kuhnen H Weber E . .

,
.
,
.
,
P ascal E K a s n e r a n d E H M oore
,
. . . .
Surfaces of the fourth ord er ha v e been studied less thoroughly than

those of the third J S teiner worked out properties of a surface of the . .
ANALYTI C GEO M ETRY 319
fourth order in 1 844 when he was on a journey to Italy ; that sur face
bea rs this na m e and later received the attention of E E Kumm er
,
. . .
In 1 8 50 Thom as Weddle remarked that the locus of the vertex of a

1
quadric cone passing through six given points is a quartic s urface

and not a twisted cubic as M Chasles had once stated A Cayley . . .
gave a symm etric equation of the surface in 1 86 1 Thereupon Chasles .
in 1 8 6 1 showed that the locus of the vertex of a cone whi ch di vides

six given segm ents harmonically is also a quartic surface ; thi s more
general surface was identified by Cayley with the Jacobian of four
q uadrics the Wedd l e surface corresponding to the case in which the
,
four quadrics ha v e S ix co mmon points P roperties of the Wed dle sur .
face were stu died also by H B ateman The plane section of a .
We ddle surface is not an arbitrary quartic cur v e but one for which an ,
invariant vanishes Frank M orley proved that the curve contains an .
i nfini ty of configurations B where it is cut by the lines on the sur

6
,
face .
In 1 863 and 1 8 6 4 E E Ku mmer entered upon an intensive study , . .
of surfaces of the fourth order Noted is the surface named after him .
which has 1 6 nodes The various shapes it can assum e have been .
stu died by Karl Rohn of Leip zig I t has received the attention of .
m any m athem aticians inclu d ing A Cayley J G D a rb ou x F Klein ,

.
, . .
,
.
,
H W Richm ond O B olz a H F Baker and J I Hutchinson I t has

. .
,
2
.
,
. .
, . . .
been known for som e tim e that F r esn el s wave surface is a case of ’
Kummer s S ixteen nodal quartic surface ; al so it is known that the

’
surface of a dynamical m e diu m possessing certain general properties

'
is a typ e of Ku mmer s surface which can he derived from F r esn el s ’ ’
surface by m eans of a ho m ogeneous strain Ku mm er s quartic surface .

’
as a wave surface is treated by H B atem an The general .
Ku mm er s surface appears to be the wave surface for a medium of a

’
purely i deal character .
F R Sharpe an d C F Craig of Cornell University have studied

. . . .
birational transform ations which leave the Kummer and Weddle

urfaces invariant by the application of a theory due to F Severi
s
, .
Q uintic surfaces have been investigated at intervals since , 1 86 2 ,
principally by L Crem ona H A Schwarz A C l eb sch M N oe ther

.
, . .
,
.
,
.
R Sturm J G D arb ou x E Caporali A D el Re E P ascal John E

.
, . .
,
.
,
.
, .
, .
Hill and A B Basset No serious attempt has been m ade to en u mer

. . .
ate the different form s of these surfaces .
Ruled surfaces with isotropic generators have been considered by

G M onge J A Serret S Lie and others L P Eisenhart of P rinceton
.
, . .
, . . . .
d etermines such a surface by the curve i n which it is c ut by a plane

a n d th e directions of the projections on t h e plane of the generators
1
Camb 69 Du bl i n M a th J our , V ol 5 , 1 8 50 , p 6 9
.
“
. . . . .
2
C o n su l t R W H T H u d so n ( 1 8 7 6 K u mmer s S u rf ace, C am
’
. . . .
Qu arti c
br i dg e , 1 90 5 .
of the surface In th is way a ruled surface of this type is determ ined
.
by a set of lineal elem ents in a plane d ependin g on one param eter , ,

.
While the classification of cubic curves was given by I Newton .
and their general theory was well under way two centuries ago the ,
theory of quartic curves was not pursued vigorously until the ti me

of J Steiner and L O Hesse Neglecting the class i fication of quartic
. . . .
curv es due to L Euler G Cram er and E Waring n ew classifications

have been made either according to their genus ( Geschlecht)
. .
, ,
.
2 1 0
, 3 , , , ,
or according to topologic considerations studied by A Cayley in

Christian Crone ( 1 8 7 7)and others
.
1 86 5 H G Zeuthen
,
. . .
J Steiner in 1 8 5 5 and L O Hesse began researches o n the 2 8 double

. . .
tangents of a general quartic ; 2 4 inflect ions were found of which ,
G Salm on conjectured and H G Zeuthen proved that at m ost 8 are

real An enu m eration (containing nearly 2 0 0 graphs )
. . .
. of the fun da
m ental for m s of quartic curves whe n proj ected so as to cut the line
”
“
i nfinity the least possible nu m ber of times was given in 1 8 96 by Ruth

Gentry ( 1 8 6 2 then of B ryn M awr College .
Curves of the fourth order hav e receiv ed attention for many years .
M ore recently a good deal has been written on special cu rves of the
fif th order by Fran k M orley Alfred B Basset Virgil Snyder P eter ,
.
, ,
Field and others , .
Gino Loria of the University of Genoa who has written extensively ,
on the history of geom etry and the history of curves in particular , ,
has adv anced a theory of pa n al g eb r ai c curv es wh i ch are in general ,
transcen d ental curves By definition a pan al g eb rai c curve m ust .

,
satisfy a certain differential equation A book of reference on curves .
was published by Gomes Tei xei r a i n 1 90 5 at M adrid under the title

Tr a tado de l as cu rvas es eci a l es n ota bl es
p .
The i nfinitesim al calculus was first applied to the determination

of the m easure of curvature of surfaces by J Lagrange L Euler and
Jean Baptiste M arie M eu sn i er ( 1 7 54 1 7 93 )
, ,
. .
— of P ar i s noted for hi s ,
m ilitary as well as scientific career M e u sn i e r s theorem relating to

’
.
,
curv es drawn on an arbitrary surface was extende d by S Lie a n d i n ,

.
1 90 8 by E K as n er The researches of G M onge and E P C Dupi n

. . . . . .
were eclipsed by the work of K F Gauss who di sposed of this difli c u l t . .

,
subj ect in a way that opened new vistas to geom etricians His treat .
m ent is embo died in the Di squ i si ti on es g en er al es ci r ca su perfi ci es cu r vas

( 1 8 2 7) and Un tersu chu n gen uber Gegen stan de der hoher en Geodas i e of
1 8 43 and 1 8 46 In 1 8 2 7 he established the idea of curvature as it is
.
understood to day B oth before and after the tim e of Gauss various
-
.
d efin i t i ons of curvature of a surface had been advanced by L Euler .

,
M eu sn i er M onge an d D upin but these di d not m eet with general

, , ,
a doption From Gauss measure of curvatu re flows the theorem of

.
’
J oha n n A u gu st Gru n er t ( 1 7 9 7 professor in Greifswald and ,
foun der in 1 8 4 1 of the A r chi v der M a themati k u nd P hysi k that the ,
arithmetical m ean of the radii of curvature of all norm al sections

The m etric part of differential geom etry occupied the attention
of m athe maticians S ince the tim e of G M onge and K F Gauss and . . .
,
has reached a high degree of perfection Less attention has been .
giv en until recently to projectiv e diff erential geom etry particularly ,
to the diff erential geom etry of surfaces G H Halphen started with

the equation y=f (x)
. . .
of a curve and determ ined functions of y dy/dx , ,

2
d y/dx etc which are left invariant when x and y are subj ected to
2
,
.
,
a general proj ective transformation His early formulation of the .
problem is unsymm etrical and unhom ogeneou s Using a certa in .
system of partial diff erential equations and the geom etrical theory
of sem i covariants E J Wilcz ynski obtained hom ogeneous form s
-
,
. .
,
such form s being deduced later also by Halphen Wilc z ynski treats
1
.
of the proj ective diff erential geo m etry of curves and ruled surfaces ,
these surfaces being prerequisite for his theory of S pace curves Wil .
c zyn s k i treated ruled surfaces by a system of two l i near ho m ogeneous
d iff erential equations of the second order The m etho d was extended .
to fi v e d imens i onal space by E B Stou ffer of the University of Kan

-
. .
sas ?
D evelopable surfaces were stu died by W W D enton of the . .
Univ ersity of Illinois B elonging to projective differential geom etry .
are J G D arb ou x s conj ugate triple system s which are generaliz ed

. .
’
notions of the orthogonal triple system s The proj ective diff erential .
geometry of triple system s of surfaces of one param eter families of ,

-
S pace curves and conj ugate nets on a curved surface and allie d topics , ,
were studied by G ab ri el M ar c u s G r e e n ( 1 891 of Harvard

University .
D iff erential projective geom etry of hyperspace was greatly advanced

by C Guichard who intro d uced two elem ents dependi ng on two va
.
r iabl es ; they are the r es eau and the con gru en ce D iff erential geometry .
of hyperspace was greatly enriched since 1 90 6 by Corrado Segre of

Turin and by other geom eters of I taly particularly Gino Fano of
, ,
Turin an d Federigo Enriques of B ologna ; also by A Ranum of

3
.
Cornell C H Sisam then of Illinois and C L E M oore of the M assa

,
. . . . .
c h u se tt s Institute of Technolo g y .
The use of vector analysis in difl er en t ial geom etry goes back to
H G Grassm ann and W R Ham ilton to their successors P G Tait
” ” ”
,
. . . . . .
,
C M axwell C B urali Forti R Rothe and others These m en have

.
,
.
-
,
. .
“
introduced the term s grad “
div rot A geom etri c study of , ,
“
.
trajectories with the aid of analytic a n d chiefly contact transform a

tions was m ade by Edward K asn er of Columb i a Univ ersity in his
P rinceton Colloquiu m lectures of 1 90 9 on the differential —
”
“
geom etric
aspects of dynamics .
1
S ee E J Wil c yn sk i i n N ew Ha ven C oll oq u i u m, 1 906 N ew H a ve n , 1 9 1 0 , p 1 5 6 ;
. . z . .
[j er en ti a l Geometr y of C u r ves a n d R u l ed S u rf aces , L e ip ig , 1 90 6

al s o hi s P r oj ecti ve D i_
'
z .
2
B u ll A m M a th S oc , V o l 1 8 , p 444
. . . . . . .
3
S e e En r i co B o mpi a n i i n P r oceed 5 th I n ter n C on gr ess , C a mbr idg e, C a mb r i dg e ,
. .
1 9 1 3 , V ol II , p 2 2
. . .
ANAL Y TI C GEO M ETRY 3 3
2
A n al ysi s S i tus
S itus .
”
Various researches have been brought under the head of analysis
The subj ect was first inv estigated by G W Leibni z and . .
,
was later treated by L Euler who was interested in the problem to .
cross all of the seven bridges over the

P regel river at Konigsberg without passing
twice over any one then by K F Gauss 7
whose theory of knots ( Vers chl i ngu ngen ) D §
,
. .
,
Q
has been e mployed more recently by Jo
hann B enedict Listing ( 1 80 8—1 88 2 )of Gottingen Oskar Si mony ,
studies ”
of Vi enna F D i ng el dey of D ar mstadt and others in their topologic
,
.
P G Tait was led to the study of knots by Sir Wi l lia m

. . .
,
Thomson s theory of vorte x ato ms Through Rev T P Kirkm an

’
. . . .
who had stu died the properties of polyhedra Tait was led to study ,
knots also by the polyhedral m ethod ; he gave the n u mber of form s

of knots of the fi rst ten orders of knottiness Higher orders were .
treated by Kirk man and C N Little Th o ma s P e n yn gt on K i rk man 1
— 1 8 95 )
. . .
( 1 8 0 6 was born at Bolton near M anchester D uring boyhood ,

.
he was forced to follow his father s business as dealer in cotton and ’
cotton waste Later he tore away entered the University of D ublin

.
, ,
then beca me v icar of a parish in Lancashire A S a mathe matician .
he was al most entirely self taught He wrote on pl u q u at er n i on s I n -

.
vol v ing more i mag i nar i es than i j k on group theory on m athe , , ,
”
,
m a t i c al mne m on i cs producing what D e M organ called the most

“
”
“
curious crocket I ever saw on the proble m of the fifteen school ,
girls who walk out three abreast for seven days where it is requi red ,
to arran g e them daily so that no two shall walk abreast more than
once This proble m was stud i ed also by A Cayley and Sylvester
. .
,
and is related to researches of J S teiner . .
Another unique proble m was the one on the coloring of maps first ,
mentioned by A F M ob i u s in 1 840 and first seriously considered by

. .
Francis Guthrie and A D e M organ How many colors are necessary . .
to draw any m ap so that no two countries hav ing a line of boundary

in common S hall appear in the sam e color ? Four di ff erent colors
are found e xperimentally to be necessary and suffi cient but the proof ,
is diffi cult A Cayley in 1 8 7 8 declared that he had not succeeded

. .
in obtaining a general proof Nor have the later demonstrations by .
A B Kempe P G Tait P J Heawood of the University of D urham

. .
,
. .
,
. .
,
W E S tory of Clark University and J P eterson of Copenhagen

. .
,
.
re moved the difli c u l ty Tait s proof leads to the interesting con

2
.
’
c l u s i o n that four colors may not be suffi cient for a m ap drawn on a
m ult i ply connected surface like that of an anchor r i ng

- Further .
studies of maps on such surfaces and of the problem in general are , ,
1
A M ac fa rl an e , Ten B r i ti s h
. M o thema ti ci an s ,
1916 ; p . 1 2 2.
2
W A hren s , Un ter hal tu n g en
. a nd S pi el e, 1 90 1 , p 3 40
. .
due to O Veblen ( 1 9 1 2 ) and G D B irkhoff
. On a surface of . .
”
“
genus z ero i t is not known whether or not only four colors always
s ufli c e A S imi lar question considers the m axim u m possible number
.
of countries when e v ery co untry touches every other along a line

, .
Lothar H eff t er wrote on t hi s conundr um in 1 8 9 1 and again in la t er ,
articles as did also A B Kempe and others In the han d s of Rie mann
,
. . .
the analysis S itus had for its obj ect the determi nation of what remains
.
unchanged under transformations brought about by a co mbination

of infinitesim al di stortions In continuation of his work Walter Dyck .
,
of M unich wrote on the analysis S itus of three di m ensional S paces -

.
Researches of this sort have i mportant bearings in m odern mathe

m aties particularly in connection with correspondences and di ff er
,
1
e n ti al equations .
I ntri ns i c C o —di
or nates
ASa reaction against the use of the arbitrary Cartesian and polar
c o or di nates there ca m e the suggestion fro m the philosophers K C F
-
A P eters ( 1 8 0 3— 1 8 76)
. . .
Krause ( 1 7 8 1 that m agnitudes inherent

.
to a cur ve be used such as s the length of arc m easured from a fixed

, ,
point a n d (0 the angle which the tangent at the end of s m akes with
a fixed tangent Wi l l i am Whew el l ( 1 7 94 1 86 6 )
, ,
of Cambridge the -
author of the H i s tory of the I ndu cti ve S ci en ces 1 8 3 7 —1 8 3 8 introduced in

.
”
,
, ,
“
1 8 49 the na m e intrinsic equation and pointed out its use in study
ing successive evolutes and involutes The m ethod was used by Wil
—
liam Walton ( 8 3 1 90 1 )
.
1 1 of Cambridge J J Sylvester in 1 8 68 J ,
. .
,
.
Casey in 1 8 6 6 and others Instead of using s and 50 oth er writers

,
.
,
have introduced the radius of curvature p and ha v e used either s

and p or go and p The c o ordinates ( (p p )
,
,
were e mployed by
.
-
,
L Euler and sev eral nineteenth century m athe maticians but alto
gether the c o— or dinates (s p)
.
,
hav e been used m ost The latter wer e , .
used by L Euler in 1 74 1 by Sylvestre Fran cois Lacroix ( 1 7 6 5

by Thom as Hill ( 1 8 1 8—1 8 91 who was at one tim e presiden t of Harvard
.
,
College)and in recent years especially by Ernesto Cesaro of the

,
University of Naples who published i n 1 8 96 his Geometr i a i n tri ns eca

whi ch was translated into Germ an in 1 90 1 by G Kowalewski un der .
?
the title Vorl es u ngen uber n atitr l i che Geometr i e Researches along
this line are due also to Amed ee M annh ei m ( 1 83 1 — 1 90 6 )
,
of P aris the ,
designer of a well known S lide rule -

.
The application of intrinsic or natural co ordinates to surfaces is -
less co mm on Edward K asn er said in 1 90 4 that in the theory of

3 “
surfaces natural c o—
.
,
ordinates may be introduced so as to fit into the
1
S ee J H adamard , F ou r L ectu res on M a thema ti cs del i ver ed a t C ol u mbi a U n i ver s i tv
.
i n 1 9 1 1 , N ew Y or k , 1 9 1 5 , L ec t u re III
”
.
0 m i n form a t io n i s d raw n f ro m E Wo l ffin g s a r t i c l e o n N a t u rl i c h e K oo r

’
2
—
.
d i n a te n i n B i bl i otheca ma thema ti ca , 3 S , V o l I , 1 9 00 , p p 1 4 2 1 5 9 . . . . .
3
B u l l A m M a th S oc , V o l 1 1 , 1 90 5 , p 3 0 3
. . . . . . .
see m desirable to depart from our e mpirical notions so far as to allow
the ter m curve to be applied to a region more restricted definitions ,
of i t beco m e necessary C Jordan de manded that a curve . .
S hould have no double points i n the interval a S t S b Schon .
fl i es regards a cur v e as the frontier of a region 0 Veblen defines it . .
in terms of order and linear contin ui ty W H Young and Grace C . . . .
Young in their Theory of S ets of P oi n ts define a curve as a plane set

of points dense nowhere in the plane and bearing other restrictions
, ,
yet such that it m ay consist of a net work of arcs of Jordan curves -

.
O ther curves of previously unheard of properties were created as

the resul t of the generaliz ation of the function concept The con .
t in uou s curve represented by y

=
n
2 b” n(
= oo
)where c os a x
n
,
a is an even
integer 1 b a real positive nu mber 1 was shown by We i erstrass
, ,
1
to possess no tangents at any of its points when the product ab e xceeds
a certain l imit ; that is we have here the startling phenomenon of a

,
continuous function which has no derivative As Christian Wiener .
explained in 1 88 1 this curve has countless oscillations withi n e v ery

,
finite interval An intuitively si mpler curve was inv ented by Helge

.
v Koch of the U niversity of S tockholm in 1 90 4 (A cta ma th Vol 30

p 1 4 5)
.
, ,
.
1 90 6 ,
which is constructe d by ele m entary geom etry is con
.
,
ti n u ou s yet has no tangent at any of its points ; the arc between any
,
two of its points is infinite in length Wh i le this cur v e has been r epr e .
sented analytically no such representation has yet been found for

,
the so called H curve of Ludwig B oltzmann

- -
of Vienna ,
in M ath A n n al en Vol 50 1 8 98 which is continuous yet t an g e n tl ess

.
,
.
, , ,
.
The a djoining figure shows its construction B oltzmann used it to .
visualiz e theorem s in the theory of gases .
Fu nda mental P os tu l ates
The foundations of mathe matics and of geom etry in particular , ,
received m arked attention in Italy In 1 8 8 9 G P eano took the nov el . .
t io n e n
P . d u B o i s R eym o n d
-
r ee l l e r A rg u me n t e ,
”
G
V e rsu c h e i n e r K l a ss i fi ca t io n d e r
rel l e , Vo l 7 4 ,
. 1 8 74, p . 29 .
w i llk u rl i c h e n F u n k
AN A LYTI C GEO M ETRY 327
v iew tha t geome tric elements are mer e thi ngs and laid down the ,
principle that there S hould be as few undefined symbols as po s sible

In 1 8 97 9 his pupil M ari o P i eri ( 1 86 0—
1 90 4 )
.
— of Catania used o n ly two

undefined symbols for proj ective geometry and but two for metric
geometry In 1 894 P eano considered the independence of axioms
. .
B y 1 897 the Italian m athematicians had gone so far as to make it a

postulate that points are classes These fundamental features elab .
orated by the Itali an school were embodied by D avid Hilbert of

G ottingen along with important novel considerations of his own in
, ,
his famous Gr u ndl agen der Geometri e 1 8 99 _ A fourth enlarged e di tion ,

.
of thi s appeared in 1 91 3 E B Wilson says i n praise of Hilbert : The

. . .
a rc hi medean a xio m the theore m s of B P ascal and G D esargues the

,
. .
,
analysis of segm ents and areas and a host of things are treated either ,
for the first time or in a new way and with consum mate ski ll We
”
.
,
should say that i t was in the technique rather than in the p hilosophy
of geometry that Hilbert created an epoch 1
In H i lbert s S pace of .
’
1 8 99 are not all the points which are in our S pace but only those that , ,
starting from two given points can be constructed with rul er and ,
compasses In his space remarks P oincaré there is no angle of

.
, ,
So in the second e di tion of the Gr u ndl agen Hil bert introduced the ,
assum ption of completeness which renders hi s space and ours the ,
same Interesting is Hilbert s treatment of non Arc hi m edean geom

.
’
-
e try where all hi s assumptions re main true save that of Archi m edes ,
and for which he created a system of non Archim edean numbers -

.
This non Archim edean geom etry was first conceived by Gi u s eppe
-
Ver on es e ( 1 8 54 professor of geometry at the University of

P adua Our common space is only a part of non Archi m edean -
Non—
.
S pace . Archim edean theories of proportion were given in 1 90 2 by

A Kneser of B reslau and in 1 90 4 by P J M ollerup of Copenh agen
. . . .
Hilbert dev oted in his Gru ndl agen a chapter to D esargues theorem ’
.
In 1 90 2 F R M oulton of C hi cago outlined a simple non D esarg u esi an

. .
-
plane geometry .
In th e United States George B ruce Halsted based his Ra ti on al ,
G eometry 1 90 4 upon Hilbert s foundations A second revised edition

’
, , .
,
appeare d in 1 90 7 One of Hilbert s pupils M ax W D ehn showed ’
that the om ission of the axiom of Archim e des ( Eudoxus )

. .
, ,
gives rise
to a sem i Euclidean geom etry in which S im ilar triangles exist and their
-
s u m is two right angles yet an infinity of parallels to any straight

,
l ine may be drawn through any given point .
Systems of axiom s upon which to build proj ective geom etry were
first stu d ied more particularl y by the Ital i an school—G P eano M .
,
.
P ieri Gino Fano of Turin

, This subj ect received the attention also .
of Theodor Vahle n of Vienna and Friedrich Schur of Strassburg .
Ax ioms of descriptive geometry have been considered mainly by

1
B u ll A m M a th S oc , V ol 1 1 ,
. . . . . 1 904 , p 77. . O ur re m a rk s o n t h e I t al i a n S c h ool
d raw n from Wil son s ar t i c l e

’
a re .
328 A H I STORY or M ATHE M ATI C S
I talian and American m athematicians and by D Hilbert The , . .
introduction of order was achieved by G P eano by taking the cl ass .
of points whi ch lie between any t w o points as the fundamental idea ,
by G V ail ati and later by B Russell on the fundam ental conception

. .
,
of a class of rel ati ons or class of points on a straight line by O Veblen

( 1 904)
.
,
on the study of the properties of one sin gle three term relatio n -
“
of order A N Whitehead refers to O Veblen s m ethod : This
.
1
. . .
’
me thod of conceiving the subject results in a notable simplification ,
and combines advantages from the two previous m ethods While .
D Hil bert has six undefined term s (point straight line plane between
paral lel congruent)
.
, , , ,
and tw enty one assu mptions Veblen gives only -
two undefined term s (point between )

, ,
and only twelve assu mptions , .
However the derivation of fundamental theorems is so m ewhat

,
harder by Veblen s axioms R L M oore showed that any plane

’
—
. . .
satisfying Veblen s axio s I V III X I is a number plane and con

m
’
,
-
ta ins a system of continuous curves such that with reference to these ,
curves regarded as straight lines the plane is an ordinary Euclidean ,
plane .
In 1 90 7 Oswald Veblen and J W Young gav e a completely i n

,
. .
dependent set of assumptions for proj ective geom etry i n which points ,
and undefined classes of points called lines have been taken as the
undefined elements Eight of these assu mptions characteriz e general
.
projective S paces ; the addition of a ninth assum ption yields properly

projective S paces ?
Axiom s for line geometry based upon the line as an undefined

“
element and intersection as an undefined relation between u n ”
ordered pairs oi ele m ents were giv en in 1 90 1 by M P i eri of Catania ,
.
,
and in S im pler form in 1 91 4 by E R Hedrick and L Ingold of the, . . .
University of M issouri .
Text books built upon som e such system of axio ms and possessing
-
great generality and scientific interest have been written by F ede rig o
Enriques of the University of B ologna in 1 8 98 and by O Veble n , .
and J W Young in 1 9 1 0
. . .
Geometri c M odel s
Geom etrical m odels for advanced students began to be manu

fac t u r ed about 1 8 7 9 by the fi rm of L B rill in D ar m stadt M any . .
o f the early m odels such as Ku mm er s surface twisted cubics the ’

, , ,
t ractrix of revolution were made under the direction of F Klei n and ,

.
Alexander von B rill Since about 1 8 90 this fi rm developed into that

of M artin Schilling ( 1 8 6 6 —1 90 8 )
.
of Leipz ig The catalogue of the .
fi rm for 1 9 1 1 described som e 40 0 m odels S i nce 1 90 5 the fi rm of .
B G Teubn er in Leipz ig has off ered m odels designed by He rmann

. .
1
The A xi oms of Descr i pti ve Geometr y, C amb ri dg e , 1 90 7 , p . 2 .
2
B ul l A m M a th S oc , V o l 1 4 , 1 90 8 , p 2 5 1
. . . . . . .
33 0 . A HI STORY OF M ATHE M ATIC S
afl =a x y
(C) (D ) (E ) apply
‘
to the general exponent a and finds that (A )( B ) and (E )

,
pl e t e equations since the left m em bers have

“
,
are i n com
many m any more
x
, ,
,
”
v alues t han the right m em bers although the right hand values ( i nfi nite
in number) are all found am ong the i nfi nite times in finite values on
“
,
-
”
the left ; that ( C ) and (D ) are complete equations for the general case .
A failure to recog niz e that equation E is incomplete led Thomas

Clausen ( 1 80 1 —1 88 5) of Altona to a paradox (Grel l e s Jou rn al Vol 2 ’
1 8 2 7 p 2 86)
,
.
,
,
which was stated by E Catalan in 1 8 6 9 in m ore con
. .
den sed fo rm thus : e i =e i where m and n are distinct integers

2 n 7r 2 n 7f .
, ,
Raising bo th sides to the power 5 there results the absurdi ty

e m W = e
—m O hm introduced a notation to designate som e particular
r
.
, ,
value of a but he did not introduce especially the particular value

t
,
which is now calle d the principal value O therwi se his treatm ent “
.
”
of the general power is m a i nly that of the present t ime except of , ,
course in the explanation of the irrational From the general power

, .
Ohm proceeds to the general logarith m having a complex num ber ,
as i ts base I t is seen that the Eulerian logari thm s served as a step

.
la dder lea ding to the theory of the general power ; the theory of th e
general power i n turn led to a m ore general theory of logari thm s
, ,
having a com plex base

The P hi l os ophi cal Tr an s acti on s (London 1 8 2 9)
.
contain two articles

on general powers and logarithm s—one by John Graves the other
,
by John Warren of Ca mbridge Graves then a young man of 2 3 .

, ,
was a class fellow of William Rowan Hamilton in D ublin Grav es

-
.
becam e a noted jurist Ham ilton states that reflecting on G rav es s .

’
ideas on im aginaries led him to the i nvention of quaternions Graves .
obtains log Thus Grav es claimed t hat gen

eral logarithm s involv e two arbitrary integers m and m instead ,
’
,
of simply one as given by Euler Lack of explicitness inv olved

, .
Grav es In a discussion with A D e M organ and G P eacock the out . .

,
come of which was that Graves wi thdrew th e statem ent contained

in the title of his paper and i mplying an error in the Eulerian theory ,
whi le D e M organ a dm itted that if Graves desired to extend the idea

of a logari thm so as to use the base e + m i there was no error i n I 2 7r
,
volv ed In the process Sim ilar researches were carried on by A J H . . . .
Vincent at Li l le D F Gregory D e M organ W R Hamilton and

G M P agani ( 1 796—1 8 5 5)but their general logarithmic system s
. .
, ,
. .
,
.
,
.
in v olv ing complex numbers as bases fa i led of recognition as useful ,
m athe m atical inventions 1

We pause to S ketch the l ife of D e M organ
Au gu s tu s D e M org an ( 1 8 0 6—1 8 7 1 ) was born at M adura (M adras )
. .
and educated at Tr i nity College Cam bridge For th e determ i nation

of the year of his birth (assum ed to be In the nineteenth century)
.
,
he
proposed the conun dru m I was x years of age in the year x 2
His ,
“
.
C aj or i i n A m M ath M on thl y, V ol
—8
r efe r e n ces a n d fu ll e r de t a il s
1
For se e F . . . . 20,
19 1 3, pp . 1 75 1 2.
ALGEBRA 3:
scruples about the doctrines of the established church prevente d him

from procee ding to the M A degree an d from sitting for a fellowship
. .
, .
I t is said of him he ne v er voted at an election and he never visited

”
“
, ,
the House of Commons or the Tower or Westm inster Abbey ,

In , .
1 8 2 8 he beca m e professor at the newly es tablished University of
London and taught there until 1 86 7 except for five years from 1 83 1
, , ,
1 835. He was the first president of the Londo n M athematical Society

whi ch was founded in 1 8 6 6 D e M organ was a unique m anly char
acter and pre—
.
,
,
em inent as a teacher The value of his original work lies .
not so much in increasing our stock of mathem atical knowledge as in

putting it all upon a m or e logical basis He felt keenly the lack of clos e .
reasoning in m athe matics as he received it He said once : We know “

.
that m athem aticians care no m ore for logic than logicians for m athe
m at i c s .The two eyes of exact science are mathe m atics and logic :
the m athem atical sect puts out the logical eye the logical sect puts ,
one eye than with two .

”
out the m athe matical eye ; each believing that it can see better with
D e M organ analyz ed logic mathe matically ,
a n d stu d ied the logical analysis of the laws sym bols and operations , ,
of mathe m atics ; he wrote a Formal L ogi c as well as a D ou bl e A l gebr a ,
and corresponde d both with Sir William Ham ilton the m etaphysician , ,
and Sir William Rowan Ham ilton the mathematician Few con , .
temporaries were as profoundly read in the history of m athem atics

as was D e M organ N 0 subj ect was too insignificant to receive his
.
attention The authorship of Cocker s Arithm etic and the work

.
“ ’ ”
of circle squarers was investigated as m inutely as was the history of
-
the calculus Nu merous articles of his lie scattered i n the volu mes of
.
the P enn y an d E n gl i sh C ycl opwdi as I n the article In d uction (M athe

“
.
first printe d in 1 8 38 occurs apparently for the first tim e ,

” , ,
the n ame m athem atical in d uction ; it was ad opte d and populariz ed

”
“
by I Todhunter in his A l gebr a The term i n d uctio n h ad been used

.
,
“
.
”
by John Wallis in 1 6 56 in his A ri thmeti ca i nfi n i tor u m; he use d the
“
i nduction known to natural science In 1 6 8 6 Jacob B ernoulli .
critici sed him for using a process which was not binding logi cally and
then advanced in place of it the proof from n to n + 1 This is one of the .
sev eral origins of the pr ocess of m athem atical induction From Wall i s
to D e M organ the term induction was used occasionally in m athe
“ ” .
m a t i cs a n d in a double sense ( I )
,
to indicate inco mplete inductions of

the kind known in n atural science ( 2 )
, ,
for the proof from n to n + 1 D e ,

.
M organ s m athem atical induction assigns a distinct nam e for the

“’
”
“
latter process The Germ ans employ m ore com m only the nam e voll
.
s t an di g e Induktion which becam e current am ong them after the use

,
of it by R D e d ekind in his Wa s si nd u nd w as s ol l en di e Z ahl en 1 8 8 7

.
,
.
D e M organ s Difi eren ti al C al cu l u s 1 84 2 is st i ll a standard work and

’
, , ,
contains m uch that is or i ginal with the author For the En cycl opa di a .
e
M etr opol i tan a he wrote on the Calculus of Functions ( giving principles

of symbolic reason i ng) and on the theory of probab i lity In the Cal .
“
c ul u s of Functions he proposes the use of the slant line or solidus
for printing fractions in the text ; this proposal w as adopted by G G .
“
Stokes in Cayley wrote Stockes I think the solidus looks ,
‘ ’
very well indeed it woul d gi v e you a strong clai m to be P reside n t

of a Society for the prevention of Cruelty to P rinters 2
.
”
Celebrated is D e M organ s B u dget of P a radoxes London 1 8 7 2 a ’
, , ,
second edition of which was edited by D avid E u gene S m ith i n 1 9 1 5

D e M organ published mem oirs O n the Foun dation of Algebra ,
”
.
in the Tr an s of the C a mbri dge P hi l S oc 1 84 1 1 84 2 1 8 44 a n d 1 84 7

. . .
, , , .
The ideas of George P eacock and D e M organ recogni ze the possi

bili ty of algebras which diff er fro m ordinary a l gebra Such al gebras .
were indee d not slow in forthcoming but like non Euclidean geo metry , ,
-
,
som e of the m were slo w in fi n di n g rec ognitio n Th i s is true of H G . . .
G ras sman n s G B el l a vi t i s s and B P eirce s d iscoveries but W R

’ ’ ’
.
,
. . .
, ,
Hamilton s quaternions m e t with i mmediate appreciatio n i n England

’
.
These algebras off er a geom etrical interpretation of im agi n aries

Wil l i am R o w an H a mi l to n ( 1 80 5 1 8 6 5)
.
— was born of Scotch parent s

i n D ublin His early education carried on at ho m e was m ainly i n
.
, ,
languages At the age of thirteen he is said to hav e been fam iliar with
.
as many languages as he had lived years About this ti me he cam e .
across a copy of I Newton s Un i ver sal A r i thmeti c After rea ding that
.
’
.
,
he took up successively analytical geom etry the calculus Ne w ton s , ,

’
P r i n ci pi a Laplace s M écan i q u e C el es te At the age of eighteen he pub

’
.
,
li sh ed a paper correcting a m istake in Laplace s work I n 1 8 2 4 he

’
.
entered Trinity College D ublin and in 1 8 2 7 while he was still an , , ,
undergraduate he was appointed to the chair of astrono m y C G J

, . . . .
J acobi m et Ha m ilto n at the m eeting of the B ritish Association at

M anchester in 1 84 2 and a ddressing Sectio n A called Ha m ilton l e ,
Lagrange de votre pays Ha milton s early papers were on optics .

’
.
In 1 83 2 he predicted conical refraction a d iscovery by aid of m athe ,
m at ics which ranks with the disco v ery of Neptune by U J J Le . . .
Verrier and J C Adams Then followed papers on the P r i n ci pl e of

Varyi n g A cti on ( 1 8 2 7 )
. . .
and a general m etho d of dy n a mics ( 1 8 34

He wrote also on the solution of equations of the fifth degree t he ,
hodograph fluctuating functions the num erical solution of diff erential

, ,
equations .
The capital discovery of Ha m ilto n is his quaternions in which hi s ,
s tudy of algebra cul m inated In 1 83 5 he publ i shed in the Tran sacti ons .
of the Royal I r i sh A cademy his Theory of Algebraic Couples He re .
“
garded algebra as being no m ere art nor language nor primarily , ,
G G S t ok es , M a th a n d P hys P a per s V ol I C amb ri dg e , 1 880 , p V I I ; see al so

1
. . . .
, . . .
J L arm or, M emoi r a nd S ci e C orr of G G S tok es , V ol I , 1 90 7 , p 39 7

. . . . . . . .
2
A n e arl i er u se o f t he so l id us i n d es ig n a t i ng f rac t io n s oc c u rs i n o n e o f t he ve ry
fi rs t t ext b oo k s p u bl i s he d i n C a l i fo rn i a , v i z , t he D efi n i c i on de l a s pr i n c i pal es .
opera ci on es de a r i s méti ca b y H e n r i C a mb u s t o n , 2 6 p ag es p r i n t e d a t M o n t e re y i n
1 84 3 The s o li du s app e ar s S l ig h t ly c u r ved

. .
e xtended as was predicted The change in notation made in France .
by Jules Hoii el and by C A L a is a n t has been considered in England . .
as a wrong step but the true cause for the lack of progress is perhaps
,
more deep seated There is indeed great doub t as to whether the

-
.
quaternionic product can clai m a necessary and funda mental place

in a syste m of vector analysis P hysicists clai m that there is a loss .
of naturalness in taking the square of a vector to be negative .
Widely different opinions have been expressed on the value of ‘
quaternions While P G Tait was an enthusiastic champion of this

science his great friend William Thomson (Lord Kelvin )declared
. . .
, , ,
that they though beautifully ingenious have been an unmixed

, ,
M axwell 1 ”
e v il to those who have touched the m in any way including Clerk
A Cayley writing to Tait in 1 8 74 said I ad mire the
“ ‘
,
equation d 0 = u qdpq extre mely—i t is a grand exa mple of the pocket

”
. .
, , ,
I
“
'
m ap . Cayley ad mitted the conciseness of quaternion formulas b u t ,
they had to be unfolded into Cartesian form before they could be

m ade use of or e v en understood Cayley wrote a paper On C o or
”
“ -
.
d i n a t es versus Q uaternions in the P r oceedi n gs of the Royal Society

“
of Edinburgh Vol 2 0 to which Tait replied On the Intrinsic Nature
,
.
,
of the Q uaternion M ethod .
In order to m eet m ore adequately the wants of physicists J W ,

. .
G i bbs and A M a cf a rl a n e have each suggested an algebra of vectors

.
with a new notation Each gi v es a definition of his own for the .
product of two vectors but in such a way that the square of a vector ,
is positive A third syste m of vector analysis has been used by Ol i ver

.
H eavi s i de in his electrical researches .
What constitutes the m ost desirable notation in vector analysis

is still a m atter of dispute Chief a mong the various suggestions are .
, ,
those of the A merican school started by J W Gibbs and those of the ,

. .
Ger man Italian school The cleavage is not altogether along lines
-
.
“
of nationality L P ran dl of Hanover said in 1 90 4 : After long del i b
. .
cration I have adopted the notation of Gibbs writing a b for the

inner ( scalar )and a ><b for the outer ( vector)
,
,
product If one ob .
serves the rule that in a multiple product the outer product must be “
taken before the inner the inner product before the scalar then one
”
, ,
can write with Gibbs a b><c and a b c without giving rise to doub t .
2
as to the m eaning .
In the following we give German Italian notations fi rst the equiv -
al en t A merican n otation ( Gibbs )

,
second Inner product a Ib a b ; ’

.
, .
v ector product ab a >

-
<h ; also ab c a b ><c ; ab c ab Ic d ,
, , ,
ab
2
ab c d R M ehmke , .
, .
said in 1 90 4 : The nota t ion of the German Italian school is far pref
“ -
e r a b l e to that of Gibbs not only in logical and m etho di cal but als o ,
in practical respects .
1 S P Tho mp so n L if e of L or d K el vi n , 1 9 1 0 , p
. .
, . 1 138.
2
J a hr es b d (1 M a th V er ei n i g , V o l 1 3 , p 39
. . . . . . . .
ALGEB RA 33 5
In 1 8 95 P M olenbroek of The Hague and S Ki mura then at Yale

. .
,
University took the first steps in the organiz ation of an Internationa l

,
Association for P ro mo t ing the S tudy of Q uaternions and Allied

S yste ms of M athe matics P G Tait was elected the first presi dent . . .
,
but could not accept on account of failing health Al e xan d e r M ac

f ar l an e ( 1 8 5 1 —1 9 1 3)
.
of the University of Edinburgh later of the ,
University of Texas and of Lehigh University served as secretary of ,
the Association and was its president a t t he tim e of his death .
At the international congress held in Rome in 1 90 8 a committee

was appointed on the unification of vectorial notations but at the
time of the congress held in Cambridge in 1 91 2 no defini te conclusions
had been reached .
Vectorial notations were subjects of ex tended discussion in L E n ’

2
s ei gn emen t mathema ti qu e Vols —

1 1 14
—
1 90 9 1 9 1 2 between C B urali
’
,
.
, ,
.
Forti of Turin R M arc ol o ng o of Naples G C o mb eri ac of Bourges

,
.
,
.
,
H C F Timerdin g of Strassburg F Klein of Gottingen E B

. . .
,
.
,
. .
Wilson of Boston G P eano of Turin C G Knott of Edinburgh ,

.
,
. .
,
Alexander M acfarlane of Chatham in Canada E Ca r allo of P aris ,

.
v
,
and E Jahnke of B erlin In America the relative values of notations

. .
were di scussed in 1 91 6 by E B Wilson and V C P oor . . . . .
We m ention two topics outside of ordinary physics in which vector

‘
analysis has figured The generalization of A Einstein known as . .

,
the principle of relativi ty and its inte rpretation by H M inkowski ,

.
,
hav e opened new points of Vi ew So m e of the queer consequences of .
this theory disappear when kine matics is regar ded as identical with
the geo metry of four di mensional S pace H M i nk owski and following
-
. .
,
hi m M ax Abraha m used vector analysis in a li mited degree M i n

, , ,
k ow s k i usually preferring the m atri x calculus of A Cayley A m ore . .
exten ded use of vector analysis was made by Gilbert N Lewis of the .
Uni v ersity of California who introduced in his ex tension to four di

”
me n si on s some of the original features of H G Gr assman n s syste m ’
A dyn am e is accor ding to J P lucker ( and others )

. . .
“
,
a sys t em of .
forces applied to a rigid body The English and French call i t a .
“
t or sor In 1 899 this subject was treated by the Russian A P
. . .
K o tj el n ik o ff under the nam e of proj ective theo r y of vectors In 1 90 3 .
E Study of Greifswald brought out his book Geometr i e der Dyn amen
.
, ,
in which a line geo metry and kine matics are elaborated partly by
-
,
the use of group theory which are carried over to non Euclidean ,
-
spaces ; S tu dy clai ms for hi s system somewhat greater generality

than is found in Hamilton s quaterni ons and W K Clifford s bi ’
. .
’
t i
H e rmann G u n th er G ras s man n ( 1 80 9—
q u ar er n o ns
1 8 7 7)
.
was born at S tettin ,
attended a gym nasium at hi s native plac e (where his father was

teacher of m athe matics and physics )and studied theology in Berlin ,
for three years His intellectual interests were v ery broa d He started
. .
as a theologian wrote on physics co mposed texts for the stu dy of

, ,
33 6 A HISTORY O F M ATHE M ATIC S
German Latin and mathematics e dited a political paper and a mi s

, , ,
si o n ary paper in v esti gated phonetic laws wrote a di ctionary to the

, ,
Rig Veda translated the Rig Veda in verse harmoni z ed fol k songs
-
,
-
,
in three voices carried on successfully the regul ar work of a teacher

and brought up nine of his eleven chi ldr en—all this in addi tion to the
,
great m athem atical creations whi ch we are about to describe In .
1 834 he succeeded J S teiner as teacher of m athematics in an industrial

.
school in B erlin but returned to Stettin in 1 836 to assume the duti es

,
of teacher of m athem atics the sciences and of religion in a school , ,
there 1
Up to thi s tim e his knowledge of m athem atics was pretty
,
”
.
much confined to what he had learned fro m hi s father who had

“
written two books on Raum lehre and G rOssenl ehre
“
B ut now ” .
,
he m ade his acquaintance with the works of S F Lacroi x J L La . .

,
. .
grange and P S Laplace He noticed that Laplace s resul ts coul d

,
. . .
’
be reached in a S horter way by som e new ideas advanced in his father s ’
books and he proceeded to elaborate this abridged m ethod and to

, ,
apply it in the study of tides He was thus led to a new geom etric .
analysis In 1 840 he had m ade considerable progress in its develop

.
m ent but a new book of Schleier m acher drew hi m again to theology

,
.
In 1 84 2 he resum ed m athem atical research and becom ing thoroughl y ,
convi nced of the i mportance of hi s new analysis decided to devote ,
himself to it It now becam e his ambition to secure a mathematical

.
chair at a university but in thi s he never succeeded In 1 844 ap ,

.
p ear ed his great classical work the L i n ea l e A u s dehn u ngsl ehr e w hi ch , ,
was full of new and strange m atter and so general abstract and out , , ,
of fashion in its m ode of exposition that i t could hardl y have had ,
less influence on European m athe matics during its first twenty years ,
had it been published in China K F Gauss J A Grunert and A F

”
. . . . . . .
, ,
M ob i u s glanced over it praised it but co mplained of the strange , ,

“
terminolog y and its philosophi sche Allgemei nh eit Eight years .
afterwards C A B re t schn ei der of Gotha was said to b e the only

,
. .
man who had read it through An article in Gr ell e s Jou r nal in ’

.
,
whi ch Grassm ann eclipsed the geometers of that time by constructi ng ,
with aid of hi s m ethod geo metrically any algebraic curve remained , ,
again unnoticed Need we m arvel if Grassmann turned his attention

to other subjects —to Schleierm acher s philosophy to politics to
.
’
, , ,
p hi lolog y ? S till articles by him continued to appear in Gr ell e s

,
’
J ou rn al and in 1 86 2 ca m e out the second part of his A usdehn u ngsl ehr e

,
.
It was intended to show better than the first part the broad scope of
the Aus dehnungslehre by c onsidering not only geometric applica ,
tions but by treating also of al gebraic functions infinite series and

, , ,
the di fferential and integral calculus B ut the second part was no .
more appreciated than the first At the age of fi fty three thi s won .
-
,
der ful m an with heavy heart gave up mathe matics and directed hi s
, , ,
energies to the study of Sanskrit ach i eving in philology results which ,
V i c tor S hl g l H m
1
Gr m L ei p z i g 8 78 c e e ,
er a nn ass an n , ,
1 .
woode spoke of i t in D ublin as som ethi ng above and beyond 4 nions .
I have not seen i t but Sir W Hamilton of E dinburgh used to say ,

.
that the greater the extension the sm aller the intention .
M ultiple algebra was powerfully adv anced by B P eirce whose .

,
theory is not g eom etrical as are those of W R Hamilton and H G

Grassmann B e n j a mi n P e i r c e ( 1 80 9—1 880 )
. . . .
,
. was born at Salem M as s , ,
and gra duated at Harvard College having as undergraduate carried ,
the study of mathem atics far beyond the li m its of the college course .
When N B owditch was preparing his translation and comm entary

.
of the M éca n i qu e C el este young P eirce helped in reading the proof ,
S heets He was m ade professor at Harvard in 1 8 33 a position whi ch

.
,
he retained until hi s d eath For som e years he was in charge of the .
N au ti cal A l ma n ac an d super i ntendent of the United S tates Coast

Surv ey He published a series of college tex t books on mathematics
.
-
,
an A n al yti cal M echa n i cs 1 8 55 and calculated together wi th Sears , , ,
C Walker of Washington the orbi t of Neptune P rofound are his

.
,
.
researches on L i n ear A ss oc i a ti ve A l gebr a The first of several papers .
thereon was read at the first m eeting of the Am erican Association

for the Adva nce ment of Science in 1 864 Lithographed copies of a .
m e moir were d istributed a m ong friends in 1 8 70 but so s mall seemed ,
to be the interest taken in t hi s subj ect that the m emoir was n ot

printed until 1 88 1 (A m Jou r M ath Vol IV No P eirce works . . .
,
.
,
.
out the m ul tiplication tables first of s i ngl e algebras then of dou bl e , ,
algebras and so on up to sextuple m aking in all 1 6 2 algebras whi ch

, , ,
he S hows to be possi ble on the consideration of sym bols A B etc , , .

,
which are linear functions of a determinate nu mber of letters or units

i j k l etc with coefficients which are ordinary analytical m agni
tudes real or i maginary —the letters i j etc being such that e v ery
.
, , , , ,
.
, , , , ,
2
binary combinat ion i ij j i etc is equal to a linear function of the , , ,
.
,
letters but under the restriction of satisfying the associative law

,
1
.
C harl es S P ei r ce a son of B enj am in P eirce and one of the foremost

.
, ,
writers on m athem ati cal logic S howed that these algebras were all ,
defecti v e forms of qua drate a l gebras w hich he had previously dis

covered by logical analysis a n d for which he had devised a si mple ,
notation Of these quadrate algebras quaternions is a simple example ;

.
n o n i on s is another C S P eirce showed that of all linear associative

. . .
algebras there are only three in which d ivision is unambiguous These .
are ordinary S ingle algebra or di nary double algebra and quaternions , , ,
from whi ch the i maginary scalar is excluded He S howed that hi s .
father s algebras are operational and m atricular Lectures on m ultiple

’
.
algebra w ere deli v ere d by J J Syl v ester at the Johns Hopk ins Uni . .
versity and published in various journals They treat largely of the

, .
algebra of m atrices .
Wh i le B enjam in P eirce s co mparativ e anatomy of linear algebras ’
was favorably receiv e d i n Englan d i t was cr i ti ci sed i n Germ any as ,
1
A C ayl ey , A dd r es s be fore B r i t i s h A s so c i a t i on ,
. 1 88 3 .
ALGEBRA 33 9 .
being vague and based on arbitrary principles of classification Ger .
m an writers along this line are Eduard Study and Georg W S c heffe r s . .
An estimate of B P eirce s linear associative algebra was giv en in .

’
1 90 2 by H E Hawkes
1
who e xtends P eirce s method and shows its
. .
,
’
full power I n 1 8 98 Elie Cartan of the University of Lyon used the

.
characteristic equat i o n to dev elop several general theore m s ; he ex

h i bi t s the s emi si mpl e or D edekind and the ps eudo n u l or nilpotent
-
, ,
-
, ,
Su b algebras ; he shows that the structure of every algebra may be

represented by the use of d ouble units the first factor being quad
rate the second non—
,
,
quadrate Extensions of B P eirce s results were . .
’
m ade also by Henry Taber Olive C Haz lett gave a classification of . .
nilpotent al egb ras .
As S hown abov e C S P eirce advanced this algebra by using the ,

. .
m atrix theory P apers along thi s line are due to F G Frobenius and
. . .
“
J B Shaw The latter shows that the equation of an algebra de
. . .
termines its quadrate units and certain of the di rect units ; that the ,
other units form a nilpotent system which with the quadrates may
be reduced to certain canonical form s The algebra is thus made a .
sub algebra under the algebra of the associ ati ve u n i ts used in these
-
canonical form s Frobenius proves that every algebra has a D ede .
k ind sub a l gebra whose equation contains all factors in the equation
-
,
of the algebra This is the sem i simple algebra of Cartan He also -

.
”
,
S howed that the re m aining units fo rm a nilpotent algebra whose units
m ay be r egu l ar i zed (J B Shaw ) M ore recently J B Shaw has . . .

,
. .
extended the general theorem s of linear associative algebras to such

algebras as have an i nfinite number of units .
B esides the m atrix theory the theory of continuous g rOu ps has been ,
used in the study of linear associative algebra This iso morphis m .
was first pointed out by H P oi n c are the m ethod was followed .
by Georg W S cheff er s who classifi ed algebras as quaternionic and

.
non quaternionic and worked out co mplete lists of all algebras to

-
order five Theodor M ol ien in 1 8 93 then I n D orpat de monstrated

.
, , ,
“
that quaternionic algebras conta i n independent quadrates and that
”
,
q uaternionic algebras can be classified according to non quaternionic

-
types (J B Shaw)An ele mentary exposition of the relation between

. . .
l inear al gebras and continuous groups was given by L E D ickson of 2

. .
“
Chicago This relation enables us to translate the concepts and
.
theorem s of the one subj ect into the language of the other subj ect .
It not onl y doubles our total knowle dge but gives us a better insight
into either subj ect by exhibiting it fro m a new point of view The
,
.
”
theory of matrices was developed as early as 1 8 58 by A Cayley in an .
i mportant me moir which i n the opinion of J J Sylvester ushered in ,

. .
,
H E H aw k e s i n A m J ou r M ath , V ol 2 4 1 90 2 , p 8 7
1
. . We are . . .
, . . u si n g a l so
J B S haw s S ynops i s of L i near A ssoci a ti ve A l gebr a , Washi n g ton , D C

’
. . . .
, 1 90 7 ,
I n t ro d u c t i o n S haw g i v e s b i b lio g raphy

. .
2
B u ll A m M ath S oc , V o l 2 2 , 1 9 1 5 , p 5 3
. . . . . . .
the reign of Algebra the Second W K Cliff ord Sylvester H Taber . . .
,
‘
, .
,
C H Chap man carried the inv estigations m uch further The origi
. .
,
.
nator of matrices is really W R Hamilton but his theory published . .

, ,
in his L ectu r es on Qu ater n i ons is less general than that of Cayley ,

.
The latter m akes no reference to Ham ilton .
The theory of determ inants was studied by H oen é Wr onski ( 1 7 7 8

1
1 85 a poor P olish enthusiast liv ing m ost the tim e in France whose , ,
egotism and wearisom e style tended to attract few followers but who ,
m ade som e incisiv e criticis m s bearing on the philosophy of m athe

m a ti c s ?
He s tudied four S pecial form s of determinants which were
extended by H ei n ri ch Ferdi n a n d S cher k ( 1 7 98 1 88 5)
—
,
of B re m en and
Fer di n a nd S chw ei n s ( 1 7 8 0 —1 8 5 6 )of Heidelberg In 1 83 8 Liouville .
”
de monstrated a property of the special forms which were called '
wronskians by Tho mas M uir in 1 88 1 D eterm inants receiv ed the

attention of Jacqu es P M B i n et ( 1 7 8 6—1 8 56 )
.
of P aris but the great

. .
,
m aster of this subject was A L Cauchy I n a paper (J ou r de l ecol e ’
1 6)
. . . .
P ol yt IX .
,
Cauchy developed several general theorem s He in
.
,
.
t r o du c e d the nam e deter mi n a n t a ter m used by K F Gauss in 1 8 0 1 i n , . .
the functions considered by him In 1 8 2 6 C G J Jacobi began using . . . .
this calculus and he gave brilliant proof of its power In 1 84 1 he

,
.
wrote extended m e moirs on determ inants in Gr el l e s J ou r n al which ’

,
rendere d the theory easily accessible In England the study of l inear .
transform ations of quantics gave a powerful impulse A Cayley de . .
v el op ed skew deter m inants a n d P faffi a n s and introduced the use of

-
,
determ inant brackets or the fa m iliar pair of upright lines The m ore ,
.
general consideration of determ inants whose elem ents are form ed from
the ele m ents of giv en d eterm inants was taken up by J J Syl v ester
(1851)
. .
and especially by L Kronecker who gave an elegant theore m .
known by his nam e 3

Orthogonal determinants received the atten
.
tio n of A Cayley in 1 8 4 6 in the study of n elem ents related to each

.
2
,
other by equations also of L Kronecker F B rioschi and , .

,
.
others M axim al values of determ inants received the attention of

and especially of J Hadamard ( 1 8 93)
.
J J Sylvester
. . who .
proved that the square of a determ inant is never greater than the
norm product of the lines
-
—
Anton P u c h ta ( 1 8 5 1 1 90 3 )
.
of C z ernowitz in 1 8 7 8 and M Noether .
in 1 88 0 showed that a sym m etric d eterm inant m ay be expressed as

the product of a certain nu m ber of factors linear in the elem ents , .
D eterm inants which are form ed from the m inors of a determinant

were investigated by J J Sylvester in 1 8 5 1 to whom we owe the . .
,
Th o mas M u i r , The Theor y of D eter mi n a n ts i n the H i s tor i cal Or der of Devel op

1
men t [ V 0 ] I ] , 2 n d E d , L on don , 1 90 6 ; V ol I I , P e ri od 1 84 1 t o 1 8 6 0 , L on don , 1 9 1 1

. . . .
M u i r w as S u p e r i n ten de n t G e n eral o f Ed u c a ti on i n C ape C ol ony

-
.
2
O n Wr on sk i , see J B er t ran d i n J ou rn a l des S a va n ts , 1 8 9 7 a n d i n R evu e des
.
.
D eu x M ond es , F e b , 1 89 7 S ee a l so L I n ter medi a i r e des M a thema ti ci ens V o l 2 3 ,

’ ‘
-
—1 6 7 —1 8 3
.
. .
,
19 16 , pp . 1 13 , 1 64
,
18 1 .
3
E P a s ca l , D i e D eter mi n an ten , t r a n sl by H L e i tz m a nn ,
. . . 1 90 0 , p . 10 7 .
1 80 8 . The symbol E to express identity was first used by G F B . . .
Riem ann 1
.
M odern higher algebra is especially occupied with the theory of

l inear transform ations Its develop m ent is mainly the work of A
. .
Cayley an d J J Sylv ester . . .
Arth u r C ayl e y ( 1 8 2 1 born at Richmond i n Surrey was , ,
educated at Trinity College Ca mbridge He ca m e out Senior Wrang , .
ler in 1 84 2 He then devoted som e years to the study and practice

.
of law While a student at the bar he went to D ublin and alongside

.
,
of G Sal mon heard W R Ham ilton s lectures on quaternions On

.
, . .
’
.
the foundation of the S adl e ri an professorship at Cambridge he ac ,
c ep t ed the o ff er of that chair thus giv ing up a profession pro m ising ,
wealth for a very m o dest provision but which would enable hi m to give ,
all his tim e to m athe matics Cayley began his m athem atical publica .
tions in the C ambri dge M a themati cal Jou rn al while he was still an
un dergra d uate Som e of his m ost brilliant discoveries were made
.
during the time of his legal practice There is hardly any subj ect .
in pure m athem atics which the genius of Cayley has not enriched but ,
m ost im portant is his creation of a new branch of analysis by his

theory of inv ariants Ge rms of the principle of invariants are found
.
in the writings of J L Lagrange K F Gauss and particularl y of

. .
, . .
,
G B o ol e w h o showed in 1 8 4 1 that invariance is a property of dis

'
.
, , ,
c r im i n a n t s generally and who applied it to the theory of orthogonal

,
substitution Cayley set him self the problem to determ ine a pri ori
.
what functions of the c oefli ci en ts of a giv en equation possess this prop

e r ty of invariance and found to begin with in 1 84 5 th at the so
,
called hyper determinants possessed it G B oole m ade a number

-
” ,
.
,
.
,
of ad ditional d iscoveries Then J J Sylvester began his papers in the

. . .
C ambri dge and Du bl i n l ll a themati cal Jou rn al on the Calculus of Form s .
After this d iscoveries followed in rapid succession At that t ime Cay

,
.
ley and Sylvester were both residents of London and they sti mulated ,
each other by frequent oral comm unications I t has often been dif .
fi c u l t to d eterm ine how m uch really belongs to each In 1 88 2 when .

,
Syl v ester was professor at the Johns Hopkins University Cayley ,
lecture d there on Abelian and theta functions .
Of interest is Cayley s m ethod of work A R F orsyth describes it

’
. . .
thus : When Cayley had reached his most advanced generali zations
“
he proceeded to establish them di rectly by som e m ethod or other ,
though he seldo m gave the clue by which they had first been obtained
a procee ding whi ch does not tend to make hi s papers easy reading .
His literary style is direct si mple and clear His legal training had,
.
an influence not m erely upon his m ode of ar rangement but also upon
,
his expression ; the result is that his papers are severe and present a
curious contrast to the luxuriant enthusiasm which pervades so many
1
L K r o n e ck e r , Vor l esu n g en uber Z ahl en theor i e, p 86
’
. 1 90 1 , . .
ALGEB RA 343
of Sylvester s ’
papers ” Curiously 1
Cayley took little interest in
.
,
quaternions
—
J a e s J o s e ph S yl ve s ter ( 1 8 1 4 1 897)
.
m was born in London His .
father s name was Abraham Joseph ; hi s eldest brother assum ed in

’
America the name of Sylvester and he adopted this nam e too About , .
the age of 1 6 he was awarded a pri ze of $500 for solving a question

in arrangem ents for contractors of lotteries in the United S tates ?
In 1 83 1 he entered S t John s College Cambridge and cam e out .

’
, ,
Second Wrangler in 1 83 7 George Green being fourth Sylvester s ,

.
’
J ewish origin incapacitated hi m from taking a degree Fro m 1 83 8 to .
1 8 40 he was professor of natural philosophy at what is now University
College London ; in 1 84 1 he becam e professor of mathematics at the

,
Uni versi ty of Virginia In a quarrel with two of his students he slightly

.
wounded one of the m with a m etal pointed cane whereupon b e re ,
turned hurriedly to England In 1 844 he se rved as an actuary ; in

,
.
1 84 6 he became a student at the Inner Te mple and was called to the
bar in 1 8 50 In 1 84 6 he beca me associated with A Cayley ; often

. .
they walked round the Courts of Lincoln s Inn perhaps di scussing ’
the theory of invariants and Cayley ( says S ylvester ) habitually

,
“
,
d i scoursing pearls and rubies Sylvester resumed mathematical .
research He Cayley and Wil l iam Rowan Ham ilton entered upon
.
,
discoveries in pure mathematics that are unequalled in Great Britain

S ince the ti m e of I Newton Sylvester made the friendship of G Sal
. . .
m on whose books contributed greatly to bring the results of Cayley

and Sylv ester withi n easier reach O f the m athematical public From .
1 8 5 5 to 1 8 7 0 Sylvester was professor at the Royal M ilita ry Acade my
at Woolwich but showed no great e fficiency as an elem entary teacher

,
.
There are stories of hi s housekeeper pursuing hi m from hom e carrying

his collar and necktie Fro m 1 8 76 to 1 8 83 he was professor at the
.
,
Johns Hopkins University where he was happy in being free to teach ,
whatever he w ished in the way he thought best He beca m e the first .
editor of the A mer i ca n Jou r n al of M a thema ti cs in 1 8 7 8 In 1 884 he .
was elected to su cc eed H J S S mith in the chair of S avi l i a n professor . . .
of geometry at Oxford a chair once occupied by Henry Briggs John , ,
Wallis and Edmund Halley .
Sylvester someti mes amused himself writing poetry His L aws of .
Ver s e is a curious booklet At the reading at the P eabo d y Institute .
”
,
in B altimore of hi s Rosalind poem consisting of about 400 lines all

, ,
rhyming with Rosalind he first read all his explanatory footnotes

“
, ,
so as not to interrupt the poem ; these took one hour and a half Then -
.
he read the poem itself to the remnant of hi s au di ence .
1
P r oceed L ondon Royal S oci ety, V ol 5 8 , 1 89 5 , pp 2 3 , 2 4
‘
-
. . .
H F B ak e r s B i og raphi c al N o t i ce i n The C oll ec ted M ath P a pers of J J S yl

2 ’
. . . . .
ves ter , V ol I V , C amb r i dg e , 1 9 1 2

. We h av e u sed al so P A M ac M ah’ on s n o t i c e i n
. . .
’
P r oceed Roya l S oc of L ondon , V o l 6 3 , 1 8 9 8 , p i x

. . For S yl v es t e r s ac t i v i ti es i n
. . .
B al timore , see F ab i an F r an k li n i n J ohn s H opki n s U n i v Ci r cu l ars , Ju n e , 1 89 7 ; F . .

Sylvester s first papers were on F r esn el s optic theory 1 83 7 Two
’ ’
,
.
years later he wrote on C S turm s m em orable theorem S turm .

’
.
once told him that the theore m originated in the theory of the c om
pound pendulum S ti m ulated by A Cayley he made important i n
. .
v es t i g a t i o n s on m odern algebra He wrote on elimination on trans .

,
form ation and canonical form s in whi ch the expression of a cubic ,
surface by fi v e cubes is given on the relation between the mi nor de ,
t er mi n a n t s of linearly equi valent quadratic functions in w hi ch the ,
notion of invariant factors is i mplicit whi le in 1 8 5 2 appeared the ,
first of hi s papers on the principles of the calc ul us of forms In a .
reply that he m ade in 1 86 9 to Huxley who had claim ed that mathe

ma t i c s was a science that knows not hi ng of observation induction , ,
in v ention and e xperi m ental verification Sylvester narrated his per ,

“
sonal e xperie nce : I discovered and developed the whole theory of
canonical binary form s for odd degrees and as far as yet m ade out , , ,
for ev en degrees too at one eveni ng S itting with a decanter of port

, ,
wine to sustain nature s flagging energies in a back o ffi ce in Lincoln s

’
,
’
Inn Fields The work was done and well done but at the usual
cost of racking thought—a brain on fire and feet feeling or feelingless
.
, ,
as if plunged in an ice pai l Tha t n i ght w e sl ept n o mor e -

His reply .
, ,
.
” ,
to Hux ley is interesting reading and bears strongly on the qualities

of m ental activi t y involved in m athe mati cal re search I n 1 8 59 he .
,
gave lectures on partitions not published until 1 8 97 He wrote on ,

.
partitions again in Baltimore In 1 8 6 4 followed his famous proof .
of Newton s rule A certain fundam ental theorem in invariants

’
.
which had form ed the basis of an i mportant section of A Cayley s .

’
work but had resi sted proof for a quarter of a century was demon
,
s t ra t e d by Sylvester i n B alt i m ore Noteworthy are hi s m emoirs on .
C h eb i ch e v s m ethod concerning the total i ty of pri m e nu m bers wi thi n

’
certain li mits and h i s latent roots of matrices His researches on

,
.
in v ariants theory of equations m ultiple algebra theory of numbers

, , , ,
linkages probability constitute i mportant contributions to m athe

, ,
m a ti c s His final stu di es entered upon after his return to Oxford

.
, ,
were on reciprocants or functions of d iff erential coeffi ci ents whose

for m is unaltered by certain linear transformations of the variables ,
and a generali z ation of the theory of concom itants In 1 9 1 1 G .

,
.
Gree nh ill told reminiscently how Sylvester got everybody interested

”
1
in rec iprocants now clean forgotten ; One day after Sylvester

,
“ “
,
was noti ced walking alone a ddressing the sky aski ng i t : Ar e R ec ipr o , ,
‘
cants Bosh ? B erry of K i ng s says the Reciprocant is all Bosh ! ’ ’
There was no reply and Sylvester hi m self was t iring of the subj ect
, ,
and so B erry escape d a castigation B ut recently I had occasi on .
from the Aeronautical point of view to work out the theory of a Vortex
C aj ori , Tea chi n g a nd H i s tor y of M a thema ti cs i n the U n i ted S ta tes , Washi n g ton , 1 8 90 ,
pp . 2 6 1- 2 7 2 .
1
M al hemati cal G a zette V o l ,
. 6, 19 1 2, p . 108 .
analysis Wi th Abb é .
( — 1 8 74 )he founded in
B ar n a ba Tor to l i ni 1 80 8
1 8 5 8 the A n n al i di ma tema ti ca pu r a ed appl i ca ta A mong his pupils .
at P avi a were L Crem ona and E B eltrami V Volterra narrates

.
1
. . .
how F B rioschi in 1 8 5 8 with two other young Ita l ians E n r i co B etti

.
, ,
( 1 8 23 later professor at the University of P isa and F el i ce ,
C as or a ti ( 1 8 3 5 later professor at the University of P avia ,
started on a j ourney to enter into relations w ith the forem ost m athe
“
ma ti c i an s of France and Ger many The scientific existence of Italy .
as a nation dates from this j ourney It is to the teaching labors .

, ,
and dev otion of these three to their influence in the organi z ation of ,
a d v anced stu dies to the friendly scientific relations that they insti
,
t u t e d between I taly and foreign countries that the existence of a

school of analysts in Italy is due .
” ,
In Germ any the early theory of invariants as developed by Cayley , ,
Syl v ester and Sal mon In England Hermite In France and F B rioschi
, , .
in Italy did not draw attention until 1 8 58 when S i e g f ri e d H e inr i ch

Ar on h o d ( 1 8 9 1 884 )
,
l 1
— of the technical high school in B erlin pointed
out that Hesse s theory of ternary cubic form s of 1 844 involved i n
’
variants by which that theory could be roun d ed out F G Eisenstei n . . .
and J Steiner had also given early publication to isolated develop

.
m ents invol v ing the i n v a r i an tal i dea In 1 8 6 3 A ronh ol d gave a .
system atic and general expos i tion of invariant theory

He a n d C l eb sc h use d a notation of their own the symbolical notation , ,
d i ff erent fro m Cayley s which was use d in the further dev elop m ents
’
,
of the theory in Germ any Great d ev elop m ents were started about .
1 86 8 when R F A C l eb sc h and P Gordan wrote on t ypes of binary

,
. . . .
form s L Kronecker and E B Christo ff el on bilinear form s F Klein

,
. . .
,
.
and S Lie on the invariant theory connecte d with any group of li near
substitutions P a ul G ord an ( 1 8 3 7 1 9 1 2 )
.
. was born at Erlangen and -
becam e professor there He produced papers on finite groups par .

,
t ic u l a rl y on the sim ple group of ord er 1 6 8 and its associated cu r ve
y
3
z + z
3
x + x
3 =
y 0 His best known. achie v e m ent is the proof of the
existence of a complete system of concom itants for any giv en binary

form While C l eb sc h aim ed In his researches to devise m ethods by
.
2
which he could stu dy the relationships bet w een i nvarian tal form s
( F or m en v er w an dt schaf t)the chief ai m of A ron h ol d was to examine ,
the equivalence or the linear transform ation of one form into another 3
.
In v estigations along this line are due to E B Christoff el who showed . .

,
that the nu mber of arbitrary param eters containe d in the substitution

coefficients equals that of the absolute invariants of the form K , .
Weierstrass who gave a general treatm ent of the equivalence of two

1
B u l l A m M ath S oc , Vol 7 , 1 900 , p 6 0
. . . . . . .
2
N a tu r e, V o l 90 , 1 9 1 3 , p 5 9 7
”
. . .
We a r e u si n g F ran M eyer , B eri cht u be r den g eg en w a rt ig en S t an d de r I n

z
—
3
v a r i an t en the o r i e i n t he J a hr es b d d M ath Ver ei n i g u n g , V o l I , 1 8 90 9 1 ,

“
. . . . .
.
-
pp 7 9 2 9 2 S ee p 99
. . .
ALGEB RA 34 7
linear system s of bilinear and quadratic form s L Kronecker who ex , .
ten ded the researches O i Weierstrass and had a controv ersy with C .
Jordan on certain d iscordant results J G D ar b oux w ho~ i n 1 8 74 gave , . .
a general and elegant derivation of theore ms due to K Weierstrass

”
.
and L Kronecker G F r oben iu s who applied the transform ation of

.
,
.
bilinear form s to P faff s problem : To determ ine when two give n

“ ’
linear di fferential expressions of n term s can be converted one into

the other by subj ecting the variables to general point transfor mations .
The study of invariance of quadratic and bilinea r form s from the

stand point of group theory was pursued by H Werner
-
S
Lie ( 1 88 5)
. .
and W Killing Finite binary groups were exa m

.
i n ed by H A Schwarz and Felix Klein Schwarz is led to the

. . .
“
problem to find all spherical triangles whose symm etric repetitions
,
on the surface of a S phere give rise to a finite number of spherical

triangles d iffering i n position and deduces the form s belonging ,
”
thereto With out a knowledge of what Schwarz and W R Ha m ilton
. . .
had d one Klein was l ed to a deter m inatio n of the finite binary linear
,
groups and their form s Representing transformations as m otions .
and adopting Riem an n s interpretation of a com plex variable on a ’
S pherical surface F Klein sets up the groups of those rotations which

,
.
bring the five regular solids into coincidence with them selves and the ,
accompanying form s The tetrahedron octahedron and icosahedron .

,
lead respectiv ely to 1 2 2 4 and 6 0 rotations ; the groups in question ,
were stud ied by Klein The icosahedral group led to an icosahedral .
equation which stan ds in intim ate relation with the general equation
of the fifth degree Klein m a d e the icosahedron the centre of his theory
.
of the quintic as given in his Vorl esu n gen uber das I k osaeder u nd di e '
A uflbsu n g der Gl ei chu ngen f u nf ten Gr ades Leip z ig 1 88 4

‘
.
, ,
Finite substitution groups and their form s as related to linear

d i ff erential equations were invest i gated by R Fuchs (Cr el l e 6 6 6 8 )
,
.
, , ,
in 1 86 6 and later If the equation has on l y algebraic integrals then

.
,
the group is finite and con v ersely F u c hs s researches on this topic

,
.
’
were continued by C Jordan F Klein and F B rioschi Finite ternary .

,
.
,
. .
and higher groups have been studied in connection with invariants by

F Klein who in 1 8 8 7 m ad e two such groups the basis for the solution
.
of general equations of the six th and seventh degrees In 1 88 6 F N . . .
Cole under the guidance of Kle i n had treated the sextic equation in
, ,
the A m Jou r of M ath Vol 8 The second group use d by Klein was
. . .
,
. .
stu died with reference to the 1 40 lines in space to which it lea d s by , ,
H M aschke in 1 8 90
. .
The relationship of i nv arian tal form s the study of which was ,
initiated by A Cayley and J J Sylvester receiv ed S ince 1 8 6 8 em

. . .
,
phasis in the writin gs of R F A C l eb sch a n d P Gordan Gordan . . . . .
proved in C r el l e Vol 6 9 the finiteness of the system for a S ingle

binary form This is known as Gord an s theorem
“
.
,
Even in the
.
,
’
.
”
later si mplified fo rm s the proof of it is inv olv ed but the theorem ,
348
.
A H I STORY O F M ATHE M ATI C S
yields practical m ethods to determ ine the existing system s G . .
”
P eano in 1 8 8 1 generaliz ed the theorem and applied it to the
respondences represented by certain double binary form s In 1 890
cor
-
.
D Hilbert by using only rational processes dem onstrated the fi n i t e

.
, ,
ness of the syste m of invariants arising from a given series of any form s
in n variables A m odification of this proof which has so m e advantages
.
was given by W E Story of Clarke University Hilbert s research

. . .
’
bears on the nu mber of relations called syzygies a subj ect treated b e ,
fore this tim e by A Cayley C Herm ite F Brioschi C Stephanos .

, .
,
.
,
.
of Athens J Hamm ond E Stroh and P A M ac M ahon

, .
, .
,
. . .
The symbolic notatio n i n the theory of invariants introduced by ,
S H A ron h ol d and R F A C l eb sc h was developed further by P Gor

. . . . .
,
.
d a n E Stroh and E S tu dy i n Germ any English wr i ters endeavored

,
.
, . .
to m ake the expressions in the theory of form s intuitively evi dent by

graphic representat i on as when Sylvester in 1 8 7 8 uses the atomic ,
theory a n idea appl i ed further by W K Cli ffor d The sym bolic

”
.
,
. .
m ethod in the theory of inv ariants has been used by P A M ac M ah on . .
in the arti cle Algebra in the ele v enth e d ition of the E n cycl opaedi a
B r i tan n i ca and by J H Grace and A Young in their A l gebr a of I n
,
. . .
var i a n ts Ca mbridge 1 90 3 Using a method in C Jordan s great

, ,
. .
’
m e m oirs on invariants these authors are led to novel results notably , ,
”
“
to an exact for m ula for the m axim um order of an irreducible c o
variant of a syste m of binary form s A co mplete syz ygetic theo ry .
of the absolute orthogonal conco mitants of binary quantics was c on

structed by E dwin B Elliott of Oxford by a m ethod that is not sym .
bolie while P A M ac M ah on i n 1 90 5 employs a symbolic calculus i n

, . .
volving im aginary u mbr ae for simi lar purposes While the theory .
of invar i ants has played an important r ole in m odern algebra and

analytic proj ective geom etry attention has been directed also to its ,
e mploym ent in the theory of nu mbers Along this line are the r e .
searches o i L E D ickson in the M adi s on C ol l oqu i u m of 1 9 1 3

. . .
The establis hm ent of criteria by m eans of which the irreducibility

of expressions in a given dom ain m ay be ascertained has been i nv es
t ig a t e d by F T v Schubert . K F Gauss L Kronecker F W
. . . .
, .
, . .
P S chOn eman n F G M Eisenstein R D e dekind G Floquet L

.
,
. . .
,
.
, .
, .
K o nig sb e rg e r E Netto O P erron M B auer W D u m as and H

, .
,
.
, .
, . .
Blumberg The theore m of S chOn eman n and Eisenstein declares that

.
if the polynom ial x + c 1 x + —f— with integral coefficients is ” "

1
”
n
c n
such that a prim e p divides every coeffi cient c l c but p does

2
, ,
not go into c then the polynomial is irred u cible in the domain of

n,
rational num bers This theorem may be regarded as the nucleus of

.
the work of the later authors Floquet and K On ig sb erg er do not .
l i mit the m selves to polynom ials but consider also linear ho m ogeneous ,
d ifferential expr e ssions Blum berg gi v es a general theore m which .
practically includes all earlier results as special cases 1
—
.
F o b i bli og p hy ee T
1
r A m M th S o
ra V ol 7 9 6 pp 5 7 544
s r a ns . . a . c .
,
. 1 ,
1 1 , . 1 .
in 1 813 in his book Refl ess i on i i n tor n o all a s ol u zi on e del l equazi oni ’
al gebr ai che was substantially the sam e as that gi v en later by P i err e

,
L au r en t Wa n tzel 1
(18 14 but only the second par t of Wan tz el s ’
simplified proof rese mbles R u fli n i s ; the first part is m odelled after ’
Abel s Wan t z el by the way deserves credi t for having given the
’
.
, ,
first rigorous proofs (L i ou vi l l e Vol 2 1 83 7 p of the im . .
”
, , ,
possibility of the trisection of any gi v en angle by m eans of ruler and

co mpasses and of avoiding the irr educible case in the algebraic
,
solution of irreducible cubic equations Wan t z el was r épétiteur at .
the P olytechnic School in P aris As a student he excelled both in .
“
mathe matics and languages Saint Venant said of him : Ordinarily .
-
he worked evenings not lying down until late ; then he read and took
, ,
only a few hours of troubled sleep making alternately wrong use of ,
coffee and opium and taking his m eals at irregular hours until he
,
was m arried He put u nlimited tr ust in hi s constitution very strong

”
.
,
by nature which he taunted at pleasure by all sorts of abuse He

,
.
brought sadness to those who mourn his prem ature death .
R u ffi ni s researches on equations are remarkable as containing

’
”
anticipations of the algebraic theory of groups per
”
? “ ’
R u fli n i s
” ”
“
m utation corresponds to our ter m group He di vided groups into .
“
S i mple and comple x and the latter into intransitive transitive
“
, ,
i mprimitive and transitiv e primitive groups He established the

,
i mportant theorem for which the nam e R u flfini s theorem has

“
.
’ ”
been suggested that a group does not necessarily have a subgroup
3
,
whose order is an arbitrary divisor of the order of the group The .
collected works of R u ffi ni are p ublished under the auspices of the

Circolo M atematico di P alermo ; the first vol u m e appeared in 1 9 1 5
with notes by Ettore B or tol ot t i of B ologna A transcendental solu .
tion of the quintic invol v ing elliptic integrals was given by Ch Her .
m ite (C ompt R end 1 8 58 1 86 5 After Hermite s first publica ’

,
. .
, ,
tion L Kronecker in 1 8 58 in a letter to Hermite gave a second

,
.
, , ,
solution in whi ch was ob tained a simple resolvent of the S ixth degree .
Abel s proof that higher equations cannot al w ays be solved alge

’
b r a i c all y led to the i nquiry as to what equations of a given degree

can be solved by ra dicals S uch equations are the ones discussed by .
K F Gauss in considering the division of the circle Abel advanced

. . .
one step further by proving that an irreducible equation can always

be solved in ra di cals if of two of its roots the one can be expressed
, , ,
rationally in ter m s O f the other provided that the degr ee of the equa ,
tion is prime ; if it is not prime then the solution depends upon that ,
of equations of lower degree Through geometrical considerati ons .

,
1
E B or t ol ot t i , I nfl u en za , e t c , 1 9 0 2 , p 2 6 Wan tzel s p roo f i s g i v e n in N ou vell es
’
A n n al es M a thémati q u es , V o l 4 , 1 8 4 5 , p p 5 7 6 5 S ee a l so V o l 2 , pp 1 1 7— —
. . . .
. 1 27 . Th e . . . .
s eco n d p a r t o f Wa n t ze l s p ro o f, i n v o l v i ng s u b s t i t u t i on t he o r y , i s re p rod u ced i n J A

’
-
. .
’
S e rre t s A l gebr e s u pér i eur e .
2
H B u rk h ard t , i n Z ei tschr f M a themati k u P hys i k , S u p pl , 1 8 9 2
—
. . . . . .
3
G A M i l l e r , I n B i bl i otheca mathema ti ca , 3 F V o l 1 0 , 1 90 9 1 9 1 0 , p 3 1 8
. . . . . . .
ALGEBRA 35 1
L O Hesse cam e upon algebraically solvable equations of the ninth

. .
degree not included in the previous groups The subject was power
,
.
fully advanced i n P aris by the youthful Evar i s te Gal oi s ( 1 8 1 1 1 8 3 -
He was born at B ourg l afl f eifi e near P aris He b egan to exhi bit

‘
-
.
,
m ost ex traor di nary m athematical geni us after his fifteenth year .
His was a short sad and pestered life He was twice refused a d .
m i t t an c e to the Ecole P olytechnique on account of inability to m eet

the ( to hi m)
,
trivial demands of e xam iners who failed to recog ni z e

his geni us He entered the Ecole Nor male in 1 8 2 9 then an inferior
.
,
school P roud and arrogant and unable to see the need of the cus
.
,
t o mary detailed e xplanations hi s career in that school was not s mooth ,

.
Drawn into the turm oil of the revolution of 1 830 he was forced to ,
leave the Ecole Normale After se v era l m onths spent in prison he .

,
was killed I n a duel over a love aff air Ordinary tex t books he di s .
-
posed of as rapidly as one would a novel He read J L Lagrange s . . .

’
m emoirs on equations also writings of A M Legendre C G J ,

. .
,
. . .
Jacobi and N H Abel As early as the seventeenth year he reached

,
. . .
resul ts of the highest i mportance Two m emoirs presented to the .
Acade my of Sciences were lost A brief paper on equations in the .
B ul l eti n de Feru ssa c 1 8 30 Vol XIII p 4 2 8 gives results which seem

’
, , ,
.
,
to be applications of a general theory The night before the duel he .
wrote his scientific testament in the for m of a letter to Auguste Cheva

lier containing a statement of the mathem atical results he had reached
,
and ask ing that the letter b e published that Jacobi or Gauss pass
j udg ment not on their correctness but on their importance
,
Two ,
,
.
”
m emoirs found a mong his papers were published by J Liou v ille in .
1 84 6 Further m anuscrip ts were published by J Tannery at P aris

. .
in 1 90 8 As a rule Galois did not fully prove his theore ms It was

. .
only with difficulty that Liouv ille was able to penetrate into Galois ’
ideas Several comm entators worked on the task of filling out the
.
”
lac u n ae in Galois e xposition Galois was the first to use the word
’
.
“
group in a techni cal sense in 1 830 He div ided groups into simple .
”
,
and compound and observed that there is no si mple group of any

,
composite order less than 6 0 The word group was used by A

“
. .
Cayley i n 1 8 54 by T F Kirk man and J J Sylvester in ,

. Galois . . .
proved the i mportan t theore m that every inv ariant subgroup gives
rise to a quotient group which exhibits many funda mental properties
of the group He showed that to each algebraic equation corresponds
.
a group of substitutions which reflects the essential character of the

equation In a paper published in 1 84 6 he established the beautiful
.
theorem : In order that an irreducible equation of prim e degree be

solvable b y r adicals it is necessary and suff i cient that all its roots be
,
1
See l i fe by P aul D u pu y A nn a l es de l ecol e n or mal e s u pér i eu r e, 3 S , V ol X II I ,
’
In . . .
S ee al so E P i c a rd , O eu vr es ma th d Eva r i s te Gal oi s , P a ri s , 1 8 9 7 ; J P i e rp o n t ,
’
1 896
B u ll eti n A m M a th S oc , 2 S , V o l I V , 1 8 9 8 , pp 3 3 2 —
. . . .
. . . .
3 40 . . . .
2
G A M ill er in A m M a th M on thl y, V o l
. . .
, 191 3, p 18 . . XX . .
rational in any two of them Galois use of substitution groups to .

’
determine the algebraic solvability of e quations and N H Abel s , . .

’
so m ewhat earl i er use of these groups to prove that gen er al equations

of degrees higher than the fourth cannot be solved by radicals fur ,
ni shed strong incentives to the vigorous cultivation of group theory .
It was A L Cauchy who entered this field next To Galois are due
. . .
also so m e valuable results in relation to another set of equations ,
presenting them selves in the theory of elliptic functions vi z the ,

.
,
m odular equations To Cauchy has been given the credit of being

.
the founder of the theory of groups of fini te order even though funda
1
,
m ental results had been prev iously reached by J L Lagrange P ietro . .

,
Abbati ( 1 7 86 P R u ffi n i N H Abel and Galois . Cauchy s ,

. .
,
.
’
first publication was in 1 8 1 5 when he proved the theorem that the ,
number of distinct values of a non sym m etric function of degree n -
cannot b e less than the largest prim e that divides n without b ecom ,
ing equal to 2 Cauchy s great researches on groups appeared in hi s

.
’ "
Exer c i s es d a n a l ys e et de phys i q u e ma théma ti qu e 1 8 44 and in articles

’
—
, ,
”
in the P aris C omptes Ren du s 1 84 5 1 84 6 He did not use the term
group but he uses (x y z u v w )
,
.
and other devices to denote sub

”
“
” ” ”
,
”
“
s t i t u t i on s uses the ter m s cyclic substitution order of a su b s ti tu
”
, ,
“ “
tion ,
identical substitution transposition transitive “
in ,
“
, ,
transit ive In 1 844 he prov ed the fundam ental theore m ( stated

but not pro v ed by E Galo i s )
.
whic h is known as Cauchy s theore m :

.
’ ”
E v ery group whose order is divisible by a given prim e nu mber p m ust
contain at least one subgroup of order p This theore m was later .
extended by L Sylow A L Cauchy was the first to enu merate the

. . . .
o i d er s of the possible groups w hose degrees do not e xceed si x but thi s ,
enum eration was inco mplete At ti mes he fixed attention on prop .
er t i e s of groups without i mm ediate concern as regards applications ,
a n d thereby took the first steps towar d the consideration of abstract
groups In 1 84 6 J Liouville m ade E Galois researches bett er known

. . .
’
by publication of two m anuscripts At least as early as 1 848 J A . . .
Serret taught group theory in P aris In 1 8 5 2 Enrico B etti of the .

,
Uni v ers i ty of P isa published in the A n n al i of B Tor tol i ni the first .
rigorous exposition of Galois theory of equations that m ade the ’
theo ry intelligible to the g eneral public The first account of it gi v en .
in a text book on algebra is in the third edition of J A S erret s A l ge

-
. .
’
br e , 1 86 6 .
In England the earliest studies in group theory are due to Arthur

Cayley and William R Ham ilton In 1 8 54 A Cayley published a . . .
paper in the P hi l os ophi cal M agazi ne which is usually accepted as

foun ding the theory of abstract groups although the idea of abstract ,
groups occurs earl ier in the papers of A L Cauchy and Cayley s . .

,
’
O u r accou n t of C a u c h y s res earc h es o n g rou p s i s dr aw n fro m th e ar ti c l e o f G A

1 ’
—
. .
M il l e r i n Bi bl i otheca W — X
l a thern a ti ca , V o l 3 7 3 2 9 , a n d t ha t o f
—
1 9 0 9 1 9 1 0 , pp 1 . . .
Jo sephi n e E B u rn s i n A m M ath M onthl y, V ol

. .
,
1 9 1 3 , pp 1 4 1 1 48
. . XX . .
substitutions of n letters which are co mmutative wi th every sub s ti tu

tion of a regular group G on the sam e n letters constitute a group
which is S im ilar to G To Jordan is due the funda mental concept of .
class of a substitution group and he prov ed the constancy of the

factors of composition He also proved that there is a finite nu mber .
of primitiv e groups whose class is a given nu mber greater than 3 ,
an d that the necessa ry and s uff i cient condition that a group be solvable
is that its factors of co mposition are pri me numbers 1
P ro minent .
a mong C Jordan s pupils is Edmon t M oi l l et ( 1 8 6 5

.
’
editor of
L I n ter medi ai r e des mathémati ci en s who has m ade ex tensive c on tri b u
’
,
tions .
In Germ any L Kronecker and R D edekind were the earliest to

. .
becom e acquainted with the Galois theory Kronecker refers to it .
in an article publ i shed in 1 8 53 i n the B eri chte O f the B erlin Acade my

D edekind lectured on it in G Ot ti n g en in 1 8 58 In 1 8 79—1 8 80 E Netto
.
. .
gave lectures in Strassburg His S u bs ti tu ti on s theori e 1 88 2 was trans

—
( 8 6 1 8 94)
.
, ,
lated into Italian in 1 8 8 5 by G i u s epp e B a tta gl i n i 1 2 of the

Un iv ersity of Rom e and into Engl ish in 1 8 9 2 by F N C ol e then at,
. .
,
Ann Arbor The book placed the subj ect within easier reach of the
.
m athem atical public

In 1 8 6 2 —1 8 63 Lu dw i g S ylo w ( 1 83 2 —1 9 1 8)
.
gave lectures on sub s ti tu

tion groups in Christiania Norway which were attended by S oph u s , ,
Lie Extending a theorem given nearly thirty years earlier by A L

. .
Cauch y Sylo w obtained th e theorem known as Sylow s theorem

,
“ ’
m m“
Every group whose order is d ivisible by p but not by p p being a , ,
prim e nu mber contains 1 + hp subgroups of order pm About twenty

, .
years later this theore m was e xten ded still further by Georg Fr oben i u s
( 1 8 4 9 1 91 7 )
— of the Univ ersity of B erlin to the e ff ect that the number ,
of subgroups is k p+ 1 k being an integer even when the order of the , ,
group is d ivisible by a higher po w er of p than pm Sophu s Lie took .
a very im portant step by the explicit application of the group concept

to new dom ains and the creatio n of the theory of continuous groups
—
M a ri u s S Oph u s L i e ( 1 84 2 1 8 99)was born in N or dfj or dei de i n Nor
.
way In 1 8 59 he entered the Univer sity of Christiania but not until

.
,
1 8 6 8 di d this slowly developing youth d isplay m arked interest i n
m athe m atics The writings of J V P oncelet and J P l ucker awakened

—
. . . .
his genius In the winter of 1 6 9 18 7 0 he m et Felix Klein in B erli n

. 8
and they published so m e papers of j oint authorship The sum mer of .
1 8 70 they were together i n P aris where they were in close touch w i th
C Jordan and J G D arb o ux I t was then that Lie discovered his

. . . .
contact transform ation which changes the straight li nes of ordinary

-
space over into spheres This l ed h i m to a general theory of trans .
form ation At the outbreak oi the Franco P russian war F Klei n

.
-
,
.
G A M il l i B i bli th m h m i S V l X 99 9 p 3 3—
—
1
. . t t
er n 3 o eca a e a ca , . .
,
o .
,
1 0 1 10 , . 2 .
F E g l i B i bl i th m h m i S V l I 6 6 4 ; M N o th er
2 t t
—
. n e n 3 o 9
ec a pp a e a ca , . .
, o .
,
1 00, . 1 20 .
i M th A
n a l V l 5 3 pp
.
4
n n a en , o .
,
. 1 1.
ALGEBRA 3 55
left P aris ; S Lie started to travel afoot through France into Italy
.
,
but was arrested as a spy and imprisoned for a month until D arb oux
was able to secure his release In 1 8 7 2 he was elected professor at the
.
Univ ersity of Christiania with all his time a v ailable for research In
—
, .
1 8 7 1 1 8 7 2 he entered upon the study of partial di fferential equations
of the first order and in 1 8 7 3 he arrived at the theory of transforma

,
tion groups according to which finite continuous groups are applied

,
to infinitesim al transform ations He considered a very general and .
important kind of transform ations called contact transfor mations -

,
and their application in the theory of partial di ffere n tial equations

of the first and second orders As his group theory a n d theories of
.
integration m e t with no appreciation he ret urne d in 1 8 7 6 to the study

of geo metry—minim al surfaces the class ification of surfaces according
,
to the transformation group of their geodetic lines The starting of .
a n ew journal the A rchi v f or M athemati k og N a tu rvi den s k ab in 1 8 7 6

, , ,
enabled h im to publish his results promptly G H H al ph e n s pub . . .

’
l ic a t i on s of 1 8 8 2 on di ff erential in v ariants induced Lie to direct a t

‘
tention to his own earlier researches and their greater generality In .
1 88 4 Friedrich Engel was induced by F Klein and A M ayer to go to . .
Christiania to assist Lie in the preparation of a t r ea ti se the Theor i e 3
der Tr an sf or ma ti on s gr u ppen 1 8 8 8 —
,
1 8 93 Lie accep ted in 1 8 8 6 a

professorship at the University of Leip zig In 1 88 9—1 8 90 over work
.
,
-
.
led to insomnia and depression of spirits While he soon recovered .
his power for work he ever afterwards was over sensitiv e and mis
,
-
trustful o f his best friends With the aid of Engel he published in

.
1 8 9 1 a m em oir on the theory O f i n finite continuous transfor m ation
groups In 1 8 98 he returned to No rway where he died the following

.
year Lie s lectures on Difler en ti al gl ei chu n gen given in Leip z ig were

.
’
, ,
brought out in book form by his pupil Georg S cheffer s in 1 8 9 1 In , , .
1 8 95 F . Klei n declared that Lie and H P oincar é were the two most .
activ e m athe matical inv estigators of the day The following quota .
tion from an article written by Lie in 1 8 95 indicates h ow his whole

soul was perm eated by the group concept : 1 “
In this century the
concepts kno w n as substitution and substitution group transforma ,
tion and transform ation group operation and operation group , ,
inv ariant differential invariant and differential para meter appear

, , ,
continually m ore clearly as the most important concepts of m athe

m atic s . Wh ile the curve as the representation of a function of a
single variable has been the m ost important object of m athe matical
inv estigation for nearly two centuries fro m D escartes while on the ,
other hand the concept of transform ation first appeared in this

,
century as an e xpedient i n the study of curves and surfaces there ,
has gradually d eveloped i n the last deca des a general theory of trans
formations whose elem ents are represented by the transform ation
1
B eri chte d K oen i gl S aechs Gesel l schaf t,
. . . 1 89 5 ; t ran sl a t e d b y G A . . M ill er i n A m
M ath M on thl y, V ol I I I , 1 89 6 , p 2 96
. . . .
its elf while the series of transformations in particular the transforma

tion groups constitute the obj ect ,
.
” ,
In close association with S Lie in the advancement of group theory .
and its applications was F elix K l ein ( 1 849 He was born at ”

D usseldo r f in P russia and secured hi s doctorate at B onn in 1 868 After
studying in P aris he becam e privat—
.
docent a t G ottingen in 1 8 7 1
, ,
professor at Erlangen in 1 8 7 2 at the Technical High School in M u ,
nich in 1 8 7 5 at Leip z ig in 1 88 0 and at G ottingen in 1 8 8 6 He has been

,
.
active not only in the advance men t of various branches of ma them a t

ics but also in work of organi z ation Fa mous for laying out lines of
,
.
research is hi s Erlangen paper of 1 8 7 2 Vergl ei chende B etr achtu ngen ,
uber n eu er e g eometr i s che For s chu n gen He beca me member of the com .
mission on the publication of the E n cykl opci di e der mathemati s chen

'
Wi ss en s chaf ten and editor of the fourth vol um e on m echani cs also ,
editor of M a thema ti sche A n n al en 1 8 7 7 and in 1 90 8 president of the , ,
International Co mmission on the Teachi ng of M athe matics A S an .
inspiring lecturer on m athe matics he has wielded a wide influence

upon German and American students About 1 91 2 he was forced by .
ill health to discontinue his lectures at G Ot ti ng en but in 1 9 1 4 the ex

-
,
c i t em e n t of the war roused h i m to acti v ity m uch as J La g range was ,

.
aroused at the outbreak of the French Revolution and Klein res um ed ,
lecturing He has constantly e mphasi z ed the importance of both

.
schools of m athe m atical thought nam ely the intuitional school and , , ,
the sc hool that rests everythi ng on abstract logic In his opinion .

,
the intuitive g rasp and the logical treatment should not exclude
”
“
,
but should supplem ent each other .
S Lie s m ethod of treating differential invariants was further i n

’
—
.
v e s t i g a t ed by K Z oraw ski in A cta M a th Vol XVI 1 8 9 2 1 8 93 In

. .
,
.
,
.
1 90 2 C N Haskins deter m ine d the nu mber of functionally i n dep e n d

. .
ent in v ariants of any order while A R Forsyth obtained the invariants ,

. .
for ordinary Eucli dean S pace Diff erential param eters have been .
inv estigated by J Ed mund Wright of Bryn M awr College .

1
Lie s .
’
theory of inv ariants of finite continuous groups was attacked on logi

cal grounds by E S tudy of Bonn in 1 90 8 The vali di ty of this e riti
.
, .
c i sm was partly ad mitted by F Engel . .
Another m ethod of treating di ff erential invariants originally due

t o E B C hr i s tofl el has been called by G Ricci and T Levi —
,
. .
,
Civita . .
of P adua covariant derivation (M athema ti sche A n n al en Vol 54

“
, ,
.
,
A thi rd method was intro d uce d by H M aschke who used a

2
.
s ymbolis m S i mi lar to that for algebraic invariants .
—
Henry W S tager published i n 1 9 1 6 A S yl ow Factor Tabl e f or the fi rst
.
Tw el ve Thou s a n d N u mbers : For every nu mber up to 1 200 the d ivisors

of the for m p(kp+ 1 ) are given where p is a pri me greater than 2 and ,
We J E Wrig ht For ms ,
'
f Quadr ati c Difier en ti al

1 ’
a re u s i n g . . s I n var i an ts o 1 90 8 ,
5 8
pp
—4
-
2
Tra n s A m M ath S oc
. . . .
, Vo l . 1, 1 90 0 , pp . 197 20 .
L E Dickson said in 1 900 : When a problem has been exhibited

. .
1
in g roup phraseology the possibility of a solution of a certain char ,
acter or the e xact nature O f its inherent di fli c u l ti es is deter mined by a

study of the g roup of the proble m As the che mist analyz es .
a compound to d etermine the ulti mate elements composing it so the ,
group theorist deco mposes the group of a given problem into a chain
-
of si mple groups M uch labor has been e xpended in the de

.
termination oi simple groups For continuous groups of a fini t e .
number of para meters the problem has been completely solved by ,
W Killing and E J Cartan

. with the result that all such simple
. .
groups aside fro m five isolated ones belong to the systems investi
, ,
gated by S ophu s Lie vi z the general proj ective group the p ro ,

.
, ,
j e c ti v e g roup of a linear co mplex and the projective group leaving ,
invariant a non degenerate surface of the second order The cor -

.
responding proble m for infinite continuous groups re mains to be

sol v ed With regard to finite si mple groups the problem has been
.
,
attacked I n two directions O H older F N C ol e W B urn side

2 3
. .
,
. .
,
.
,
G H Ling and G A M iller have shown that the only S i mple groups
“
. . . .
,
of co mposite orders less than 2 000 are the previously known S imple
groups of orders 6 0 50 4 On the other hand , , ,
var i ous infinite syste ms of finite si mple groups have been determ ined .
The cyclic groups of pri me orders and the al ternating group of n

letters (n > 4 ) ha v e long been recogni z ed as S im ple groups The other .
known syste ms of fi nite S i mple groups have been discovered in the

study of linear groups Four syste m s were found by C Jordan
( Tr a i té des s u bsti tu ti on s )
. .
,
in his study of the general linear the abelian , ,
and the two hypoab el i a n groups the field of reference being the set ,
of resi dues of integers with respect to a prim e m odulus p Generaliz a .
”
t ons m ay be made by e mploying the Galois field of order p (desig
i "
n a t e d GF co mposed of the p Galois co mplexes formed wi th a
root of a congruence of degree n irreducible m odulo p Groups of .
linear substitutions in a Galois field were studied by E B etti E .

,
.
M ath i eu and C Jordan ; but the structure of such groups has been
,
.
determined only in the past decade The si mplicity of the group of .
unary linear fractional substitutions in a Galois field was first proved

by E H M oore (B ul l eti n A m M a th S oc D ec 1 8 93)
. . and shortly . . .
,
.
,
afte r w ard by W B urnside The co mplete generaliz ation of C Jor. . .
dan s four syste m s of S i mple groups and the determination of three

”
’
new triply i nfi n i t e syste ms have been made by the writer (i e by

-
. .
1
S ee L E D i ck s on i n C ompte
. . vendu du I I . Con gr i n ter n.
, P ar i s , 1 900 . P a ri s ,
1 90 2 , pp . 2 25 , 2 26 .
2
O H ol de r p ro v e d i n M a th A n n al en , 1 89 2 , t h a t th e r e a re o n l y t w o S i mp l e g ro u p s
. .
o f c o mpos i t e o r d e r l ess t h an 200 , v iz , t hose o f o r de r 6 0 a n d 1 6 8 . .
3
F N C o l e In A m J ou r M a th , 1 8 9 3 fo u n d t ha t t h e i c co u l d b e o n l y t hre e su c h
. . .
g ro u ps b e t w ee n o rd e rs 2 00 a n d 6 6 1 , v iz , o f o rd e rs 660 . .
4
W B u rn side s ho w ed t ha t t here w as on l y on e Si mp l e g rou p of co mposi te orde r
.
b e t w een 6 6 1 an d 1 09 2 .
AL GEBRA 3 59
L E Dickson in
. . Aside fro m the cyclic and alternating groups ,
the known syste ms of finite si mple groups have been derived as quo
tient groups in the series of co mposition of certain linear groups
-
.
M iss I M S c ho t t en fe l s of C hicago showed that it is possible to con

. .
struct two si mple groups of the sam e order .
The determination of the s m allest degree ( the class of any of the

non identical substitutions of pri mitive groups whi ch do not include
-
“
Jordan s problem ’ ”
the alternating group was taken up by C Jordan and has been called
It was continued by Alfred B ocher t of B reslau
.
.
and E M aillet B oc her t proved in 1 8 92 : If a substitution group of

. .
deg ree n does not include the alternating group and is more than
S i mply transitive its C l ass e x ceeds i n — if i t is m ore than d oubly
’
r
, ,
transitive its class e xceeds 3n 1 and if i t is more than triply transi

—
,
ti v e its class is not less than % 1 E M aillet showed that when

n . .
the degree of a primitive group is less than 2 0 2 its class cannot be ob

t ai n ed by di mi n i shing the degree by unity u nl ess the degree is a power
of a prime n umber In 1 900 W B urnside proved that eve ry transitive
. .
per muta tion group in p symbols p being prime is either solvable , ,
or doubly tra nsiti ve .
As regards linear groups G A M iller wrote in 1 8 99 as follows

The linear groups are of e xtreme i m
. .
, .
portance on account of their

numerous direct applications Eve r y group of a finite order can .
clearly be represented in many ways as a linear substitution group

since the ordinary substitution (perm utation )groups are merely
very special cases of the linear groups The general question of rep .
resenting such a group with the least nu mber of variables seems to

be far from a co mplete solution I t is closely related to that of de .
t ermi n i ng all th e linear groups of a finite order that can be represented

w i th a small number of variables Klein was the first to determ ine all
the finite binary groups (in 1 8 7 5)
.
while the ternary ones were con

s i der e d independently by C Jordan ( 1 880 ) and H V a l en ti n er . .
The latter discovered the i mportant group of order 3 60 which was

o mitted by Jordan and has recently been proved (by A Wi man of
Lund )
.
S i mply iso m orphic to the alter n ating group of degree 6 H . .
M aschk e has considered m any quaternary groups and established ,
in particular a complete for m syste m of the quaternary group of

( 53 1 90 8 )
,
8 linear substitutions H i i h M h k 8 — was born

5 41 0 e n r c a s c e 1
in Breslau studied in B erlin under K Weierstrass E E Kumm er

.
.
, . .
, ,
and L Kronecker later in G ottingen under H A Schwarz J B

.
, . .
,
. .
L i sting and F Klein He entered upon the study of group theory

,
. .
un der Klein In 1 8 9 1 he came to the United States worked a year

.
,
with the Weston Electric C o then a cc ep t ed a place at the University .

,
of Chicago .
Linear groups of fin i te order first treated by Feli x Klein were , ,
later used by h i m i n the extens i on of the Galo i s theory of algebraic

equat i ons as seen in his I k os aeder A S state d above Klein s de
,
.
,
’
36 0 A HI STORY OF MATHE M ATIC S
termination of the linear groups in two variables was followed by
groups in three variables developed by C Jordan and H V al en tin er ,
. .
and by groups of any num ber of variables treated by C ,

.
Jordan Sp ecial linear gr oups in four variables were di scussed by E

'
G ou r sa t ( 1 88 9)
. .
and G Bagnera of P alermo The complete .
determination of the groups in four variables aside from intransi ti v ,
and m onomial types was carried t hrough by H F B l i chfel dt of L e ,

. .
land S tanford University Says B l i chfel dt : There are in the main

1
.
, ,
four distinct principles employed in the determination of the groups

in 2 3 or 4 variables :( a ) the original geo metrical process of Klein
(b )
.
,
the processes lea di ng to a diophantine equation which may be ,
approached analytically ( C Jordan or geom etrically (H Valen

tiner G B agnera H H M itchell ) ; (c )
. . .
,
. a process involving the relativ e
,
. .
geo metrical properties of transform ati ons whi ch represent hom ologies
and like forms (H V al en ti n er G B agnera H H M itchell .
(d) ,
.
,
. .
a process developed from the properties of the m ultipliers of the trans

form ations which are roots of unity (H F B li chfel dt ) A new prin
,
. . .
c i pl e has been added recently by L Bieberbach though i t had already .

,
been use d by H V al en ti n er in a certain form Independent of

. .
these principles stands the theory of group characteristics of whi ch

G F rob en i u s is the discoverer
. .
” ,
There is a m arked diff erence between finite groups of even and of

o dd order A S W B urn side points out the latter admit no self
?
.
,
in v erse irreducible representation except the identical one ; all irre ,
du c i bl e groups of o dd or d er in 3 5 or 7 sym bols are soluble G A ,

. . .
M iller pro v ed in 1 90 1 that no group of odd order with a conj ugate

set of operations containing fewer than 50 m e mbers could be simple .
W B urnside prov ed In 1 90 1 that transitive groups of odd order whose

.
degree I S less than 1 00 are soluble H L Rietz I n 1 90 4 extended thi s . . .
last result to groups whose degrees are less than 2 43 W B urnside . .
has shown that the num ber of prime factors in the order of a simple
group of odd order cannot be less than 7 and that is a lower
li mit for the order of a group of odd degree if S im ple These results ,
.
suggest that perhaps simple groups of odd order do not exist Recent
, ,
.
researches on groups m ainly abstract groups are due to L E Dickson , ,

. .
,
Le Vavasseur M P o tr on L I Neikirk G Frobenius H Hilton

,
.
,
. .
,
.
, .
,
A Wiman J A de Ség u i er H W Kuhn A Loew y H F B l i chfel dt

.
,
. .
3
,
. .
,
.
,
. .
,
W A M anning and m any others E x tensive researches on abstract

. .
,
.
groups have been carried on by G A M iller of the University of . .
Illinois In 1 9 1 4 he showed for instance that a n on abelian group

.
, ,
-
can have an abelian group of iso morphism s by proving the exi stence
1
We a re u si n g H F B l i ch fel d t
’
s Fi n i te C oll i n eati on Gr ou ps , C hi cag o, 1 9 1 7,
—
. .
pp 74 1 7 7
1 .
2
W B u rn si d e Theor y of Gr ou ps of Fi n i te Or der , 2 Ed C a m b r i dg e , 1 9 1 1 , p 5 0 3
”
. . . .
, , .
3
C o n s u l t G A M i l l e r s Thi rd R e po r t o n R e c e n t P ro g ress i n t h e T heo ry of
’
. .
G r o u p s o f F i n i t e O r de r i n B u l l A m M a th S oc , V ol 1 4 , 1 90 7 , p 1 24 . . . . . . .
then the exact number of positive roots is ascertainable fro m the
v ariations of S ign in the series M ichel Fekete and Georg P OIya
— x)
.
,
both of B udapest use for the sam e purpose

,
? n
The theo ry of equations commanded the attention of L e opol d

Kr on e ck e r ( 1 8 2 3 He was born in Liegnitz near Breslau ,
studi ed at the gymnasi u m of his native town under Kummer later ,
in B erlin under C G J Jacobi J Steiner and P Dirichl et then in

. . .
,
.
, .
,
B reslau again under E E Ku mm er Though for elev en years after . . .
1 8 44 engaged in business and th e care of his estates he did not neglect ,
m athematics and his fam e grew apace

,
In 1 8 55 he went to B erlin .
where he began to lecture at the Univers ity in 1 8 6 1 He was a very .
stim ulating and interesting lecturer K umrn er K Weiers trass and

'
. .
, ,
L Kronecker constitute the triumv i rate of the second mathematical

.
school in B erlin This school e mphasi z ed severe rigor in dem onstra

.
tions L Kronecker dwelt intensely upon arithm etization which

. .
repressed as far as possible all space representations and rested solely

upon the concept of nu mber particularly the positive integer He ,
.
displayed m anysided talen t and extraor di nary ability to penetrate

new fields of thought B ut says G Frobenius 2 “
conspicuous as
.
“
,
” .
,
his achiev ements are in the different fields of num ber research he ,
does not quite reach up to A L Cauchy and C G J Jacobi in an al y . . . . .
SiS nor to B Riemann and Weierstrass in function theo ry nor to

,
.
Dirichl et and Kumm er in nu mber theory Kronecker s papers on -

.
” -
’
,
algebra the theory of equations and elliptic functions proved to be

,
diffi cult reading A m ore co mplete and simplified exp osition of hi s

.
results was giv en by R D edekind and H Weber

of Kronecker s achieve ments says Fine’ 3 “
A mong the finest
were the connections
.
,
” .
,
.
whi ch he established among the various di sciplines in which he worked :

notably that between the theory of quadratic form s of negative deter
minant and elliptic functions through the S ingu lar m oduli which give ,
rise to the complex m ultiplication of the elliptic functions and that ,
between the theory of n u mbers and algebra by hi s arithm etical

theory of the algebraic equation He held to the view that the theory .
” ,
of fractional and irrational numbers could be built upon the integral

”
numbers alone Die gan z e z ahl said he schuf der liebe Gott
”
“
, , ,
.
alles U eb rig e ist M enschenwerk Later he even denied the existence .
of irrational numbers He once paradoxically remarked to Linde .
m ann : Of what use is your beautiful research on the num ber i r ?

“
nu mbers whatever ? ”
Why cogitate over such problem s when really there are no irrational ,
In 1 8 90—1 8 9 1 L Kronecker developed a theory of the algebraic equa

.
tion with num erical coeffi cients whi ch he di d not live to publish ,
.
From notes of Kronecker s lectures H B Fine of P rinceton prepared ’

,
. .
1
B u l l A m M ath S oc , V o l 2 0 , 1 9 1 3 , p 2 0
. . . . . . .
2
G F ro b e n i u s Ged ii chtn i ssrede a uf L eopol d K r on eck er , B e rli n ,
.
, 1 893 , p . 1.
3
B ul l A m M a th S oc , V ol I , 1 89 2 , p 1 7 5
. . . . . . .
AL GEB RA 3 63
”
?
an address in 1 91 3 giving Kronecker s unpublished results All ’ “
who have read Kronecker s later writings says Fine are familiar
“ ’
, ,
with his contention that the theory of the algebraic equation in its
final for m m ust be based solely on the rational integer algebraic ,
nu mbers being excluded and only such relations and operations being
admi tted as can be expressed in finite ter ms by means of rational
numbers and therefore ulti mately by means of integers These lec
tures of 1 890 —
.
9 1 are chi efly concern ed with the develop ment of such

a theory and in partic u lar with the proof of two theore ms which
,
therein take the place of the fundam ental theorem of algebra as

commonly stated .
S ol u ti on f
o N u meri cal E qu ati on s
J acqu es Char l es Fr an coi s S tu r m a native of Geneva ( 1 80 3 ,
Switz erland and the successor of P oisson in the chair of mechanics

,
at the Sorbonne published in 1 8 2 9 hi s celebrated theorem determining

,
the nu mber and situation of real roots of an equation co mprise d

between given limits D e M organ has said that this theore m i s the
.
“
co mplete theor eti cal solution of a di fficul ty upon whi ch energies of

e v ery order have been employed since the ti m e of Descartes S turm .
”
e xplains in that article that he enjoyed the privi lege of readi ng Four
i er s researches whi le they were still in m anuscript and that his own
’
discov ery was the result of the close study of the princi ples set forth
by Fo urier In 1 8 2 9 S turm published no proof P roofs were given
in 1 830 by Andreas von E ttinghausen ( 1 7 96 1 8 7 8 )of Vienna in
. .
— ,
1 8 3 2 by Charles C ho q u e t e t M athi as M ayer in their Alg ebre and in ,
1 8 3 5 by S tur m h i m self According to J M C D uham el S turm s

. . . .
,
’
discovery was not the result of observation but of a well ord ered ,
-
l i ne of thought as to the kind of function that woul d m eet the r e

q u ir em en t s According to J J Syl v ester the theore m stared him
“
( Sturm)
. . .
,
in the face in the midst of som e mechanical investigati ons

connected with the motion of compound pendulum s D uh amel an d .
”
Syl v ester both state that they received their informat i on from S turm
di rectly Yet their statements do not agree P erhaps both statem ents
. .
are correct but represent diff erent stages in the evolution of the di s
,
c ov e ry in Stur m s m ind
? ’
By the theorem of S turm one can ascertain the nu mber of comple x

roots but not their location That limitation was re moved in a bril
,
.
,
liant research by another great French man A L Cauc hy He di s ,

. . .
covered in 1 8 3 1 a general theorem whi ch reveals the number of roots ,
whether real or co mplex which lie withi n a given contour This ,

.
theorem makes heavier demands upon the m athem atical attainm ents
1
B u ll A m M ath S oc , V ol 2 0 , 1 9 1 4 , p 339
”
. . . . . . .
2
C o n su l t a l so M B och e r , “
.T he p u b l i s h e d an d u n p u b l i sh e d Wo rk of C h a rl es
S t u rm o n a l g eb ra i c an d di f e ren ti al Eq u at ion s i B u ll A m M ath S oc V ol 1 8 ,
—
n . . . .
, .
1 9 1 2 , pp 1 1 8 . .
of the reader and for that reason has not the celebrity of Sturm s
,
’
theore m B ut it enlisted the lively interest of men like S turm J

.
,
.
Liou v ille and F M oigno

,
. .
A remarkable article was published in 1 8 2 6 by Germi n al Dandel i n

( 1 7 94 1 84 7 )
— in the m em oirs of the Academy of Sciences of Brussels .
He gave the conditions under which the Newton Raphson m ethod of -
approxim ation can be used with security In this part of his research .
he was anticipated by both M ou rrail l e and J Fourier In another

part of his paper ( the second supplem ent )
. .
he is more fortunate ; there

he describes a new and m asterly device for approximating to the roots
O f an equation which constitutes an anticipatio n of the fa mous
,
m ethod of C H Gr affe . We m ust add here that the fundamental

. .
i d ea of G raff e s m ethod is found even earlier in the M i scel l anea

’
a n al yti ca 1 76 2 of Edward Waring If a root lies between a and b

—b < 1 and a is on the convex side of the curve then D an del in
.
, , ,
a , ,
puts x = a + y an d transform s the equation into one whose root y is

small He then m ultiplies f (y)
. by f ( y) and O b tains upon writing -
,
z an equation of the sam e degree as the original one but whose

2=
y
roots are the squares of the roots of the equation f (y)
, ,
=0 He remarks .
that this transform ation m ay be repeated so as to get the fourth , ,
eighth an d higher powers whereby the m oduli of the powers of the

, ,
roots div erge suffi ciently to m ake the transform ed equation separable
into as m any polygons as there are roots of distinct m oduli He ex .
plains how the real and i maginary roots can be obtained D an del in s ’
research h ad the misfortune of being buried in the ponderous tom es

.
of a royal acade my Only accidentally d id we co m e upon this antici

.
pa t i o n of the m ethod of C H Gr affe Later the Acade m y of Sciences

'
. . .
of B erli n off ered a priz e for the inventio n of a practical m etho d of

computing im aginary roots The priz e was awarded to C a r l H e i nri ch .
G r afi e ( 1 7 99 professor of m athematics in Zurich for his paper

”
, ,
published i n 1 83 7 i n Zurich entitled D i e A ufl osu n g der hoher en , ,

’ ‘
n u mer i s chen Gl ei chu n gen This contains the fa mous Gr affe m ethod
.
,
to which reference has been m ade Gr affe proceeds from the sam e .
principle as did M or i tz A br aham S ter n of G ottingen in

the m ethod of recurrent series and as did D an del in By the process
'
.
,
of involution to higher and higher powers the s maller roots are caused ,
to vanish i n comparison to the larger The law by which the n ew .
equations are constructed is excee dingly S imple If for example .

, ,
the coeffi cient of the fourth term of the given equation is a 3 then ,
the corresponding coefli c i en t of the first transform ed equation is

—
a 2 2 a 2a 4+ 2 a 1a
— 2as In the com putation of the new coeff icients
5 .
,
Graff e uses logarithm s By this re markable m ethod all the roots

.
,
both real an d i maginary are found S im ultaneously without the , ,
necessity of determ ining beforehand the nu mber of real roots and

the locat i on of each root The d iscussion of the case of equal i maginary
.
roots o mitte d by Graffe was taken up by the astrono mer J F Encke

, ,
. .
an d Italian mathem aticians have placed the determination of real
a n d I m aginary roots of nu merical equations by the m ethod of infinite
series w i thin reach of the practical co mputer The methods them .
sel v es indicate the num ber of real and i maginary roots so that one ,
can dispense with the application of Stu rm s theorem here just as ’
easily as one can in the D a n del i n Gra ffe m ethod Considerable at -
tention has been given to the solution of special types—trinom ial

.
equations— b y G D an del i n K F Gauss ( 1 840

.
J . .
, .
B e l l a v i ti s Lord John M L a ren The last three used ’
logarithm s of su m s and diff erences which were first suggested by ,
G Z Leonelli in 1 8 0 2 and are often called Gaussian logarithm s

. .
“
.
The extension of the Gaussian m ethod to q uadrino mials w as under

taken by S G u n delfi n g e r i n 1 884 and 1 88 5 Carl F aerb er in 1 889 and
.
, ,
Alfre d Wiener in 1 8 8 6 The extension of the Gaussian method to .
any equation was taken up by R M eh mke professor in D arm stadt .

, ,
who published in 1 8 89 a logarith mic graphic m ethod of solving nu -
m erical equations an d in 1 8 9 1 a m ore nearly arith metical method of

,
solution by logarith m s The m ethod is essentially a mixture of the .
Newton R aphs on m etho d a n d the regula falsi as regards its the oretical
-
,
basis Well known is R M ehm k e s article on m ethods of co mputation

. .
’
in the En cykl opadi e der mathemati schen Wi ss enschaf ten Vol 1 p 938 ,
.
,
. .
M agi c S qu ar es an d C ombi n a tory A n al ysi s
The latter part of the nineteenth century witnesses a revival of

interest in m ethods of constructing m agic squares Chief among the .
writers on this subj ect are J Horner S M D rach . . .
Th H armu th W W R B all E M aillet E M

L a q u i er e ( 1 88 0 )E Lucas
. . . . . . .
E M c C lin toc k. M agic

” .
“
p an di ag o n a l
”
squares of the diabolic typ e as Lucas calls the m are designated
by M c C l in tock These and S imilar form s are called .
, ,
Nasik squares by A H Frost An interesting book M agi c S qu ar es

. . .
,
a n d C u bes Chicago 1 90 8 was prepared by the A merican electrical

, , ,
engineer W S Andrews S till m ore recen t is the C ombi n atory A n al

,
. . .
ys i s Vol I Ca mbridge 1 9 1 5 Vol II 1 9 1 6 by P A M a c M ahon

,
.
, , ,
.
, ,
. .
,
which touches the subj ect of magic squares Says M a cM ahon : In “

.
fact the whole subj ect of M agic Squares and connected arrange
,
ments of nu mbers appears at fir st S ight to occupy a position w hi ch is

completely isolated fro m other departm ents of pure mathe matics .
The Object of Chapters II and III is to establish connecting lin ks

where none previously existed This is accomplished by selecting .
a certain diff erential operation and a certain algebraical fun ction ,
I p VIII
,
. .
“
The P robl em e des Rencontres
‘
can be discussed in the sa me ’
m anner The reader will be familiar with the old question of the
—
.
1
En cycl opedi c des s ci ences mathém F I , Vol . . . 2 , 1 90 6 , pp 6 7 7 5
. .
ANALYSIS 36 7
letters and en v elopes A given nu mber of letters are written to di f

.
f eren t persons and the envelopes correctly addressed but the letters
are placed at rando m in the envelopes The question is to find the .
probability that not one letter is put into the right envelope The .
enu meration connected with this probability question is the first
,
”
step that must be taken in the solution of the famous problem of the
Latin Square I p IX ,
. .
The proble m of the L atin Square : The q uestion is to place n dif

2
feren t letters a b c in each row of a square of n co mpartmen ts
, , ,
in such wise that one letter being in each compart ment each colu mn
, ,
involves the whole of the letters The num ber of arrangemen ts is .
required The question is famous because from the tim e of Euler

.
,
to that of Cayley inclusive its solution was regarded as being beyond ,
the powers of mathematical analysis It is solved without difficul ty .
by the method of diff erential O perators of whi ch we are speaking .
In fact it is one of the simplest exa mples of the method whi ch is S hewn
ter.
”
to b e c apabl e of solvin g questions of a much m ore recondi te charac
l
The ex tension of the prin ciple of magic squares of the plane to thr ee
dimensional S pace has commanded the attention of many M ost .
successful in t hi s field were the Austrian Jesui t Adam A daman du s

K oc han sk y the French man Josef Sauveur the Germans
Th Hugel ( 1 8 59)
. and Hermann Scheffl er
,
In Vol II M ajor M ac M ahon gives a re markable group of identi ties

.
,
discovered by S Ra manujan of Cambridge which have applications

.
in the partitions of numbers but have not yet been established by ,
rigorous demonstration .
A n al ysi s
Under this head we find i t convenien t to consider the subj ects of

the diff erential and integral calculus the calculus of variations i n , ,
finite series probability di fferential equations and integral equations

, , .
An early representative of the critical and philosophical school of

mathematicians of the nineteenth centu r y was B e rna r d B ol zan o
( 1 78 1 professor of the philosophy of religion at P rague In .
1 8 1 6 he gave a proof of the bino mial for m ula and e xhibited clear
notions on the convergence of series He held advanced views on .
variables continui ty and li mits He was a forerun ner of G Cantor

,
. . .
Noteworthy is his posthumous tract P ar adoxi en des Un endl i chen ,
( P reface e di ted by his pupil Fr P i ihon sk y B ol zano s writings ' ’

. .
, ,
were overlooked by mathematicians until H Hankel called attention

to them “
H e has everything says Hankel that can place hi m
.
“
,
” .
in thi s respect [notions on infinite series] on the same level with Cauchy ,
only not the art pecul iar to the French of re fi ning their ideas and
communicating them in the most appropriate and taking manner .
1
P A
. . M acM aho n , Combi natory A n al ys i s , Vol I , C ambri dg e , . 1 9 15 , p ix. .
.
”
So it ca me about that B ol z ano re mained unknown and was soon for
gotten H A Schwarz in 1 8 7 2 looked upon B ol zano as the inventor
. .
of a line of reasoning further dev eloped by K Weierstrass In 1 8 8 1 . .
O Stol z d eclared that all of B ol z ano s writings are remarkable ’
”
.
“
inasm uch as they start with an unbiassed and acute criticism of the
contributions of the older literature 1
.
A reformer of our science who was e minently successful in reachi ng

the ear of his contemporaries was Cauchy
Au gu s ti n Lo u i s C au chy ( 1 7 8 9—1 8 5 7)
.
- 2
was born in P aris a nd r e ,
c ei v e d his early education fro m his father J Lagrange and P S . . . .
Laplace with whom the father cam e in frequent contact foretold

, ,
the future greatness of the young boy At the Ecole Centrale du .
P a n theon he excelled In ancient classical studies In 1 80 5 he entered .
the Ecole P olytechnique and two years later the Ecole des P onts et
,
C h au S S ées Cauchy left for Cherbourg in 1 8 1 0 in the capacity of

.
,
engineer Laplace s M ecan i qu e C el este and Lagrange s F on cti on s

.
’ ’ ’
’
A n al yti q u es were a mong hi s book co mpani ons there Considerations .
of health induced hi m to return to P aris after three years Yielding .
to the persuasions of Lagrange and Laplace he renounced engineerin g ,
in favor of pure science We find him next holding a professorship at

.
the Ecole P olytechnique On the exp ul sion of Charles X and the .

,
accession to the throne of Louis P hilippe in 1 8 30 Cauchy being , ,
exceedingly conscientious found hi mself unable to take the oath de ,
man ded of hi m B eing in consequence depri v ed of his positions he

.
, , ,
went into voluntary exile At F ri b ou rg in Switzerland Cauchy r e .

,
sum ed his stu dies and in 1 83 1 was induced by the king of P iedm ont
,
to accept the chair of mathe m atical physics especially created for hi m ,
at the Un iversity of Turin In 1 8 33 he obeyed the call of hi s exiled .
king Charles X to undertake the education of a grandson the D uk e

, , ,
of Bordeaux This gav e Cauchy an opportunity to visit various parts

.
of Europe and to learn how e x tensively his works were being read
,
.
Charles X bestowed upon hi m the title of B aron On his return to .
P aris in 1 8 3 8 a chair in the Coll ege de France was o ffered to hi m

, ,
but the oath dem anded of hi m prevented his acceptance He was .
nominated m e mber of the B ureau of Longitude but declared ineligible ‘
by the ruling power D uring the political events of 1 848 the oath was
.
suspended and Cauchy at last became professor at the P olytechnic

,
School On the establishment of the second e mpire the oath was r e

.
,
instated but Cauchy and D F J Arago were exempt from it Cauchy

,
. . . .
was a man of great piety and in two of his publications staunchly de

,
fended the Jesuits .
Cauchy was a prolific and profound mathem atician By a prompt .
publication of his results and the preparation of standard text books

,
-
,
he exercised a m ore imm ediate an d benefic i al influence upon the great

C s l t H B e g ma D P hil phi h W k B d B lz H ll e 9 9
1
on u . r n, as oso sc e or er n ar o a nos , a , 1 0 .
2
C A Va l son , L a Vi e cl l es trava ux du B ar on C a uchy, P ari s,
. . 1 86 8 .
bin ed wi th the indefinite equations in order to determ ine co mpletely

the m axi m a and m inima of m u l tiple integrals was awarded a priz e by ,
the French Acade my in 1 84 5 honorable m ention being made of a ,
paper by C E D elaunay P F S arr u s s m ethod was S implified by ’
A L Cauchy In 1 8 5 Gaspare M ainardi ( 1 800 1 8 7 9) —

. . . . .
. . 2 . of P avia at
tempted to exhibit a new method of discri minating ma xim a and
minim a and ex tended C G J Jacobi s theorem to double integrals
, . . .
’
.
M ainardi and F B rioschi showed the value of determ ina n ts i n ex

.
h i b i ti n g the terms of the second variation In 1 86 1 I s a ac Todhu n ter

— 1 8 84 )
.
( 1 8 2 0 of St J ohn s College Cambridge published his valuable

.
’
, ,
work on the H i s tory of the P r ogr ess of the C al cu l u s of Vari ati on s which ,
contains researches of his own I n 1 8 66 he published a m ost important .
research develop ing the theory of discontinuous solutions (discussed

in particular cases by A M Legendre )
,
and doing for this subj ect what . .

,
P F Sarrus had done for m ultiple integrals

. . .
The following are the more important older authors of systematic

treatises on the calculus of variations and the dates of publication : ,
Robert Woodhouse Fellow of Caius College Ca mbridge 1 8 1 0 ; , , ,
Richard Abba t t in London 1 83 7 ; J ohn Hewitt Jell e tt ( 1 8 1 7 ,
once P rovost of Trinity College D ublin 1 8 50 ; Georg Wilhehn S trauch , ,
(181 1 of Aargau in Switz erland 1 849 ; F r an goi s M oigno ( 1 8 0 4

1 884 ) of P aris and Lorent Leonard Lindel of ( 7 1 90 8)
z ,
1 8 2 — of the
,
University of Helsingfors in 1 8 6 1 ; Lewis B uff ett Carll in 1 8 8 1 ,

.
Carll ( 1 8 44 was a blind m athe matician graduated at C 0

lumbia College in 1 8 70 and i n 1 8 9 1 —
,
1 8 92 was assistant in m athe m atics
there .
That of all plane curves of given length the circle includes a maxi
, ,
m u m area a n d of all closed surfaces of given area the sphere encloses

, ,
a maxim u m volum e are theore m s considered by Archimedes and ,
Z en odoru s but not prove d r i gorously for two thousand years until
,
K Weierstrass and H A Schwarz Jakob Steiner thought he had

. . . .
proved the theore m for the circle On a closed plane curve different .
from a circle four non cyclic points can be selected The quadrilateral -
.
ob tained by successively joining the S ides has its area increased when
it is so deform ed ( the lunes being kept rigid ) that its vertices are
cyclic Hence the total area is increased and the circle has the m a xi
.
,
m um area Oskar P erron of Tubingen pointed out in 1 91 3 by an ex

.
“
a mple the fallacy of this proof :Let us prove that 1 is the largest of
-
”
all positive integers N 0 such integer larger than 1 can be the m axi
.
mum for the reason that its square is larger than itself Hence I
,
m ust be the m axi m u m S teiner s proof does not prove that am ong
“
.
’ ” .
,
all closed plane curves of given length there exists one whose area is a
maxim u m 1
K Weierstrass gav e a simple general existence theorem
applicable to the extrem es of c ontinuous ( stetige )
. .
functions The max .
imal property of the S phere was first prov ed r igorousl y I n 1 884 by

1
S ee W . B l asc hk e In J a hr es b d deutsch M ath Ver ei n i g
. . . . . V ol . 2 4, 1 9 1 5, p . 1 95 .
ANALYSIS 37 1
H A Schwarz by the aid of results reached by K Weierstrass in the

. . .
calculus of v ariations Another proof based on geo m etrical theorems .

, ,
was giv en i n 1 90 1 by Hermann M inkow ski .
The subj ect of m inimal surfaces which had received theattention of ,
J Lagrange A M Legendre K F Gauss and G M onge in later

.
,
. .
,
. . .
,
ti me co mmanded the special attention of H A Schwarz The blind . . .
physicist of the University of Gand Joseph P l ateau ( 1 8 0 1 in ,
1 8 7 3 described a way of presenting these surfaces to the eye by means
of soap bubbles m ade of glycerine water Soap bubbles tend to be .
co me as thick as possible at eve ry point of their surface hence to make ,
their surfaces as sm all as possible M ore recent papers on m inim al .
surfaces are by H a r ri s H ancock of the University of Cincinnati .
Ernst P ascal of the University of P avia expressed him self In 1 8 97

on the calculus of variations as fOl l ow s : It m ay be said that this de
1 “
v e l opm en t [ the finding of the di ff erential e u a t i o S which the u n known

q
functions in a problem must satisfy] closes with J Lagrange for the .
,
later an alysts turned their attention chiefly to the other m ore dif
’
fi c u l t proble m s of this calculus The proble m is finally disposed of .

,
if one considers the S i mplicity of the form ulas which arise ; wholly dif
f e ren t is this m atter if one considers the subj ect fro m the standpoint
,
of rigor of deriv ation of the formulas and the ex tension of the dom ain
of the problem s to which these form ulas are applicable This last .
is what has been do ne for some years I t has been found necessary to .
prov e c ertain theorem s which underlie those formulas and which the
first workers looked upon as axioms which they are not This n ew , .
”
fiel d was first entered by I Todhunter M Ostrogradski C G J .
,
.
,
. . .
Jacobi J B ertrand P du B ois Reymond G Erd mann R F A

,
.
, .
,
.
,
. . .
C l eb sc h but the I ncisive researches which m ark a turn i ng point in the

,
-
history O f the subj ect are due to K Weierstrass As an illustration . .
of Weierstrass s m ethod of c ommu n i c a ti ing m any of his m athem atical

’
2 “
results to others we quote the following fro m O Bolz a : U n for tu
, .
n a t el y they [ results on the calculus of variations ] were given by Weier
strass only in his lectures [ since and thus became know n only
very slowly to the general m athem atical public Weierstrass s .
’
results and m ethods may at present be considered as generally known ,
partly through dissertations and other publications of his pupils ,
partly through A K n eser s L ehrbu ch der Vari ati on s r echn u n g (B raun

.
’
schweig ,
partly through sets of notes of
which a great number are in circulation and copies of which are ac
cessible to every one in the library of the M athematische Verein
at B erlin and i n the M athe matische Lesez imm er at G ottingen
, .
Under these circu mstances I have not hesitated to mak e use of Wei er
strass s lectures j ust as if they had been published i n print
’
Weier .
”
strass applied modern require ments of rigor to the calculus of varia
1
E P . l Di V i ti
asc a ,h g ub e s e A S h pp L i pz ig
ar a 899 p 5
on s r ec n un , r . v . . c e ,
e , 1 ,
.
O B l z a L ct res on the C a l cul

2
. o , f V i ti
e u C hi g 9 4 pp ix xi us o ar a on s , ca o , 1 0 , .
, .
372 A HI STORY O F M ATHE M ATIC S
tions in the study of the first and second v ariation Not only did he .
giv e rigorous proofs for the first three necessary conditions and for the
sufficiency of these con d itions for the s o called weak extremum -
“ ” ,
but he also extended the theory of the first and second variation to
th e case where the cu rves under consideration are given in para m eter
representation He discov ered the fourth necessary con dition and a
.
s uffi ciency proof for a so called strong extremu m which gave for -
” ,
the first tim e a co mplete solution by m eans of a new m ethod based 0 11

the so called Weierstras s s construction
-
1
Under the stimu lus of ’
.
” ,
Weierstrass new dev elop ments were m ade by A Kneser then of

, , .
,
D orpat whose theory is based on the extension of certain theore ms

,
on geodesics to extrem als in general and b y D avid Hilbert of Gif t ,
tingen who gave an a pri or i existence proof for an extre m um of a “
—
,
definite integral a d iscovery of far reaching i mportance not only for -

,
the Calculus of Variations but also for the theory of differential

equations and the theory of functions (O B olz a) In 190 9 Bol z a
,
. .
published an enlarged German edition of his calculus of variations ,
including the results of Gustav v Escherich of Vienna the Hilbert

m ethod of proving Lagrange s rule of m ultipliers (m ultiplikator regel )
.
,
’
-
,
and the J W Lindeberg of Helsingfors treatm ent of the isoperim etric

. .
proble m About the sam e tim e appeared J Hadamard s C al cu l des

. .
’
va r i a ti on s r ecu el l i es par M Fr echet P aris 1 9 1 0 J a cqu es H adama rd .

, ,
.
( 1 86 5 was born at Versailles is editor of the A n n al es sci en tifi qu es ,
de l ecol e n or mal e su pér i eu r e

’ ’
In 1 9 1 2 he was appointed professor of .
mathe matical analysis at the Ecol e P olytechnique of P aris as successor

to Cam ille Jordan In the above m entioned book he regards the cal .
“
c u l u s of variations as a part of a new and broader functional calculus ,
along the lines followed also by V Volterra in his functions of lines . .
This functional calculus was initiated by M aurice Fr echet of the Uni

versity of P oitiers in France The authors include also researches by .
W F Osgood Other prominent researches on the calculus of varia

. . .
tions are due to J G D arb oux E G ou rsa t E Zerm elo H A Schwarz . .

,
.
, .
, . .
,
H Hahn and to the Am ericans H Hancock G A Bliss E R Hedrick

.
, .
,
. .
,
. .
,
A L U nderhill M ax M ason Bliss and M ason systematically ex

. .
,
.
tended the Weierstrassian theory of the calculus of variations to

problems in S pace
In 1 8 58 D avi d B i er ens de H aan ( 1 8 2 2—1 8 95)
.
of Leiden published his

Ta bl es d I n tegral es D efi n i es
’
A rev ision an d the consid eration of the
’ ’
underlying theory appeared in 1 8 6 2 It contained 8 339 form u las . .
A critical examination of the latter m ade by E W Sheldon in 1 91 2 ,

. .
,
showed that it was re markably free fro m error when one i mposes
“
proper li mitations upon constants and functions not stated by Haan ,

.
The lectures on definite integrals delivered by P G L Dirichlet ,

. . .
in 1 8 58 were elaborated into a standard work in 1 8 7 1 by Gustav

,
Ferdi nand M eyer of M u nich .
Thi s su mmary i s t ak e n fro m O B olz a, ci t P r efac e

1
.
p
o . .
, .
Abel His letter to his friend B M H ol mb oe ( 1 8 2 6 )

. contains severe . .
criticisms It is very in ter es t ing reading even to m odern students

.
,
.
In his de monstration of the binomial t heorem he established the

theore m that if two series and their product series are all convergent ,
then the product series will converge towards the product of the
sum s of the two given series Thi s remarkable resul t would dispose .
of the whole problem of m ultiplication of series if we had a universal

practical criterion of convergency for se mi convergent series Since -
.
we do not possess such a criterion theorems have been recently e s ,
t abli shed by A P r in g sh ei m of M unich and A V O S S now of M un ich

. .
which remove in certain cases the necessity of applying tests of con

vergency to the product series by the application of tests to easier
related expressions A P ri n g shei m reaches the following interesting
. .
conclusions : The product of two conditiona l ly convergent series can

never converge absolutely but a conditionally convergent series or , ,
even a divergent series mu ltiplied by an absolutely convergent series

, ,
may yield an absolutely convergent product .
The researches of N H Abel and A L Cauchy caused a considerable

. . . .
stir We are told that after a scientific m eeting in which Cauchy

.
had presented hi s first researches on series P S Laplace hastened ,

. .
hom e and re mained there in seclusion un til he had exam ined the
series in hi s M ecan i qu e C el es te Luckily every one was found to be
’
.
,
convergen t ! We m ust not conclude however that the new ideas , ,
at once displaced the old On the contrary the new views were .
,
generally accepted only after a long struggle A S late as 1 844 A D e

M organ began a paper on divergent series i n t hi s style : I believe
“ ” .
’
“
.
it w ill be generally admitted that the headi ng of this paper describes

the only subj ect yet remaining of an elem entary character on whi ch
”
, ,
a serious schi sm exists a mong m athematicians as to the absolute

correctness or incorrectness of results .
First in ti me in the evolution of m ore delicate criteria of convergenc e

and div ergence co m e the researches of Josef Ludwig Raabe ( 1 80 1
1 8 59) of Zurich in Cr el l e Vol IX ; then follow those of A D e M organ
, ,
. .
as given in his calculus A D e M organ established the logarithm ic

. .
criteria whi ch were di scovered in part independently by J B ertrand . .
The form s of these criteria as given by J B ertrand and by Ossian ,

.
B onnet are m ore convenien t than D e M organ s It appears from

,
’
.
N H Abel s posthum ous papers that he had anticipated the above

. .
’
nam ed w riters in establishing logarithmi c criteria It was the O pin .
ion of B onnet that the logarithmic criteria never fail ; but P D u

Bois—
.
Reymond and A P rin g shei m have each discovered series dem on

.
s t r ab l y convergent in whi ch these criteria fail to deter mi ne the con
vergence The criteria thus far alluded to have been called by P ring
.
s h ei m s peci al criteria because they all depend upon a co mparison of

,
the n t h "
term of the series with special functions a n n (log etc .
,
A mong the first to suggest gen er a l criteria and to consider the subject ,
AN ALYSIS 375
fro m a still wider poin t of view cul mi nating in a reg ul ar mathematical ,
theory was E E Kummer He established a theorem yiel di ng a test

,
. . .
consisting of two parts the first part of whi ch was afterwards found ,
to be superfluous The study of general criteria was con tinued by

—
Ulisse D ini ( 1 84 5 1 91 8)
.
of P isa P D u B ois Reymond G Kohn of ,

.
-
,
.
Vienna and A P r in g sheim D u B ois Reymond di v ides criteria into

, . .
-
two classes : criteria of the fir st ki nd and criteria of the s econd ki nd ac

cordi ng as the general n th term or the ratio of the (n + 1 )
,
th term and ,
the n th term is m ade the basis of research E E Kummer s is a

,
. . .
’
criterion of the second kind A criterion of the first ki nd analogous .

,
to this was invent ed by A P r in g sheim From the general criteria

,
. .
established by D u B ois Reym ond and P r in g sheim respectivel y all -

,
the S pecial criteria can be derived The theo ry of P rin g sh eim is very .
complete and o ff ers in addi tion to the criteria of the fir st ki nd and

, ,
second kind entirely new criteria of a thi r d ki nd and also generaliz ed

, ,
cri teria of the second kind w hi ch apply however only to series with , , ,
never increasing term s Those of the thi rd ki nd rest m ain ly on the .
consideration of the lim it of the diff erence either of consecutive terms

or of their reciprocals In the generali z ed criteria of the second ki nd .
he does not consider the ratio of two consecutive ter ms but the ratio ,
of any two terms however far apart and deduces among others two , , ,
criteria previously given by Gustav Kohn and W Ermak off re spec .
t iv el y .
It is a strange vicissitude that divergent series which early in the ,
nineteenth century were supposed to have been banished once for

all from rigorous m athem atics S hould at its close be invited to return , .
In 1 88 6 T J Stieltjes and H P oincar é S howed the im portance to

. . .
analysis of the asym ptotic series at that tim e employed in astronom y ,
alone In other fields of research G H Hal phen E N Laguerre and

. . .
,
. .
,
T J S ti el tj es have encountered particular examples in which a whole

. .
,
series being divergent the corresponding continued fraction was ,
conv ergent In 1 8 94 H P ad e now of B ordeaux established the possi

. .
,
b ili ty of defining in certain cases a function by an entire divergent

, ,
series This subj ect was taken up also by J Hadam ard in 1 892
. .
,
C E Fabry in 1 896 and M Servant in 1 8 99 Researches on div ergent

. . . .
s eries have been carried on also by H P o i ncar é E B orel T J S t i el tj es .

,
.
, . .
,
E Ces aro W B Ford of M ichigan and R D Carm ichael of Illi

—
nois Thomas J ean S ti l tj s ( 1 8 56 1 8 94)was born in Zwolle in
. . . . .
,
. e e -
Holl a nd cam e in 1 88 2 under the influence of Ch He rm ite beca m e a

, .
,
French citiz en and later received a professorship at the University

,
of Toulouse Stieltj es was interested not only in divergent and con

.
di t i on all y convergent series but also in G F B Rie m ann s C function

’
. . .
,
and the theory of num bers .
Difficult questions arose in the study of Fourier s series 1

A L ’
. . .
A rn o l d S a ch se , Vers u ch ei n er Ges chi chte der Dar s tel l un g wi ll k i trl i cher Fn u k

1
ti on en ei ner var i a bl en d urch tr i g on ometr i sche Rei hen , G ot t i n g en , 1 8 79

‘
.
376 A HI STORY
-
or M ATHE M ATIC S
Cauchy was the first who felt the necessity of inquiring into its con
vergence B ut his m ode of proceeding was found by P G L D irichl et
. . . .
to be unsatisfactory Dirichlet m ade the first thorough researches

on this subj ect (Gr el l e Vol IV) They culm inate in the result that
.
. .
,
whenever the function does not becom e infinite does not hav e an ,
infi nite nu mber of discontinuities and does not possess an infinite ,
nu mber of m axi ma and m inim a the n F ou ri er s series converges toward

,
’
the value of that function at all places except points of discontinuity , ,
an d there it converges toward the m ean of the two boundary values .
L S chl afli of Bern and P D u B oiS Rey mond expressed d oubts as to

. .
-
the correctness of the m ean value which were however not well , , ,
founded D i ri chl e t s conditions are sufli c i en t but not necessary

.
’ ‘
, .
Ru dolf L i ps chi tz ( 1 8 3 2 of B onn proved that F ou r i er s series ,

’
still represents the functio n when the nu mber of discontinuities is

infi n ite a n d established a condition on which it represents a function
,
ha v ing an infinite nu mber of m axi ma and m i n ima D i ri chl e t s belief .

’
that all continuous functions c an be represented by Fourier s series ’
at all po i nts was S hared by G F B R i emann and H Hankel but . . . .

,
was prove d to be false by D u Bois Reymond and H A Schwarz -

. . .
A Hurwitz S howed how to express the product of t w o Ordi n ary Fourier

.
series i n the form of another Fourier series W W K ii s t ermann . . .
solved the analogous proble m for double Fourier series i n which a

relation i n v ol v ing Fourier constants figures vitally For functions .
of a single var iable an analogous relation is due to M A P arseval . .
and was proved by h im under certain restrictions on the rfat u re of

convergence of the Fourier series involved In 1 8 93 de la Vall ée .
P oussin gave a proof requiri n g m erely that t h e functio n a n d its square

be integrable A Hurwitz in 1 90 3 gave further develop m ents M ore
. . .
recently the subj ect has com man d ed general interest through the r e
searches of Frigyes R i esz and Ernst Fischer (R ie sz Fischer theore m) ? -
R i emann inquired what properties a function m ust have so that ,
there may be a trigonom etric series which whene v er it is convergent , ,
converges toward the value of the fu n ction He found necessary .
and s u ffi cient con ditions for this They do not decide however .
, ,
whether such a series actually represents the fu n ction or not Rie .
m ann rejecte d Cauchy s definition of a definite integral on account of

’
its arbitrar i ness gave a n ew definition a n d then inquired when a

, ,
function has an integral His researches brought to light the fact

.
that continuous functions need not always have a d iff erential co effi
cient B ut this property which was shown by K Weierstrass to b e
.
,
.
long to large classes of functions was not found necessarily to exclude ,
them from being represented by Fourier s series D oubts on so m e of ’

.
the conclusions about F ou r i er 1s ser i es were thrown by the observation ,
m ade by Weierstrass that the integral of a n infinite series can be

,
shown to be equal to the s u m of the integrals of the separate term s

1
S u mm a r y t ak e n fro m B u ll A m M ath S oc . . . .
, V ol . 2 2 , 1 91 5, p 6 . .
1
i ti es ,through the use of illustrations with urns that were exactl y
alike and contained black and white balls in different n umbers and
different ratios the observed event being the drawin g of a white ball
,
fro m any one of the urns For the sam e purpose Johannes von Kr ies .
,
in his P ri nzi pi en der Wahrs chei nl i chk ei tsr echnu ng Freiburg i B 1 886 , . .
, ,
used as an illustration six equal t u b es of which one had the S ign ,
on one S ide another had it on two S ides a third on three S ides and
, ,
finally the six th on all six sides All other sides were marked w ith a 0 . .
Nevertheless obj ections to certain applications by B ayes Theore m

,
’
hav e been raised by the D anish actuary J B in g in the Tidsskrif t f or .
M atemati k 1 8 79 by Joseph B ertrand in his C al cu l des probabi li tes

’
P aris 1 8 8 9 by Thorwald Nicolai Thiele ( 1 8 3 8— 1 91 0)

, , ,
, ,
of the observa
tory at Cope nhagen in a work published at Copen hagen in 1 88 9 ( an
English edition of which appeared under the title Theory of Observa
ti on s London 1 90 3)
,
by George Chrystal ( 1 8 5 1 —1 9 1 1 )
, of the Univer
s i ty of E d inburgh and others A S recently as 1 90 8 the Danish
?
,
philosophic writer Kro m an has com e out in defence of B ayes Thus .
it appears that as yet no unanim ity of j udgm ent has been reached
, ,
in this m atter In determ ining the probability of alternative c auses

.
’
deduced from observed events there is often need of evidence other

than that which is afforded by the observed ev ent By in v erse prob .
ability som e logicians ha v e explained induction For example if a .

,
m an who has never heard of the tides were to go to the shore of the
, ,
Atlantic Ocean and witness on m successiv e days the rise of the sea ,
t hen says A dol phe Qu etel et of the observatory at B russels he would

, ,
m+ 1
be entitled to conclude that there was a p robability equal to
m+ 2
that the sea would rise next day P utting m = o it is seen that this .
,
view rests upon the unwarrantable assu mption that the probability
of a tota lly unknow n ev ent is 3 or that of all theories proposed for
investigation one half are true Willia m Stanley Jevons ( 1 83 5—1 88 2 )
,
-
.
in his P ri n ci pl es of S ci en ce founds induction upo n the theory of inverse

probability and F Y Edgeworth also accepts it in his M athemati cal
P s ychi cs
,
D aniel B ernoulli s moral expectation which was elab

.
“
. .
’
,
”
orated also by Laplace has received little attention from more recent ,
French writers B ertrand e mphasiz es its im practicabil ity ; P oincar é

.
,
in hi s C al cu l des probabi l i tes P aris 1 8 96 disposes of it in a few words 3 ’
, , , .
The only noteworthy recent addi tion to probability is the subject

of local probability developed by several Engli sh and a few Amer ,
”
ican and French m athem aticians G L L B uff on s needl e problem . . . .
’
is the earliest i mportant problem on local probability ; it received the

1
Encycl ope di a M otr e p I I , 1 84 5 . .
2
We ar e u s i n g Em an u el C z u b er s E ntwi ckel u n g der Wahrschei n l i chkei tstheori e in
’
t he J a hr es b d deu ts ch M a thema ti k er Ver ei n i g u n g 1 8 99 , p p 9 3 — 1 0 5 ; a l so A rne

—
-
. . . .
,
F i she r , The M a thema ti ca l Theor y of P r oba bi l i ti es , N e w Y o rk , 1 9 1 5 , pp 5 4 5 6 . .
3
E C z u b er , op c i t , p 1 2 1
. . . . .
ANAL YSIS 3 79
consideration of P S Laplace of E mile B arbier in the years 1 8 6 0

and 1 8 8 2 of M organ W Crofton ( 1 8 2 6 1 9 1 5)
. .
,
— of the m il i tary school ‘
.
,
at Woolwi ch who in 1 86 8 contributed a paper to the London P hi l

,
”
“
os ophi cal Tr a ns acti on s Vol 1 5 8 and in 1 8 8 5 wrote the article P rob ,
.
,
ability i n the En cycl opedi a B r i ttan n i ca ninth edition The name

“
local probability is due to Crofton Through considerations of ” .
,
.
local probability he was led to the evaluation of certain defi nite in

t eg ral s .
Noteworthy is J J Sylvester s four point problem : To find the . .

’
probability that four points taken at random within a given boun dary ,
shall form a re entrant quadrilateral Local probability was studied -

.
in England also by A R Clarke H M c C oll S Watson J Wol s t en . .

,
.
,
.
,
.
hol me W S Woolhouse ; in France also by C Jordan and E Le moine ;

,
. . . .
in A merica by E B Seitz Ric h collections of problem s on local prob . . .
ability have been published by E manuel C zu b er of Vienna in his

Geometr i sche Wa hr s chei n l i chk ei ten u n d M i ttel w erte Leip z ig 1 8 84 and , , ,
by G B M Zerr in the E du cati on al Ti mes Vol 55 1 8 91 pp 1 3 7

. . .
,
.
, ,
.
1 92 The fundamen t al concepts of local probability have recei ved the

special attention of Ernesto Ces aro ( 1 8 59 1 90 6 ) —
.
?
of Naples
Criticism s occasionall y passed upon the prin ciples of probability
and lack of confidence in theoretical results have induced several
_
scientists to take up the e xpe r imental side which had been e mphasi z ed ,
by G L L B u ffon Trials of this sort were m ade by A D e M organ

. . . . .
,
W S J evons L A J Quetelet E C zu b e r R Wolf and S howed a

. .
,
. . .
,
.
,
.
,
remarkably close agreemen t with theory In B u ffon s needle prob .

’
l em the theoretical probability involves

,
This and S i milar e xpres
sions have been used for the empirical determination of
2
Attempts
to place the theory of probabil i ty on a purely empirical basis were
m ade by John S tuart M il l John Venn ( 1 8 34 and
G Chrystal M ill s induction m etho d was put on a sounder basis
. .
’
by A A C hu pr off in a brochure D i e S ta ti s ti k al s Wi s s en s chaft Em

. .
,
.
p i r i c al m etho d s have co mmanded the attention of another Russian ,
v B or tk i evi cz
. .
In 1 83 5 and 1 83 6 the P aris Academ y was led by S D P oisson s . .

’
researches to discuss the topic whether questions of m orality coul d be ,
treated by the theory of probability M H Navier argued on the . . .
affi rmative while L P oi n sot and Ch D upin denied the applicability

“
,
as une sorte d ab erra t i on de l espr i t ; they declared the theo ry ’

.
’
.
”
applicable only to cases where a separation and counting of the cases
or events was possible John Stuart M ill opposed it ; Joseph L F . .
B ertrand ( 1 8 2 2 p rofessor at the Coll ege de France in P aris

?
and J v Kries are a mong more recent writers on thi s topic
. .
S e e Encycl opédi e des sci en ces ma th I , 2 0

1
p 23
E C zu b e r , op ci t , p p 88—
. . .
2
.
91 . . . .
3
C o n s u l t E C z u b e r , op c i t , p 1 4 1 ; J S M i ll , S ys tem o f L og i c , N e w Y o r k , 8 t h
Ed , 1 884 , C h ap 1 8 , pp 3 7 9— —2 59
. . . . . .
.
3 8 7 ; J v K r i e s , o p c i t , pp
. . . . . . . 2 53 .
3 80 A H I STORY O F M ATH E M ATIC S
Among the various applications of probability the one relating to
v erdicts of j uries decisions of courts a n d results of elections is specially
,
interesting This subj ect was studied by M arqui s de Condorcet

.
,
P S Laplace and S D P oisson To e xhi bit Laplace s m ethod of ’

. . . .
.
,
determ in i ng the worth of candidates by co mbining the votes M W , . .
Crofton e mploys the fortuitous division of a straight line Thi s in .
volves however an a pr i or i distribution Of values covering evenly

, ,
the whole range fro m 0 to 1 00 E xperience S hows that the normal .
law of error exhibits a m ore correct distribution On this point Karl .
P earson produced a m ost i mportan t research ?

He took a random
sample of n individuals from a population of N me mbers and derived
an e xpression for the average d i fference in character between the pth
and the (p+ 1 ) th indi v idual when the sa mple is arranged in order of
mag nitude of the character H L M oore of Columbia University . . .
h as atte mpted to trace P earson s theory in the statistics relating to

’
the e ffi ciency of wages (Econ omi c J ou r n al D ec

”
,
.
,
Early statistical stu dy was carried on under the nam e of political

arithmetic by such writers as Captain John Graunt of London ( 1 6 6 2 )
and J P S ussmil ch a P russian clergyman Application of the
'
. .
,
theo ry of probability to statistics was made by Edmund Halley ,
Jakob B ernoulli A D e M oivre L Euler P S Laplace and S D

,
.
,
.
,
. .
,
. .
P oisson The establishm en t of offi cial statistical societies and statis

.
tical off ices was largely due to the influence o f the B elgian astronomer
and statistician A d olph e Q u e te l e t ( 1 7 96 —1 8 74)
,
of the observatory
”
“ “
at B russels the foun d er of m odern statistics
, Q u et el et s average .
’
i n who m all processes correspond to the average results

“
man
“
obtained for society who could be considered as a type of the
.
,
beautiful has given rise to m uch critical discussion by Harold

”
,
” J B ertillon A de Foville in his homo “

Westergaard . .
m e dius
“
of 1 90 7 Joseph Jacob s in his the M iddle Am erican
and the M ean Engl i shm an 2
,
Qu e t el e t s visit in England led .

” ’
to the organi z at i on in 1 8 3 3 of the statistical section of the B ritish

, ,
Association for the Advance m en t of Science and in 1 83 5 of the S tatis ,
tical Society of London Soon after in 1 8 3 9 was formed the A mer .

, ,
ican Stat i st i cal Society Qu e t el e t s best researches on the application .

’
of probability to the physical and social sciences are given in a series

of letters to the duk e of Saxe Coburg and Gotha L ettr es su r l a theor i e -
,
“
des pr oba bi l i tés B russels 1 84 6 He laid e mphasis on the law of , .
large numbers whi ch was advanced also by the Frenchm an S D

,
. .
P oisson and d iscussed by the Germ an W Lexis the Scandi .
n avi an s H Westergaard and Carl Charlier and the Russian P a n u ti

f
—
1 1 8 94 )
.
,
i
L w ow c i h C he bi c hev ( 1 8 2 of the University of P etrograd To .
C h eb i c hev we owe also an interesting proble m :A proper fraction being

1 “
N o te on Fra n c i S C al to n
A
’
s P ro bl e m ,
B i ometr i ca , V ol I , pp 3 90 399 . .
— .
z Z Iz ek S ta ti s ti cal A vera ges , t ra n sl b y W M P e rson s , N ew Y or k ,

’
2
S ee F ran s . . .
19 13; P 3 74
general and adequate m athematical m ethods for the analysis of
”
”
biological statist i cs To hi m are due the term s mode standard
”
“ “
”
.
,
dev iat i on and coe fficient of variation B efore hi m the normal

“ “
.
curve of errors had been used exclusi v ely to d escribe the distribution
of chance events This curve is symm etrical but natural phenomena .
,
som eti m es indicate an asymm etrical di stribution Accordin gly .
P earson in his C on tr i bu ti on s to the Theory of E vol u ti on 1 8 99 de

, , ,
v el op e d skew frequency curves About 1 8 90 the Georg M endel law .
of inheritance beca m e generally known and caused some m odification

in the application of statistics to heredity Such a readj ustm ent was .
eff ected by the D an ish botanist W Johannsen ?

.
The first study of the most advantageo u s combinations of data

of observation is due to Roger Cotes in the appendix to hi s H armoni a ,
men s u r ar u m 1 7 2 2 where he assi g ns weights to the observations

, ,
.
The use of the arithmetic mean was advocated by Thom as Simpson

”
“
in a paper An atte mpt to S how the advantage arising by taking the
m ean of a nu mber of obser v ations in practical astrono my 2
also by , ,
J Lagrange in 1 7 73 and by D aniel B ernoulli i n 1 778 The first

. .
printed statement of the principle of least squares was made in 1 80 6

by A M Legendre without dem onstration K F Gauss had used
. .
, . . .
it still earlier but d id not publish it until 1 80 9 The first deduction

,
.
of the law of probability of error that appeared in prin t was given in

1 8 0 8 by Robert A dra i n in the A n al ys t a journal published by him self ,
in P hiladelphi a Of the earlier proofs given of this law perhaps the

.
,
m ost satisfactory is that of P S Laplace K F Gauss gave two . . . . .
proofs The first rests upon the assumption that the arithm etic
.
m ean of the observations is the most probable value Atte mpts to .
prove this assu mption have been m ade by Laplace J F Encke ,

. .
A D e M organ
. G V Schiaparelli E J S tone and A . .
,
. . .
Ferrero Valid criticis m s upon so m e of these investigations were

passed by J W L Glaisher The foundi ng of the Gaussian proba
3
. . . .
bil i ty law upon the nature of the ob served errors was atte mpted by
F W B essel
. . G H L Hagen J F Encke P G . . . . . . .
Tait and M W Crofton That the arithm etic mean . .

,
taken as the m ost probable value is not under all circumstances ,
co mpatible with the Gaussian probabilty law has been S how n by

Joseph B ertrand I n his C al cu l des pr obabi l i tés and by others .
The developm ent of the theory of least squares along practical lines
is due m ainly to K F Gauss J F Encke P A Hansen Th Gallo . .
,
. .
,
. .
,
.
5
way J B ienayme J B ertrand A Ferrero P P i zzetti
,
.
,
Simon .
,
.
,
. .
P u b A m S tat A ss n , N S , Vo l X I V , r 9 1 4 , p 4 5
1 ’
Qu ar t . . . . . . . .
2
M i s cell a n eou s Tr acts , Lo n don , 1 7 5 7 .
3
L and A s tr S oc M em 3 9 , 1 8 7 2 , p 7 5 ; for f u r t her re fe ren ces , see Cykl opadi e d
. . . . . .
M ath Wi ss , I D 2 , p 7 7 2
. . . .
1
C o n s u l t E L D o dd , P ro b a bi l i ty o f t he A ri t h me t i c M ean , e t c , A n n a l s of
‘
. . .
M athema ti cs , 2 S , V o l 1 4 , 1 9 1 3 , p 1 8 6
. . . . .
5
E C z u b er , op ci t , p 1 79
. . . . .
ANALYSIS 83
Newco mb of Washington ad v anced a generali z ed theory of the

co mbination of observations so as to obtain the best resul t , 1
when ”
large errors arise more frequently than is allowed by the Gaussi an
probability law The sa m e subj ect was treated by R Lehmann
. .
Filhes in A str on omi sche N achr i chten , 1 88 7 .
A criterion for the r ejection of doub tful observations was given 2
by B enjamin P eirce of Harvard It was accepted by the Am erican .
astrono mers B A Gould ( 1 8 2 4 . W Chauvenet ( 1 8 2 0

. .
and J Winlock ( 1 8 2 6
. but was criticised by the English as
t r o n omer G B Airy The prev ailing feeling has been that there
. . .
e xists no theoretical basis upon which such criterion ca n be rightly

established .
The application of probability to epidemi olog y was first consider ed

by Daniel B ernoulli and has more recently comm anded the atten
tion of the English statisticians William Farr ( 1 80 7 John
B rownlee Karl P earson and Sir Ronald Ross P earson studied
, ,
.
norm al and abnorm al frequency curves Such cur ves have been .
fitted to epide mics by J B rown lee in 1 90 6 S M Greenwood in 1 9 1 1 .

,
. .
and 1 91 3 a n d Sir Ronald Ross in

,
So me interest attaches to the d iscussion of whist from the stand

point of the theory of probability as is con tained in William P ole s ’
” ”
,
P hil osophy of Whi s t New York and London 1 88 3 The problem, ,

.
is a genera liz ation of the game of trei z e or recontre treated ,
by P ierre R de M ontmort in 1 7 0 8
. .
Difier en ti al E qu ati on s Difler en ce Equ ati on s

’
-
.
Criteria for distingui shing between singular solutions and particular

solutions of diff erential equations of the first order were ad v anced
by A M Legen d re S D P o i sson S F Lacroix A L Cauchy and
. .
,
. .
,
. .
,
. .
,
G Boole After J Lagrange the c d i scrim inant relation commanded -
the attention of J ea n M ar i e C on s tan t D u hamel ( 1 7 97—1 8 7 2 )

. . .
,
of P aris ,
C L M H Navier and others B ut the entire theory of S ingular

. . . .
,
.
solutions was r e investigated about 1 8 70 along new paths by J G

-
. .
D arb ou x A Cayl ey E C Catalan F C a sora t i and others

,
.
,
The . .
,
.
,
.
geometric side of the subj ect was considered more m inutely and the
cases were e xplained in which Lagrange s m ethod does not yield ’
S ingular solutions E v en these researches were not altogether satis

.
factory as they did not furnish necessary and suffi cient conditions
for singular solutions which depend on the d iff erential equation alone
and not in anyw ay upon the general solution Return ing to m ore .
purely analytical considerat i ons and building on w ork of Ch Briot

'
and J C Bouquet of 1 8 56 Carl Sch m idt of Giessen in 1 8 84 H B

‘
Fine of P rinceton in 1 890 and M eyer Hamburger ( 1 8 38—1 90 3)

. . .
,
.
,
of ,
1
A m J ou r M a th , V ol 8 , 1 886 , p 3 43
. . . . .
2
Gou l d A s tr J ou r , I I 1 8 5 2
. .
, .
3
N atur e, V o l 9 7 , 1 9 1 6 , p 2 43
. . .
Berlin brought the problem to fi n al solutions Acti v e in this line .
were also John M uller Hill and A R F or syth ?

. .
The first scientific tr eatm ent of partial diff erential equations was
gi v en by J Lagrange and P S Laplace These equations were i n
. . . .
v es ti g a t d i n m ore recent ti m e by G
e M onge J F P fa ff C G J
Jacobi E m ile B our ( 1 83 1 —1 8 66 )
.
, . .
, . . .
, of P aris A Weiler R F A C l eb sch , .

, . . .
,
A N K ork i n e of S t P etersburg G B oole A M eyer A L Cauchy

. . .
,
.
,
.
, . .
,
J A Serret S ophu s Lie and others In 1 8 73 their r e seaches on

. .
, ,
.
,
partial diff erential equations of the fi rst order were presented i n ,
text book form by P aul M ansion of the University of Gand P ro

-
, .
c eedi n g to the consi d eration of som e detail we re m ark that the keen
researches of Jo h ann Fri e dri c h Pf aff ( 1 7 6 5 1 8 2 5)

,
m arked a decided -
ad v ance He was an intim ate friend of K F Gauss at G ottingen

. . .
'
Afterwards he was with the astronom er J E B ode Later he beca m e . . .
professor at Hel mst adt then at Halle B y a peculiar m ethod P faff , .

,
found the general integration of partial d iff erential equations of the

first order for any number of variables Starting from the theory of .
ordina ry diff erential equations of the first order in n variables he ,
gives first their general integration and then consid ers the integra ,
tion of the partial di fferential equations as a particular case of the

form er assu ming howe v er as known the general integration of
, , , ,
differential equations of any order between two variables His r e .
”
searches led C G J Jacobi to introduce the n a m e P fafli an prob
“
. . .
l em From the connection observ ed by W R Hamilton between

a syste m of or dinary d ifferential equations ( in analytical m echanics)
. . .
, ,
and a partial differential equation C G J Jacobi drew the conclu , . . .
sion that of the series of syste m s whose successive integration P faff s

,
’
m ethod de m an d ed all but the first syste m were entirely superfluous , .
R F A C l eb s ch cons idered P fa ff s proble m fro m a n ew point of vie w

. . .
’
,
and reduced it to syste m s of si multaneous linear partial di ff erential

equations which can be estab l ished in dependently of each other with
,
out any integration Jacobi m aterially ad v ance d the theory of dif .
f er e n t i al equations of the first order The problem to determ ine u n '
known funct i ons i n such a way that an i n tegral containing these func
tions and their d iff erential coefficients in a prescribed m anner S hall , ,
reach a m axim u m or m ini mu m value dem an ds in the first place , , ,
the van i shing of the first variation of the integral This conditio n .
l eads to differential equations the integration of which determ ines th e ,
functions To ascertain whether the value is a m axim u m or a mini

.
m u m the second variation m ust be e xa mi ne d This leads to new and

,
.
difli c u l t d i fferential equations the integration of which for the simpler , ,
cases was ingeniously deduced by C G J Jacobi from the integra

,
. . .
tion of the d ifferent ial equations of the first variation Jacobi s .

’
soluti on was perfected by L O Hesse while R F A C l eb sch extended .

,
. . .
1
We h av e u sed S R o t h en b e r g , G eschi ch t e der s i n g u l are n L os u n g e n in
)
.
A bit . 2 . Gesek d M a th Wi ss en s ch
. . . .
( M C an tor , H ef t
. XX , 3 L e ip i g ,
. z 1 90 8 .
prim itiv e is obtained by the use of processes that so met imes are frag ,
m entary in theory usual ly are tentative i n practice an d nearly always

,
are indirect in the sense that they are compounded of a nu mber of

formal operations ha v ing no organic relation with the primitive .
In such circu mstances is the prim itive co mpletely compr eh en

sive of all the integrals belonging to the equation ? A M Amp ere i n ”
1 8 1 5 propounded a broad definition of a general integral —
. .
one i n
which the only relations which subsist a mong the variables and the ,
derivatives of the dependent variable and which are free from the
arbitrary elem ents in the integral are constituted by the diff erential ,
equation itsel f and by equations deduced from it by di fferentiation .
This definition is inco mplete on various grounds E G ou r sa t gave i n . .
1 8 98 a S im ple instance to sho w that an integral satisfying all of A m
p ere s requirem ents was not general A second definition of a general

’
.
integral was given in 1 88 9 by J G B arboux based on A L Cauchy s . .

, . .
’
existence theore m : An integral is general whe n the arbitrary ele

-
m ents which it contains can be S peciali z ed in such a way as to provide

the integral established in that theorem This definition according .
,
to A R F or syth calls for a m ore caref u l discussio n of obvious and

. .
,
latent singularities .
There are three principal m ethods of procee ding to the c on s t ru c

tion of an integral of partial differe n tial equations of the second order ,
which lead to success i n special cases One m ethod given by P S . . .
Laplace in 1 77 7 applies to linear equations with two in dependent

variables I t can be used for equations of order higher than the
.
second I t has been developed by J G D a rb ou x and V G I msh e ne t

. . . . .
ski 1 8 7 2 A second method or iginated by A M Amp ere while

, .
, . .
,
general in S pirit and in form depends upon in dividual skill unassisted ,
by critical tests Later researches along th i s line are due to E B orel

( 1 8 95)
. .
and E T Whittaker .A third method is due to J G

. . .
D a rb ou x and includes according to A R Forsyth s classificatio n

’
.
,
.
,
the earlier work of M onge and G B oole A S first given by J G Dar . . . .
boux in 1 8 70 it applied only to the case of t w o in dependent variables

, ,
but it has been extended to equations of m ore t ha n t w o independent

variables and orders higher than the second ; it is not universally
e ffective “ “
Such then says Forsyth are the principal m ethods
.
,
” ,
hitherto devised for the formal integration of partial equations of the

second order They have been discussed by m any m athe maticians
.
and they have been subj ected to frequent mo d i fi cations in details :

but th e substance of the processes remains unaltered .
”
Instances are known in ordinary linear equations when the primitive s
can be expressed by definite integrals or by m eans of asym ptotic
e xpansions the theory of which owes m uch to H P oincar é Such
,
. .
instances within the region of partial equations are due to E Borel . .
G F B Riem ann had re m arked i n 1 8 57 that functions expressed

by K F Gauss hypergeometric series F ( a 8 y x)which satisfy
. . .
’
. .
, , , , ,
ANALYSIS 38 7
a homogeneous linear diff erential equation of the second order with

rational coeffi cients m ight be utilized in the solution of any lin ear dif ,
fere n ti al equation ?
Another mode of solving such equations was due
to Cauchy and was e x tended by C A A B riot and J C B ouquet) and . . . . .
consisted in the development into power series The fertility of the .
conceptions of G F B Riemann and A L Cauchy with regard to . . . . .
diff erential equations is attested by the researches to which they have

given rise on the part of L azaru s Fu ch s ( 1 833— 1 90 2 )
of B erlin Fuchs .
was born in M oschin near P osen and became professor at the Uni , ,
versity of B erlin in 1 884 In 1 8 6 5 L Fuchs co mbined the two m ethods . .
in the study of linear differential equations : One method using power

series as elaborated by A L Cauchy C A A B riot and J C Bou
,
. .
,
. . .
,
. .
quet ; the other m ethod using the hypergeometric series as had been
done b y_G F B Riemann B y this union Fuchs initiated a new
. . . .
theory of linear di ff erential equations ?

Cauchy s develop m ent into ’
power series together with the calcul des limites aff orded e xistence
-
,
theore ms which are essentially the same in nature as those relating to

diff erential equations in general The S ingular points of the linear .
diff erential equation received attention also from G F rob en i u s in .
1 8 74 G P eano in 1 8 8 9 M
,
. B ocher in 1 90 1 A second approach to ,
. .
existence theore m s was by successive appro xi m ation first used in ,
1 86 4 b y J Caqu é then by L Fuchs in 1 8 7 0 and later by H P oin

-
.
,
.
,
.
care and G P eano A third line by interpolation is originally due to

. .
, ,
A L Cauchy and received special attention from V Volterra in 1 8 8 7

. . . .
The general theory of linear diff erential equations received the atten
tion of L Fuchs and of a large number of workers including C Jordan
.
, ,
.
,
V Volterra and L S chl e sin g er Singular places where the solutions

.
,
.
'
are not indeterm inate were investigated by J Tanne ry L Schlesinger .

,
.
,
G J Wallenberg and m any others Ludwig Wilhel m Thome ( 1 84 1

1 91 0 )
. . .
,
of the University of Greifswald discovered in 1 8 7 7 what he ,
called normal integrals Divergent series which formally satisfy dif .
fer en t i al equations first noticed by C A A Briot and J C B ouquet ,

. . . . .
in 1 8 56 were first seriously considered by H P oincaré in 1 88 5 who

,
.
pointed out that such series may represent certain solutions a symp
t o t i c al l y Asymptotic representations have been examined by A
. .
Kneser E P icard J Horn .and A Hamburger

“
. .
A special type of linear diff erential equation the F u ch si an

type with coe ffi cients that are single valued (eindeutig)and the
,
-
, ,
solutions of which hav e no points of in determinateness was investi ,
gated by Fuchs and i t was found that the coe ffi cients of such an equa
,
tion are rational functions of x S tudies based on analogies of linear .
differential equations with algebraic equati ons first undertaken by ,
1
We . l
L S ch e si n g e r , En twi ck el u n g d Theor i e d l i n ear en Di ffer en ti al
are u si n g . .
g l e i chu n g en s ei t 1 8 6 5 , L e i p i g a n d B e r l i n , 1 90 9 z .
2
We a re u si n g h e r e a re po r t b y L S chl esi n g e r i n J ahr es b d d M ath Ver ei n i g u n g ,
—
. . . . .
V o l 1
. 8 , 9 9, pp
1 0 1 33 2 6 0 . .
N H Abel J Liouville and C G J Jacobi were pursued later by P

. .
,
. . . .
,
.
Appell by E P icard w ho worked under the influence of S

. .
Lie s theory of transform ation groups and by an army of workers in

’
,
France England Germ any and the United S tates The consideration
, , , .
of differential invariants enters here Lamé s differential equation .

’
considered by hi m in 1 8 5 7 was taken up by Ch Herm ite in 1 8 77 and

,
.
soon after in stil l m ore generali z ed form by L Fuchs F Brioschi .

,
.
,
‘
E P icard G M M ittag L effi er and F Klein

.
,
. .
-
. .
The anal ogies of linear di ff eren tial equations wi th algebraic f unc

tions problem s of inversion and uniformi z ation as well as questions
, ,
in v olving group theory received the attention of the analysts of the

second half of the century .
The theory of invariants associated with linear di ff erential equations

as developed by Halphen and by A R Forsyth is closely connected . .
with the theory of functions and of groups Endeavors have thus .
been made to deter mine the nature of the fun ction defined by a di f
f er en t i al equation fro m the d iff erential equation itself and not from ,
any analytical expression of the fun ction O btained first by sol v in g ,
t h e di ff erential equation Instead of studying the properties of the

.
integrals of a di fferential equation for all the values of the variable ,
investigators at first contented the m selves with the study of the prop
e r t i e s in the v i cinity of a gi v en point The nature of the i ntegrals .
at S ingular points and at ordinary points is entirely di ff erent Char l es

A u gu ste A l ber t B r i ot ( 1 8 1 7—1 88 2 )
and J ean Cl aude B ou qu et ( 1 8 1 9—1 88 5)
.
both of P aris stu di ed the case when near a singular poin t the di f
, , ,
fe r en t i al equations take the form (x —x o)

Q L Fuchs gave
.
dx
the develop ment in series of the integrals for the particular case of
linear equati ons H P oincar é di d the sam e for the case when the
. .
equations are not linear as also for partial d ifferential equati ons of
,
the first order The develop m ents for or di na ry points were giv en
.
by A L Cauchy and S ophi e K oval evs k i ( 1 8 50

. . M adam e
K ov al ev ski was born at M oscow was a pupil of K Weierstrass and ,
.
beca me professor of Analysis at Stockhol m

—
H e nri P o in c ar é ( 1 8 54 1 91 2 )
.
w a s born at Nancy and co mm enced

hi s stu dies at the Lyc ée there While taking high rank as a student .
,
he di d not di splay exeep ti on al precocity He atten d ed the Ecole .
P olytec hnique and the Ecole Nationale Sup érieure des M ines in P aris ,
receiv ing his doctorate from the University of P aris in 1 8 7 9 He b e .
cam e instructor in m athem atical analysis at the Univ ersity of Caen .
In 1 8 8 1 he occupied the chair of physical and experim ental m echanics

at the Sorbonne later the chair of mathem atical physics and after
, ,
the death of F Tisseran d the chair of m athem atical astronomy and

.
,
celestial mechanics Al though he di d not reach old age he published

.
,
numerous books and more than 1 500 m em oirs P robably neither .

39 0 A
'
HI STORY OF M ATHE M ATIC S

n o r an t Every day I seated myself at my work table and S pent an
.
hour or two there trying a great m any co mbinations but I arrived at

, ,
no result One night when contrary to my custom I had taken black

.
, ,
coff ee and I could not S leep ideas surged up in crowds I felt them as , .
they struck against one another until two of the m stuck together so ,
to S peak to form a stable combination B y morning I h ad established

,
.
the existence of a class of fuchsian functions those whi ch are derive d

”
,
from the hyp ergeo metric series I had m erely to put the res ults in .
S hape which only took a few hours

1
.
,
P oincaré enriched the theory of integrals The attempt to express .
i ntegrals by develop m ents that are always convergent and not li mi ted
to particular points in a plane necessitates the introduction of new
transcendents for the old functions per mit the integration of only a
,
s mall nu mber of differential equations H P oincaré t ried this plan . .
with linear equations which were then the best kn own having been , ,
studied in the vicinity of gi v en points by L Fuchs L W Tho me G .

,
. .
,
.
Frobenius H A Schwar z F Klein and G H Halphen C on fi n ing

,
. .
,
.
,
. . .
hi mself to those with rational algebraical c o efli ci en t s H P oincaré was ,

.
able to integrate the m by the use of functions na m ed by h im Fu ch

s i an s
? “
He divided these equations into families If the integral .
”
of such an equation be subj ected to a certain transformation the ,
resul t will be the integral of an equation belonging to the sa me fam ily .
The new transcendents have a great analogy to elliptic functions ;

while the region of the latter may be divided into parallelogra ms each ,
representing a grou p the form er m ay be divi d ed into c urvi linear , .
polygons so that the knowledge of the function inside of one polygo n

,
carries with it the knowledge of i t inside the others Thus H P oin . .
car e arrives at what he calls Fu chs i a n gr ou ps He found m oreover .

, ,
that F u chsi an functions can be expressed as the ratio of two trans

c e n den t s ( theta fuchsians )
in the sa m e way that elliptic functi ons can
-
be If instead of linear substitutions with real coe ffi c i ents as e m

.
, ,
ployed in the above groups i m aginary coeffi cients be used then d is , ,
continuous groups are ob tained which he called K l ei n i a ns The ex , .
tension to non linear equations of the m ethod thus applied to linear

-
equations was begun by L Fuchs and H P oincar é . . .
M uch interest attaches to the deter mination of those linear d i ffer

e n t ial equations which c a n be integrated by si mpler functions such ,
as algebraic ell iptic or Abelian This has been studied by C Jordan

, ,
. .
,
P Appell of P aris and H P o i n car e

.
,
. .
P a u l Appe l l ( 1 8 5 5 was born in Strassburg After the an .
n e xa t i o n of Alsace to Ger m any in 1 8 7 1 he e mi grate d to Nancy to ,
escape Germ an citiz enship Later he stu died in P aris and in 1 88 6 .
1
H P o in c aré , The Fou n dati ons of S ci en ce , t ran sl by G B H al s t ed , The S c i e n ce
. . . .
P ress N ew Yo rk a n d G a rr i so n , N Y , 1 9 1 3 , p 3 8 7
, . . . .
2
H en r i P o i n c a ré, N oti ce s u r l es Tr a va u x S ci en tifi q u es de H en r i P oi ncare, P a ri s ,
1 886 , p 9 . .
ANALYSIS 39 1
becam e professor of mechanics there His researches are in analysis .

,
function theory infinitesimal geo metry and rational m echanics

, .
Whe ther an ordinary diff ere n tial equation has one or more solutions
which satisfy certain terminal or boundary conditio n s and if so what , , ,
the character of these solutions is has received rene w ed attention ,
th e last quarter century by the consideration of finer and m ore re m ote

questions ?
E xistence theore ms oscillation properties asymptotic , ,
expressions develop m ent theore ms have been studied by D avid Hil

,
bert of G ottingen M axim e B ocher of Harvard M ax M ason of the

, ,
University of Wisconsin M auro P icone of Turin R M E M ises of , ,

. . .
Strassburg H Weyl of G ottingen and especially by George D B irk

,
. .
hoff of Harvard Integral equations have bee n used to so me extent

.
“
in boundary proble ms of one dim e n sion ; this m ethod would see m ,
however to be chiefly valuable in the cases of two or m ore dim ensions

,
where many of the S implest questions are still to be treated .

”
A standard text book on Differ en ti al Equ ati on s inclu d ing original
-
,
matter on integrating factors S ingular solutions and especially on , ,
symbolical m ethods was prepared i n 1 8 59 by G B oole

A Tr eati se on L i n ear Difi er en ti al Equ ati on s ( 1 889)
. .
,
was brought out

by Thomas Craig of the Johns Hopkins University He chose the .
algebraic m ethod of presentatio n followed by Ch Herm ite and H . .
P oincar é instead of the geom etric method preferred by F Klein and

H A Schwarz A notable work the Tr ai te d A n al yse 1 8 9 1 —1 896
.
,
’
. .
, , ,
.
was published by Emile P icard of P aris the interest of which was made ,
to centre in the subj ect of di fferential equations A second editio n .
has appeared .
Simple d iff erence equations or finite diff erences were studied by

eighteenth century mathem aticians When in 1 8 8 2 H P oincar é de . .
v el oped the novel notion of asy m ptotic representation he applied it ,
to linear diff erence equations In recent years a n ew type of proble m .
has arise n in connection with the m I t looks n ow as if the continuity .
of nature which has been for so long assu med to exist were a fictio n
, ,
“
and as if discontinuities represented the realities I t see ms al most .
certain that electricity is done up i n pellets to which we have give n ,
able .
2 ”
the name of electrons That heat co mes i n quanta also see ms prob
M uch of theory based on the assu mption of continuity may
.
be found to be m ere approximation Hom ogeneous linear diff erence .
equations not intimately bound up with continuity were take n up i n

, ,
depen dently by invest i gators widely apart In 1 90 9 Niels Eri k N or .
lund of the University of Lund I n S w eden Henri G al b ru n of l Ecole ,

’
Norm ale I n P aris and i n 1 9 1 1 R D Carm ichael of the University of , ,

. .
Illinois entered this field of research Carm ichael used a m ethod of .
successive approxi m atio n and an extension of a contour integral due to

1
See hi st or i cal s u mmary b y M axi me B ech e r i n P r oceed
a . o f the 5 th i n ter n . Cou
gr es s, C ambr i dge, 1 9 1 2 , V o l I , C a mb r idg e , 1 9 1 3 , p 1 6 3 . . .
2
R D C ar mi c h ae l I n S ci ence , N S V ol 4 5 , 1 9 1 7 p 4 7 2
. . . . . . .
C Guichard G D B irkho ff of Harvard m ade important c on t rib u

. . . .
tions showing the existence of certain intermediate solutions and of the

principal solutions The asymptotic form of these so l utions is de
.
-
t erm i n ed by hi m throughout the co mplex plane The extension to .
non homogeneous equations of results reached for ho mogeneous ones

-
has been made by K P Williams of th e U niversity of Indiana

. .
?
I n tegral Equ ati on s , I n teg r o difi er en ti al Equ a ti on s , Gen er al A n al ysi s ,

-
Fu n c ti on al C al cu l u s
The mathem atical perplexities which led to the invention of integral

equation s were stated by J Hadamard in 1 9 1 1 as follows : Those
2 “
problem s ( such as D i ri chl e t s)

.
exercised the sagacity of geom etricians

’
and were the obj ect of a great deal of i mportant and well know n work -
through the whole of the nineteenth cen tury The very variety of
”
.
ingenious m ethods applied S howed that the question did not cease to
preserve its rather m ysterious character Only in the last years of .
the century were we ab l e to treat it with som e clearness and under

stand its true nature Let us therefore inquire by what d evice
.
this new vie w of D i ri c hl e t s problem was ob tqi n ed I ts peculiar and

’
.
most re markable feature consists in the fact that the partial differential
equation is put aside and replaced by a new sort of equation namely , ,
the integral equation This new m ethod makes the m atter as clear
.
as it was form erly obscure In many circu mstances i n m odern analysis

.
,
contrary to the usual point of view the operation of integration proves ,
a m uch simpler one than the operation of derivation An exa mple of .
thi s is given by integral equations where the unknown function is

written under such signs of integration and not of d iff erentiation The .
typ e of equation which is thus obtained is m uch easier to treat than

the partial differential equation The type of integral equations .
correspon ding to the plane D irichlet problem is
d>(x) K (W )
Mr ) dy
where (b is the unk now n function of x in the interval (A B ) f and K , ,
are known functions and A is a known param eter The equations

,
.
of the elliptic type in m any d im en S Ion al space give sim ilar integral-
equations containing however m ultiple inte5rals and several in de

,
pendent variables B efore the introduction of e q uations of the abo v e

.
type each step in the stu dy of elliptic par t ial diff e ren t ial equations
,
seemed to bring wi th it new diflficu l ti es [ B ut] an equation such

as ( I )
.
gives al l the required results at once and for all the pos
sible types of such problems P reviously in the calculation of .
,
1
Tr an s A m M a th S oc , V ol 1 4 , 1 9 1 3 , p 2 0 9
. . . . . . .
J H adama rd , Four L ectu r es on M a l hemati cs del i ver ed Col u mbi a Un i vers i ty i n

2
at
—
.
1 9 1 1 , N ew Y o r k , 1 9 1 5 , pp 1 2 1 5 . .
M ax i me B é ch er ( 1 8 6 7—
1 91 8 was born in B oston and graduated )
at Harvard in 1 888 Af ter three years of study at Gottingen he r e
.
turned to Harvard where he was successively instructor assistant ,
professor and professor of m athem atics He was president of the

Am erican M athem atical Society in 1 90 9—1 9 1 0 Among his works are
.
Rei hen en twi ck el u n gen der P oten ti al theor i e 1 8 9 1 enlarged in 1 894 and -
, , ,
L egon s su r l es M ethodes de S tu rm contai n ing the author s lectures de

’ ’
liv ered at the Sorbonne in 1 9 1 3—1 9 1 4

,
1
A Voss in 1 91 3 stresses the value of integral equations thus :
.
In the last ten years the theory of integral equations has

attained extraordinary importance because through them problem s ,
in the theory of diff erential equations m ay be solved whi ch previously

coul d be disposed of only in S pecial cases We abstain from sketchi ng .
their theory which m akes use of infini te determinants that belong

,
to linear equations with an infinite num ber of unkn owns of quadratic ,
forms with infinitely many variables and which has succeeded in ,
throwing new l ight upon the great problems of p ure and applied
m athe matics especially of m athe m atical physics
,
.
I mportant advances along the line of a general analysis and its

application to a generali z ation of the theory of linear integral equa
tions hav e been m ade since 1 90 6 by E H M oore of the University . .
of Chica go Fro m the e xisten ce of analogies in different theories he

?
infers the existence of a general theory co mprising the analogous

“
theories as special cases He proceeds to a unification resul ting .
,
” ,
first fro m the recent generaliz ation of the concept of independent

,
v ariable effected by passing fro m the consideration of variables defin ed
for all points in a giv en interval to that of variables defined for all
points in any giv en set of points lying in the range of the variable ,
secon dl y fro m the consideration of functions of an infin ite as well

,
as a fin ite n umber of variables and thirdly from a still fui ther gen
e ral i zat i on which leads hi m to fun ctions of a
“
general variable
,
“
, ,
.
”
E H M oore s general theo ry includes as special cases the theories of
. .
’
E I Fredh ol m D Hilbert and E Schmi dt G D B irkhoff in 1 9 1 1

. .
,
.
, . . . .
presented the following birds eye View of recent m ovem ents : Since 3 ’
-
the researches of G W Hill V Volterra and E I F r edh ol m in the . .

,
.
,
. .
di rection of extended linear system s of equations m athematics has ,
been in the way of great develop ment That attitude of mind which .
conceives of the function as a generali z ed point of the method of ,
successive approxi mation as a Taylor s expansion in a function va ’
r i abl e of the calc ul us of variations as a li miting form of the ordinary

,
a lgebraic proble m of m axi ma and m ini ma is now c rystalli z ing into a

new branch of mathematics under the leadership of S P incherle J .
, .
1
A Vo ss , U eber das Wesen d M ath , 1 9 1 3 , p 6 3
. . . .
2
S ee P roceed 5 th I n ter n C on gr ess of M a thema ti ci a n s , C amb ridg e ,
. . 19 13 , V ol I , .
p . 2 30 .
3 B u ll A m . . M ath S oc , V o l
. . . 1 7, 1 91 1 , p 415 . .
AN ALY SI S 395
H adamard D Hilbert E H M oore and others For thi s field

,
.
,
. .
, .
P rofessor M oore proposes the term General Analysis defined as ‘ ’

,
‘
the theory of syste ms of classes of functions functional O perations , ,
etc i nvolving at least one general variable on a general range He
.
,
.
’
has fixed attention on the most abstract aspect of this field by con
s ideri n g functions of an absolutely general variable The nearest .
approach to a si milar investigation is due to M Fr éch e t (P aris thesis

”
.
,
who res tricts hi mself to variables for which the notion of a

limiting value is valid
”
Researches along the li ne of E H M oore s ’
. . .
“
General Analysis are due to A D P itcher of Adelbert College and
”
. .
E W C hi ttenden of the University of Illinois In his General

”
“
. . .
Analysis M oore d efines co mplete independence of postulates “
whi ch has received the further attention of E V Huntin gton R D . .

, . .
B eetle L L D ines and M G Gaba

V Volterra di scusses integro —
. . . . .
, ,
. differential equations which involve “
not only the unknown functions under signs of integration but also
the unknown functions themselves and their derivatives and shows ,
their use in m athematical physics G C E v ans of the Rice Institute . . .
e xtended A L Cauchy s existence theore m for partial differential

”
’
. .
equations to integro differential equations of the static type in -

“
which the variables of differentiation are different from those of i n

t eg r a ti on M ixed linear integral equations have been discussed by
.
W A Hurwitz of Cornell University

. . .
The S tu dy of integral equations and the theory of point sets has led
to the developm ent of a body of theory called functional calculus .
One part of this is the theory of the functions of a line As early as .
1 88 7 Vito Volterra of the University of Ro m e developed the funda
mental theory of what he called functions depen ding on other func

tions and functions of curves Any quantity which depends for its .
value on the arc of a curve as a whole is called a func tion of the line .
The relationships o f functions depending on other functions are

”
“
called fon c t i on el l es by J Hadamard in his L egons su r l e cal cu l des .
var i a ti on s 1 91 0 and f unctionals by English writers Functional

, ,
“
.
equations and syste m s of functional equations have received the atten

tion of Griffi th C Evans of the Rice Institute Luigi Sinigallia of .
,
P avia Giovanni L T C Giorgi of Ro me A R Schweit z er of Chicago

,
. . .
,
. .
,
Eric H Neville of Cambridge and others Neville solves the race

.
,
.
course pu zzle o i cov ering a circle by a set of five circular discs Says .
G B M athews : We must express our regret that English math

.
1
.
“
e ma t i c s is so predo m inantly analytical Cannot som e one for in

”
.
,
stance give u S a truly geometrical theory of J V P oncelet s poristic

, . .
’
polygons or of von S t au dt s thread constructions for c on i coi ds ? In

,
’
-
“
the theory of functional equations a single equation or a syste m of ,
equations expressing som e property is taken as the definition of a

class of fun ctions whose characterist i cs particular as well as collective , ,
1
Nature, V ol 9 7 , . 1916, p 39 8
. .
are to be developed as an outco m e of the equations (E B Van
V leck )
. .
An i mportant generali z at i on of Fourier series has been made _
and we have a great class of expansions in the so—

,
called orthogonal
and b ior thog on al functions arising in the study of diff erential and
integral equations In the field of diff erential equations the most
.
irnpor tan t class of these functions was first defined in a general and
explicit m anner (i n 1 90 7)
,
by G D B irkhoff of Har vard Univer

”
. .
si ty ; and their leading fun da mental properties were developed by
hi m .
1
In boun dary value problems of diff erential equations which
are not self adjoi n t b i or thog on al system s of functions play the sam e
-
,
r Ol e as the orthogonal syste m s do in the self adjoint case Anna J -

. .
P ell established theorem s for b i o r th og on al syste m s analogous to those

of F Ri esz and E Fischer for or thogonal systems
. . .
Theori es
f o I r r ati on al s and Theory f
o A ggr ega tes
The new non m etrical theories of the irrational were called forth
-
by th e demands for greater rigor The use of the word quantity “

.
as a geo metrical m agnitude without reference to number and also

as a nu mber w hi ch m easu res som e magnitude was disconcerting e s ,
p ec i al l y as there existed no safe ground for the assu mption that the
same rul es of operation applied to both The metrical view of n umber .
in volved the entire theory of measurem ent whi ch assu med greater
di fli cul t i es w i th the advent of the non Euclidean geo metries In a t
‘
-
.
tempts to construct arithm etical theories of number irrational n um ,
bers were a sour ce of trouble It was not satisfactory to operate with .
i r rational numbe r s as if they were rational What are irrational .
numbers ? Considerable atten tion was paid to the definition of them

as limits of certain sequences of rational nu mbers A L Cauchy in . . .
“
hi s C ou r s d An al ys e 1 8 2 1 p 4 says an irrational number is the
’
”
,
.
, ,
l imit of div erse fractions w hich furnish m ore and m ore approxim ate
values of it P robably Cauchy was satisfied of the e xistence of
.
irrationals on geometric gr ounds If not his exposition was a rea .

,
soning in a circle To make this plain suppose we have a develop

.
,
m ent of rational n umbers and we desire to define l i mi t and also i rr a

ti on al n u mber With Cauchy we may say that when the successive
.
“
val ues attributed to a variable a pproach a fi xed value indefinitely

so as to end by di ff ering from it as l ittle as is wished this fix ed value
is called the limi t of all the others Since we are still confined to .
” ,
the field of rational numbers this limit if not rational is non existent , , ,
-
and fictitious If now we endeavor to define irrational number as a

.
limit we encoun ter a break down in our logical develo pment It

,
-
.
becam e desirable to define irrational number arithmetically w i thout

reference to limits This was achieved independently and at al mos t
.
1
R D C armi ch ael i n S ci en ce, N S
. . . .
, V ol 4 5 ,
. 1 9 1 7, p 471
. .
ti on al , has been placed upon a basis en tirely independent of measu r

able m agnitude and pure analysis is regarded as a schem e whi ch deals
,
with number only and has per s e no conce rn with m easurable quan
, , ,
tity Analysis thus placed upon an arithmetical basis is characteri z ed

.
by the rej ection of all appeals to our S pecial intuitions of S pace tim e
and m otion in support of the possibil i ty of its operations ( E W ” ,
Hobson )The arithm eti zation of m athem atics whi ch was in progress
. .
,
.
,
during the en tire nineteenth century but m ainly durin g the ti me of ,
Ch M eray L Kronecker and K Weierstrass , was characteriz ed by

.
,
.
,
.
1 “
E W Hobson in 1 90 2 in the following terms : In some of the text
. .
books in common use in this co u ntry the symbol 0 is still used as if ,

0
it denoted a n u mber and one in all respects on a par with the fin ite
,
numbers The foun dations of the integral calculus are treated as if

.
Riemann had never lived and worked The order in which doubl e .
li mits are taken is treated as imm aterial and in m any other respects ,
the critical results of the last century are ignored ”

“
The theory of exact m easurement in the domain of the ideal ob
j ec t S of abstract geometry is not i mmedi ately derivable from intui tion ,
but is now usually regarded as requi ring for its develop m ent a previ ous
independent investigation of the nature and relations of number .
The relations of n umber having been developed on an independent

basis the scheme is applied by the help of the principle of congruency
, ,
or other equivalent principle to the representation of extensive or ,
intensive m agnitude This complete separation of the notion

.
of number especially fractional number from that of m agnitude

, , ,
involves no doub t a reversal of the hi stori cal and psychological

, ,
or ders The ex treme arithm etiz ing school of which perhaps

.
, , ,
L Kronecker was the founder ascribes reality whatever that may

.
, ,
m ean to integral nu mbers onl y and regards fractional numbers as

, ,
possessing only a derivative character and as being introduced only ,
for convenience of notation The ideal of this school is that every .
theorem of analysis S hould be interpretable as giving a rela tion b e

tween integral numbers only ”
“
The true ground of the difli cu lti es of the older analysis as regards
the existence of limits and In relation to the application to measu r ,
able quantity lies in its inadequate concept i on of the domain of

,
number i n accordance with whi ch the only num bers really defin ed
,
were rational numbers This inadequacy has now been removed by .
means of a purely arithm etical definition of irrational n umbers by ,
means of which the continuum of real numbers has been set up as

the domain of the independent variable in ordinary analysis Thi s
—
.
definition has been given in the main in three form s one by E Heine .
and G Cantor the second by R D edekind and the third by K Weier

.
,
.
,
.
strass Of these the first two are the simplest for working pu rposes
.
,
an d are essentially equivalent to one another ; the diff erence between

1
P r oceed L ondon
. M ath S oc , V ol 3 5 , 1 90 2 , pp
. . . . 1 1 7 - 1 39 ; se e p . 1 1 8.
ANALYSIS 399
them is that while D edekind defines an irrational number by means

,
of a section of all the rational numbers in the Heine Canto r form of ,

-
definition a selected convergent aggregate of such num bers is em

ployed The essential change introduced by thi s definition of irra
.
t i on al numbers is that for the sche me of rational n u mbers a new , ,
scheme of numbers is substituted in which each num ber rational or , ,
irrational is defined and can be exhibited in an indefinitely great

,
number of ways by means of a convergent aggregate of rational

,
n u mbers By thi s conception of the do main of n u mber the root

.
d iffi culty of the older analysis as to the e xistence of a lim it is turned ,
each number of the continuum being really defi ned in such a way that
it itself exhibits the li mit of certain classes of convergent sequences .
It S ho ul d be observed that the criterion for the convergence of an

aggregate is of such a character that no use is made in it of i nfi n i t esi
mals definite fin ite numbers alone being used in the tests The old
,
.
attempts to prove the e xistence of limits of convergent aggregates

were in default of a previ ous arithmetical definition of irrational
,
num ber doom ed to inevitable failure In such applications of

analysis—as for example the rectification of a cu rv c the length of
, .
;
, ,
the curve is defined by the aggr egate formed by the lengths of a proper
sequence of inscribed polygons In case the aggregate is not .
convergent the curve is regarded as not r ec t ifi abl e

, .
“
It has in fact been shown that many of the properties of functions ,
such as continuity diff erentiability are capable of precise definition

, ,
when the domain of the variable is not a continuum prov ided how , ,
ever that domain is perfect ; this has appeared clearly in the course
,
of recent investigations of the properties of non dense perfect agg r e -
gate .
”
gates and of fun ctions of a variable whose domain is such an agg re
,
In 1 91 2 P hilip E B Jourdain of Fleet near London characteriz ed

. .
, ,
theories of the irrational substantially as follows : 1 “

Dedekind s ’
theory had not for its obj ect to prove the existence of irrationals :
it S howed the necessity as D edekind thought for the mathematician , ,
to create them In the idea of the creation of numbers Dedekind

.
,
was followed by O S tol z ; but H Weber and M P asch showed how

. . .
the supposition of this creation could be avoided : H Weber defined

real numbers as sections (S chni tte)
.
in the series of rationals ; M P asch

(like B Russell )
.
.as the segments which generate these sections In .
K Weierstrass theory irrationals were defined as classes of rationals

.
’
, .
Hence B Russell s obj ections ( stated in his P r i nc i pl es of M athemati cs

’
Cambridge 1 90 3 p 2 8 2 )
.
,
do not hold against it nor does Russell

, , .
,
se em to credi t Weierstrass and Cantor with the avoidance of quite

the contradiction that they did av oid The real objection to Weier .
s trass theory and one of the objections to G Cantor s theory is

’ ’
, .
,
1 P E B Jou rda i n ,
. . . O n I soid R el a t ion s an d The ori e s o f I rra t i o n al N u m b e r in
I ntern ati on al C ongress o M athemati ci a n s , C am b r id e , 1 1 2
f g 9 .
that equality has to be r e— defi n e d In the v arious arithm etical theories

of irrational num bers there are three tendencies : ( a )
.
the n umber is
de fined as a logical entity—a class or an operation as w ith K
Weierstrass H Weber M P asch B Russell M P ieri ; (b )
.
“ ” ,
.
created or more frankly postulated as with R D edekind O

,
it is
.
,
.
,
.
Stol z G P eano and Ch M eray ; ( c )

, , .
.
, , ,
it is defi ned as a S ig n ( for what

is left indeterm inate )as with E Heine G Cantor H Thomae A
. .
, , ,
.
, .
. .
, , ,
P r in g sh e im In the geom etrical theories as with P aul du Bois

.
,
Reymond a real nu mber is a sign for a length In B Russell s theory . .

’
”
,
it appears to be equally legitimate to define a real number in various

way s .
The theory of aggregates (M engenlehre th éorie des ense mbles

theory of sets)
, ,
owes its d e v elop m ent to the en d eavor to clarify the

concepts of in depen dent var iable and of funct i on Form erly th e .
notion of an independent variable reste d on the nai ve concept of the

geom etric continuu m N o w the in dependent variable is restricted .
to som e aggregate of values or points selected out of the continu um .
The term function was destined to receive various definitions J . .
Fourier advanced the theorem that an arbitrary functio n can be

represented by a trigono metric series P G L D irichlet looked upon . . . .
the general functio n al concept as equivalent to any arbitrary table of

values When G F B Riem ann gav e an exa mple of a function ex
. . . .
pressed analytically which was d i scontinuous a t each rational point ,
the nee d of a m ore comprehensive theory becam e evident The first .
atte mpts to m eet the n ew needs were m ade by Herm ann Hankel and
l
P aul d u B ois Re ym ond The Al l gemei n e Fu n k ti on en theor i e of du
-
Bois—
.
Reym on d brilliantly sets forth the proble ms in philosophical

form but it remained for Georg Cantor to advance and develop the
,
necessary ideas invol v ing a treat m ent of infinite aggregates E v en

,
.
though th e infinite h ad been the subj ect of philosophic conte mplation

for m ore than two thousan d years G Cantor hesitated for ten years , .
before placing his i deas before the m athematical public The theory .
of aggregates sprang into being as a science when G Cantor intro

du c e d the notion of enu m erable aggregates ?
G Cantor began his
,
” ,
.
.
publications in 1 8 70 ; i n 1 8 8 3 he publi shed his Gru ndl agen ei n er al l

gemei n en M a n n i chfal ti gk ei ts l ehr e I n 1 8 95 and 1 8 97 appeared in
M athemati s che A n n al en his B ei tr age zu r B egr undu ng der tran sfi n i ten
M en gen l ehr e 2
These researches have played a m ost conspicuous r Ol e
not only I n the march of m athematics toward logical exactitude but ,
also in the real m of philosophy .
G Cantor s theory of the continuu m was used by P Tannery in

.
’
.
1 8 8 5 in the search for a profounder vie w of Zeno s argum ents against

’
1
A S ch oen fli es , En twi ck el u n g der M en genl ehr e u n d i hr er A n w end un g en , gemei n s a m
.
n zi t H a n s H a hn her a u s g eg eben , L e i p ig u B e r l i n , 1 9 1 3 p 2 z .
, . .
2
T ran s l a t ed i n t o En g li sh b y P hi l ip E B Jo u r d ai n an d p u bl i s hed b y t he O p e n . .
C o u r t P u b l C o , C hi c ag o , 1 9 1 5
. . .
46 2 A H I STORY OF M ATHE M ATIC S
in 1 90 6 relates to the aggregate of decim al fractions between 0 and 1

,
which can be defined by a finite num ber of words ; a new dec imal frac
tion can be defined which is not included in the previous ones ,
.
B ertrand Russell discovered another paradox given in his P ri n ,
ci pl es of M a thema ti cs 1 90 3 pp 3 6 4—368 10 1 which is stated by , ,

.
,
P hilip E B Jourdain thus : If w is the class of all those term s x such

. .
that x is not a m em ber of x then if w is a m ember of w it is plain that , , ,
w is n o t a m ember of w ; while if w is not a m e mber of w it is equally

” ,
p l ain that w is a member of w These paradoxes are closely allied

”
1
.
to th e Epi m enides pu zzle : Epim eni des was a Cretan who said that
all Cretans were liars Hence if his statem ent was true he was a li ar .
,
.
H P oin care and B Russell attribute the paradoxes to the open and
. .
”
clan destine use of the word all The difli cul ty lies in the definition
”
“
.
of the word M enge“

.
Noteworthy among the attempts to place the theory of aggregates

u pon a foundation t hat w i ll exclude the para doxes and antino m ies that
had arisen was the formulation in 1 90 7 of seven restricting axioms

,
by E Zerm elo in M a th A n n al en 6 5 p 2 6 1
. .
, ,
. .
Ju l i u s K an i g ( 1 8 4 9 the Hungarian mathe m atician in bi ,
N eu e Gru n dl agen der L ogi k A r i thmeti k u nd M en gen l ehr e 1 9 1 4 speaks

of E Z erm el o s axiom of selection (Auswahlaxiom)
, , ,
. as being reall y
’
a l ogical assu mption not an axiom in the old sense whose freedom , ,
from contradiction m ust be dem onstrated along with the other

axiom s He ta kes pains to steer clear of the antinom ies of B Russell
. .
and C B urali Forti For a discussion of the logical and philosophical

.
-
.
questions invol v ed i n the theory of aggregates consult the second ,
edition of E B orel s L econs su r l a théori e des f on cti ons P aris 1 9 1 4

.
’
, , ,
note IV wh i ch giv es letters written by J Hadamard E Borel H

,
.
, .
, .
Lebesgue R B a i re touching the val idity of Z e rm el o s d em onstration

,
.
,
’
that the l inear continuu m is well ord ered A set of axiom s of ordinal -
.
m a g nitu d e was given by A B F ri zell in 1 9 1 2 at the Ca mbridge . .
Congress .
In the treatm ent of the infinite there are two schools Georg Cantor .
prov ed that the con t inuum is not denum erable ; J A Richard con . .
,
tending that no m a thematical entity e xists that is not defin able in a

finite num ber of w ords argued that the continuum is denum erable ,
.
H P oincar é claim ed that this contradiction is not real since J A

.
,
. .
Richard e mploys a non predicative definition ?

H Poincaré in 3 -
.
,
di scussing the logic of the infinite states that according to the first , ,
school the pragm atists the infinite flows out of the fi nite ; there is an
, ,
infinite because there is an infinity of possible finite things Accord

,
.
ing to the second school the Cantorians the infinite precedes the , ,
finite ; the finite is obtained by cutting off a small piece of the infinite .
P E B Jo u rdai n , C on tr i bu ti on s , C hi cag o , 1 9 1 5 , p
1
. . . . 206 .
2
B u l l A m M a th S oc , V o l 1 7 , 1 9 1 1 , p 1 93
S c i en ti a , V o l 1 2 , 1 9 1 2 , p p 1 —
. . . . . . .
3
11 . . .
ANALYSIS 40 3
For pragmatists a theore m has no meaning unless it can be verified ;

they reject indirect proofs of e xistence ; hence they reply to E Zermelo .
who proves that S pace can be converted into a well ordered aggregate -
(wohl geordnete M enge) : Fine convert it ! We cannot carry out this ,
transformation because the number of operators is infinite For .
Cantorians m athematical thi ngs exist independently of man who may

think about them ; for them cardinal number is no myste ry On the .
other hand pragma t ists are not sure that any aggregate has a cardinal
,
number and when t hey say that the M ach tig k ei t of the continuum
,
i s not that of the whole nu mbers they mean simply that it is i m ,
possible to set up a correspondence between these two aggregates ,
which co u ld not be destroyed by the creation of new points in S pace .
If mathe maticians are ordinaril y agreed a mong themselves it is ,
because of confirm ations which pass fi nal j udgment In the logic of .
infinity there are no confirmations .
E J Brouwer of the University of Amsterdam expressing views

. .
,
of G M an n ou ry said in 1 91 2 that to the psychologist belongs the

.
,
“
task of e xplaining why we are averse to the S O called contradictory -
”
systems in whi ch the negative as well as the positive of certain propo
s i t i on s are valid
“
,
”
that the i ntuitionist recogni zes only the ex i stence
of denum erable sets and can never feel assured of the exactness of
mathematical theory by such guarantees as the proof of its being
non contradictory the possibility of defining its concepts by a finite
-
”
,
number of words or the practical certa i nty that it will never lead to
,
misun derstandi ng in hu m an relations 1

A B Fri z ell showed in . . .
1 9 1 4 that the field of denu m erably infinite processes is not a closed

—
domain a concept which the i ntuitionist refuses to recogni z e but ,
“
which need not disturb an intuitionist who cuts loose from the prin
c ipi um c on t r adi c t i on i s M ore recent ten dencies of research In this
.
field are described by E H M oore : From the linear continuum

2 “
. .
with its infinite var i ety of functions and corresponding singularities

G Cantor developed his theory of cl ass es of poi n ts (P u n ktmengen l ehr e)
.
with the notions : li mit point derived class closed class perfect class
-
etc and hi s theory of cl asses i n gen eral (allgem eine M engenl ehre )
, , , ,
.
,
with
th e n o t i on s :cardinal n u mber ordi nal number order type etc These
‘
-
.
, , ,
theories of G Cantor are perm eating M odern M athematics Thus

. .
there is a theory of functions on point sets in particular on perfect -

, ,
point sets and on more general order types while the arithm etic
-
,
-
,
of cardinal numbers and the algebra and function theory of ordinal

numbers are under development .
“
Less techni cal generaliz ations or analogues of fun ctions of the
continuous real variable occur throu ghou t t h e various doctrines and ‘
applications of analysis A function of several variables is a function

.
of a S ingle m ultipartite variable ; a distribution of potential or a field

1
L E . .
J B rou w er i n B u ll A m M a th S oc V ol 2 0
. . . . .
, .
,
19 13, pp .
2
N ew Haven Col l oq ui u m, 1 906 , N ew H a v en 1 9 1 0 , , p . 2- 4 .
of force is a function of position on a cuve or surface or region ; the
value of the definite integral of the Calculus of Variations is a func
tion of the variable function entering the definite integral ; a curvilinear
integral is a function of the path of integration ; a functional operation
is a fun ction of the argum ent f u nction or functions ; etc etc .
,
.
“
A mul tipartite variable itself is a fu nction of the variable index
of the part Thus a finite sequence : x 1 ; x of real numbers is a n,
n ) S i mi larly
.
function x of the inde x i V i z (i =1

; ,
.
,
an i n finite sequence :x l ; of real num bers is a functi on x

of the ind ex n v i z , ( u =1
; 2;
.
,
Accordingly n fold ,
-
algebra and the theory of sequences and of series are embraced in

the theory of functions .
“
A S apart fro m the determ ination and e x tension of notions and
theories in analogy with simpler notions and theories there is the ,
e xtension by direct generaliz ation The Cantor m ove ment is in this .
direction Finite generali zation from the case u = 1 to the case n = u

.
, ,
occurs throughout Analysis as for instance in the theory of func , , ,
tions of several independent variables The theory of functions of a .
denu merable in fi nity of variables is another step in thi s directi on 1

.
We notice a more general theory dating fro m the year 1 90 6 Recog .
n i z i ng the funda m ental r ole played by the notion l i mi t el emen t (n u m -
ber point fun ction curve etc )

, ,
in the various S pecial doctrines M
, ,
.
, .
F réch e t has given with e xtensive applications an abstract generaliza

, ,
ti on of a considerable part of Cantor s theory of classes of points and ’
of the theory of continuous functions on classes of points F réchet .
considers a general C l a S S P of elements p with the notion l i mi t defined

’
for sequences of ele ments The nature of the elem ents p is not S peci .
fi ed ; the notion l i mi t is not expli citly defined ; it is postulated as de

fined subj ect to specified conditions For particular applications .
explicit d efinitions satisfying the conditions are given The .
fun ctions considered are either functions u of variables p of Specified ,

,
character or functions p on ranges P with postulated features : e g . . .
l i mi t; di stan ce; el emen t of con den sa ti on ; conn ecti on of specified char ,
acter . E H M oore s own form of general analysis of 1 90 6 considers

. .
’
f u n cti on s p of a g en er al vari abl e p on a gen er al r ange P where this

,
,
g en er al e mbraces every well defi n ed particul ar case of variable and

-
range .
Early in the develop ment of the theory of point sets it was pro
posed to associate with them nu mbers that are analogous to those
representing lengths areas volumes On account of the great arbi
?
, ,
t r ar i n ess of thi s procedure several di fferent definitions of such n u m ,
bers have been given The earliest were given in 1 8 8 2 by H Hankel

and A Harnack Another definition due to G Cantor ( 1 8 84)
. .
. . was .
generali z ed by H M inkowski in 1 900 M ore precise measures were

. .
1
D H i l be r t , 1 90 6 , 1 909
. .
2
En cycl opédi e des sci ences m a théma ti q u es , To me I I , Vol . I , 1 91 2, p . 1 50 .
( Riemann s integral )admits a finite number of discontinuities but

’
an infinite nu mber only under certain narrow restrictions A totally

discontinuous function—for exa mple one equal to z ero in the rational
.
points whi ch are everyw here dense in the interval of integration ,
and equal to 1 in the rational points which are likewise everyw here
dens e—is not integrable a la Riemann The restriction became a .
very hampering one when mathe maticians began to reali z e that the
analytic world in whi ch theorem s are deducible does not consist
m erely of hi ghl y ci v ili z ed and continuous functions In 1 90 2 Lebesg ue .
with great penetration fram ed a new integral which is identical with

the integral of Riemann when the latter is applicable but is immeasur
ably more comprehensive It will for instance include the totally .
, ,
discontinuous function above mentioned This new integral of .
Lebesgue is proving itself a wonderful tool I might co mpare it with .
a m odern Krupp g un so easily does it penetrate barriers which before

were i mpregnable ”,
Instructive is also the description of this m o v e

.
m ent as given by G A Bliss :

,
1 “
Volterra has pointed out in the. .
,
introductory chapter of his L egons s u r l es f on cti ons des l ign es

the rapid develop m en t which is taking place in our notions of infinite
processes e xamples of which are the definite integral limit the solu
, ,
tion of integral equations and the transition fro m functions of a ,
finite num ber of variables to functions of lines In the field of i n .
t eg ra ti on the classical integral of Rie mann perfected by D arb oux , ,
was such a convenien t and perfect instrum ent that it impressed itself
for a long time upon the m athematical public as being somethi ng
unique and final The advent of the integrals of T J S tieltj es and H
. . . .
Lebesgue has shaken the co mplacency of m athe maticians in thi s

respect and with the theory of linear integral equations has given
, , ,
the S ignal for a r e examination and extension of many of the types of

-
processes which Volterra calls passing from the finite to the infinite .
It shoul d be noted that the Lebesgue integral is only one of the evi
den c e s of this restlessness in the particular do main of the integration
theory Other new defin itions of an integral have been dev ised by
.
S tieltjes W H Young J P ierpont E Hellinger J Radon M

,
. .
,
.
,
.
,
.
, .
F réch e t E H M oore and others The definitions of Lebesgue

,
. .
,
.
,
Young an d P ierpont and those of S tieltjes and Hellinger form two

, , ,
rather well defined and distinct types while that of Radon is a gen ,
eral i z a t i on of the integrals of both Lebesgue and S tieltjes Th e .
e fforts of Frechet and M oore have been directed toward definitions

valid on m ore general ranges than sets of points of a line or higher
spaces and whi ch include the others for S pecial cases of these ra nges
, .
Lebesgue and H Hahn with the help of somewhat complicated .

,
transformations have shown that the integrals of S tieltj es and Hel

,
1
G A B l i ss , I n t e g ral s o f L eb e sg u e B u ll A m M ath S oc , V ol 2 4 , 1 9 1 7 , pp 1
—
. .
. . . . . . .
47 . S ee al so T H H i l debran d t , l oc c i t , V ol 2 4 , pp 1 1 3 1 44 , w ho g i ves b i bli og ra

. . . . . .
phy
ANALYSIS 40 7
linger are expressible as Lebesgue integrals Van Vleck has .
remarked that a Lebesgue integral is expressible as one of S tieltjes

by a transfor mation much S i mpler than that used by Lebesgue for
the opposite purpose and the S tieltj es integral so obtained is readily
,
expressible in terms of a Riemann integral Further more the .
S tieltj es integral see ms distinctly better suited than that of Lebesgue

to certain types of questions as is well indi cated by the original ,
‘
problem of mo ments of S tieltjes or by a generaliz ation of it which
’
,
F Ri esz has m ade

. The conclusion then see ms to be that one
.
S ho u ld reserve j udg ment for the presen t at least as to the fin al for m

,
or forms which the integration theory is to take .
M athemati cal L ogi c

Summariz ing the history of mathem atical logic P E B Jourdain ,
. . .
says : In so mewhat close connection with the work of Leibni z

1 “
stands the work of Johann Heinrich Lambert who sought — not v ery
successfully—to develop the logic of relations Toward the middl e
,
of the nineteenth century George B oole i ndependently worked out

and published hi s famous calculus of logic Independently of .
hi m or anybody else Augustus D e M organ began to work out logic

,
as a calc u lus and later on taking as his guide the m axim that logic
, ,
should not consider merely certain kinds of deduction but deduction

qui te generally founded all the essential parts of the logic of relations
, .
William Stanley Jevons c r iticised and populariz ed B oole s work ; and ’
Charles S P eirce ( 1 8 39 . M r s Christine Ladd Frankl in Richard .

-
,
D edekind Ernst Schroder ( 1 84 1

,
Her mann G and Robert .
Grassmann Hugh M ac C ol l John Venn and m any others either

, , , ,
developed the work of G B oole and A D e M organ or bui lt up system s

. .
of calculative logic in m odes which were largely independent of the

work of others B ut it was in the work of Gottlob Frege Gui seppe
.
,
P eano B ertrand Russell and Alfred North Whitehead that we fi n d

, , ,
a closer approach to the l i ngu a char acter i sti ca dreamed of by Leibni z

”
.
We proceed to a few details .
P ure mathematics
“
says B Russell 2 “
was di scovered b yBoole
, .
,
in a work which he called The L aws of Thou ght His

m athematics .
”
work was concerned with formal logic an d this I s the sam e thi ng as
G e o r g e B ool e ( 1 8 1 5—1 86 4) became I n 1 849 professor
,
in Q ueen s College Cork Ireland He was a native of Li ncoln an d

’
, , .
,
a self educated mathematician of great power In his boyhood he

-
.
studied unaided the cl assi c al l ang u ag es While teaching school he

'
3
.
, ,
pursued modern languages and entered upon the study of J Lagrange .
1 The M on i s t, V ol p 522
. 26 , 191 6 , . .
2
I n ter n a ti on a l M on thl y 1 90 1 , p 8 3 , . .
S ee A M ac farl an e , Ten B r i ti s h M a themati ci a n s , N ew Yo rk , 1 9 1 6 B o ol e s

3 ’
. .
L aws of Thou ght w as rep ub l i she d i n 1 9 1 7 b y t h e O p en C o u r t P u b l C o , . . u n de r t he
edi torsh ip of P E B J o u rdain . . . .

an d P S Laplace His treatises on Di fier en ti al E qu a ti on s ( 1 8 and

Fi n i te D if er en ces ( 1 8 60 )
. . .
are works of merit .
A point of view diff erent fro m that of G Boole was taken by Hugh
M acC o l ( 8 3 7 1 90 9)—
.
l 1 who was led to his syste m of sym bolic logic by

researches on the theo ry of probability While Boole used letters to .
represent the times durin g whi ch certain propositions are true M a c ,
Col l e mployed the proposi tion as the real un i t i n symbolic reasoning 1
When the variables In the Boolean algebra are interpreted as proposi

.
tions C I Lewis of the University oi California worked out a matr ix

,
. .
algebra for implications .
Wh en the investigation of the principles of mathematics becam e

the chi ef task of logical symbolism the aspect of symbolic logic as a ,
calcul us ceased to be of such importance Fri e d ri ch Lu dwi g G ottl ob .
Fre g e ( 1 848 of the University of Jena entered thi s field Con .
s i der i n g the foundations of arit hm etic he in qui red how far one could
go by conclusions which rest merely on the laws of general logic .
Ordi nary language was found to be unequal to the accuracy req u ired .
So knowing nothing of the work of hi s predecessors except G W ,

. .
Leibni z he devised a symbolism and in 1 8 79 published hi s B eg r ifls

,
s chr if t and in 1 8 93 his Gr u n dg es etze der A r i thmeti k

,
Says P E B . . . .
Jourdain : Frege criticised the notion which m athem aticians denote

by the word aggregate (M enge )and particularly the views of
‘ ’
,
D edekind and Schr oder Neither of these authors distingui shed the .
subordination of a concept un der a concept from the falling of an

obj ect under a concept ; a distinction upon which P eano rightly laid so
m uch stress and which is indeed one of the most characteristic
features of P eano s system of ideography
,
’
Ernst Schroder of Karls
, ,
.
”
ruhe had published in 1 8 7 7 his A l gebr a der L ogi k and John Venn his
S ymbol i c L ogi c in 1 88 1 .
P eano s first publication on mathe matical logic followed the

“ ’
lines of Schroder s work of 1 8 7 7 very closely An excellent exposition

’
.
in P eano s C al col o geometr i co s econ do l A u s dehn u ngsl ehr e di H Gr a ss

’ ’
.
man n Turin 1 8 88 of the geo m etrical calculus of A F M Ob i u s H G

, , ,
. .
,
. .
Grassm ann and others was preceded by an introduction treating of

,
the Operations of deductive logic which are very analogous to those ,
of ordi nary algebra and of the geom etrical calc ul us The signs of .
logic were someti mes used in the later parts of the book though this
was not done system atically as it was in m any of P eano s later works ’
,
”
(Jour dain ) In 1 8 9 1 appeared under G P eano s editorship the first
,
’
.
,
.
v olu m e of the R i vi s ta di M atemati ca which contains articles on m athe
ma t i c al logic and its applications but this kind of work was carried ,
on more f ully in the Formul ai r e de mathéma ti qu es of which the first

vol u m e was published in 1 8 95 This was proj ected to be a classified .
collection of m athe matical truths written wholly in P eano s sym bols : ,

’
1 F de t ail s see P hi lip E B Jou rdai in Q a t rl y J o

or f M ath V l 43 9 2
. . n u r e ur . o .
,
o .
, 1 1 ,
p . 2 19 .
classes and the geo m etrical theory of points This topic received a .
re state m ent and an e x tension in 1 90 5 fro m the pen of J osi ah Ro ce

y
-
( 1 8 55 professor of philosophy at Harvard Univ ersity Royce .
“
contends that the entire system of the relationshi ps of the e xact
sciences stands in a m uch closer connection with the si mple principles
of sym bolic logic than h as thus far been generally recogni z ed .
”
There exists divergence of opinion on the value of the notati on of
1 “
the calculus of logic Says A Voss : As far as I am able to survey . .
the practical results of m athe m atical logic they run aground at every ,
real application on account of the extrem e co mplexity of its form ulas ;

,
by a comparativ ely large expenditure of e ffort they yield al most

trivial results which however can be read off with absolute certainty
, , , .
Only in the discussion of purely mathem atical questions i e relations , . .
between numbers d oes it in P eano s For mu l ai re ,

prove itself ,
’
to be a real power probably rep l aceable by no other mode of ex ,
pression By som e even this is called into question

. .
Alessandro P adoa of the Royal Technical Institute of Genoa s aid

in 1 9 1 2 : I do not hope to suggest to you the sym pathetic and touch
2 “
ing optimism of Leibniz who prophesying the triumphal success of , ,
these researches affi rm ed : I dare say that this is the last effort of
,
‘
the hu man m ind and when this proj ect shall have been carried out
, , ,
all that m e n will have to do will be to be happy since they will hav e ,
an instrum ent that will serve to exalt the intellect not l e S S than the
telescope serves to perfect their vision Although for som e fiftee n .
’
years I hav e giv en myself up to these studies I have not a hope so ,
hyperbolic ; but I delight in recalling the candor of this m aster who ,
absorbed in scientific and philosophic investigations forgot that the ,
m ajority of m en sought and continue to seek happiness in the feverish

conquest of pleasure m oney and honors M eanwhile we S hould , , .
avoid an excessiv e scepticis m because always and e v erywhere there

has been an élite—to day less restricted than in the past—which was
, ,
charm ed by and delights now in all that raises one abov e the con
, ,
fused troubles of the passions into the imperturbable imm ensity of ,
knowledge whose horiz ons becom e the m ore vast as the wings of
thought beco me m ore powerful and rapid
,
.
”
In 1 9 1 4 an international congress of m athematical philosophers was
held i n P aris with E mil B o u t roux as president Unfortunately the
, .
great war nipped this promising new move ment in the bud Recent .
books on the philosophy of m athematics are M Winter s L a méthode .

’
dan s l a phi l osophi c dcs mathemati cs P aris 1 9 1 1 L éon B ru n s chv i cg s

’
, , ,
L es él apcs dc l a phi l os ophi c ma théma ti qu e P aris 1 9 1 2 and J B , , ,

. .
Shaw s L ectu r es on the P hil osophy of M a themati cs Chicago and Lon

’
,
don 1 9 1 8 ,
.
A V1
U b r d s We e d
. M th m ti k L ip z ig
oss , e e B e li na Aufl 9 3 s n er a e a , e u . r , 2 . .
,
1 1 ,
p . 28 .
2
B u ll A m M a th S oc
. . . .
, Vol . 20, 1 9 1 3 , p 98. .
THEORY OF FUNCTIONS 41 1
Theory o f Fu ncti ons
We begin our sketch of the vast progress in the theory of functions

by considering investigations which center about the S pecial class
called elliptic functions These were richly developed by N H Abel
. . .
and C G J Jacobi
N i e l s H e nrik Ab e l ( 1 80 2 1 8 2 9)
. . . .
— was born at Fi ndoé in Norway and ,
Was prepared for the university at the cathedral school in Christiania .
He exhibited no interest in m athe matics until 1 8 1 8 when B Holm b oe ,

.
becam e lecturer there and aroused Abel s interest by assigning original

,
’
problem s to the Class Like C G J Jacobi and m any o ther young

. . . .
m en who becam e e m inent m athem aticians Abel found the first exer ,
cise of his talent in the attempt to solve by algebra the general equa
tion of the fifth degree In 1 8 2 1 he entered the University in Chris
.
t i an i a
. The w orks of L Euler J Lagrange and A M Legendre .
,
.
, . .
were Closely studied by h im The idea of the inversion of elliptic .
functions dates back to this time His extraor dinary success in .
m athem atical study led to the o ff er of a stipend by the governm ent ,
that he mi ght continue his studies in Germany and France Leaving .
Norway i n 1 8 2 5 Abel visited the astronom er H C Schum acher in

, ,
. .
,
Ha mburg and S pent S ix months I n B erlin where he beca m e intimate

with Au g u s t L e opol d C r e l l e ( 1 7 80 —1 8 5 5)and m e t J Steiner En
, ,
. .
cou r ag e d by Abel and J Steiner C r el l e started his journal in 1 8 2 6

.
, .
Abel began to put som e of his work in S hape for print His proof .
of the im possibility of sol v ing the general equation of the fifth degree
—
by radicals fi rst printe d i n 1 8 2 4 in a very concise form and d iff i cult
of apprehension —was elaborated in greater detail and published in
, ,
, ,
the first vol ume He inv estigated also the question what equations
.
,
‘
are solvable by algebra and deduced important general theorem s

thereon These results were published after his death M eanwhile
. .
E Galois traversed this field anew Abel first use d the expression
.
now called the

“
Galois resolvent ; Galois hi mself attributed the idea ” .
,
”
1
of it to Abel Abel showed how t o solve the class of equations n ow

.
,
“
called Abelian He entere d al soupon the subject of infinite series
.
( particularly the bino mial theore m of which he gave in Cr el l e s

’
Jou r n al a rigid general investigation )

,
the study of functions and of , ,
the integral calculus The obscurities everywhere encountered by hi m

.
owing to the prevailing loose methods of analysis he endeavored to

clear up For a short tim e he left Berlin for F reib erg where he had
.
,
fewer interruptions to work and it was there that he m ade researches ,
on hyperelliptic and Abelian functions In July 1 8 2 6 Abel left .

-
, ,
Germany for P aris w ithout having m e t K F Gauss ! Abel had sent .

-
.
to Gauss his proof of 1 8 2 4 of the impossibility of solving equations of

the fifth degree to wh ich Gauss never paid any attention This S light
, .
,
a n d a haughtiness of spirit wh i ch he associated with Gauss prevented ,
th e genial Abel from going to G Ott i n g en A si m ilar feeling was enter .

41 2 A H I STO RY OF MATH E M ATIC S
t ai n e d by him later against A L Cauchy Abel re mained ten months .

- . .
in P aris He m et there P G L D irichlet A M Legendre A L

. . . .
,
. .
, . .
Cauchy and others but was little appreciated He had already pub
, ,
.
l i she d several i mportant m e moirs in C r el l c s J ou r nal but by the

’
French this new periodical was as yet hardly known to exist and ,
Abel was too m odest to speak of his own work P ecuniary e mbarrass .
m ents induced hi m to return hom e after a second short stay in B erlin .
At Christiania he for some time gave private lessons and served as ,
docent C rell e secured at last an appointment for h im at B erlin ;

.
but the news of it did not reach Norw ay until after the death of
“
Abel at Froland ?
Ch Hermite is said to have remarked : Abel a .
ans .
”
laiss é aux m ath ém aticiens de quoi travailler pendant cent cinquante
At nearly the same tim e with Abel C G J J acobi published articles ,
. . .
on elliptic functions A M Legendre s favorite subj ect so long . . .

’
,
neglected was at last to be enriched by some extraordinary discov

,
eries The adv antage to be derived by inverting the elliptic integral

.
of the first kind and treating it as a function of its amplitude (now

called elliptic function ) w as r ec o g n iz ed by Abel and a few months
“
later also by Jacobi A second fruitful idea also arrived at i nde .

,
pen dently by both is the introduction of I maginaries lead ing to the

,
observat i on that the n ew fu n ctions sim ulated at once trigonometric

an d exponential functions For it was show n that while trigonom etric.
functions had only a real period and e xponential only an i maginary , ,
elliptic functions had both sorts of perio ds These two discoveries .
were the foundations upo n which Abel and Jacobi each in his own ,
way erected beautiful n ew structures Abel developed the curious

,
.
expressions representing e l liptic functions by infini te series or quo

t i en t s of infinite products Great as were the achiev ements of Abel .
in elliptic functions they were ecl ipsed by his researches on what are
,
now called Abel i an functions Abel s theorem on these functions was .

’
giv en by him in several fo rm s the most general of these being that ,
in his M emoi r e su r u n c pr opri ete gén er al e d u n c cl asse tr es étendu e de

’ ' ’ ’
-
f on cti on s tr an scenden tes The history of this me moir is inter

esting A few m onths after his arriv al in P aris Abel sub m itted it to
.
,
the French Academy A L Cauchy and A M Legendre were ap . . . . .
pointed to exa m ine it ; but said nothing about it until after Abel s
’
death In a brief state m ent of the discoveries in question publi shed

.
,
by Abel in Cr el l c s Jou rn al 1 8 2 9 reference is made to that memoir

’
, , .
This led C G J Jacobi to inquire of Legendre what had beco me of it

. . . .
Legendre says that the manuscript was so badly written as to b e

illegible and that Abel was asked to hand in a better copy which he
, ,
1
C A B j e rk n es , N i el s H eu r i h A bel , Ta bl eau de s a vi e cl de son a cti on s ci en tifiq uc ,
-
)
. .
P a r i s , 1 88 5 S ee a l so A bel ( N H M émor i a l pu bl i é d l occas i on d u cen tenai r e de s a

’
. . .
n a i ss an ce K ri s t i an i a
. a l so N H A bel S a vi e el son O eu vre, p ar C h L u c a s ( 16
. . . .
P e s l oii a n , P ar i s , 1 90 6 .
who S howed that the theorem is deducible fro m symmetric functions
of the roots of equations and partial fractions ?
Two editions of Abel s works have been published : the first by ’
B erndt M ichael H olm b oe ( 1 7 95—1 8 50 )

of Christiania in 1 839 and the ,
second by L Sylo w and S Lie in 1 88 1 D uring the few years of work

. . .
allotted to the young Norwegian he penetrated new fields of research , .
Abel s pub l ished papers stimu l ated researches con ta ining certain
’
results previously reached by Abel him self in his then unpublished

P arisian m e moir We refer to papers of Christian J ii rg en sen ( 1 80 5
1 86 1 )of Copenhagen Ole Jacob B roch ( 1 8 1 8—1 8 89)
.
of Christiania
Ferdinand A dol f M inding ( 1 80 6—1 88 5)
, ,
of Dorpat and G Rosenhain ,

. .
Som e of the discoveries of Abel and Jacobi were anticipated by

K F Gauss In the Di squ i si ti on es A ri thmeti cce he observed that
. . .
the principles which he used in the division of the circle were ap

plicable to m any other functions besides the circular and particu larly , ,
to the transcendents dependent on the integral
J acobi concluded that Gauss had thirty years earlier considered the
2
nature and properties of elliptic functions and had discovered their

d ouble periodicity The papers in the col lected works of Gauss con
.
fi rm this conclusion
C ar l G u s tav J a cob J ac ob i ( 1 80 4—
1 85 1 )
.
was born of Jew ish parents

at P otsda m Lik e m any other mathem aticians he was initiated into
.
m athem atics by reading L Euler At the University of B erlin wher e . .

,
he pursued his m athe matical studies independently of the lectur e

courses he took the degree of P h D in 1 8 2 5 After giving lectures
, . . .
in B erlin for two years he was elected extraordinary professor at ,
Konigsberg an d two years later to the ordinary professorship there

,
.
After the publication of his Fu ndamen ta N ova in 1 8 2 9 he S pent som e

tim e in trav el m eeting Gauss in G Otti n g en and A M Legendre
, ,
. .
,
J Fourier S D P oisson in P aris In 1 84 2 he and his colleague

.
,
. .
,
.
,
F W B essel attended th e m eetings of the B ritish Association where

. .
, ,
they made the acquaintance of English mathem aticians Jacobi .
“
was a great teacher In this respect he was the very opposite of his
.
great contemporary Gauss who disliked to teach and who was any
thing but inspiring .
” , ,
Jacobi s early researches were on Gauss approxim ation to the

’ ’
value of definite integrals partial di fferential equations Legendre s , ,

’
coeffi cients and cubic resi d ues He rea d Legendre s E xer ci ses which
, .
’
,
give an account of elliptic integrals When he returne d the book to .
the l ibrary he was depressed in spirits and said that i mportant books
,
generally excited in h im new ideas but that this tim e he had not ,
been led to a S ingle original thought Though S low at first his ideas .
,
G B M th w i N t
1
2
. .
R Tu c k er ,
.
a
”
V l 95 9 5 pe
“
9 s n a ure ,
C a rl F ri edri c h G au ss ,
o .
, 1 1 ,
N ature, A p r il ,
. 21 .
1877.
flowed all the richer afte rwards M any of his discoveries in elliptic .
functions were m ade independently by Abel Jacobi co mm unicated .
his first researches to Gr el l e s Jou r nal In 1 8 2 9 at the age of twenty ’

.
,
fi v e he published his Fu ndamen ta N ova Theori ce Fu n cti on u m El l i p

,
ti caru m which contains in condensed form the mai n results in elliptic

,
functions This work at once secured for him a wide reputation He

then made a closer study of theta —
. .
functions and lectured to his pupils

on a n ew theory of elliptic functions based on the theta functions He -
.
dev eloped a theory of transformatio n which led him to a m ultitude

of formul a containing q a transcendental function of the modulus , ,
d efined by the equation He was also led by it to consider

the two n ew functions H and O which ta ke n each separately with
two different argu m ents are the four ( S ingle )theta functions des ig
,
n a t ed by the 6 1 9 2 9 3 6 4 In a short but very important m emoir

?
, , ,
of 1 83 2 he shows that for the hyperelliptic in tegral of any class the

.
,
direct functions to which Abel s theorem has reference are not func ’
tions of a single variable such as the ell iptic s n cn dn but functions , , , ,
of p variables Thus in the case p= 2 which Jacobi especially con

?
,
siders it is shown that Abel s theorem has reference to two functions ’
v) A1(u v)
,
,
each of two variables and gives in eff ect an addition
, , ,
theorem for the expression of the functions

v+ v ) algebraically i n term s of the functions Mu v)A1 (u v)Mu
’ ’
, , , , ,
By the m e moirs of N H Abel and Jacobi it may be con . .
s idered that the notion of the Abelian function of p v ariables was
established and the addition theorem for these functions giv en R e -

.
cent studies touching Abelian functions have been m ade by K Weier .
strass E P icard M adam e K oval ev sk i and H P oincar é Jacobi s

,
.
, ,
. .
’
work on differential equations determ inants dynam ics and the , , ,
theory of numbers is m entioned elsewhere .
In 1 84 2 C G J Jacobi visited Italy for a few months to recuperate

. . .
his health At this tim e the P russian government gave him a pension
.
,
and he moved to B erlin where the last years of his life were S pent ,
.
Among those who greatly extended the researches on functions

m entioned thus far was Ch ar l e s H e r m it e ( 1 8 2 2 who was born
at Dieuz e in Lorraine He early manifested extraordinary talent for
?
mathematics Neglecting the regular courses of study he read in

.
,
P aris with greatest ardor the masterpieces of L Euler J Lagrange .

, .
,
K F Gauss and C G J J acobi In 1 84 2 he entered the Ecole P oly

. .
,
. . . .
technique From birth he had suffered from an infirm ity of the right
.
l eg and had to use a cane On this account he was d eclared ineligib l e .
to any government position given to graduates of the Ecole Hermite .

,
therefore left at the end of the first year A letter to Jacobi displayed
,
.
his mathem atical genius but the necessity of taking e xam inations ,
Whi ch he held en hor r eu r com pelled him to descend fro m his lofty
1
A r t h u r C ayl ey , I n au g u ral Addre ss b e fore t he B ri t i sh A ss o c i a ti on , 1 883 .
2
B ull A m M ath S oc , V o l 1 3 , 1 90 7 , p 1 8 2
. . . . . . .
mathe matical speculations and take up the irksome details prepara
tory to examinations In 1 8 4 8 h e becam e e xaminateur d admi ssi on
.
‘
’
and r ép étiteur d an al yse at the Ecole P olytechnique In that position

’
.
he succeeded P L Wan tzel That year he married a sister of his

. . .
friend Joseph B ertrand In 1 8 6 9 at the age of forty seven he became

, .
,
-
,
professor and at length reached a position befittin g his talents At .
t he Sorbonne he succeeded J M C D uha mel as professor of higher . . .
algebra He occupied the chair at the Ecole P olytechnique until

.
1 8 76 at the Sorbonne until 1 8 97 For many years he had been re

, .
garde d as the venerated chief among French m athematicians Hermite .
h ad no fondness for geom etry His researches are confined to algebra .
and analysis He wrote on the theory of numbers invariants and

.
,
covariants definite integrals theory of equations elliptic functions

, , ,
and the theory of functions Of his collected works or O eu vr es .

, ,
Vol III appeared in 1 91 2 edited by E P icard In the theory of

.
, . .
functions he was the foremost French writer of his day since A L , . .
Cauchy He has given an entirely new S ignificance to the use of

.
definite integrals in the theory of functions : we nam e the develop

ments of the properties of the gamma function which have been thus -
initiated .
Elliptic functions considered on the Jacobian rather than on the

,
Weierstrassian basis was a favorite study of Herm ite ,

To him is .
d u e th e reduction of an elliptic integral to its canonical form by m eans

of the sy zygy among the concom itants of a binary quartic His in .
v es t i g a t i o n s on m odular functions and modular equations are of the
h ighest i mportance I t was Herm ite who d iscovered pseudo periodic

.
-
functions of th e second kind and developed their properties In a ,

.
m e moir that m ay be fairly described as classical Sur quelques appl i ‘
cations des fonctions elliptiques in the C omptes Rendu s 1 8 77—1 8 8 2

,
’
, ,
h e applie d these functions to the integration of the unspeciali z ed form

of La m é s differential equation ; and elliptic functions generally were
’
”
app l ie d in that m e m oir to obtain the solution of a number of physica l
proble ms (A R F o rsyth) . . .
In 1 8 58 Hermite introduced in place of the variable q of Jacobi a

new v ariable w connected with it by the equation so that w
i k /h and was led to consider the functions gb( )M )x( ) 1
’
w o
,
oi
,
.
,
Henry S mith regarded a theta function with the argum ent equal to -
z ero as a function of w This he called an om ega function While -
the three functions (Mm) x( w)are his m odular functions

,
.
,
.
, ,
Researches on theta functions with respect to real and i maginary -
argu m ents have been m a d e by Ernst M eissel ( 1 8 2 6 1 895) — of Kiel

J. Tho m ae of Jena Alfred E nn ep er ( 1 8,3 0 —
1 88 5 )of G Ot t i n g e n A .
,
general formula for the product of two theta functions was given in -
1 8 54 by H S ch r Ot e r (
. 1 8 2 —
9 1 89 2 ) of Breslau These functions have .
1
Ar thu r C ayl ey, I n aug u ral Ad dr e ss , 1 883 .
analogous to those of Weierstrass on elliptic functions have
a l i z a ti on s
been made by Felix Klein on hyperelliptic functions .
Standard works on el l iptic functions have been published by C A . .
A B r i ot and J C B ou qu et by L K Oni gsberger A C ayl ey

H ei n ri ch D ur cge ( 1 8 2 1 — 1 8 93 )
. . . . .
, ,
of P rague and others , .
Jacobi s work on Abelian and theta functions was greatly extended

’
-
by Ad ol ph G Opel ( 1 8 1 2 ) professor in a gymnasium near P ots

dam and J oh an n G eo g
,
r R —
os e nh ai n ( 1 8 1 6 1 88 7 )of KOni g sb erg .
G Opel in his Theor i ae tr an s cenden ti u m pr i mi or di n i s adu mbr ati o l evi s

(Cr el l e 3 5 1 84 7 )
,
and Rosenhain in several m emoirs established each
,
independently on the analo gy of the single theta fun ctions the fun c
,
-
,
tions of two variables called double theta functions and worked out ,
-
,
in connection with them the theory of the Abelian functions of two

variables The theta relations established by GOpel and Rosenhain
.
-
received for t hirty years no further develop ment notwithstanding ,
the fact that the double theta series ca m e to be of increasing i mpor

tance in analytical geo metrical and m echanical proble ms and that
, , ,
Ch Hermite and L KOn ig sb er g er had considered the subj ect of trans

. .
for mation Finally the in v estigations O f C W Borchardt treating

.
,
. .
,
of the representation of Kummer s surface by GOpel s b i q u adra ti c ’ ’ ‘
relation between four theta functions of two variables and researches -

,
of H H Weber F P rym Adolf K raz er and M artin Krause of Dres

den led to broader views Carl Wilh e l m B o r ch ar dt ( 1 8 1 7—1 880 )
,
. . .
, ,
. was
born in Berlin studied u nder P G L Dirichlet and C G J Jacobi
,
. . . . . .
in Ger many and under Ch Hermite M Chasles and J Liouville

,
.
,
.
,
.
in France He beca me professor in B e rlin and succeeded A L C rel l e

. . .
as editor of the J ou r n al f ur M athematik M uch of his tim e was given .
to the applications of determinants in mathe matical research

Fr i edr i ch P r ym ( 1 8 4 1 —1 9 1 5 )
.
studied at B erlin G Ot ti n g en and Hei , ,
d el b e rg He becam e professor at the P ol yt echn i c u m in Zurich then at

.
,
Wur zburg His interest lay in the theory of functions Researches

. .
on double theta functions m ade by A Cayley were extended to

-
,
.
,
quadruple theta — functions by Thomas Cr ai g ( 1 8 5 5 professor

at the Johns Hopkins University He was a pupil of J J Sylvester . . . .
While lecturing at the University he was during 1 8 7 9—1 8 8 1 connected

th the United S tates Coast and Geodetic Survey For many years .
he was an e di tor of the A mer i can J ou r n al of M athemati cs .
S tart i ng with the integrals of the m ost general form and considering
the inverse f un ctions corresponding to these integrals ( the Abelian
functions of p variables )G F B R i em ann defined the theta functions ,
. . .
-
of p variables as the su m of a p t upl y infinite series of exp onentials -

,
the general term depending on p variables Rie mann S hows that the .
Abelian functions are algebraically connected with theta functions of -
?
the proper arguments and presents the theory in the broadest form ,
1
t
A r hu r C ayl ey, I nau g u r al A dd re s s , 1 88 3 .
THEORY OF FUNCTIONS 419
He rests the theory of the multiple theta functions upon the general -
principles of the theo ry of functions of a complex variable .
Through the researches of A B rill of Tubingen M Nother of .

,
.
Erlangen and Ferdinand Lindemann of M unich made in connection

, ,
with Rie mann Roch s theore m and the theory of residuation there
-
’
,
has grown out of the theory of Abelian functions a theory of algebraic

f unctions and point groups on algebraic curves -
.
Gen er al Theory o f Fu n cti on s
The histo ry of the general theory of functions begins with the

1
adoption of new definitions of a function AS an inheritance fro m the .
eighteenth centu ry y was called a f u nction of x if there e xisted an

, ,
equa tion between these variables which made it possible to calculate

y for any gi v en value of x lying an ywhere between o and 0 o 0 .
We have s een that L Euler so me ti m es used a second more general .

, ,
definition which was adopted by J Fourier and which was translated

,
.
by P G L D irichlet into the language of analysis thus : y is called a

. . .
function of x if y possess one or more definite values for each of cer

,
tai n values that x is assum ed to take in an interval xo to x 1 In func .
tions thus defined there need be no analytical connection between

,
y and x and it becomes necessary to look for possible discontinuities

, .
This definition was still further emphasized and generali z ed later .
after the introduction of the theory of aggregates There a fun ction

.
.
need not be defi ned for each point in the continuu m embracing all
real and co mplex numbers nor for each point in an interval but only , ,
for the points x in so me particular set of points Thus y is a function .

,
of x if for each point or number in any set of points or numbers x

, ,
there corresponds a point or nu mber in a set y .
P G L Dirichlet lectured on the theory of the poten tial and thereby

. . .
made this theory more generally known in Germany In 1 83 9 K F . . .
Gauss had made researches on the potential ; in England George

Green had issued his fundamental mem oir as early as 1 8 2 8 Dir .
i chl e t s lectures on the potential becam e known to G F B Rie mann

’
. . .
Who m ade it of fundamental i mportance for the whole of mathe

ma t i c s Before considering Riemann we m ust take up A L
. . .
Cauchy .
J. F ou r i er s declaration that any given arbitrary function can be

’
represented by a trigonometric series led Cauchy to a n e w formulation

of the concepts continuous “ “
limiting value and function In his ” ” ”
C our s d A nal yse 1 8 2 1 he says : The function f (x)is continuous
.
,
’ “
, ,
between two giv en limits if for each value of x that lies between
these li mits the num erical value of the di fference f (x+ —f (x)
,
, di
minishes with a in such a way as to beco me less than every finite
.
number ( Chap II With S F Lacroix and A L Cauchy there

.
,
. . . .
are indications of a tendency to free the functional concep t from an ac

tual representation Although in his earlier wr itings S low to recognize ?
the i mportance of imaginary variables Cauchy later entered deeply ,
into the treatment of functions of co mplex variables not in a geo metri ,
cal form as found in C Wessel J R Argand and K F Gauss but .

,
. .
,
. .
,
rather in analytical form He carried on in tegrations through i mag .
i n ary fields While L Euler and P S Laplace had declared the order
. . . .
of integration in double integrals to be i mmaterial A L Cauchy ,

. .
showed that this was true only when the expression to be integrated
does not beco m e indeter minate in the interval (M cmoi r e su r l a theori e ’ ’
des i n tegr al es defi n i es read 1 8 1 4 printed

’ ’
, ,
If between two paths of integration in the complex plane the re , ,
lies a pole then the diff erence between the respectiv e integrals can be
,
represented by m eans of a r ésidu de la fonction a concept of ”

undoubte d i mportance known as the calculus of residues In 1 846 .
he showed that if X and Y are continuous functions of x and y with in
a closed area t ,
dxdy, Where
the left integral e xtends over the boundary and the right i ntegral
o ver the inner area of the co mple x plane ; he considers integration
along a closed path surrounding a pole and later along a closed
“
,
”
path surroun ding a lin e on which the function is discontinuous as ,
for instance log x for x < o when the function changes by 2 7I i in crossing '
the x a xis The fundam ental theore m of Cauchy s theory of series

-
.
’
was given in 1 83 A function can be e xpanded in an ascending power

“
series in x as long as the m odulus of x is less than that for which the
,
function ceases to be finite an d continuous In 1 840 the proof of this .

”
theore m is m ade to rest on the theorem of m ean value Cauchy .
,
J C F S turm and J Liouville had carried on discussions as to

. . .
,
.
whether the continuity of a function was sufficient to insure its ex

pan dib il i ty or whether that of its derivative m ust be de manded as well .
In 1 8 5 1 Cauchy concluded that the continuity of the derivative m ust

be de manded A function f (z)which is single valued for z = x+i y
” -
”
”
.
,
was called by Cauchy mon o typ iq u e later monodrome by Briot

”
“ “
, ,
”
“ “
and B ouquet mono trope by Hermite un iform e by the Germans , ,
”
“ “
eindeutig Cauchy called a function m onogen when for every
.
“
2 in a region it had only one deri v ati v e value syn ec t i q u e if it is ,
monodro mic and monogenic and does not beco m e infinite Instead .
of syn ec t iq u e C A A B riot and J C B ouquet and later French

” ”
“
.
,
. . . .
”
writers say holo morph also meromorph when the function has
“ “
,
“
poles in the region .
Som e parts of Cauchy s theory of functions were elaborated by ’
P M H Laurent an d Victor Alexandre P uiseux ( 1 8 2 0

. . . both
ti
on
A B ill
1
e i
.
al t e e
n
d M N oethe
n d
r
”
E tw i k l
un
r r un
g de The i e de al g b ai sche F
Z ei t J h b d 1 M th V i i g Vol 3 89 2—893
.
n e u e re r
r,
,
n
a
c un
res . . ( .
r
a
or
. ere n
r
.
,
e r
.
,
1
n
1
un c
p 62
. 1We a e m k i g e t i e
. f t hi h i t i l m
r ag phn x en s v u se o s s o r ca on o ra .
P aris , where he m ade the acquaintance of French mathe maticians .
The delicate state of his health i n duced h i m to go to I taly three times .
He died on his last trip at S el asc a and was buried at B igan zol o ,
.
Like all of Rie mann s researches those on fu nctions were profound ’

,
and far reaching A decidedly modern tendency was his m ode of i n

-
.
1 “
v es ti g a t i n g functions In the words of E B Van Vleck : He [ Rie
. . .
mann ] presents a strange antithesis to his conte mporary countryman ,
Weierstrass Riem ann bases the function theory upon a property

—
.
rather than upon an algoris m to wit the possession of a differential ,
coeffi cient by the function in the co mplex plane Thus at a strok e .
it is freed from dependence upon a particular process l ike the power

series of Taylor His celebrated m emoir upon the P function is a -
characteristic develop ment of a whole Schar (family)

.
”
.
of functions
from their m utual relations .
G F B Riem ann laid the foundation for a general theory of func

. . .
t i ons of a co mplex variable The theory of potential which up to .

,
that tim e had been used only in m athe matical physics was applied ,
by him in pure mathematics He accordin g ly based his theory .
——
2 ?
ou a“
W
of funct i ons on the part i al d i ff erent i al equat i on , g
= Au = o
,
bx
which m ust hold for the analytical function w = u +i v of z= x+ i y
I t had been proved by P G L D i richlet that (for a plane)
.
there i s . . .
always one and only one function of x and y which satisfies A u = o

, , , ,
and which together with its diff erent ial quotients of the first t w o
orders is for all values of x and y within a given area one—
,
valued and
”
,
continuous and which has for points on the boundary of the area
,
“
arbitrarily given values Rie mann called this Di r i chl et s pri n ci pl e
2
.
’
,
but the sam e theore m was stated by Green and proved analytically by
Sir William Thom son I t follows then that w is uniquely determ ined
.
for all points within a closed surface if u is arbitrarily given for all ,
points on the curve whilst v is given for one point within the curve
, .
In order to treat the m ore complicated case where 10 has n values for
one value of z an d to observe the con ditions about continuity Rie
, ,
m ann invented the celebrated surfaces known as Riemann s sur

“ ’
,
faces consisting of n coincident planes or sheets such that the pas

, ,
sage from one sheet to another is m ade at the branch points and that -
,
the n sheets form together a m ultiply connected surface which can -

,
be dissected by cross cuts into a singly connected surface The n - -

.
valued function w beco mes thus a one valued function Aided by -
—
researches of Jacob L u ro th ( 1 8 44 1 9 1 0 )
.
of F re ib u rg an d of R F A . . .
C l eb sc h W K Cl iffor d brought Rie m ann s surface for algebraic func

’
. .
,
tions to a canonical form in which o n ly the last two of the n leaves ,
are m ultiply connected and then transform ed the surface into the
-
,
B u l l A m M a th S oc , V o l 2 3 , 1 9 1 6 , p 8
”
1
. . . . . . .
“
2
O H e n ri c i Theo ry o f F u n c ti on s , N a tur e, V o l 4 3 ,
. . 1 89 1 , p 322
. .
THEORY O F FU N C TI O N S 3
surface of a solid with p holes This surface with p holes had been .
considered before Clifford by A Tonelli and was probably used by .

,
Riemann himself A Hurwitz of Zii ri ch discussed the question how

1 ’
. .
,
far a Rie mann s surface is determinate by the assignm ent of its nu mber
’
of sheets its branch points and branch lines

,
- -
.
Riemann s theory ascertains the criteria which will determ ine an

’
analytical functio n by aid of its discontinuities and boundary condi

tions and thus defines a function independently of a m athem atical
,
expression In order to show that two d i ff erent expressions are

.
.
identical it is not necessary to transfor m one into the other but it is

, ,
s uffi cient to prove the agree m ent to a far less ex tent m erely in certai n ,
critical points .
Riem ann s theory as based on D i ri chl e t s principle (Thom son s

’ ’ ’
theore m)is not free from obj ections which have been raised by L
,
.
,
Kronecker K Weierstrass and others In consequence of this

,
.
,
.
,
atte mpts have been m ade to graft Rie m ann s speculations on the
'
’
m ore strongly rooted m ethods of K Weierstrass The latter developed . .
a theory of functions by starting not with the theory of potential , ,
but with analytical expressions and operations B oth applie d their .
theories to Abelian functions but there Rie mann s work is m ore ,

’
general 2
.
Following a suggestion found i n Riem ann s Habilitationsschrift H ’

.
Hankel prepared a tract Un en dl i ch of t os ci l l i ren de a n d u n s teti ge Fu n k

,
l i an en Tubin gen 1 8 7 0 giving functions which ad m it of an integral

, , , ,
but where the existence of a d ifferential coeff icient re mains doub tful .
He supposed continuous curves generated by the m otion of a point

to and fro with infinitely nu merous and infinitely sm all oscillations
thus presenting a condensation of singularities at every point but
“ ” ,
,
possessing no definite d irection nor diff erential coeffi cient These .
novel ideas were severely criti cise d but were finally cleared up by ,
K Weierstrass well known rigorous example of a continuous curve

’
-
—
totally bereft of derivatives H er mann H an k el ( 1 8 3 9 1 8 7 3 )
.
satisfied.
at Leip z ig the gym nasiu m requirem ents in ancient languages by read

ing the ancient m athe maticians in the original He stu died at Leip z ig .
under A F M Ob i u s at G Ot t i n g e n under G F B Riem ann at B erli n

. .
,
. . .
,
under K Weierstrass and L Kronecker He becam e professor at

. . .
Erlangen and Tii b i n g en The interest of his lectures was enhanced .
by his e mphasis upon the history of his subject In 1 8 6 7 appeared his

‘
Theori e der C ompl exen Z a hl en sys teme His brilliant Geschi chte der .
M athemank i n A l ter tl mm a nd M i ttel al ter came out in 1 8 74 as a post

'
hu mous publication
K arl We i e r s tr a s s ( 1 8 1 5—
1 8 97 )
.
was born i n Ostenfelde a village in ,
Westphal i a He atten de d a gym nasiu m at P a derborn where he beca m e

.
interested in the geo metric researches of J Steiner He entered the . .
1
M ath A n n a l en , V o l
. .
45, p r4 2 . .
2
O H e n ri c i , N atur e,
. V o l 4 3 , 1 89 1 , p 3 2 3
. . .
4 24 A I I I S TO RY OF M ATHE M ATICS
Univ ersity of Bonn as a student in law but all by himself he studied ,
also m athem atics particularly P S Laplace Wil hel m Diesterweg

,
. . .
and J P l ucker who lectured in B onn did not influence him Seeing
.
, , .
in a student note book a transcript of Christof G udermann s lectures

-
’
on elliptic transcendents Weierstrass went in 1 83 9 to M un ster where , ,
he was during one semester the on l y student to attend Gudermann s ’
lectures on thi s topic and on analytical spherics Chri stof Guder man n
—
( 79 1 8 5 1 ) ”
.
1 8 whose res earches on hyperbolic functions led to a func

tion tan (si nk x)
1 “
called the Gudermannian was a favorite teacher

, ,
o f Weierstrass Then he beca m e a gym nasium teacher at M un ster

then at D eutsch—
.
,
Krone in wester n P russ ia where he taught science ,
also gymnastics and writing and fi nal l y a t B raunsberg where he ,

‘
entered upon the study of Abelian fu n ctions I t is told that he missed .
one m orning an eight o clock class The director of the g ymnasiu m -

’
.
went to his roo m to ascertain the cause and found him working ,
z ealously at a research which he had begun the evening before and
contin ued through the night being unconscious that morning had ,
come He asked the director to excuse his lack of punctuality to

.
his class for he hoped soon to surprise the world by an i mportant

,
discovery While at B raunsberg he receiv ed an honorary doctorate

.
from Konigsberg for scientific papers he had published In 1 8 55 E E . . .
Kumm er went fro m B reslau to B erlin ; he e xpressed it as his opinion

th at the paper on Abelian functions was not suffi cient g uarantee that
Weierstrass was the proper man to train young m athematicians at
B reslau SO Ferdinand Joachimsthal ( 1 8 1 8 —1 8 6 1 )was appointed
.
there but Ku mm er secured for Weierstrass i n 1 8 56 a position at the

,
Gewerbeaka de mie in B erlin and at the same ti me an Extraordinariat

at the Uni v ersity The form er he held until 1 8 6 4 when he received an
.
Ordinariat at the University as successor to the aged M artin O hm .
In that year E E Ku mmer and Weierstrass organiz ed an offi cial

. .
m athem atical sem inar P G L D irichlet having held before this a ,

. . .
priv ate sem inar It is noteworthy that Weierstrass did not begin his
.
univ ersity career as a professor until his forty ninth year a ti me when -
,
m any scientists cease their creative work K Weierstrass E E . .

, . .
Ku mm er and L Kronecker added lustre to the University of B erli n

,
.
which previously had been m ade fam ous by th e researches of P G L . . .
Dirichlet J Steiner and C G J Jacobi Especially through Weier

,
.
,
. . . .
strass unprecedented stress cam e to be put upon rigor of dem on

s t rat ion The m ovem ent toward arith metiz ation of mathem atics re
.
c ei v ed through Kronecker and Weierstrass its greatest e m phasis The .
num ber concept especially that of the positive i n teger was to become
the sole foundation and the space—
-
, ,
concep t was to be rej ected as a

, .
primary concept .
As early as 1 849 Weierstrass began to investigate and write on

Abelian integrals In 1 86 3 and 1 8 6 6 he lectured on the theory of
.
Abelian functions a n d Abelian transcendents No authori z ed publi .

426 A H I S TO RY O F M ATHE M ATICS
1
A Hurwitz applies to two theories that of A L Cauchy and G F B
.
, ,
. . . . .
Riem ann and that of K Weierstrass The two em anate from di f

,
. .
f eren t definitions of a f u nction J Lagrange in hi s Theor i e des f on c

’
. .
,
ti on s a n al yti q u es had tried to prove the incorrect theore m that every

continuous ( stetige ) function can be expanded in a power series K . .
“
Weierstrass calle d every function analytic when it can be expanded
into a power se ries whi ch is the centre O f Weierstrass theory of ana
,
’
lytic functions All properties of the function are contained i n nnce in

”
.
the power series with its coefficients c 1 c 2,

c The behav ior , , ,
of a power series on the circle of con v ergence C had received considera

tion long before this ti me N H Abel had dem onstrated that the . . .
power series having a determ inate value in a point on the circle of

convergence C tends uniform ly toward that value when the variable
approaches that point along a path which does not touch the circle .
If two power seri es involve a co mplex variable whose circles of ,
convergence ov erlap so that the two series have the same value for ,
e v ery point co mmon to the too circul ar areas then Weierstrass calls ,
each power series a direct continuation of the other Using several .
such series K Weierstrass introduces the idea of a monogenic system

,
.
of power series and then gi v es a more general definition of an alytic

function as a function whi ch can be defined by a monogenic system
of power series In 1 8 7 2 the Frenchman Ch M eray gave i n depen d
ently a sim ilar definition In case of a uniform (eindeutige )
. .
function
.
,
the points in a co mple x plane are either within the ci rcle of conver
gence of the power series in the syste m or else they are without The
total i ty of the form er points constitutes the field of continui ty
.
”
( S t e tig k e i t sb ere i ch )of the function Thi s field constitutes an ag .
g reg a t e O f inner points that i s dense if this continuum is given

‘‘ ’’
, ,
then there e xist always single valued analytic functions possessing

this field of continuity as was first proved by G M M ittag L effi er ,
. .
-
,
later by C Runge and P S tac k el The points on the boundary of

. . .
this field called singular points constitute by themselves a set

,
“
,
O f points by the properties of which K Weierstrass classifies the

,
.
function This classification was studied also by C Gui chard

3)
—
.
( 1 8 8 and by G M M ittag L efil er making use of theore ms on point

. .
,
sets as developed in
, 5 by G Cantor and by I O B en di xson . . .
and E P hr ag mén both of S tockhol m Thus t ran sfi n i te num bers

.
,
.
,
began to play a part in the theory of functions Single valued analytic .

-
functions resolve themselves into two classes the one class in which
the singular points form an enumerable ( ab zahlbares)
,
aggregate the ,
other class in which they do not .
Abel had proposed the proble m if one supposes the power series ,
conv ergent for all positive values less than r find the limit to ,
whi ch the function tends when x approaches r The first sub .
s ta n t i al advance to a solution O f Abel s proble m was m ade in 1 880

’
1
A H rw i tz i V n d s I I ter C g
. u n er Z u i ch 1 897 L ip z ig 898 pp 9 —2
. e . n n. on r .
,
r , ,
e ,
1 ,
. 1 11 .
THEORY OF FUNCTIONS 427
by G Frobenius and in 1 88 2 by O Holder but neither of them

. .
,
developed con ditions that are both necessary and suffi cient for
the establishment of the convergence of their expressions Finally .
in 1 892 J Hadamard obtained expressions which include those of

.
G F rob en i u s and O H older and determined the conditions un der

. .
whi ch they converge on the circle of convergence The proble m pre .
sented itself now thus : To set up analytic e xpressions of the complex

variable 90 that are linear in the constants c and also represent the ”
function given by the power series or rather a branch of thi s function ,
in a field D in such a manner that they converge uniformly in the i n

,
t er i or of D and diverge in the e x terior The first important step .
t oward the resolution of this m atter was taken in 1 8 95 by E Borel .
who proved that the expression

00
l im 2 (co + c 1x+
to: 00 v o
converges not only in all regular points (points réguliers ) of the circle
of convergence of the power series but even beyond that withi n a , ,
summation polygon E B orel held the view that hi s form ula gave the . .
s um of the power series even for points where it di v erges This i nter .
pr e t a t i on of Borel s resul ts was resisted by Gos ta M ogn n s M i ttag L efil er

’ '
-
O f S tockhol m the founder O f the j ournal A cta mathe

1
( 1 84 6
mati ca and of a M athematical Institute (in 1 9 1 6 )
,
,
to further m athe
mati c al research in the Scandinavian countries M ittag L effi er con .
-
ducted i mportant researches along the above line E Borel s statem ent . .
’
i mplies that hi s formula ex tends the boun daries of the theo r y of ana
lytic functions beyond the classic region which is denied by M ittag ,
L effl er The latter published in 1 8 98 studies on a proble m m ore gen

.
eral than that of Borel If a ray ap revolves about a through an angle .
2 7r the variable di stance ap always excee ding a fixed value l a sur

face is generated whi ch M ittag L effl er calls a star ( S tern )
, ,
with the -
center a A star E is called a con ver gen ce star (K on v erg en z st ern )

. for a
definite arithmetical expression if the latter converges uniformly for ,
each region within E but diverges for every outs i de point He shows ,
.
that to each analytic function there corresponds a principal star and ,
that there is an infinite number of arithm etical expressions for a giv en

star Equivalent results were obtained by C Runge E B orel gave
. . . .
in 1 9 1 2 an example of an analytic function which by an ex tension of ,
the concept of a derivative so as to pass to the limit not through all

the neighboring points but only through those belonging to certain
dense aggregates has a certain linear continuation beyond the do
,
m ain of existence Stu dies of m onogenic unifor m functions along

"
the line of E Borel and G M M i ttag Le ffl er have been made also
. . .
-
by G V i v an t i M arcel R i esz I v ar Fredh ol m and E P hr ag mén

.
, , ,
. .
1
S ee G M M i t t ag L e fii e r i n A l l i del I V C on gr I nter n Roma , 1 908 R om a ,
’
. .
-
.
,
. 1 909 ,
V ol I , p 6 9 H e r e M i tt ag L efii e r g i v es a s u mm a ry of r e c en t r e su l t s
. . .
-
.
Interesting is the manner in which K Weierstrass in B erlin and .
G F B Riemann in G ottingen influenced each other We have

. . . .
seen that Weierstrass defined functions of a complex variable by the

power series and avoids geo metrical means Rie mann begins with .
certain differential equations in the regio n of mathematical physics

”
.
In 1 8 56 Riemann was urged by his friends to publish a r esu me of

his researches on Abelian functions be it ever so crude because , ,
Weierstrass was at work on the sam e subject Riemann s publication .

’
induced Weierstrass to withdraw fro m the press a m emoir he had

presented to the B erlin Academy in 1 8 5 7 because as he him self says , , ,
Riemann published a m emoir on the same problem which rested on

'
entirely different foundations from m ine and did not imm ediately ,
reveal that in its results it agreed completely with my own The .
proof of this required investigations which were not quite easy and ,
took m uch tim e ; after this difficulty had been rem oved a radical
re modelling of my dissertation seem ed necessary In 1 8 75 Weier .
”
“
strass wrote H A Schwarz : The more I ponder over the principles
— —
. .
of the theory O functions and I do so incessantly the stronger

f
grows my conviction that it m ust be built up on the foundation of
algebraical truths and that therefore to e mploy for the truth of
, , ,
simple and fun dam ental algebraical theorem s the transcendental ‘

,
’
if I may say so is not the correct way however enticing pr i ma vi sta

, ,
the considerations m ay be by which Riemann has discovered m any

”
of the most im portant properties of algebraical functions
“
refers m ainly to the Thomson Dirichlet P rinciple the validity of
This
-
,
” .
which depended on a certain m inim um theorem which was show n

by Weierstrass to rest upon unsound argum ent .
It has been objected that K Weierstrass definition of analytic .

’
functi ons is based on power series A L Cauchy s d efinition which . . .

’
,
was adopted by G F B Riemann is not open to this objection but

. . .
, ,
labors under the burden of requiring at the start the m ost diffi cult
form s of the theory of lim its According to A L Cauchy a function
is anal ytic (his synectic ) ” .
if it possesses a single valued di fferential

“
. .
coeff i cient Using Cauchy s integral theorem ( Integralsatz )it fol lows
.
’
,
that the synectic function adm its not only of a single valued diff eren -
ti a t i on but also of a single valued integration Giacinto M orera -
( 5 1 90 9)
.
1 8 6 — of Turin S howed that the synectic function might be

defined by the single valued integration M ore recent researches
-
—
,
.
1 8 8 3 1 8 95 which ai m at a rigorous e xposition of A L Cauchy s

,
. .
’
integral theorem are due to M Falk E G ou rsat M Lerch C J or

,
.
,
.
,
.
,
.
dan and A P r in g sh eim Cauchy s theore m may be stated :If the func ’
tion f (z)
. .
,
is synectic in a continuum in which every simply closed

curve form s the boundary of an area then the integral ,
always z ero if it is , ex tended o v er a closed curve which li es wholly

veritable functions possessing the necessary properties of continuity .
We are therefore no longer content with the probabilities o ff ered

, ,
by th e reasoning long classic .

’
David Hilbert in 1 8 99 spoke as foll ows 1 “

Dir i chl e t s principle
’
owed its celebrity to the attractive sim plicity of its funda mental
mathem atical i d ea to the undeniable richness of its possible app l ica
,
tions in pure and appli ed m athem atics and to its inherent persuasiv e
po w er B ut after Weierstrass criticism of it D i ri chl e t s principle
.
’
,
’
was considere d as only of historical interest and discarded as a m eans

of sol v ing th e boundary— value problem C Neu mann deplores that . .
this beautiful principle of D i richlet form erly used so m uch has no , ,
doub t passed away forever Only A B rill and M Noether arouse . . .
new hopes in us by giving expression to the conviction that D i ri chl et s ’
principle be ing so to speak an i m itation of nature m ay som etim e

,
recei v e new life in modified form Hilbert proceeds thereupon to .

” ,
rehabilitate th e P rinciple which involves a special problem in the cal ,
c u l u s of v ariations D i r i chl e t s procedure was briefly thus : On the

’
.
xy plane erect at the points of th e bounda ry curve perpendiculars the
lengths of which represent th e boundary values Among the surfaces

z =f (x y)
.
,
which are bounded by the space curve thus obtained select the -
,
2
one for which the value of the integral ] f )
is a m inim um As shown by the calculus of variations that surface
.
,
is necessaril y a potential surface By reference to such a procedure .
G F B Rie mann thought he h ad settled the existence of the soluti on

of boun dary—
. . .
v alue problem s B ut K Weierstrass m ade it plain that . .
among an infi nite nu mber of v alues there does not necessarily exist
a m inimu m v alue ; a m inim u m surface m ay therefore not exist D . .
“
H ilbert generaliz es D i ri chl e t s principle in this m anner : Every prob
’
l em of the calculus of variations has a solution as soon as restricting ,
assumptions suitable to the nature of the given boundary conditions

are sati sfied an d if necessary the concept of th e solution receives a ,
fitti ng extension D Hilbert shows how this m ay be used in fin ding

. .
rigorous yet S i mple existence proofs In 1 90 1 it was used in disserta

, ,
.
tions prepared by E R Hedrick and C A Noble . . . . .
Taking a birds eye view O f the develop ment of the theory of func
’
tions during the nineteenth century s i nce the tim e of A L Cauchy . .

,
2 “
Ja mes P ierpont said in 1 90 4 Weierstrass and Riem ann develop
Cauchy s theory along two distinct and original paths Weierstrass
’
.
starts with an expli cit analytic expression a power series and d efines , ,
his function as the totality of its analytical continuations No appeal .
is ma de to geometric intuition his entire theory is strictly arithm etical ,

.
Riemann growing up under Gauss and D irichlet not only rel ies largely ,
1
J a hr es b d d M a th Ver ei n i g , V o l 8 , 1 900 , p 1 8 5
. . . . . . . .
2
B ull A m M ath S oc , 2 S , V ol 1 1 , 1 90 4 , p 1 3 7
. . . . . . . . .
on geometric intuition but also does not hesitate to impress mathe ,
ma ti c al physics into his serv ice Two noteworthy features of his .
theory are the many leaved surfaces na med after h im and the ex -
,
tensiv e use of conformal representation The history of functions .
as first dev eloped is l argely a theory of algebraic functions and their

integrals A general theory Of functions is only S lowly evolved For
. .
a long tim e the m e thods of Cauchy Riem ann and Weierstrass were , ,
cultivated along distinct lines by their respective pupils The schools .
of Cauchy and Riem ann were first to coalesce The entire rigor .
which has recently been i mparted to their m e thods has removed all
reason for founding as Weierstrass and his school have urged the
, ,
t heory of functions on a single algorith m v i z the power series We ,

.
,
.
may therefore say that at the close of the century there is only one
harm oniously united

,
.
”
theory of functions in which the ideas of its three great creators are
The study of existence theorems particularly in th e theory of alge ,
braie functions and the calculus of v ariations began with Cauchy , .
For implicit functions he assum ed that they were expressible as power

series a restriction rem ov ed by U D ini of P isa Sim plifications are
,
. .
due to R Lipschitz of B onn Existence theorem s of sets of implicit

. .
functions were studied by G A B liss of Chicago in the P rinceton . .
Colloquium of 1 90 9 B y m eans of a S heet of points B liss deduces

.
from an initial solution at an ordinary point a S heet of solutions

som ewhat analogous to K Weierstrass analytical continuation of a .
’
branch of a curve .
Accompanying and imm ediately following Riem ann s tim e there ’
was a development O f the theory of algebraic functions that was ,
partly geom etric in character and not purely along the line of function
theory A B rill and M N o e th er in 1 8 94 marked five directions of
. .
l
.
advance : Fi r st the geo m etrico algebraic direction taken by G F B -
Riem ann and G Roch in the years 1 86 2 —1 8 6 6 then by R F A

.
, .
.
.
,
. . .
C l eb sch 1 8 6 3 to 1 8 6 5 by C l eb sch and P Gordan since 1 8 6 5 and since

,
.
1 8 7 I by A Brill and M Noether ; second the algebraic direction

. .
, ,
followed by L Kronecker and K Weierstrass S ince 1 8 6 0 m ore gen

. .
,
e r all y known S ince 1 8 7 2 and i n 1 8 8 0 taken up by E B Christoffel ; ,

. .
thi rd the i nv ari an tal direction represented since 1 8 7 7 by H Weber

, , .
,
M N oe th er E B Christo ffel F Klein F G F rob en i us and F

. . .
, .
,
. . .
Schottky ; Fou r th the arith metical direction of R D edekin d and H

, . .
Weber s i nce 1 880 of L Kronecker since 1 8 8 1 O f K W S Hensel and

, .
,
. . .
others ; Fif th the geometrical direction taken by C Segr e and G

, . .
Castelnuovo since 1 8 8 8 .
H e rmann Aman du s S ch w arz ( i 84 s of B erl in a pupil of K

Weierstrass has given the conform representation (A bbi l du ng)Of
.
various surfaces on a circle G F B Riem ann had given a general . . . .
t heorem on th e conf or mation of a given curve wi th ano ther curve .
1
A B rill. an d M Noether , J ahr b d d M ath Verei n i g u ng V ol
. . . . .
, .
3, p . 28 7 .
In transforming by aid O f certain substitutions a pol ygon bounded
by circular arcs into another al so bounded by Circular arcs Schwarz
t)
,
was led to a re markable di ff erential equation where

u t)
,
( M ,
is the expression which Cayley called the Schwarzian deriva
tive and which led J J Sylvester to the theory of reciprocants
,
. . .
Schwarz s develop ments on m inim u m surfaces his work on hyper

’
geom etric series his inquiries on the existence of solutions to important

,
partial diff erential equations under prescribed conditions have se ,
cured a prom inent place in m athe matical literature .
M odul ar functions wer e at first considered m erely as a b y product -
of elliptic fu nctions growing out of the study of transformations , .
Af ter th e epoch m aking creat i ons of E Galois and G F B Riemann . . . .

,
the subject of elliptic m odular functions was developed into an i n

dependent theory m ainly by the e ff orts of H P oincar é and F Kl ein
,
. .
,
which stands in C lose relation to the theory of n u mb ers algebra and

'
synthetic geom etry F Klein began to lecture on this subject in . .
1 8 77 ; researches bearing upon this were pursued also by his then
pupils W Dyck Joseph G iers ter and A Hu rwitz One of the problem s
.
, ,
. .
of modular functions is to determ in e all subgroups of the linear group

H8 )
—
,
( a x -
where a B Y 8 are integers and a 8 57 0 , ,
‘
, 74 .
F Klein s Vorl esu ngen ither das I kosx der Leip z ig 1 8 84 is a work
.
’
, , ,
along this line A S an extended continuation of that are F Klein s

. .
’
Vorl esu n gen fi ber di e Theori e der el l i pti s chen M odn lf nn cti on en gotten
out by Robert Fricke (Vol I 1 8 90 Vol II 1 8 92 )and as a still
,
.
, ,
.
,
further generaliz ation we have the theory of the general l inear auto
m orphic functions developed m ainly by F Klein and H P oincar é
,
. . .
In 1 897 un der the joint authorship of Robert Fricke and Felix Klein
, ,
there appeared the first volu m e of the Vorl esu ngen il ber di e Theori e
der A n tomorphen Fu n cti on en the second volu m e of which did not a p ,
pear until 1 91 2 after the theory had com e under the influence of the
,
critical tendencies due to K Weierstrass and G Cantor and after . .

,
E P icard an d H P oincar é had brought out further incisive researches

. . .
I t has been noted that F Klein s ow n publications on these topics .

’
are in the order in which the subj ect itself sprang into e xistence .
“
Historically the theory of automorphic functions developed from
,
that of the regular solids and m odular functions At least this is the .
path which F Klein followed under the influence of the well known
.
-
researches of Schwarz and of the early publications of H P oi ncare .

. .
If H P oincar é brings in also other considerations namely the arith

.
,
metic m ethods of Ch Hermite and the function theoretical.

-
p roble m s of Fuchs with regard to single valued i nversion of the solu
tions of linear diff erential equations of the second order ( eindeutige

Umkehr der L osungen these topics in turn go back to the very
regions of thought from w hich hav e grown the theories of th e regular
solids and the elliptic m odular functions H P oincar é published . .
on this subj ect in M ath A nnal en Vol 1 9 Sur les fonctions uniformes .
,
.
,
4 34 A H ISTORY OF M ATHE M ATICS
f Nu mbers Theory o
of m athem atics ”
M athematics the queen of the sciences and arithmetic the queen
,
Such was the dictum of K F Gauss who was

.
,
. .
,
destined to revolutioni ze the theory of nu mbers When asked who .
was the greatest m athematician in Germany P S Laplace answered ,

. .
,
P fa ff Wh en the questioner said he should have thought Gauss was

.
,
Lap lace replied P faff i s by far the greatest m athem atician i n Ger
”
“
,
m any ; but Gauss i s the greatest in all Europe 1

Gauss is one of
the three greatest m asters of analysis —J Lagrange P S Laplace K
.
. . .
, , ,
.
F Gauss Of these t hree conte mporaries he was the youngest While

. . .
the first two belong to the period i n mathem atical history preceding
the one now under consideration Gauss i s the one whose writings may ,
tr uly be said to mark the beginning of our own epoch In hi m that .
abundant fertility of invention displayed by m athem aticians of the ,
preceding period is combined with rigor in demonstration which is too

,
often wanting in their writings and which the ancient Greeks might ,
have envied Unlike P S Laplace Gauss strove in his writings after

. . .
,
perfection of form He rivals J Lagrange i n elegance and surpasses

. .
,
this great Frenchman in rigor Wonderful was his richness of ideas

.
,
one thought followed another so quickly that he had hardly ti me to

write down even the most m eagre outline At the age of twenty .
Gauss had overturned old theories and O l d m ethods in all branches of

higher m athe matics ; but little pains did he take to publish his results ,
and thereby to establish his priority He was the first to observe .
rigor in the treatm ent of infinite series the first to fully recogniz e ,
and e mphasiz e the i mportance and to make systematic use of de ,
t e rm i n an t s and of i maginaries the first to arrive at the m ethod of

,
least squares the first to observe the double periodicity of elliptic

,
functions He in v ented the heliotrope and together with W Weber

.
,
.
,
the b ifil ar m agneto m eter and the declination instrument He t e .
constructed the whole of magnetic science .
K a rl Fr i e dri ch G au s s ( 1 7 77
2
the son of a bricklayer was ,
born at B runswick He used to say jok i ngly that he could recko n

.
, ,
before he could talk The m arvellous aptitu d e for calculation of the

.
young boy attracted the attention of Johann M artin Bartels ( 1 76 9

afterwards professor of mathem atics at Dorpat who brought ,
him under the notice of Charles Willia m D uke of B runswick The , .
duke undertook to educate the boy and sent him to the Collegiu m ,
Carolinu m His progress in languages there was quite equal to that

.
in m athematics In 1 7 95 he went to Gottingen as yet undecided

.
,
whether to pursue phil ol ogy o r m athem atics Abraham Gotthel f

‘
Kastner ( 1 7 1 9 then professor of m athem atics there and now

’
chiefly rem embered for his Geschi chte der M athemati k was not
1
R T u ck e r ,
. C a rl F ri edri ch G au ss , N atur e V ol 1 5 , 1 8 7 7 , p 5 3 4
, . . .
2
W S a rtori u s Wal tershau sen , Ga uss ,
. zu m Geda chtni ss , L e ip ig , 1 8 5 6 z .
THEORY OF NU M BERS 43 5
a teacher who could inspire Gauss though Kastner s German con ,

’
temporaries ranked hi m high and admired his mathematical and

poetical ability Gauss declared that Kastner was the first mathe
.
mati ci an a mong the poets and the first poet am ong the ma th em a ti
c i an s When not quite nineteen years old Gauss began jotting down
.
i n a copy book very brief Lati n me moranda of his mathe m atical dis
-
c ov er i e s This diary was published in

. Of the 1 46 entries the ,
first is dated M arch 30 1 7 96 an d refers to his discovery of a m ethod

, ,
of inscribing in a circle a regular polygon of seventeen S ides This dis .
c ov er y encouraged hi m to pursue mathem atics He worked quite .
independently of his teachers and while a student at GOt tin gen made ,
several of his greatest discoveries Higher ari th m etic was his favorite .
study Am ong his small circle of inti ma te friends was Wolfgang

.
Bolyai After completing his course he returned to B runswick In

. .
1 7 98 and 1 7 99 he repaired to the university at Hel m stadt to consult
the library and there m ade the acquaintance of J F P faff a mathe

,
. .
,
ma ti c i an of much power In 1 80 7 the E mperor of Russia o ffered Gauss .
a chair in the Acade my at St P etersburg but by the advice of the .

,
a s t on ome r Olbers who desired to secure hi m as director of a proposed

,
n e w O bservatory at G Ot ti n g en he declined the off er and accepted , ,
the place at GOttin g en Gauss had a m arked obj ection to a mathe .
m ati cal chair and preferred the post of astrono mer that he might
, ,
giv e all his time to science He spent his life in G Ott ing en in the m idst .
of continuous work In 1 8 2 8 he went to B erlin to attend a m eeting

.
Of scientists but after this he never again left G Ot ti n g en e xcept in

, ,
1 8 54 when a railroad was o pened between G ottingen and Hanover

,
.
He had a strong will and his character showed a curious m ixture of

,
self conscious dignity and child li ke simplicity He was l ittle c om

- -
.
m u n i ca ti v e and at tim es m orose Of Gauss collected works or ’

.
, ,
Werk e an eleventh volume was planned in 1 9 1 6 to be biographical and

, ,
bibli ographical in character .
A new epoch i n the theory of nu mbers dates from the publication

of his Di squ i s i ti on es A r i thmeti cce Leip z ig 1 80 1 The beginning of , ,
.
this work dates back as far as 1 7 95 Some of its results had been .
previously given by J Lagrange and L Euler but were reached inde . .

,
pendently by Gauss who had gone deeply into the subject before he
,
becam e acquainted with the writings of his great predecessors The .
D i sq u i si ti on es A r i thmeti ca? was already in print when A M Legendre s

’
. .
Theor i e des N ombr es appeared The great law of quadratic reciprocity .

,
given in the fourth section of Gauss work a law which involves the ’
,
whole theory of quadratic residues was discovered by hi m by i n ,
duction before he was eighteen and w as p rov ed by hi m one year ,
later Afterwards he learned that L Euler had imperfectly enunciated

. .
that theorem and that A M Legendre had attempted to prove it

, . .
,
h f tli h T g buch 1 796 —8 4 M i t A nme k n g en he

’
1
G a usswi sse n sc a c e a eg eg e , 1 1 . r u rau s
b en v on F el ix K l ei n , B erli n , 1 90 1 .
43 6 A HISTO RY OF M ATHE M ATICS
but me t with apparently insuperable diffi culties In the fifth section
“
Gauss gave a second proof of this g em of hi gher arithm etic In ” .
1 80 8 followed a t hi rd and fourth de m on stration ; in 1 8 1 7 a fifth and ,
six th No wonder that he felt a personal attachm ent to thi s theorem

. .
P roofs were given also by C G J J acobi F Eisenstein J Liouville

1
Victor Amedee Lebesgue ( 1 791 — 1 8 7 5)

. . . . .
, , ,
of B ordeaux Angelo G en occhi

—
7 1 88 9)
,
( 1 8 1 of the University of Turin E E Kumm er M A Stern

Christian Zeller ( 1 8 2 2 —1 899)
. . . .
, , ,
of M arkgroningen L Kronecker Victor

J acovl evi ch B ou n iak ov sk i ( 1 80 4 1 889)
.
, ,
— of P etrograd Ernst Schering
1 —
( 8 3 3 1 89 7 )of GOt t ing e n Julius P eter Christian P etersen ( 1 839 1 91 0 ),
—
,
of Copenhagen E B usche Th P epin Fabian Franklin J C Fields

,
.
,
.
, , . .
,
“
and others Q uadratic reciprocity stands out not only for the i n
.
fl u en ce it has e xerted in m any branches but also for the nu mber of

new m ethods to which it has given birth (P A M acM ahon ) The
,
. . .
solution of the problem of the representation of nu mbers by binary

quadratic for m s is one of th e great achiev em ents of Gauss He created .
a new algorithm by introducing the theory of congruences The fourth .
section of the Di squ i s i ti on es A r i thmeti cce treating of congruences of ,
the second degree and the fifth section treating of quadratic forms
, , ,
were until the time of C G J J acobi passed over with universal

,
. . .
,
neglect but they have S ince bee n the starting point of a l ong series
,
-
of important researches The se v enth or last section developing the .

,
theory of the d ivision of the circ l e was received from the start with ,
d eser v ed enthusias m and has since been repeatedly elaborated for

,
students A standard work on K rei stheil u ng was published in 1 8 7 2

.
by P aul B ach m ann then of B reslau ,

.
The equation for the di v ision of the circle and the construction of
a regu lar polygon of n S ides n being prime can be solved by square , ,
root extractions alone always and only when n I is a power of 2 ,

-
.
Hence such regul ar polygons can be constructed by ruler and c om

pas ses when the prime number n is 3 5 I 7 2 5 7
'
but cannot , , , ,
be constructed when n is 7 I I I 3 The resul ts may be stated also , , ,
thus : The Greeks knew how to inscribe regul ar po l ygons whose sides
nu mbered 2m 2m 3 2m 5 and , I5
. Gauss added in 1 8 0 1 that the
, . .
construction is poss ible when the num ber of S ides n is prim e and of
the form L E Dickson computed that the number of such
. .
inscriptible polygons for n 1 00 i s 2 4 for n 2 300 is 3 7 for n 2 1 00 0 is , ,
5 2,
for n 2 is 2 0 6 .
Three classical constructions of the regul ar inscribed polygon of

seventeen S ides have been given : one by J Serret in hi s A l g ebr a II .
, ,
54 7 another
,
by v o n S taudt in C r ell e Vol 24 and a third by L ,
.
,
.
G érard in M ath A nn al en Vol 4 8 . using co mpasses only The ,

. .
analytic solution as outl i ned by Gauss was actually carr i ed out for
, ,
the regular polygon O f 2 5 7 S ides by F J R i chel o t of Konigsberg in . .
four articles in Cr el l e Vol 9 For the polygon of ,

sides thi s
. .
O B a mg art U ber dos Q d ati ch R ci proci tat g

1
. u ,
e tz L eip z ig 88 5 ua r s e e s es e , , 1 .
numbers by 2 4 6 and 8 squares Next co me the researches of P G
, , ,
. . .
L D irichl et the expounder of Gauss and a contributor of rich results

.
, ,
of his own
P e t e r G u s ta v L e j e un e Di ri chl e t ( 1 8 0 5—
1 8 5 9)
.
1
was born in Duren ,
attended the gym nasium in Bonn and then the Jesui t gym nasium ,
in Colog ne In 1 8 2 2 he was attracted to P aris by the names of P S

. . .
Laplace A M Legendre J Fourier D S P oisson and A L Cauchy

,
. .
,
.
,
. .
,
. . .
The facilities for a mathematical education there were far better

than in Germ any where K F Gauss was the only great figure He ,
. . .
read in P aris Gauss Di squ i si ti on es A r i thmeti ca a work which he ’

,
never ceased to admire and study M uch in it was simplified by .
D irichlet and thereby placed withi n easier reach of m athem aticians

, .
His first me moir on the i mpossibility of certain indeterminate equa

tions of the fifth degree was presented to the French Acade my in 1 8 2 5 .
He S howed that P Ferm at s equation x + y = z cannot e xist when .

’
,
n n n
,
n=5 , Som e parts of the analysis are however A M Legendre s , ,

. .
’
.
D i r i chl e t s acquaintance with J Fourier led him to investigate Four

’
.
i er s series He became docent in B resla u in 1 8 2 7 In 1 8 2 8 he ac

’
. .
c ep t ed a position in B erlin and finally succeeded K F Gauss at , . .
G ottingen in 1 8 55 The general principles on which depends the .
average number of classes of binary quadratic for ms of positive and

negative determ inant ( a subj ect first investigated by Gauss ) were
given by Dirichlet in a memoir U eber di e B esti mmu ng der mi ttl er en ,
.
Werthe i n der Z ahl en theori e 1 84 9 M ore recently F M ertens of Graz ,

. .
,
S i nce 1 8 94 O f Vienna determined the asymptotic values of several ,
numerical functions Dirichlet gave so me attention to prim e n um .
bers K F Gauss and A M Legendre had given expressions denoting

. . . . .
approximately the asymptotic value of the n u mber of primes inferior

to a given limit but it re mained for G F B Riemann in his m emoir,
. . .
,
U eber di e A n za hl der P r i mzahl en u n ter ei n er g egeben en Gr oss e, 1 8 5 9,

‘ ’
to give an investigation of the asymptotic frequency of primes which

is rigorous Approaching the proble m from a diff erent di rection
.
,
~
P L C hebi chev for m erly professor in the Univ ersity of S t P etersburg

. .
,
.
,
established in a celebrated m em oir S u r l es N ombr es P r emi ers 1 8 50

, , , ,
the existence of li mits withi n which the s um of the logarithms of the

primes P inferior to a given number x must be co mprised
,
2
He ,
.
proved that if n > 3 there is always at least one pri me between n

—
and 2 n 2 (inclusive )This theore m is so metimes called B ertrand s
, ,
”
“ ’
.
postulate S ince J L F B ertrand had previously assum ed i t for

,
. . .
the purpose of proving a theorem in the theory of substitution groups .
This paper depends on very ele m entary considerations and in that , ,
respect contrasts strongly with Riemann s wh i ch involves abstruse

,
’
,
theorem s of the integral calcul us H P oincaré s papers J J Syl . .

’
,
. .
E E K u mm er , Ged achtn i ssr ede a uf Gus tav P eter L ej eu n e Di ri chl et, B e rl i n , 1 8 6 0

1 -
”
. . .
H J S t e p he n S mi t h O n t he P rese n t S ta t e an d P ro sp ec t s o f so me B ran che s of

2 “
. .
P u r e M a the ma t i cs , P roceed L on don M a th S oc , V o l 8 , 1 8 7 6 , p 1 7 . . . . . .

THEORY OF NU M BERS 9
v es t er s contraction of Cheb i chev s li mits with reference to the dis

’ ’
,
tr ib u ti on of pri mes and researches of J Hadamard ( awarded the ,

.
Gr an d pr i x of are a mong the later researches in this line .
G F B Riemann had advanced s ix properties relating to

. . .
)
00
1
( s =2 where s = o + ti ,
none of which he was able to prove In 1 893 J Hadamard proved .

1
.
three of these thereby establishing the existence of null places in

,
-
Riemann s z eta function ; H von M an g ol dt of Dan zig proved in 1 8 95

’
-
.
a fourth and in 1 90 5 a fifth of Riem ann s six properties The re main ’
ing one that the roots of { ( s)

.
, in the strip 0 0 S I have all the rea l '
part remains unproved though progress in the study of this ca se ,
has been made by F M ertens and R v Sterneck If x is a positive

nu mber and if 7r (x)
. . . .
denotes the nu mber of primes less than x then

what Landau calls the prime nu mber theorem (P r imzahl satz )
, ,
“ -
states that the ratio of 7r (x) to x /l og x approaches 1 as x increases

without end A M Legendre K F Gauss and P G L Dirichlet
. . .
, . .
,
. . .
had guessed this theorem As early as 1 73 7 L Euler had given an 2
analogous theorem that 2 1 /p approaches log (log p)where the s um

. .
, ,
mation extends over all pri m es not greater than p The prime nu mber .
-
theorem was proved in 1 8 96 by J Hada mard and Charles Jean de la .
Vall ée P oussin of Louvain in 1 90 1 by Nils Fabian Helge von Koch ,
of Stockhol m in 1 90 3 by E Landau now of G ottingen in 1 9 1 5 by

, .
, ,
G H Hardy and J E Littlewood of Cambridge Hardy discovered

. . . . .
a n infinity of z eroes of the z eta function with the real part E -

.
Landau simplified Hardy s proof ’
G F B Riemann s zeta function { (s)

.
. . . was first studied on account ’

-
of its fundam ental i mportance in the theory of prime nu mbers but it ,
has becom e important also in the theory of analytic functions in

general I n 1 90 9 E Landau published his H andbu ch der L ehr e von
.
-
.
der Ver tei l u n g der P ri mzahl en In 1 9 1 2 he pronounced the following .
four questions to be apparently incapable of answer in the present

state of the science of numbers : ( 1 ) D oes u + 1 for integral values of
2
n represent an i nfinite nu mber of prim es ? ( 2 ) C Goldbach s theorem : ’

.
Can prim e values of p and p be found to satisfy m= p+p for each ’ ’
even m larger than 2 ? (3) Has 2 p p an infinite nu mber of solutions

1
in prim es ? (4) Is there between n and (n + i )at least one prim e for
2 z
every positive integral n ?

The enu meration of prim e numbers has been undertaken at d iffer
ent tim es by various m athematicians Factor tables giving the least .
,
factor of every integer not divisible by 2 3 or 5 did not extend abo v e , , ,
previous to the year 1 8 1 1 when Ladislaus C he rn ac published ,
his Cri bru m ori thmeti cu m at D eventer in Netherlands which gives ,

1
For d e t ai l s , c on su l t E L andau i n P r oceed 5 th I n ter n C on gr ess , C ambr idg e,
. . . 191 2,
V ol . 1 , 19 13 , p 97. .
2
G En es t rOm i n B i bl i otheca ma thema ti ca , 3 S
.
. .
, V ol . I 3, p 8 1 . .
factors for nu mbers up to J Ch B urckhardt ( 773 1 8 1 5)
1
— . .
published factor tables in P aris in 1 8 1 7 for the nu mbers 1 to ,
in 1 8 1 4 for the nu mbers 1 0 2 00 0 0 to 2 0 2 8000 in 1 8 1 6 for the nu mbers

( 1 80 9 1 90 3 )
—
,
to J -me s Glaisher . . published factor

tables at London in 1 8 79 for the numbers
, to in
1 88 0 for nu mbers to in 1 8 83 for the numbers
to Zacharias D ase ( 1 8 2 4—1 8 6 1 ) published factor
tables at Ham burg in 1 86 2 for the nu mbers
,
to in
1 86 3 for the nu mbers to in 1 86 5 for the numbers
to I n 1 90 9 the Carnegie Institution of Washing
ton published factor tables for the first ten m illions prepared by D , .
N Leh m er of the Uni v ersity of California Leh m er gives the errors

. .
d iscov ered in the earlier publications Historical details about factor .
tables are given by Glaisher in his Factor Tabl e Fou r th M il l i on 1 8 79 .

, .
M iscellaneous contributions to the theory of nu mbers were made

by A L C au chy He showed for i n stance how to find all the infinite
. . .
, ,
solut i ons of a hom ogeneous indeterminate equation of the second

d egree in three v ariables whe n one solution is given He established .
the theore m that if two congruences which have the sam e m odulus , ,
ad mit of a comm on solution the m odulus is a divisor of their resultant

, .
Jo s e ph Liouvill e ( 1 80 9 professor at the Col l ege de France ,
inv estigated m ainly questions on the theory of quadratic forms of two ,
and of a greater nu mber of variables A research along a diff erent .
l ine proved to be an entering wedge into a subj ect which S ince has
beco me of vital i mportance In 1 8 44 he proved (L i ou vi l l e s Jou rn ol ’
Vol 5)
,
.
. that neither e nor e can be a root of a quadratic equation with

2
rational coefficients By the properties of convergents of a continued

.
fraction representing a root of an al gebraical equation with rational ‘
coeffi cients he established later the existence of nu m bers the so —

called transcendental nu mbers—which cannot be roots of any such
equation He prove d this also by another m ethod A sti ll d ifferent
. .
approach is d u e to G Cantor P rofound researches were instituted

. .
by F e rd in an d G o tth ol d Ei s e n s te in ( 1 8 2 3—1 8 of B erlin Ternary .
qua dratic form s had been studied so m ewhat by K F Gauss but the . .
,
ex tension from two to three i n de ter mi n a tes was the work of Eisen
stein who i n his m e m oir N eu e Theoreme o er hoher en A ri thmeti c
, ,
’
,
defined the or d inal and generic characters of ternary quadratic form s

of uneven d eterm inant ; and in case of definite form s assigned the , ,
weight of any order or genus B ut he di d not publish demonstrations .
of his results In inspecting the theory of binary cubic form s he was

.
,
led to the discovery of the first covariant ever considered in analysis .
He showed that the series of theorem s relating to the presentation ,
of nu mbers by sum s of squares ceases when the nu mber of squares ,
surpasses eight M any of the proofs o m itted by Eisenstein were sup

.
pl i ed by Henry S m ith who was one oi the few Englishm en who de

,
voted the m selves to the stu dy of higher ar i thmetic .

mathematics , S m ith once proposed
may it never be of any use to any one .
”
a toast , P ure mathematic s ;
Ern s t Eduar d K u mm er ( 1 8 1 0 in the U niversity professor

of B erlin is C losely identified with the theory of nu mbers P G L . . . .
D i richlet 5 work on complex numbers of the form o +i b introduced ,
by K F Gauss was ex ten ded by him by F Eisenstein and R D ede

. .
, , .
, .
kin d Instead of the equation x

.
4
th e roots of whi ch yield
Gauss units F Eisenstein used the equation x
’ 3
and complex
numbers a + bp ( p being a cube root of unity)the theory of which
.
,
resembles that of Gauss nu mbers E E Ku mmer passed to the ’

. . .
"
general case x 1 = 0 and got complex numbers O f th e form a = o 1A 1+
a 2A 2+ a 3A 3+ were or are whole real numbers and A ; roots of the ,
above equation Euclid s theory of the greatest common divisor is .

’
not applicable to such complex numbers and their prim e factors can ,
not be defined in the sam e way as prim e factors of comm on integers

are defined In the e ff ort to overcom e this diffi culty E E K u mm e
.
,
. .
“
was led to introduce the conception of ideal nu mbers These .
ideal nu m bers have been applied by G Zolotarev of St P etersburg . .
to the solution of a problem of the integral calculus left unfinished by ,
Abel J W R D edekind of B raunschweig has given in the second

1
. . . .
edition of Di ri c hl et s Vor l esu ngen u ber Z ahl en theori e a new theory ’
of complex nu mbers in which he to som e ex tent dev iates from the ,
course of E E Ku mm er and avoids the use of ideal nu mbers De

. .
, .
d ek i n d has taken the roots of any irreducible equation with integral

coeffi cients as the units for his complex nu mbers F Klein in 1 8 93 . .
introduced S implicity by a geom etric treatment of ideal nu mbers .
Fermat s
’
L ast Theor em, Wari ng s ’
Theor em
E E Kumm er s ideal nu mbers owe their origin to his e ff orts to

. .
’
p rove the im possibility of sol v ing in integers Ferm at s equation ’
x l y = a for n > 2
n- - n
We pre mise that some progress i n proving this
n
.
impossibil ity has been made by m ore elem entary m eans For in .
t eg e rs x y z not divisible by an O dd prim e n the theore m has been

, , ,
proved by the P arisian m athe matician and philosopher S ophi e Ger

i n 1 —
ma ( 7 7 6 1 83 1 ) for n < i oo by Legendre for n < 2 oo by E T M ail , ,
. .
let for n < 2 2 3 by D m itry M i riman off for n < 2 5 7 by L E Dickson

, ,
. .
for n < 7000 The m ethod used here is due to Sophie Germain and
2
.
requires the determination of an odd prim e p for which x +y + n n
W5 0 (mod p)
2
has no solutions each not divisible by p and n is not
.
, ,
the residue modulo p of the n th power of any integer E E K um . . .
mer s results rest on an advanced theory of algebraic nu mbers which he

’
”
“
H J S S mi th , O n the P resen t S tat e an d P ro sp ec t s of Some B ran ches of P u re
1
. . .
M a t hema ti c s , P roceed L on don M ath S oc , V ol 8 , 1 8 7 6 p 1 5

S ee L E D i ck son i n A nn al s of M a thema ti c s , 2 S , V o l 1 8 1 9 1 7 , pp 1 6 1 —
. . . . . .
,
2
. . 187 . . .
, . .
S e e al so L E D i ck so n i n A tti del I V C on gr Roma , 1 90 8 , R om a , 1 909 , Vo l II ,

. . . . .
p . 172 .
THEO RY OF N U M B E RS 44 3
helped to create Once at an early period he thought that he had a c om

.
p l e t e proof He laid it before P G L D irichlet who pointed out that

although he had proved that any nu mber f a )
. . . .
,
where a is a co mplex u h ,
‘
root of unity and n is prim e was the product of indecomposable factors , ,
he had assu med that such a factoriz ation was unique whereas this was ,
not true in general After years of study E E Ku mm er concluded

1 ‘
that this non uniquenes s of factorization was due to f ( a )

. . .
,
-
being too
small a dom ain of nu mbers to perm it the presence in it of the true prime
numbers He was led to the creation of his ideal numbers the ma
.
,
chinery of which says L E D ickson is so delicate that an expert

2
m ust handle it with the greatest care and ( is )

. .
, ,
nowadays chiefly of
”
,
historical interest in vie w of the simpler and more general theory of

R Dedekind
. By m eans of his ideal numbers he produced a proof
.
of Fermat s last th eorem which is not general but excludes certain

’
,
particular values of n which values are rare among the s maller values ,
of u ; there are no values of n belo w 1 0 0 for which E E Ku mm er s ,

. .
’
proof does not se rve In 1 8 5 7 the French Acade m y of Sciences .
awarded E E Ku mmer a priz e of 30 0 0 francs for his researches on

. .
co mplex integer
The first m arked advance since Kumm er was m ade by A Wi efe ri ch .
of M ii n s ter in Gr el l e s J ou r n ol Vol 1 36 1 90 9 who de monstrated that

’
—
, , ,
.
,
if p is pri me and 2 2 is not divisible by p the equation xP +yP = zP

1 2 9
,
cannot be solved in term s of positiv e integers which are not m ul

tiples of p Waldem ar M eissner of Charlottenburg found that 2 2
.
1 — 0
is di v isible by p when p= 1 0 93 and for no other prim e p less than

2
2 0 00 Recent ad v ances to w ard a more general proof of Fermat s

.
’
last theorem hav e been m ade by D M i rirn an off of Geneva G Fro .

,
.
b en i u s of B erl in E Hecke of G ottingen F B ernstein of Gottingen

, .
,
.
,
P h F u r tw an g l er of Bonn S B ohn icek and H S Vandiver of P hila

.
, . . .
delphia Recent e ff orts along this line have been stimulated in part
.
by a bequest of m arks m ade in 1 90 8 to the Konigliche Gesell

schaft der Wissenschaften in G ottingen by the m athematician F P ,
. .
Wolfsk ehl of Darmstadt as a priz e for a co mplete proof of Fermat s ,

’
last theorem Since then hundreds of erroneous proofs have been

.
published P ost mor tems over proofs which fall still born fro m the
.
- -
press are being held in the Sprech saal of the Archiv der M athe matik
und P hysik .
At the beginning of the present century progress was made in prov

ing another celebrated theorem known as Waring s theore m“
In ,
’
.
1 90 9 A Wi efe r i c h of M unster proved the part which Says that every

.
positive integer is equal to the su m of not m ore than 9 positive cubes .
H e established also that every positive inte ger is equal to the su m

of not more than 3 7 ( according to Waring it is not m ore than 1 9)
,
positiv e four th powers while D Hilbert proved in 1 90 9 that for ,

.
,
1
F t h if t F i d
es sc r G b t t g Ed
2 . d K mm
e er L ei p z i g 9
es I O O
p . e ur s a es u ar u er s , ,
1 10 , . 22 .
2
B ul l A m
. . M ath S oc , V ol . . . 1 7, 1 9 1 1 , p 371
. .
4 44 A H ISTORY O F M ATHE M ATICS
”
every integer n > 2 (Waring had decl ared for every integer n > 4) ,
ea ch positiv e integer is expressible as the sum of positive n th powers ,
the nu mber of which l ies within a lim it dependent only upo n the
v alue of n Actual determinations of such upper lim its have been
.
m ade by A Hurwitz E T M ai ll et A Fleck and A J Ke mpner

.
,
. .
, .
,
. . .
Kempner proved in 1 9 1 2 that there is an infi nity of numbers which

are not the su m of less than 4 2 positive 2 th powers n 2 2 .
n n
,
.
Other Recen t Res ear ches . N u mber Fi el ds
Attracted by E E Kumm er s investigations his pupil L e opol d ’
—
3 1 89 1 )
.
, ,
.
o
Kr n e c k e r ( 1 8 2 m ade researches which he applied to algebraic
equations On the other hand e ff orts have been made to utiliz e in
.
,
the theory of num bers the results of the modern higher algebra .
Follow i ng u p researches of Ch Hermite P au l B ach mann of M unster .

, ,
now of Weim ar investigated the arithm etical formula which give s

,
the au tomo rph ic s O f a ternary quadratic form 1

Bachma nn is th e .
author of well known texts on Z ahl entheori e i n several volum es which

-
, ,
appeared in 1 8 92 1 8 94 1 8 7 2 1 8 98 and 1 90 5 respectively The prob

, , , , , .
l em of the equ i v alence of two positive or definite ternary quadrati c

form s was sol v ed by L Seeber ; and that of the arithm etical auto .
m orphi c s of such for m s by F G Eisenstein The more diffi cult prob

,
. . .
l em of the equi v alence for indefinite te r nary for m s has been investi
gate d by Eduard Selling of Wii rzbu rg On quadratic forms of four ’
or m ore in de t er min a t es little has yet been done Ch Hermite showed . .
that the nu mber of non equivalent Classes of quadratic forms hav ing -
integral coeffi cients and a given discriminant is fin i te whil e Zolotarev ,
and Al exan der K ork in e ( 1 83 7 both of St P etersburg investi .

,
gated the m inima of positiv e quadratic form s In connection with .
binary quadratic form s H J S S mith established the theore m that,

. . .
if the joint inv ariant of two properly prim itive form s vanishes the ,
d ete rminant of either of the m is represented prim itively by the dupli

cate of the other .
The interchange of theorem s between arithmetic and algebra is

di splayed i n the recent researches of J W L Glaisher ( 1 84 8 . . .
of Tr inity College an d J J Sylvester Syl v ester gave a Constructive. . .
Theory of P artitions which received ad ditions from his pupils F

, , .
Franklin now of New York city and George Stetson Ely

,
”
,
for many years exam iner in the U S P atent Off i ce . . .
By the introduction of i deal numbers E E Kummer took a

“
. .
first step toward a theory of fields of num bers The consideration of

super fields (O b erk Orp e r)
.
from which the properties of a given field

of numbers may be eas ily deri v ed is due m ainly to R D e dek i nd and .
to L Kronecker Thereby there was opened up for the theory of

. .
numbers a new and wide territory whi ch is in close connection wi th

1
H J S S mi th i n P r oceed L ondon M ath S oc
. . . . . .
,
V ol 8 , . 1 8 76 , p . 13.
Anatole Lucas —
( 1 84 2 1 8 )
91 of P aris Fortun é Landry 1 —
( 799 P)A J C
, , . . .
Cunningha m F W ,
. . P . Lawrence and D N Leh mer . . .
Tra nscendental N u mbers . The fi

I n n i te
B uil ding on the results previously reached by J L iouville Ch .

,
.
Hermite proved i n 1 8 73 i n the C omptes Rendu s Vol 7 7 that e is

transcendental while F Linde mann i n 1 8 8 2 ( B er A k od B erli n )
, .
,
.
, . .
proved that 7r is transcendental Ch Herm ite reached his result by . .
showing that oem+ be + ce + 0 cannot subsist where m n r n 7

, , , ,
o b c
, ,
are whole nu mbers ; F Linde man n proved that this equa
,
.
tion cannot subsist whe n m n r o b c are algebraic nu mbers , , , , , ,
that in particular e i + 1 = 0 cannot subsist if x is algebraic Co u se

,
x
.
quently 7r cannot be an al gebraic nu mber B ut starting with two

points (0 0 ) a third point (a 0 )
,
.
and ( 1 , ,
can be constructed by the , ,
aid of ruler a nd co mpasses only whe n a is a certai n special type o f

al gebraic nu mber that is obtainable by successive square root e xtrac
tions Hence the point ( 7T 0 ) ca nnot be constructed and the quad
”
“
, ,
.
rature of the circle is i mpossible The proofs o f Ch Hermite and F . . .
Lin de ma nn involved co mplex integrations a nd were co mplicated .
Simplified proofs were gi v en by K Weierstrass in 1 88 5 Th J Stieltj es .

, .
in 1 8 90 D Hilbert A Hurwit z and P Gorda n i n 1 8 96 ( M ath A n

, .
, .
,
. .
n ol en Vol F M ertens in 1 896 Th Vahlen i n 1 90 0 H Webe r

, . .
,
.
,
.
,
F Enriques and E W Hobson i n 1 9 1 1 G B Halsted says of the

.
,
. . . . .
“
circle John B olyai squared it in n o n Euclidean geo metry and Linde
,
-
m ann proved no man could square it in Euclidean geo metry .
That there are many other transcendental nu mbers beside e and 7r

is evi dent fro m the researches of J Liouville E M aillet G Faber .
, .
, .
and Aubrey J Ke mpner who giv e n ew forms of infinite series which

.
,
define transcendental nu mbers Of interest are the theore ms estab .
l ished in 1 9 1 3 by G N B auer a n d H L S l o b i n of M in n eapolis that

. . . .
,
the trigono metric functions and the hyperbolic functions represent

transcendental nu mbers whenever the argu ment is an algebraic n u m
ber other tha n z ero and v ice v ersa the argu ments are transce n dental
, ,
nu mbers whenever the functions are algebraic nu mbers 1

.
The notions of the actually infinite have undergone radical change

during the nineteenth century As late as 1 83 1 K F Gauss e xpressed . . .
himself thus : I protest against the use O f infinite magnitude as

“
something co mpleted which i n m athe matics is never permissible , .
Infinity is m erely a f ogon de porter the real m eaning being a li mit

”
,
which certai n ratios approach indefinitely near while others are per ,
m i tted to increase without restriction 2

Gauss conte mporary A L .
’
, . .
Cauchy likewise rejected the actually infinite being influenced by

, ,
Rendi conti d C i r col o M oth di P al er mo, V ol

1
8 , 1 9 1 4 , p 3 53
3
. . . . .
2
C F G a u ss , B rie f o n S c h u ma c he r , Werk e,
. . 3d 8 , 2 1 6 ; q u o
. t
ed fro m M or i t z ,
M cmor obi l i o mathemati ca , 1 9 I 4, p 3 3 7 . .

APP LIE D M ATHE M ATI CS 44 7
the eighteenth century philosopher of Turin Father G erdil In 1 8 86 , .

1
Georg Cantor occupied a di a metrically opposite position when he ,
said : In spite of the essential di fference between the conceptions of

the potenti al and the actu al i nfinite the former S ignifying a var i abl e ,
finite magnitude increasing beyond all finite li mits while the l atter ,
is a fixed constant quantity l ying beyond all finite magnitudes it

, ,
happens only too often that the one is mistaken for the other .
Owing to a j ustifiable aversion to such i l l egi ti mate actual i n fin i ties

and the influence of the modern e pic u ric materialistic tendency a -
,
certai n horr or i nfi ni ti has grown up i n e xten ded scientific circles ,
which finds its classic e xpression and support in the letter of Gauss ,
yet it see ms to me that the consequent uncritical rejection of the

legiti mate actual infinite is no lesser violation of the nature of things
”
'
which m ust be taken as they are 2

.
In 1 90 4 Charles E mile P icard of P aris expressed hi mself thus : 3
Since the concept of nu mber has been S ifted in it have been found ,
unfatho mable depths ; thus it is a question still pending to know be

, ,
tween the two forms the cardinal nu mber and the ordinal n u mber
, ,
under which the idea O f nu mber presents itself whi ch of the two is ,
anterior to the other that is t o say whether the idea of nu mber prop
, ,
erly so called is anterior to that of order o r if it is the inverse It , .
see ms that the geo meter logician neglects too m uch in these questions
-
psychology and the lessons unci v ili zed races give us ; it would see m to
result fro m these studies that the priority is with the car di nal number .
”
A ppl i ed M athemoti cs . C el esti al M echa ni cs
Notwithstanding the beautiful develop ments of celestial mechanics

reached by P S Laplace at the close of the eighteenth century there
. .
,
was made a discovery on the first day of the nineteen th century which
presented a proble m see mingly beyond the power of that analysis .
We refer to the discovery of Ceres by Giuseppe P ia zzi in Italy which ,
beca me known in Ger many j ust after the philosopher G W F Hegel . . .
had published a dissertation provin g a pr i ori that such a discove ry

could not be made Fro m the positions of the planet observed by
.
P ia zz i its orbit could not be satisfactorily ca l culated by the old

m ethods and it re mained for the genius of K F Gauss to devise a
, . .
m ethod of calculating elliptic orbits which was free fro m the assu mption
of a small eccentricity and inclination Gauss method was developed .
’
further in his Theor i a M otus The new planet was re discovered with
.
-
aid of Gauss data by H W M Olbers an astrono mer who pro moted

’
. . .
,
science not only by his own astronomical studies but also by discern ,
“
1
See F C aj ori , H istory o f Zeno Arg umen ts M ot i on A m M ath M onthl y,
'
. s on , . .
V ol . 2 2, 19 1 5, p . 1 14 .
2
G C an to r , Z u m P robl e m des ac t u a l e n U n e ndl ic he n , N a tur u nd Ofi en baru ng ,
.
-
. z
B d 3 2 , 1 8 86 , p 2 2 6 ; q uo t ed f ro m M o ri t , M emor a bil i a mathemati ca, 1 9 1 4, p 33 7
. . .
3
Congress of A rts a nd S ci ence, S t L o ui s , 1 904 , Vo l I , p 498. . . .
44s A HISTORY O F M ATHE M ATICS
ing and directing towa rds astron o mical pursuits the genius of F W . .
B essel
F r i e dr i ch Wi lh e l m B e s s e l ( 1 7 84—
1 84 6 )
.
1
was a native of M in den in
Westphalia Fondness for figures and a distaste for Latin grammar
.
,
led hi m to the choice of a mercantile career In his fifteenth year he .
became an apprenticed clerk in Bre men and for n early seven years ,
he devoted his days t o mastering the details of his business and par t ,
of his nights to study Hoping so me day to beco me a supercargo on .
trading e x peditions he beca me interested in obser v ations at sea , .
With a se xtan t constructed by him and an ordinary clock he deter

m in ed the latitude of Bre men His success in this inspired him for
,‘
.
astrono mical st u dy One work after another was mastered by him

.
,
unai ded during th e h ours snatched fro m sleep Fro m old observa
,
.
tion s he calculated the orbit of Halley s comet B essel introduced ’

.
hi mself to H W M Olbers and sub mitted to h im the calculation

. . .
, ,
which Olbers i mmediately sent for publication Encouraged by 01 .
bers B essel turn ed hi s b a ck to the prospe c t of affl uence chose poverty

, ,
an d the stars and beca m e assistant in J H S c hr Ot er s observatory at

’
. .
,
Lilienthal Four years later he was chosen to superintend the con

.
struction of the new obser vatory at K onigsberg 2

In the absence of .
an ade q uate mathe matic a l teachi n g force Bessel was obliged to lecture ,
on mathe matics t o prepare students for astron o my He was relieved .
of this work in 1 8 2 5 by the arri val of C G J Jacobi We shall not . . . .
recount the labors by w hich Bessel earned the t itle of founder of

m o der n pr a ctical astrono my and geodesy As an observer he towered .
far abo v e K F G au ss but as a mathe matician h e reverently bowed

. .
,
before the genius of his great con te mporary Of Bessel s papers the .
’
,
one of g reatest ma the matical interest is an Un ters uchung des Thei l s

”
der pl o u ctar i s chen S tor u ngen , w el chcr o u s dcr B ew egu ng der S on ne
‘
en ts teht in w hich he introduces a class of tran scendental

functions
“
m uch used in applied mathe matics and known as
Bessel s fu n ctions
’
,
”
He ga v e their principal properties and con
.
,
structed tables for their e v aluation It has been observed that Bes .
3
sel s fu n ction s appe a r m uch earlier in mathe matical literature Such
’
fun ctions of the zero order occur in papers of Daniel B ernoulli ( 1 73 2 )

.
and L Euler on vibra tion of hea v y strings suspended fro m one en d

. .
All o f Bessel s functio n s of the first kind and of integral orders occur
’
in a paper by L Euler ( 1 7 6 4) on t he vibra t ion of a stretched elastic

.
me mbrane In 1 8 7 8 Lord Rayle igh proved that Bessel s functions ’

.
are m erely particular cases of Laplace s func tions J W L Glaisher ’

. . . .
illustr ates by Bessel s functions his assertion that mathematical ’
1
B ess el a l s B r emcr Il a rzdl u n gsl ehrl i ng , B remen , 1 890 .
z
F ra n t , Festrede o u s Vera n l a ss u ng von B es s el s hu ndcr tj a hr i g cm Geburtsta g ,
’
Ko n ig s b e rg , 1 884 .
3
M a xi me Boc he r , A b i t o f M a themat i c al H i story , B ul l of the N Y M ath S oc , . . . . .
\ o l l l , 1 89 3 , p 1 0 7
. . .
of its particular m ode of evolution He traced back the changes in .
the fig ures of the earth and moon until they united into one pear ,
shaped mass This theory received confirmation in 1 8 8 5 fro m a paper

.
in A cta moth Vol 7 by H P oincar é in which he enun ciates the prin

.
, . .
c ipl e of e xchange of st abilities H P oincaré and D arwin arri v ed at . .
the sa me pear shaped figure P oincar é tracing the process of evolutio n

-
,
forwards D arw in proceeding backwards in ti me Q uestions of

,
.
stability of this changing pear shaped figure occupied D arw in s later -

’
years R esearches along the sam e line were made by one of his
.
pupils Jam es H J eans of Trinity College Cambridge

,
.
,
.
About the same t i m e that George D arwin began his researches

G e org e Wi l li a m H il l ( 1 83 8 — 1 9 1 4)
,
of the Nautical Al manac O ffi ce

in Washington began to study the m oon Hill was born at Nyack .
,
New York graduated at Rutgers College in 1 8 59 and was an as

, ,
si s t an t in the Nautical Al manac O ffice fro m his graduation till 1 8 92 ,
when he resigned to pursue further the original researches which

brought him distinction In 1 8 7 7 he published Res ear ches on L u n ar .
Theory in w hich he discarded the usual mode of procedure in the

,
problem of three bodies by which the problem is an e xtension of the ,
case of two bodies Following a suggestion of Euler Hill takes the .

,
earth finite the sun of infinite m ass at an infinite distance the m oon
, ,
infinitesimal and at a finite distance The di fferential equations which .
e xpress the m otion of the moon under the limitations adopted are
“
fairly si mple and practically useful
1
It is this idea of Hill s that .
’
has so profoundly changed the whole outlook of celestial m echanics .
H P oincaré took it up as the basis of his celebrated priz e essay of

.
1 88 7 on the proble m of three bodies and afterwards e xpanded his
cél es te
”
work into the three volu mes L es méthodes n ouvel l es de l o mécan i q ue
—
1 8 9 2 1 8 99
,
I t see m s that at first G H D arwin paid little
.
,
. .
attention to Hill s paper ; Darwin often spoke of his diffi culties in

’
assi milating the work of others However in 1 888 he reco mmended .
to E W Brown now professor at Yale the study of Hill Nor does

. .
,
Darwin seem to have studied closely the planetesi mal hypothesis

“
, .
”
of T C Cha mberlin and F R M oulton of the University of Chicago
. . . . .
A marked contrast between G H D arwin and H P oincar é lay in . . .
the fact that D arwin did not undertake investigation s for their
mathematical interest alone while H P oincar é and so me of his ,
.
followers in applied mathe matics have less interest in the pheno mena
t han in the mathe matical processes which are u sed by the student
of the phenomen a They do n ot expect to e xa mine or predict physical
.
events but rather to take up the Special classes of functions diff eren ,
tial equations or series which have been u sed by astrono mers or phy
s i c i s t s t o e xa m ine their properties t h e validity of the argu m ents and
the li mitations which m ust be placed on the results ( E W Brown)

, ,
” . . .
1
We a re u si n g E W B row n
’
s ar t i c l e i n S ci entifi c P aper s by S i r C II Darwi n,
—
. . . .
Vo l V ,
. 191 6 , pp . xxxi v l v.
A P P LI ED M ATH E M ATICS 51
P rominent in mathe matical astrono my was S i mon N ew comb

( 1 83 5 the son of a country school teacher He was born at Wal .
lace in Nova Scotia A l though he attended for a year the Lawrenc e

.
Scientific School at Harvard University he was essentially self taught ,

-
.
In Ca mbridge he cam e in contact with B P eirce B A G ould J D .

,
. .
, . .
Runkle and T H Sa fford In 1 86 1 he was appointed pro fessor in

, . . .
the United States Nav y ; in 1 8 77 he beca me superinte n den t of the

American Ephemeris and Nautical Al manac O ffice This position
he held for twenty years D uring 1 884—
.
1 8 95 he was also professor.
of mathe matics and astrono my at the Johns Hopkins University ,
and editor of the A meri can Jou rnol of M othemati cs His researches .
were mainly in the astronomy of position in which line he was pre ,
e minent In the comparison between t heory and observation in

.
,
d educing from large m asses of observations t he results which he

needed and which would form _a basis o f co mparison with theory ,
he was a master As a supple men t to the N a u ti col A l man ac for 1 89 7

.
he published the Ele ments of the Four Inner planets and the Funda ,
mental Constants o f Astrono my which gathers together Newco mb s

’
,
life work For the unravelling of th e motions of Jupiter and Saturn

- 1
.
,
S Newco mb enlisted the ser v ices of G W Hill All the publications

. . . .
of the tables of the planets e xcept those o f Jupiter and Saturn bear , ,
Newcomb s name These tables supplant those of Leverrier S New

’
. . .
comb devoted much time t o the moon He investigated the errors i n .
Hansen s lunar tables and continued the lunar researches of C E

’
. .
Delaunay Brief reference has already been made to G W Hill s

. . .
’
lunar work and his contribution of an elegant paper on certain possible

abbreviations in the co mputa t ion of the long period of the moon s -
’
motion due to the direct action of the planets and m ade elaborate
deter mination of the inequalities of the moon s m otio n due to t he
fi gure of the earth He also computed certain lunar inequalities due
.
to the action of Jupiter .
The mathematical discussion of Saturn s rings was taken up fi rst ’
by P S Laplace who demonstrated that a ho mogeneous solid ring

. .
,
could not be in equilibriu m and in 1 8 5 1 by B P eirce who proved , .

,
their non solidity by showing that even an irregu l ar solid ring could
-
not be in equilibriu m about Saturn The m echanis m of these rin g s .
was investigat ed by Ja mes Clerk M a xwel l i n an essay to which the

Adams prize was awarded He conc l uded that they consisted of an .
a ggregate of u as a
speculation in eight
e en th century tically
demonstrated as the only possible solution
The progress in methods o f computin g planetary asteroidal and , ,
co metary orbits has proceeded along two more or less distinct lines ,
1
W B row n i n B u l l A m M ath S oc V o l 1 6 1 9 1 0 p
E . . . . . .
, .
, , .
3 53 .
2
W W B ryan t A H istory of A stron omy L ondo n 1 90 7
. .
, , , , p 233
. .
the one marked out by P S Laplace the other by K F Gauss L a . .

,
. . .
1
place s method possessed theoretical advantages but lacked practical

’
,
applicability for the reason that in the second appro xi mation the
results of the first approxi mation could be used only in part and the
co mputation had to be gone over largely anew To avoid this l abor .
in finding asteroidal and co metary orbits H e in r i ch W M O l b e r s

( 1 7 58 1 840 )
. .
,
-
and K F Gauss devised more e xpeditious processes for
. .
carrying out the second approxi mation The Gaussian procedure .
was refined and si mplified by J o h ann Franz En ck e ( 1 79 1

Fr an c e s c o Ca rlini ( 1 7 83 F W Bessel P A Hansen and e s
—
( 4 1 8 86 )
. .
, ,
. .
p e c i al l y by T h e o d o r vo n O ppol z er 1 8 1 of Vienna whose

m ethod has been used by practical astrono me rs down to the presen t
day M ost origin al a mong the new elaborations of Gauss method is
.
’
that of J Wi ll ard Gi bbs of Yale which e mploys v ector analysis and

.
, ,
though rather co mplicated yields re markable accuracy even in the ,
first approxi mation Gibbs procedure was m odi fied in 1 90 5 by J

.
’
.
F r ischauf of Gra z P S L aplace s method has attracted mathema ti

. . .
’
c i an s by its eleganc e It received the attention of A L Cauchy

'
Antoine Yvon V i l l arc eau ( 1 8 1 3— 1 8 83)

. .
,
.
of the P aris Obse rvatory ,
Ro dolphe Radau of P aris H Bruns of Leip zig and H P oincar é P aul ,

.
, . .
Har zer of Kiel and especially Ar min Otto Leuschner O f the Univ ersity
of Califor nia made striking advances in rendering Laplace s method ’
available for rapid co mputation Leuschner adopts fro m the start .
geocentric co ordinates and considers the e ffects of the perturbating

body in the v ery first approximation ; it is equally ap plicable to plane
tary and to co metary orbits 2
.
f P r obl em o Three B odi es
The problem of three bodies has been treated in various ways sinc e
the ti me of J Lagra n ge and so me decided ad vance t owards a more
.
,
complete solution has been made Lag range s particular solution .

’
based on the constancy o f the relati v e distances of the three bodies ,
one fro m the other ( called by L O Hesse the reduced proble m of

three bodies)
. .
has recently been modified by Carl L Charlier of the .
observatory at Lund in which the mutual distances are replaced

,
3
by the distan ces fro m the centre of gravity This new form possesse s .
no marked ad vantage “
Theoretical interest in the Lagra n gian solu
.
“
tions has been increased says E O Lovett by K F S u ndma n s ,
. .
,
. .
’
theore m that the more nearly all three bodies in the general proble m
tend to collide si multaneously the more nearly do they tend to as ,
sume one or the other of Lagr ange s configurations ; practical ’
We are u sing an articl e by A V en t u ri i n Ri vi sta di As tronomi a J une 1 9 1 3

1
.
, , .
—
2
Fo r a ful l e r hi s t or i c al ac c o u n t , se e A O L e u sc hn e r i n S c i ence, N
. . . S .
, V ol 4 5 , .
19 1 7 . pp 5 7
. 1 5 84 .
3
We a re d raw mg fro m L O Lo ve tt
’
l he P ro b l e m o f Th re e B o d i es S ci ence,
—
. . s in
N S
. .
, V o l 2 9, 1 90 9 , pp 8 1 9 1
. . .
has been given but P oin car e showed that solution s exist in which
,
the m otion is purely periodic an d therefore that in the m at least no ,
”
disaster of collision or indefinite departure fro m the central mass will
ever occur ( F R M oulton ) A startling result was P oincar é s dis
. . .
’
c overy that so me of the series which have been used to calculate the
positions of the bodies of the solar syste m are divergent An exam .
i n at i on of the reasons why the divergent series gave suffi ciently ac

curate res ults gave rise to the theory of asymptotic series now applied
to the representation of many fun ction s D oes the ultimate di ver .
gence of the series throw doubt upon the stability of the solar syste m ?
H Gyld en thought that he had overco me the di ffi culty but H P oin
.
,
.
car e S howed that in part it still e xists Following P oincar é s lead .

‘ ’
E W B rown has for mulated the su fficient conditions for stability in

. .
the n body problem T L evi Civita worked out criteria in which

-
. .
-
the stability is made to depend upon that of a certain point tran s

for mation associated with the periodic function He proved the .
existence of zones of instability surrounding Jupiter s orbit The ’

.
new m ethods in celestial m echanics have been found useful in com

puting the perturbations O f certain small planets M aterial advances
in the problem of three bodies were made by Karl F Sund man of
.
Helsingfors in Finland in a me moir which received a pri z e of the ,
P aris Acade my in 1 9 1 3 This research is along the path first blaz ed

.
by P P ainl evé con tinued by T Levi Civita and others

.
,
.
-
.
In the transformatio n and reduction of the three body problem a -

,
principal r Ol e has been played by the ten known integ rals namely , ,
the S ix integrals of motion of the centre of gravity three integ rals o f ,
angular m omentu m and the integral of energy The question of

, .
further progress in this reduction is vitally related to the non existence -
theorem s of H Bruns H P oincar é and P P a i n l ev é H Bruns de mon

.
,
.
, . . .
s tra t e d that the n body proble m ad mits of no algebraical integral

-
other than the ten classic ones and H P oincar é proved the non
existence of any other unifor m analytical integral Other researches
,
.
.
”
on these non existence theore m s are due to P P ainl ev é D A Grav é
-
.
,
. .
,
and K Bohlin . .
1 “
E P icard e xpresses hi mself as follows
. What ad mirable recent
researches have best taught the m [analysts ] is the i mmense diffi cul ty
of the problem ; a new way has however been opened by the study , ,
of particul ar solutions such as the periodic solutions and the a symp

,
t o t i c solution which have alrea dy been utili z ed I t is not perhaps .
so much because of the needs of practice as in order not to avow i t

self vanquished that analysis will ne v er resign itself to abandon with
, ,
out a decisive victory a subjec t where it has me t so many brilliant

,
triu mphs ; and again what m ore b eau tifi ed fi el d could the theories
”
,
new born or rej uvenated of the m o dern doctrine of functions find

-
,
to essay their forces than this classic proble m of n bodies ?

,
1
Congr ess f
o A r ts a nd S c i en ce, S t L oui s,
. 1 904 , V ol I , p 5 1 2
. . .
APP LIED M ATH EM ATICS 55
Among valuab l e te xt books on mathe matical astrono my of the -
nineteenth century rank the following works : M on u ol of S pheri cal

a n d P r acti cal A s tr onomy by Wi l l i a m C hau ven et P r acti cal and
S pher i cal A s tr on omy by Rober t M ai n of Ca mbridge Theor eti col A s
’
tr on omy by J omes C Wats on of Ann Arbor Trai te él éznen toi re

’
de M econi qu e C el este of II Resol of the Ecol e P ol ytechni qu e in P aris

‘
.
,
C ou rs d A s tr on omi e de l Ecol e P ol ytechni qu e by Faye Tr ai te de M ecani

’ ’ ’
q ue Cel es te by F F Ti sser and L ehr bu ch der B ahn besti mmu ng by T

. .
, .
O ppol zer M athemati s che Theori en der P l an eten bewegu n g by O Dzi obek
,
.
,
translated into English by M W Harrin gton and W J H ussey . . . . .
Gen er al M echani cs
D uring the nineteenth century we have co me to recogniz e the ad

vantages frequently arising fro m a geo metrical treat men t of me
c ha n ic al proble m s To L P oin so t M Chasles and A F M obi us we
. .
, .
,
. .
o w e the m ost i m portant develop m ents m ade in geo m etrical m echanics
Lo u i s P oin s ot ( 1 7 77 —
.
18 a graduate of the P olytechnic School in

P aris and for m any years me mber of the superior council of public
,
instruction published i n 1 804 his El emen ts de S tati qu e This work

,
.
is re markable not only as being the earliest introduction to synthetic

mechanics but also as containing for the first ti me the idea of couples
, ,
which was applied by P oi nsot in a publicatio n of 1 8 34 to the theory

o f rotation A clear conception of the nature of rotary m otion was
.
conveyed by P oin so t s elegant geometrical representation by means

’
of an ellipsoid rolling on a certain fixed plane This construction was

“
e xtended by J J Sylvester so as to measure the rate of rotation of the

. .
ellipsoid on the plane .
A particular class of dyna mical proble ms has recently been treated

geometrically by S i r R o b e r t S taw e l l B all ( 1 840 —1 9 1 3)at one time
astronomer royal of Ireland later L ow n dean P rofessor of Astrono my ,
and Geo metry at Ca mbridge His m ethod is give n in a work entitled .
Theory of S crew s D ublin 1 8 7 6 and in subsequent articles

,
M odern
, ,
.
geometry is here drawn upon as was done also by W K Cliff ord

in the related subj ect of B i—
. .
,
quaternions Arthur B uchheim ( 1 8 59 .
of M anchester show ed that H G G rassmann s A u sdeh nu ng s . .

’
l ehre supplies all the necessary materials for a si mple calculus of screws
to the
J .
Lagrange by S D P oisson Sir Willia m Rowan Ha milton C G J

”
. . .
. .
, ,
Jacobi M adame K oal ev sk i and others J Lagrange had established

, , . .
the Lagrangian fo rm of the equations of m otion He had given a

“
.
theory of the variation of the arbitrary constants which however , ,
turned out to b e less fruitful in results than a theory advanced by S D . .

P oisson l
P oisson
s theory of the v ariation of the arbitrary constants
’
.
and the method of integration thereby aff orded m arked the first
onward step S ince J Lagrange Then cam e the researches of Sir . .
William Rowan Ha milton His discovery that the integration of the .
dynamic diff erential equations is connected with the integration of a

certain partial differential equation of the first order and second degree ,
grew out of an attempt to deduce by the undulatory theory results , ,
in geometrical optics previously based on the conceptions of the emis

sion theory The P hi l osophi cal Tr an s acti ons of 1 833 and 1 834 contai n
.
Hamilton s papers in which appear the first applications to m echanics

’
,
of the principle of varying action and the characteristic function ,
established by him som e years previously The obj ect which Ham ilto n .
p roposed to h i m self is in d icated by the title of his first paper v iz ,

.
,
the discovery of a function by means of which all integral equations

can be actually represented The new form obtained by hi m for the .
equation of motion is a result of no less im portance than that which

was the professed obj ect of the m emoir Ha m ilton s method of i h .
’
t eg ra t i on was freed by C G J Jacobi of an unnecessary complica . . .
tion and was then applied by him to the d eterm ination of a geodetic
,
line on the general ellipsoid With aid of elliptic c o ordinates Jacobi .

-
integrate d the partial diff erential equation and expressed the equation
of the geodetic i n form of a relation betw een two Abelian integrals .
C G J Ja cobi applied to d iff erential equations of dyna mics the theory

. . .
of the ultim ate m ultiplier The diff erential equations of dyn am ics are .
only one of the classes of di ff erential equations considere d by Jacobi .
Dynamic inv estigations along the lines of J Lagrange Ham ilton and
J acobi were m ade by J Liouville Adolphe D esb ov e s ( 1 8 1 8 1 888 )
.
, ,
-
.
, ,
of Am iens Serret J C F Sturm M ichel Ostrogradski J B ertrand

—
Willia m F i shb u rn D onki n ( 1 8 1 4 1 86 9)
. . . .
, , , , ,
of Oxford F B rioschi leading , .

,
up to the developm ent of the theory of a syste m of canonical integrals .
An i mportant addition to the theory of the m otion of a solid body

about a fixed point was m ade by M adam e S o ph i e K oval evs k i 1 8 50
who discovered a n ew case in which the di fferential equations
of m otion can be integrated By the use of theta functions of t w o .
-
independent variables She furnished a remarkable example of h ow

the m odern theory of functions may becom e useful in m echanical
problem s She was a native of M oscow studied under K Weierstrass
.
, .
,
obtained the doctor s d egree at G ottingen and fro m 1 8 84 until her

’
,
death was professor of higher m athematics at the University of Stock

hohn The research above m entioned received the B ordin priz e
.
of the French Academ y in 1 888 which was doubled on account of ,
the exceptional m erit of the paper .
There are in vogue three for m s for the expression of the kineti c
energy of a dynam ical syste m : the Lagrangian the Ham iltonian and , ,
1
A th
r C yl ey
ur Re p t at he R ce t P r g
,
of Theo e ti al D y
or on mi cs e n o res s r c na ,
fo r
’
Report B ri ti sh A ss n 1 85 7, p .
7 .
insta nce by the contents of E J Routh s Dyn ami cs which contains
,
. .
’
,
the results of twenty years of research along that line in England and ,
in comparison with the German school e mphasizes a concrete and ,
practical treatm ent To make these trea sures more readily accessible.
to Germ an students Routh s tex t was trans l ated into German by ’
Adol f Schepp ( 1 83 7—1 90 5)

,
of Wiesbaden in 1 898 P articularly strong .
was Routh in the treatm ent of s mall oscillations of systems ; the

technique of integration of linear diff erential equations with con
stant coeffi cients is highly dev eloped e xcept that perhaps the ex tent , , ,
to which the develop m ents are valid may need closer exa mination .
This is done in F Klein and A Sommerfeld s Theori e des K r ei sel s ’
—
. .
,
1 8 97 1 9 1 0 This last work gives attention to the theory of th e top

.
,
th e history of which reaches back to the eighteenth century

In 1 744 Serson started on a ship ( that was lost)to test the pra e
.
ti cab il i ty of the artificial horiz on furnished by the po l ished surface

of a top This idea has been recently rev i v ed by French navigator s
.
1
.
S erson s top induced J A Segner of Halle in 1 7 5 5 to give precision

’
. .
to the theory of the S pinning top which was taken up more fully by ,
L Euler in 1 7 6 5 an d then by J Lagrange L Euler considers the

. . . .
m otion on a s mooth horiz ontal plane Later co m e the stu dies du e .
to L P oi n sot S D P oisson C G J Jacobi G R Kirchhoff Eduard

L o tt n er ( 1 8 2 6 —1 88 7)
. . .
,
. .
, , ,
. . .
of Lippstadt Wilhel m Hess Clerk M axwell , , ,
E J Routh and finally F Klein and A Somm erfeld In 1 91 4 G

. . . . . .
Greenhill prepared a Repor t on Gyr oscopi c Theory which is of more

2
d irect interest to engi n eers than is Klein and Somm erfeld s Theori e des
’
K r ei sel s developed by the aid of the theory of functions O f a co mplex

,
variable Among recent practical applications of g yroscopic action

.
are the torpedo exhibited before the Royal Society of Lon don in 1 90 7
by Louis B rennan also B rennan s m onorail system and the m ethods
,
’
,
of steadying ship s and aircraft devised by the American engineer ,
El mer A Sperry and by Otto Schlick in Germany

. .
Among the deviations of a proj ectile from the theoretic parabolic

path there are two which are of particular interest One is a S light .
ben ding to th e right in the northern hem isphere owing to the rotation
of the earth ; it was explained by S D P oisson ( 1 8 3 8)
, ,
and W Ferrel . . .
The other is due to the rotation of the projectile ; it was oh

served by I Newton in tennis balls and applied by him to explain
.
certain phenom ena i n his corpuscular theory of light ; it was know n

to B enjamin Robins and L Euler In 1 7 94 the B erlin academy . .
off ered a priz e for an explanation of the phenom enon but no satis ,
factory explanation appeared for over half a century S D P oisson

in 1 839 (Jou rn écol e pol yt T 2 7 ) studied the eff ect of atmospheric
. . .
. . .
,
1
S e e A G G re en hill i n Ver handl
. . I n ter n Con gr , Hei de
lber g , . m . . . 1 904, z
L eip ig ,
1 90 5 , p 1 00 . We are su mm ariz i n g thi s ar ti cl e
. .
2
A dvi s ory C ommi ttee f or A er on au ti cs , Reports and M emora n da, N o . 1 46 , London ,
1 9 14 .
AP P LIE D M ATHE M ATI C S 459
friction against the rotating sphere but finally ad mitted that friction ,
was not sufficient to explain the deviations The difference in the .
pressure of the air upon the rotating sphere also demands attention .
An explanation on this basis which was generally accepted as valid

was given by H G M agnu s ( 1 80 2 —1 8 70 )
,
of B erlin in P og g en dorff s
. .
,
’
A n n al en Vol 88 1 8 53 , In connection wi th golf balls th e proble m

.
, .
-
was taken up by Tait

P e ter G u thr i e Ta i t ( 1 83 1 —1 90 1 )
.
was born at D alkeith studied at ,
Cambridge and ca m e out Senior Wrangler in 1 8 54 which was a sur ,
prise as W J Steele had been generally ahead i n college exa minations

From 1 8 54—
. . .
,
1 8 6 0 Tait was professor of m athe m atics at B elfast where ,
he studied quaternions ; fro m 1 8 60 to his death he held the chair of

Natural P h ilosophy at Edinburgh T ait found the problem of the .
flight of the golf ball capable of exact statem ent and approximate
solution One of his sons had beco m e a bril liant golfer Tait at first
. .
was scoffed at when he began to o ffer explanations of the secret of

long driving I n 1 88 7 (N otu re 3 6 p 50 2 )
. he S hows that rotation
“
, , .
”
played an important part as established experim entally by H G , . .
M agnus ( 1 8 Says P G Tait : In topping the upper part of the . .

“
,
ball is m ade to m ove forward faster than does the center consequently ,
the front of the ball descends in virtue of the rota tion and the ball ,
itself skews in that direction When a ball is undercut it gets the .
opposite spin to the last and i n consequence i t tends to deviate up , , ,
wards instead of do w nwards The upward tendency often m akes the

path of a ball (for a part of its course )
.
concave upwards in spite of

the e ffects of gravity P G Tait explained the influence of . . .
the underspin in prolonging not only the range but also the time of
flight The essence of his discov ery was that without spin a ball
.
could not combat gravity greatly but that with S pin it could travel ,
re markable d istances He was fond of the gam e while H Helmholtz

(who was in Scotland in 1 8 7 1 )could see no fun in the leetle hole
. .
P G Tait generaliz ed in 1 8 98 the Josephus proble m and gave the

. .
rule for n persons certai n v of which shall be left after each m m man
,
is picked out .
The deviations of a body falling from rest near the surface of the
earth have been considered in m any m e moirs from the tim e of P S . .
Laplace and K F Gauss to the present All writers agree that the
. . .
body will deviate to the eastward with respect to the plu mb line hung -
from the initial point but there has been disagreem ent regarding th e ,
deviation measured along the m eridian Laplace found no meridional .
deviation Gauss found a s m all dev iation toward the equator Re

,
.
c en tl y this proble m has co mm anded the attention of writers in the
United States R S Woodward president of the Carnegie Institution

. . .
,
i n Washington found in 1 9 1 3 a deviation away from the equator

,
.
F R M ou l ton of the University of Chicago found in 1 9 1 4 a form ul a

. .
i ndicating a southerly deviation W H Rover of Washington Uni . . .

' '
46 0 A HISTORY O F M AT H E M ATI CS
versity in St Louis has since 1 90 1 treated the subj ect in several

.
, ,
”
“
articles which indicate southerly deviations He declares that no .
“
potential function is known that fits all parts of the earth that ,
the form ula of Gauss the three formul a of Co mte de Sparre [Lyon , ,
the form ula of P rofessor F R M oulton and my first formul a

are all special cases of my general form ula 1
. .
.
” , ,
Fl u id M oti on
The equations which constitute the foundation of the theo ry of
fluid m otion were fully laid down at the time of J Lagrange but the .
,
solutions actually worke d out were few an d mainly of the irrotat io n al

type A powerful method of attacking problem s i n fluid motion is
.
that of i m ages introduced in 1 8 43 by G G Stokes of P e mbroke Co l

,
. .
lege Cambridge I t received little attention until Sir William T hom

, .
son s discovery of electrical i m ages whereupon the theory was ex

’
,
tended by G G Stokes W M Hicks and T C Lewis

G e o r g e G ab r i e l S to k e s ( 1 8 1 9—1 90 3 )
. . .
, ,
. . . .
was bor n at Skreen County ,
Sligo in Ireland I n 1 8 3 7 the year of Q ueen Victoria s accession he

,
.
,
’
,
co mmenced residence at Ca mbridge where he was to find his hom e , ,
al m ost without intermission for S ix ty six years At P e mbroke College ,

-
.
his mathe matical abilities attracted attention and i n 1 84 1 he graduated

as Senior Wrangler and first S mith s priz e man He distinguished ’
.
hi mself along the lines of applied mathe matics In 1 84 5 he published

a m e moir on Friction of Fluids in M otion The general m otion of ” .
a m ed iu m near any point is analy z ed into thre e co n stituents—a mo

.
tion of pure translation one of pure rotation and one of pure strain ,
.
Similar results were reached by H Helmholtz twenty three years .

-
later In applying his results to viscous fluid s Stokes was led to

.
,
general dynam ical equations previously reached from more S pecial ,
hypotheses by L M H Navier and S D P oisson Both Stokes and

. . . . . .
G Green were followers of the Fr ench school of applied ma themati

.
Stokes applies his equations to the p ropag ati on of sound and

'
c i an s .
,
S hows that viscosity makes the intensity of sound di m inish as the
time increases and the velocity less tha n it would othe rwise b e
especially for high notes He considered t h e two elastic consta nts in .
the equations for an elastic solid to be independent and not reducible

to one as is the case in P oisso n s theory Stokes positio n was sup ’
.
’
ported by Lord Kelvin and see ms now generally accepted In 1 84 7 .
Stokes e xamined anew the theory of oscil l atory waves Another .
paper was on the e ffect of internal friction of fluids on the m otion of

pend ul u ms He assu med that the viscosity of the air was propor
.
t i onal to the density which was show n later by M axwell to be erro

,
n eou s In 1 849 he treated the e ther as an elastic solid in the study of

.
diff raction He fav ored Fresnel s w ave theory of l i ght as opposed to

.
’
S e W h i 1
n g t
e U i i ty S
ast d s V lon111 9 6 pp
—
53 6 8
n ver s u ie , o .
, 1 1 , . 1 1 .
of Edinburgh for a Channel of any uniform section Sir G eorge B . .
Airy in his treatise on Ti des an d Waves discarded m ere approxima

, ,
tions and gav e the exact equation on which the theory of the long
,
wave in a channel of uniform rectangular section depends B ut he .
gave no general solutions J M c C ow an of University College at . .
D undee discussed this topic m ore fully and arrived at exact and com ,
pl et e solutions for certain cases The m ost important application of .
the theory of the long wave is to the explanation of tidal phenom ena
in rivers and estuaries .
The m athe matical treatment of solitary waves was first taken up

by S Earnshaw in 1 84 5 then by G G Stokes ; but the first sound
.
,
. .
approximate theory was given by J B ou ssi n es q in 1 8 7 1 who obtained .

,
an equation for their form and a value for the velocity in agree ment ,
with experiment Other m ethods of approx imation were given by

.
Lord Rayleigh and John M c C ow an In connection with deep water -
wav es Osborne Reynolds ( 1 84 2 —1 9 1 2 )

.
,
of the University of M anchester
gave in 1 8 7 7 the dyna mical explanation for the fact that a group of
such waves advances with only half the rapidity of the individual
waves .
The solution of the problem of the general motion of an ellipsoid

in a fluid is due to the successive labors of George Green
R F A C l eb sch
. . . and Carl Anton Bjerknes ( 1 8 2 5— 1 90 3)of
Christiania The free motion of a solid i n a liquid has been
inv estigated by W Tho mson (Lord Kel v in )G R Kirchhoff and
.
, . .
,
Horace La mb By these labors the m otion of a S ingle solid in a fluid

.
,
has co m e to be pretty well understood but the case of two solid s in a ,
fluid is not dev eloped so fully The problem has been attacked by .
W M Hicks
. . .
The determ ination of the period of oscillation of a rotating liquid

spheroid has i mportant bearings on the questio n of the origin of the
m oon G H Darwin s investigations thereon viewed in the light of
’
. .
,
.
G F B Rie mann s and H P oincaré s researches seem to disprove

. . .
’
.
’
,
P S Laplace s hypothesis that the m oon separated from the earth

’
. .
as a ring because the angular velocity was too great for stab i l ity ;
,
G H Darwin finds no instability

. . .
The explanation of the contracted vein has been a point of much

controversy but has been put in a much better light by the application
,
of the principle of m om entu m originated by W Froude and Lord , .
Rayleigh Rayleigh considered also the reflection of waves not at

.
,
the surface of separation of two uniform m edia where the transition ,
is abrupt but at the confines of two media between which the transiti o n
,
is gradual .
The first serious study of the circulation of winds on the earth s ’
surface was instituted at the beginning of the second quarter of the last
—
century by Wi l l i am C Redfi eld ( 1 7 8 9 1 8 an A merican me teo rol o
gist and railway projec tor J ames P ol l ard Espy ( 1 7 8 6 —1 8 6 0 )
.
of Wash
,
AP P LIED M ATHE M ATI CS 46 3
i ng ton , through whose stimulus the present United States Weather

B ureau was started and H ei n r i c h W i l hel m D ove ( 1 8 0
—
3 1 8 7 9)of B erlin
followed by researches by S i r Wi l l i am Rei d ( 1 7 9 1 —1 8 58 )
,
a B ritish
major general who dev eloped his circular theory of hurricanes while in
-
the W est Indies H en ry P i ddi n gton ( 1 7 97 1 8 58 )

,
— a B ritish co mmander
in the m ercantile m arine who accu mulated data for determining the
course of storms at sea and originated the term cyclone and El i as
“ ”
L oomi s ( 1 8 1 1 1 88 9)
,
of Yale Univ ersity B ut the deepest insight into

-
.
the wonderful correlations that exist am ong the varied m otions of the
atmosphere was obtained by William Ferrel ( 1 8 1 7 He was
born in Fulton County P a and brough t up on a farm Though in ,
.
,
.
unfavorable surroundings a burning thirst for knowledge spurred ,
the boy to the m astery of one branch after another He atten de d .
M arshall College P a and graduated in 1 844 fro m B ethany College

,
.
,
.
While teaching school he becam e interested in m eteorology and in

”
“
the subj ect of tides I n 1 8 56 he wrote an article on the win ds an d
.
currents of the ocean The following year he beca me connected

.
with the N an ti cal A l man ac A m athematical paper followed in 1 8 58 .
on the m otio n of flui ds and solids relative to the earth s surface ’

.
The subj ect was ex tended afterwards so as to e mbrace the m athe

m ati cal theory of cyclones tornadoes water spouts etc In 1 88 5
, ,
-
,
.
appeared his Recen t A dvan ces i n M eteor ol ogy In the O pinion of .
“
Ju l i u s H ar m of Vienna Ferrel has contribut ed more to the advance ,
m eteorologist .
”
of the physics of the atmosphere than any other l iving physicist or
W Ferrel taught that the air flows in great spirals toward the poles
.
,
both in the upper strata of the atmosphere and on the earth s surface ’
beyond the 3o th degree of latitude ; while the return current blows at

nearly right angles to the above S pirals in the m iddle strata as well ,
as on the earth s surface in a z one comprised between the parallels

’
,
3 0 N and 30 S The idea of three superposed cu rrents blowing spirals

° 0
. .
was first advanced by James Thomson ( 1 8 2 2 brother of Lord

Kelvin but was published in very m eagre abstract
,
.
W F err el s views have given a strong impulse to theo retical re

.
’
s earch in Am erica Austria and Ger many ,

Several objections raised ,
.
against his argu ment have been abandoned or have been answered ,
by W M Davis of Harvard The mathem atical analysis of F Waldo

. . . .
of Cambridge M ass and of others has further confirmed the accuracy

,
.
, ,
of the theory The transport of Krakatoa dust and observations made

.
on clouds point towar d the e xistence of an u pper east current on the
,
—
equator and Josef M P er n t er ( 1 84 8 1 90 8 )of Vienna has mathe .
ma ti cal l y deduced fro m Ferrel s theory the existence of such a current ’

.
Another theory of the general circulation of the atmosphere was

propounded by Werner Siemens ( 1 8 1 6 —1 8 9 2 ) of B erlin in which an ,
attempt is made to apply thermodyna mics to a erial currents Im '
p ortant new p oints of view hav e been introduced by H Hel mh olt z .

,
who concluded that when two air currents blow one above the other .
in diff erent di rections a system of air waves must arise in the same
,
way as waves are form ed on the sea He and Anton Oberbec k ( 1 846
1 900 )
.
of T ubingen showed that when the waves on the sea attain

lengths of from 1 6 to 33 feet the air waves must attain lengths of from ,
1 0 to 2 0 m iles and proportional depths Superposed strata would

, .
thus mix more thoroughly and their ener g y would be partly di ssipated , .
From hydrodynam ical equations of rotation H H ehnh ol tz established .
the reason why the observed velocity from equatorial regions is much
less in a latitude of say 2 0 or than it would be were the m ove
, ,
°
m ents unchecked Other i mportant contributors to the general theory

.
of the circulation of the at mosphere are M ax M Oll er of Braunschweig

and L ui gi de M archi of the University of P avia The source of the .
-
energy of at mospheric disturbances was sought by W Ferrel and Th . .
Reye in the heat giv en off durin g condensation M ax M argul es of the .
Univ ersity of Vienna S howed in 1 90 5 tha t thi s heat energ y contributes

n othing to the kinet i c energy of the winds and that the source of
energy is found in the lowering of the centre of gravity of an air column
when the colder air assum es the lower levels whereby the potential ,
energy is di minished and the kinetic energy increased Asymmetric

1
.
cyclones have been studi ed especially by Luigi de M archi of P avia .
Anticyclones have receiv ed attention from Henry H Clayton of the .
Blue Hill Observatory near B oston from Julius Hann of Vienna F , , , .
H Bigelow of Washington and M ax M argul e s of Vienna

.
,
.
S ou nd . El asti ci ty
About 1 860 acoustics began to be studied with renewed zeal The .
mathe m atical theory of pipes and vibrating strings had been elabo
rated in the eighteenth century by Daniel B ernoulli D Al emb er t ,
’
,
L Euler and J Lagrange In the first part of the present centur y

.
,
. .
P S Laplace correcte d Newton s theory on the velocity of soun d in

’
. .
gases ; S D P oisson gav e a m athematical discussion of tor sional

. .
vibrations ; S D P oisson Sophie Germain and Charles Whea tstone

. .
, ,
studied Chladni s figures ; Thomas You n g and the brothers Weber

’
dev eloped the wave theory of sound S ir J F W H er s ch e l ( 1 7 92

-
. . .
1 871)
.
wrote on the mathe matical theory of sound for the En cycl o

predi o M etropol i tan a 1 8 45 Epoch making were H Helmh oltz s ’
-
. .
,
e xper imental and mathem atical researches In his hands and Ray .
leigh s Fourier s series received due attention H Hel mholtz gave

’
,
’
. .
the mathe matical theory of beats diff erence tones and summation
tones L or d Rayl e i gh (John William Strutt)of Cambridge (bor n
, ,
1 84 2 )
.
m ade e xtensive m athem atical researches in acoustics as a part

of the theory of vibration in general P articular m ention may be .
m ade of hi s discussion of the disturbance produced by a spherical

1
Encykl opci di e der
'
M ath . Wi ss enschaf ten ,

B d VI,
. 1, 8, 1 9 1 2, p . 2 16.
46 6 A HI STORY OF M ATHE M ATICS
and left hi m suspended by a thin cord to a nail in the wall in order to
protect him from perishing under the teeth of the carnivorous and un
clean animals that roamed on the floor P oisson used to add that hi s .
gymn astic efforts when thus suspended caused him to swing back and
forth and thus to gain an early familiarity with the pendul u m the
, ,
study of whi ch occupied h im m uch in his m atur er life His father .
destined hi m for the m edi cal profession but so repugn ant was thi s ,
to hi m that he was permitted to enter the P olytechnic School at the

age of seventeen His talents excited the interest of J Lag range and
. .
P S Laplace
. . At eighteen he wr ote a m emoir on finite diff erences
.
which was printed on the recommendation of A M Legendre He . . .
soon becam e a lectur er at the school and continued through life to ,
hol d various gove r nm ent scientific posts and professorships He pre .
pared som e 40 0 publications m ainly on applied mathematics His ,

.
Tr ai te de M ecan i qu e 2 vols 1 8 1 1 and 1 8 3 3 was long a standard work

’
. .
, , ,
He wrote on the m athematical theory of heat capillary action proba , ,
b ili ty of j udgm ent the mathe matical theory of electricity and mag
,
n e t i sm physical astrono m y
,
the att raction of ellipsoids defini te in , ,
t eg r al s series and the theory of elasticity

, ,
He was considered one .
of the leading analysts of hi s tim e The story is told that in 1 80 2 a .
young man about to enter the army asked P oisson to take $1 00 in

,
” ,
safe keeping All right said P oisson set it down there and let
”
-
“
.
, ,
m e work ; I hav e m uch to do The recrui t placed the money bag on .

-
a S helf and P oisson placed a copy of Horace over the bag to hi de it , .
Twenty years later the soldi er ret urn ed and asked for his money
” ”
,
but P oisson rem embered nothi ng and asked an g rily : You claim
”
“
to have put the m oney in my hands ? No replied the soldier , ,
“
I put in on this shelf and you placed this book over it The soldier .
re mov ed the dusty copy of Horace and found the $1 00 where they had
been placed twenty years before .
His work on elasticity is hardly excelled by that of A L Cauchy . .

,
and second only to that of B de Saint Venant There is hardly a

’
-
. .
problem in elasticity to which he has not contributed while many of ,
his inquiries were new The equilibri um and motion of a circular plate
.
was first successfully treated by him Instead of the definite integrals .
of earlier writers he used preferably finite summ ations P oisson s

,
.
’
contour conditions for elastic plates were objected to by Gustav

Kirchh off of Berlin who established new conditions But Thomson
(Lord Kel v in )
.
,
and P G Tait in their Tr eati se on N otu r al P hil os ophy

. .
have exp lained the discrepancy between P oisson s and Kirchhoff s ’ ’
bo u ndary condi tions and established a reconciliation between them

,
.
Important contributions to the theory of elasticity were made by

A L Cauchy To h i m we owe the origin of the theory of stress and
. . .
,
the transition from the consideration of the force upon a m olecule

exerted by its ne i ghbors to the consi derati on of the stress upon a
s mall plane at a point He anticipated G Green and G G Stokes . . . .
A P P LIED M ATHE M ATICS 67
in gi v ing the equations of isotropic elasticity with two constants .
The theory O f elasticity was presen ted by Gabrio P iola of Italy a c

cor di ng to the princip l es of J Lagrange s M échon i qu e A n al yti qu e but
.
’
the sup eriority of thi s m ethod o v er that of P oisson and Cauchy is far
from evident The influen ce of temperature on stress was first ih
.
v e st ig a t ed experi m e n tally by Wilhel m Weber of G ottingen and ,
afterwards mathematically by J M C Duham el who assum ing . . .

, ,
P oisson s theory of elasticity e xa mined the alterations of for m whi ch

’
,
the form ul a und ergo when we allow for changes of temperatur e W . .
Weber was also the fi rst to e xperiment on elastic after strain Other -
.
i mportant experiments were m ade by differen t scientists which dis ,
closed a wider ran ge of phenomena and dem anded a more compre ,
h en siv e theory Set was investigated by Fran z Joseph v on Gerstner

—
.
( 7 5 1 83
1 6 of P rag ue and Eaton Hodgkinson of University College ,
London while the latter physicist in England an d Louis Joseph Vicat

( 1 7 86 1 8 6 1 )
—
,
in France experimented extensiv ely on absolute strength .
L J Vicat boldly attacked the mathe ma tical theories of fl exu re b e

. .
cause they failed to consider shear an d the time ele m ent As a result -
.
,
a truer theory of fl exur e was soon propounded by B de Saint Venant .

-
.
J V P oncelet advanced the theories of resilience and cohesion

G ab ri e l Lam é ( 1 795— 1 8 70 )
. . .
was born at Tours and graduated at ,
the P olytechni c School He was called to Ru ssia with B P E Clap

. . . .
e yr on and others to superintend the construction of bridges and roads .
On hi s return in 1 83 2 he was elected professor of physics at the P oly

,
technic School Subsequently he held var i ous engi neering posts and
.
professorshi ps i n P aris As engineer he took an acti v e part in the con

.
st ruction of the first railroads in France Lamé devoted his fine mathe .
mati cal talents m ainly to m athematical physics In four works : .
L egons su r l es f on cti on s i n vers es des tr a n sc endan tes et l es s u rf aces i s other

mes ; S u r l es coor don n ées cu rvi l i gn es et l eu r s di ver s es appl i cati on s ; S u r
l a theor i e a n al yti qu e de l o chol eu r ; S u r l a theor i e mo themo ti q u e de l él os
’ ’ ’ ’
ti ci té des cor ps s ol ides ( 1 8 5 and in var i ous m emoirs he di splays fine

analytical powers ; but a certain want of physical touch s ometim es re
duces the value of his contributions to elasticity and other physical
subjects In considering the temperature in the interior of an ellip
.
s oi d under certain conditions he e mp l oyed fu n c t i on s analogous to La

”
'
,
“
place s functions and known by the nam e of Lamé s functions
’
,
’
.
A problem in elasticity called by La mé s name vi z to investigate ’

,
.
,
the conditions for equilibriu m of a S pherical elastic envelope subject

to a given distribution of load on the bounding S pherical surfaces and ,
the determination of the resulting sh ifts is the only completely general

problem on elasticity which can be said to be co mpletely solv ed He .
deserves m u ch cre dit for his derivation and transform ation O f the
general el astic equations and for his application of them to double
,
refraction Rectangula r and triangular m embranes were S hown b y

.
hi m to be connected with questions in the theory of nu mbers H . .

1
B ur khardt is of the opinion that the importance of the classic
period of French mathe matical physics about 1 8 1 0— 1 83 5 is often , ,
u ndervalued but that the direc t ion it took finall y under the leader
ship of Lam e was unfortunate “

By hi s (Lamé s) taste for algebraic .
’
elegance he was misled to prefer proble m s which are of interest in pure

rather than applied mathematics ; he went so far as to require of tech
n i c al m en the study of nu mber theory because the deter min ati on of
”
,
the S imple tones of a rectan g ular plate with comm ensur able sides
calls for the solution of an indeterm inate quadratic equation .
Continuing our o u tline of the hi story of elasticity we O bserve that ,
the field of photo elasticity was entered upon by G La mé F E Neu -
”
. . .
,
m ann and Clerk M axw ell G G S tokes W Werthei m R Clausius

, . . .
,
.
,
.
,
”
“
and J H Jel l e t t threw new light upon the subj ect of rari constancy -
and m ulti—
.
,
.
constancy which has long divid ed el a st i c i an s int o two Op ,
posing factions The uni constant isotropy of L M H Navier and .

-
. . .
S D P oisson had been questioned by A L Cauchy and was severely

. . . .
,
criticised by G Green and G G Stokes . . . .
B arr é d e S ai n t V e n an t ( 1 7 97 ingénieur des ponts e t chaus -
s ees made it hi s life work to render the theory of elasticity of pra e

,
-
tical value The charge brought by practical en gineers li ke Vicat

.
, ,
against the theorists led Saint Venant to place the theo ry in its true -
place as a gu ide to the practical m an Num erous errors commi tted .
by his predecessors were remov ed He corrected the theory of fl exu r e .
by the con sideration of slide the theory of elastic rods of double ,
curvature by the introduction of the third mom ent and the theory ,
of torsion by the discovery of the distortion O f the prim itively plane

section His results on torsion abound in beautiful graphic illustra
.
tions In case of a rod u pon the side sur faces of whi ch no forces act
.
, ,
he showed that the proble m s of flexu r e and torsion can be solved ,
if the end forces are distributed ov er the end surfaces by a definite

- -
law R F A C l eb sch in his L ehr buch der El asti ci tot 1 86 2 showed

that this problem is rev ersible to the case of side—
. .
, , ,
. .
forces without end

forces C l eb s ch extended the research to very thi n rods and to very
2
.
thin plates B de Saint Venant considered proble ms arising in the

. .
-
scientific desig n of built u p artillery and his solution of the m differs -

,
considerably fro m G Lamé s solution whi ch was populariz ed by W J .

’
,
. .
M Rankine and m uch used by gun designers In Saint Venant s

.
,
-
.
-
’
translation into French of C l eb sch s El asti ci tot he develops ex tensiv ely ’

,
a double— s uffi x notation for strain and stresses Though often adv an .
t ag eou s this notation is cu mbrous and has not been generally adopted
, , .
K o rl P ea r s on Galton professor of eugenics at the University of London

, ,
in his early mathe matical studies exa mined the per missible limi ts of ,
the application of the ordi nary theory of fl exure of a beam .
J ahr es b d d M ath Verei n i gu n g V ol 1 2 , 1 90 3 , p 5 6 4

1
. . . .
, . . .
2
A lf red Cl ebs ch, Vers u c h ei n er D ar l eg u n g u nd Wurdi g u n g s ei n er wi ssenschaf tli chen
‘
Lei s tu n gen von ei n i g en s ei n er Freu nd e, L e ip i g , 1 8 7 3 z .

4 70 A HI STORY O F M ATHE M ATI CS
m any by C G J Jacobi L D irichlet Fran z Ernst Neumann ( 1 798

'
1 8 9 5)
. . . .
, ,
who was professor of physics and m ineralogy in Konigsberg ,
his son Carl Neu mann ( 1 83 2 Elwin Bruno Christoff el ( 1 8 2 9

1 900 ) of the University of S trassburg R D edekind Gustav Bauer
—
( 1 8 2 0 1 90 6 )
of unich Gustav M ehler ( 1 83 5 1 895) —
.
, ,
M of Elbing in West ,
P russia and Karl Baer ( 1 8 5 1 of Kiel Especially active was

Eduard Heine ( 1 8 2 1 1 88 1 )
.
, .
of the University of Halle the author of

-
the H ondbuch der K u gelf u n kti on en 1 86 1 2 Ed 1 8 7 8—1 8 8 1 The chi ef

,
. . .
, ,
representative in the cult ivation of this subj ect in Switzerland was , ,
L S chl afli of the University of B ern ; in Belgiu m was Eugene Catalan

'
,
.
of the University of Liege ; in Italy was E B eltrami ; in the United ,

.
S tates was W E Byerly of Harvard University In France there

,
. . .
were S D P oisson G Lamé T J S tieltj es J G Darb oux Ch

.
‘
.
,
.
,
. .
,
. .
, .
Her mite P aul M athieu Her mann Laurent ( 1 84 1

,
P rofessor at ,
the P p l yt e chn i c School in P aris whose researches gave rise to contests

o f pr i ority with Ger man writers In Great B ritain spherical har
m oni e s received the attention of Tho m son (Lord Kelvin )
.
and P G ,
. .
Tait i n their N a tu r at P hil osophy of 1 8 6 7 and of Sir Willia m D Niven

of M anchester Norman Ferrers ( 1 8 2 9— 1 90 3 )
.
,
,
of Cambridge E W ,
. .
Hobson of Cambridge A E H Love of O xford and others ,

. . .
,
.
L i ght, El ectri ci ty, H ea t, P oten ti a l
G F B Rie mann s opinio n that a sci en ce of physics only exists since

. . .
’
the invention of di ff erential equations finds corroboration even in this

brief and fragm entary outline of the progress of m athematical physics .
The undulatory theory of light first advanced by C Huygens owes ,

.
,
m uch to the power of mathe m atics : by mathe m atical analysis its

assu mptions were worked out to their last consequences Th omas
—
( 1 7 7 3 1 8 2 9)
.
Y oung 1
was the first to explain the principl e of inter
ference both of light and sound and the first to bring forward the
, ,
i dea of transverse vibrations in light waves T Young s e xplanations . .

’
,
n o t being verified by h i m by e xtensive nu merical calculati ons at ,
tracted little notice and it was not until Au gu s ti n Fr e s n el ( 1 788

1 8 2 7)
,
applied mathe matical analysis to a m uch gr eater extent than

Young had done that the undulatory theory began to carry convie
,
tion So me of Fresnel s mathematical assumptions were n ot satis

.
’
factory ; hence P S Laplace S D P oisson and others belonging to

. .
,
. .
,
the strictly m athe matical school at first disdained to consider the ,
theory By their opposition Fresnel was spurr ed to greater exerti on

. .
D F J Arago was the first great convert made by Fresnel When

. . . .
polarization and double refraction were explained by T Young and .
A Fresnel then P S Laplace was at last won over S D P oisson

.
,
. . . . .
drew fro m F r esn el s formul a the seemingly paradoxical deduction

’
1
A r t hu r S c hu st e r , The I n fl u en c e of M a t he ma t i c s on t he P rog re ss of P hy si c s ,
N atu r e, V o l 2 5 , 1 8 8 2 , p 39 8
. . .
APP LIED M ATHE M ATI CS 71
that a small circular disc illuminated by a luminous point must cast , ,
a shadow with a bright spot in the centre B ut this was found to be .
in accordance with fact The theory was taken up by another gr eat .
mathematician W R Ham ilton who fro m hi s for mul a predicted

, . .
,
conical refraction verified experi mentally by Humphrey Lloyd These

, .
predictions do not prove however that F resn el s formul a are correct , ,

’
,
for these prophecies might have been made by other forms of the
wave theory The theory was placed on a sounder dyna mical basis
-
.
by the writings of A L Cauchy J B Biot G Green C Neu mann . .

,
. .
,
.
,
.
,
G R Kirchho ff J M ac C u ll ag h G G S tokes B de Saint Venant

Emile Sarrau ( 1 83 7 — 1 90 4 )
. . . . .
,
.
, , ,
of the P olytechnic School i n P aris Ludwig

Loren z ( 1 8 2 9 1 89 1 )
,
of Copenhagen and Sir Willia m Tho mson (Lord

Kelvin ) In the wave theo ry as taught by G Green and others the
,
-
. .
, ,
lu miniferous ether was an incompressible elastic solid for the reason ,
that fluids could not propagate transverse vibrations B ut accordi ng .

,
to G Green such an elastic solid would transmit a longitudi nal dis

.
,
t u rb a n ce with infinite velocity G G Stokes remarked however that . . .

, ,
the ether might act like a fluid in case of finite distur bances and like ,
an elastic solid in case of the infinitesi mal disturbances in light prop

ag a ti on A Fresnel postulated the density of ether to be diff erent in
. .
different m edia but the elasticity the sa me while C Neu mann an d

, , .
J M ac C u ll agh assumed the density uniform and the elasticity di fferent

.
in all s ubstances On the latter assumption the direction of vibration

.
lies in the plane of polarization and not perpendicular to it as in the , ,
theory of A Fresnel . .
Wh ile the above writers endeavored to e xplain all optical properties

of a m ediu m on the suppositio n that they arise entirely fro m diff erence
in rigidity or density of the ether in the m ediu m there is another ,
school advancing theories in which the mutual action between the

m olecules of the body a nd the ether is considered the m ai n cause of
refractio n and dispersion The chief workers i n this field w ere J
1
. .
B ous sin esq W Sell meyer H Hel mholtz E Lo mm el E K e t tel er

W Voigt and Sir Willia m Tho mso n (Lord Kelvin )
.
, . .
.
, , , ,
.
, in his lectures
delivered at the Johns Hopkins University i n 1 884 Neither this nor . .
the fi rs t named school succeeded i n e xplaining all the pheno mena

-
.
A third school was founded by C M axwell He proposed the electro . .
m agnetic theory which has received e xtensive develop m ent recently

, .
It will be m entioned again later According to M axwell s theory the .

’
,
d irection of vibration does not lie exclusively in the plane of polari za

tion nor in a plane perpendicular to it but so mething occurs i n both
—
, ,
planes a m agnetic vibration i n one and an electric in the other ,

.
G F Fitzgerald and F T Trou ton i n D ubli n verified this conclusio n

of C M axwell by experi ments o n electro—
. . . .
. m agnetic waves .
Of recent mathematical and e xperime n tal contributions to optics ,
R T Gl az eb rook
“
Rep t o n O pt i cal Theori es Rep t B i ti h A s
’
1
. .
, f 88 5
or , or r s s n or 1 ,
p . 2 13 .
mention must be made of H enry Au gustus Rowl and ( 1 848 w ho
was professor of physics at the Johns Hopkins University and his
theory of concave gratings and of A A M ichelson s work on i n ter fer
’
. .
,
ence and his application of in terf erence methods to astronomical

,
measure ments
”
.
A function of fundamental importance in the mathematical theorie s

of electricity and magnetism is the potential
“
I t was first used by .
J Lagrange in the determ ination of gravitational attractions in 1 773

. .
Soon after P S L aplace gave the celebrated diff erential e q uation

, . .
,
2 2 2
6 V 6 V 6 V
2 2 2
6x by M
which was e tended by S x 7rk in place of . D P oisson
.
—
by writing 4
z ero in the right hand m e mber of the equation so that it applies not
-
,
only to a point e xternal to the attracting mass but to any point what ,
ever The first to appl y the potential function to other than gravita
.
tion proble m s was G e o rg e G re e n ( 1 7 93 He introduced it int o

the mathe matical theory of electricity and magnetism Green was a .
self educated man who started out as a baker and at his death w as
-
,
fellow of Caius College Cambridge In 1 8 2 8 he publi shed by privat e ,

.
subscription at Nottingham a paper entitled Ess ay on the appl i cati on

f mathemati cal
o an al ysi s to the theory f
o el ectr i ci ty and magneti s m .
About 1 0 0 copies were printed It escaped the notice even of English

mathe maticians until 1 84 6 when Willia m Tho mson (Lord Kelvin )
.
had
”
,
it reprinted in Gr ell e s J ou rn al vols xliv and xl v I t contained what is

’
,
. . .
“
now known as Green s theorem for the treat ment of potenti al ’
.
M eanwhile all of Green s general theore ms had been rediscovered by ’
William Tho mson (Lord Kelvin )M Chasles J C F Sturm and , .

, . . .
,
K F Gauss The term poten ti al fu ncti on is due to G Green W R

Hamilton used the word f orce—
. . . . . . .
f u n cti on while K F Gauss who about ,

. .
,
1 840 secured the general adoption of the function called it simply ,
potenti al G Green wrote papers on the equilibriu m of fluids the

. .
,
attraction of ellipsoids on the reflection and refraction of sound and

,
light His researches bore on questions previously considered by

”
.
S D P oisson K F Gauss proved what C Neu mann has called

. . . . . .
Gauss theore m of mean value and then considered the question of

’
m axima and m ini ma of the potential 1

.
Large contributions to electricity and magnetis m have been mad e

by Will i am Th o ms on later S ir Wi l l i a m Th oms o n and Lo r d K e l vin
( 1 824 H e was bor n at B elfast Ireland but was of Scotch de , ,
sce n t He and his brother James studied i n Glasgow From there he

. .
entered Ca mbridge and was graduated as Second Wrangler in 1 84 5

, .
Willia m Thomson J J Sylvester C M axwell W K Cliff ord an d J J

,
. .
,
.
, . .
, . .
Tho m son are a group of great m en who were Second Wranglers at C am

bridge At the age of twenty—
. two W Thomson was elected professor .
1
F r detai l s see M ax B ac harach Geschi chte der P otenti al theor i e G otting en 1 883
o , , , .
electro static induction in sub marine cables The subject of the

-
.
screening e ffect against induction due to S heets of diff erent metals ,

‘
was worked out mathe matically by Horace La mb and also by Charles

Niven W Weber s chief researches were o n electro dynam ics H
. .
’
-
. .
Hel mholtz i n 1 8 5 1 gave the m athe matical theory of the course of i n

du c ed currents in various cases 1
G u s tav R ob e rt K i r chh off ( 1 8 2 4 .
who was professor at B reslau Heidelberg and since 1 8 7 5 at ,
B erlin in v estigated the distribution of a current over a flat conductor

, ,
and also the strength of current i n each branch of a network of linear

conductors .
The entire subj ect of electro magnetis m was revolutionized by -
J ame s C l e rk M a xw e l l ( 1 83 1 He was born near Edinburgh ,
entered the University of Edinburgh and beca me a pupil of Kelland ,
and Forbes I n 1 8 50 he went to Trinity College Ca mbridge and

.
, ,
ca me out Second Wrangler E Routh being Senior Wrangler M ax , . .
well then beca me lecturer at Ca mbridge i n 1 8 56 professor at Aber ,
deen and in 1 86 0 professor at King s College London In 1 86 5 he ’

, , .
retired to priv ate l ife until 1 8 7 1 whe n he beca m e professor of physics ,
at Ca mbridge M axwell not only translated into mathe matical lan

.
guage the experi mental results of M ichael Faraday but established ,
the electro magnetic theory of light S i nce verified experi mentally by

-
,
H R Hert z His first researches thereo n were published i n 1 864

. . . .
In 1 8 7 1 appeared his great Treati se on El ectr i ci ty a nd M ogn eti s m

He constructed the electro —
.
magnetic theory fro m general equations ,
which are established upon purely dyna mical principles and whic h ,
determine the state of the electric field I t is a m athe matical discus .
sion of the stresses and strai n s i n a dielectric m edium subj ected to

el ectro magnetic forces The electro magnetic theory has received
-
.
-
develop ments fro m Lord Rayleigh J J Tho mson H A Row la nd , . .

, . .
,
R T Gla z ebrook H Hel mholtz L B oltz mann O Heaviside J H

H er mann von H e l mh ol tz ( 1 8 2 1 —1 894)
. . . . . .
, , , ,
.
P oynting and others ,

. was
born in P otsda m studied m edicine was assistant at the charity hos
, ,
pital in B er l in then a m ilitary surgeon a teacher of anato my a pro

, , ,
fesso r of physiology at K onigsberg at B onn and at Heidelberg In , .
1 8 7 1 he went to B erlin as successor to M agnus i n the chair of physics .
In 1 88 7 he beca me director of the n ew P hysikalisch Technische -
Reichsanstal t A S a young man of t w enty S ix he published the n ow

.
-
famous pa mphlet Ueber di e Erhal tu ng der Kr af t His work on Tonemp .
fi n d u n g was written in Heide l berg After he went to B erli n he was .
engaged chiefly on inquiries i n electricity and hydrodyna mics Hel m .
holt z ai med to determ ine i n what direction experiments should be

m a de to decide betwee n the theories of W Weber F E Neu mann .
,
. .
,
G F B Rie mann and R Clausius who had atte mpted to e xpl ai n

. . .
,
.
,
electro dyna mic pheno mena by the assu mption of forces acting at a
-
distance between t w o portions of the hypothetical electrical fl uid ,
W V o ig t Z u m Gedi chtn i s s
'
1
.
,
von G K i rchhofi , G Ot t i ng e n ,
. 1 88 8 .
AP P L I ED M AT H EMATI C S 75
the intensity being dependent not only on the distance but also on
— ,
the velocity and acceleration and the theory of M Faraday and , .
C M a xwell which discarded action at a distance and assu med stresses

.
,
and strains in the dielectric His experiments favored the British .
theory He wrote on abnor mal dispersion and created analogies

.
,
between electro dy na mics and hydrodyna mics Lord Rayleigh c om

-
.
pared electro magnetic proble ms with their mechanical analogues

-
,
gave a dyna mical theory of di ffraction and applied Laplace s c oeffi ,

’
c i en t s to the theory of radiation H Rowland made so me e menda . .
tions on G G Stokes paper o n diff raction and considered the pro

. .
’
pag a tio n of an arbitrary electro m ag n etic disturbance and spherical -
waves of light Electro magnetic i n duction has been investigated

.
-
mathematically by Oliver Heaviside and he showed that in a cable ,
it is an actual benefit O Heaviside and J H P oynting have reached . . . .
re markable mathe matical results i n their interpretation and develop

m ent of M axwell s theory M ost of H eavi si de s papers have been
’
.
’
p ublished since 1 88 2 ; they cover a wide field .
One part of the theory of capillary attraction left defective by P S ,

. .
L aplace namely the actio n of a solid upon a liquid and the m utual
, , ,
a ctio n between two liquids was made dynam ically perfect by K F ,

. .
Gauss He stated the rule for angles of contact between liquids and
.
solids A similar rule for liquids was established by Franz Ernst

.
Neu mann Chief a mong more recent workers on the mathe matical
.
theory of capillarity are Lord Rayleigh and E M athieu . .
The great principle of the co n servation of energy was established

by Rob e rt M ay er ( 1 8 1 4 a physicia n in Heilbronn and again ,
independently by Lud w ig A Colding of Copenhagen J P Joule and

H Hel mholtz J ame s P r e s c o tt J o u l e ( 1 8 1 8—1 88 9)
. . .
, ,
. . determined ex
p erime n tal l y the m echanical equivalent of heat H Hel mholtz in . .
1 8 4 7 applied the conceptions of the transfor m ation and conservatio n
of energy to the various branches of physics and thereby linked to ,
gether m any well kno w n phenom ena These labors led to the aban
-
.
d o n men t of the corpuscular theory of heat The m athe matical treat .
m ent of therm ic problem s was de manded by practical considerations .
Thermodynamics grew out of the atte mp t to determ ine ma th emati

cally h ow much work can be gotte n out of a stea m engine S adi
—
C n o t ( 1 7 96 1 83 2 )
.
N c ol
i a s L eon h ar d ar of P aris a n adherent of the ,
corpuscular theory gave the first impulse to this The principle, .
known by his name was published in 1 8 2 4 Though the i mportance .
of his work was emphasiz ed by B P E Cl apeyron it d id not meet . . .

,
with ge neral recog n ition until it was brought forward by Willia m

Tho mson (Lord Kelvin) The latter point ed out the necessity of .
modifying C a rn o t s reasoning so as to bring it i n to accord with the

’
new theory of heat Willia m Tho mson sho w ed in 1 848 that C a rn o t s

.
’
principle led to the conception of an absolute scale of te mperature .
I n 1 8 49 he published an account of C a rn o t s theory of the motive

“ ’
476 A HISTOR Y O F M ATHE M ATIC S
”
power of heat with nu merical res u lts deduced from Regnaul t s ex ’
,
periments In February 1 8 50 Ru dol ph C l au s i u s ( 1 8 2 2 then

in Z ii rich ( afterwards professor in B onn )comm unicated to the B erl in
,
.
,
Academy a paper on the sam e subject which con tains the P rotean
second law of thermodynamics In the same month Wil li a m J ohn .
M Rank in e ( 1 8 2 0
. professor of engineering and m echanics
at Glasgo w read before the Royal Society of Edinburgh a paper in
,
which he declares the nature of heat to consist in the rotational mo

tion of m olecules and arrives at som e of the results rea ched previously
,
by R Clausius He does not mention the second l aw of thermody

. .
n ami cs but in a subsequent paper he declares that it could be derived

,
from equations contained in his first paper His proof of the second .
l aw is not free fro m objections In M arch 1 8 5 1 appea red a paper

of William Thomson (Lord Kelvin )which contained a perfectly
,
.
,
rigorous proof of the second law He obtained it before he had see n .
the researches of R Clausius The state m ent of this law as giv en by

. .
,
Clausius has been m uch criticised particularly by W J M Rankine

, , . . .
,
Theodor Wand P G Tait and Tol ve r P reston Repeated e ff orts to

,
. .
, .
deduce it from general m echanical principles have remained fruitless .
The science of th eormodynamic s was developed with great success

by W Thomson Clausius and Rankine As early as 1 8 5 2 W Thom
.
, , . .
son discovered the law of the dissipation of energy deduced at a ,
later period also by R Clausius The latter designated the non . .
transform able energy by the nam e entr opy and then stated that the ,
entropy of the universe tends toward a m axi m um For entropy .
Rankine used the term thermodyn ami c f u n cti on Therm odynamic .
investigations have been carried on also by Gustav Adolph Hirn ( 1 8 1 5

1 8 90 ) of Col mar and H Hel mhol tz (m onocyclic and polycyclic sys
tems ) Valuable graphic m ethods for the study of thermodynamic
.
,
relations were devised by J W Gibbs of Yale College

Jo s i ah W il l ar d G i b b s ( 1 83 9—1 90 3)
. . .
was born in New Haven Conn ,

.
,
a n d spent t h e first fi v e years after gra d uation m ainly in m athe m atical

—
studies at Yale He passed the winter of 1 8 66 1 8 6 7 in P aris of 1 8 6 7
of 1 868—1 86 9 in Heidelberg studying physics and
.
,
1 868 in B erl i n , ,
mathem atics In 1 8 7 1 he was elected professor of m athe m atical physic s

.
at Yale “
His direct g eom e t r ical or graphical bent is shown by the a t
.
traction which vectorial m odes of notation in physical analysis exerted

over him as they had done in a more m oderate degree over C M ax
, .
well Greatly influenced by Sadi Carnot by William Thomson (Lord

Kelvin )
.
,
and especially by R Clausius Gibbs began in 1 8 73 to pre .

,
pare papers ou the graphical expression of thermodynamic relations ,
in which energy and entropy appeared as variables He discusses the .
entropy temperature and entropy volu me diagrams and the volum e

- -
,
energ y en t rOpy surface (described in C M axwell s Theory of H eat)

-
.
’
.
Gibbs formulated the energy entropy criterion of equilibrium and -
stab ility and expresse d it in a form applicable to complicated proble m s

,
Clau sius (in J P Joule dropped his speculations on this
. .
subj ect when he began his e xperi mental work on heat A K Kronig . . .
explained by the kinetic theory the fact determined experi mentally

by Joule that the internal energy of a gas is not altered by expansion
when no external work is done R Clausius took an important step
. .
in supposing that m olecules may have rotary m otion an d that ato ms ,
in a m olecule may m ove relatively to each other He assumed that .
the force acting bet w een m olecules is a function of their distances ,
that temperature depends solely upon the kinetic energy of molecular

m otions and that the nu mber of m olecules which at any m o ment are
,
so near to each other that they perceptibly influence each other is

comparativ ely S O small that it m ay be neglected He calculated the .
average velocities of m olecules and explained e v aporation Objections

, .
to his theory raised by C H D B uy s Ballot a n d by E mil Joch mann

,
. . .
’
-
,
were satisfactorily answered by R Clausius and C M axwell except i n

. .
,
one case where an additional hypothesis had to be m ade C M a xwell . .
propose d to hi m self the proble m to determ ine the average number

of mo l ecules the velocities of which lie between given limits His
, .
expression therefor constitutes the important law of distribution of

velocities na med after h i m By this law the distribution of molecules
.
accordi ng to their vel oci t ies is determ ined by the sam e formula (give n
in the theory of probability) as the distribution of e mpirical observ a
tions according to the m agnitude of their errors The average mo .
l ec u l a r v elocity as deduced by C M axwell di ff ers fro m that of R

. .
Clausius by a constant factor C M axwell s first deduction of this

. .
’
average from his law of distribution was not rigorous A sound deriva .
t i on was given by O E M eyer in 1 8 6 6 C M axw ell predicted that

. . . .
so long as B oyle s law is true the coeffi cient of viscosity and the c oeffi
’
,
cient of therm al conductivity re main independent of the pressure .
His deduction that the coeffi cient of viscosity S hould be proportional

to the square root of the absolute temperature appeared to be at
variance with results obtained fro m pendulum experiments Thi s .
induced him to alter the very foundation of his kinetic theory of gases
by assu ming between the m olecules a repelling force varyi ng inversely
as the fifth power of their distances The founders of the kinetic .
theory had assu med the m olecules of a gas to be hard elastic spheres ;
but M axwell in his second presentation of the theory in 1 866 we n t
, ,
on the assu mption that the m olecules behave like centres of forces .
He demonstrated anew the law of distributio n of velocities ; but the

proof had a flaw in argu m ent pointed out by L B oltzmann and
, .
,
recogniz ed by C M axwell who adopted a somewhat different form

.
,
of the distributive function in a paper of 1 8 79 intended to explain ,
mathem atically the e ffects observed in Crookes radio meter L B oltz

’
. .
mann gave a rigorous general proof of M axw ell s law of the di s t rib u
’
tion of velocities .
None of the fundamental assumptions in the kinetic theory of gases

APP L IED M ATHE M ATICS 4 79
l ea ds by the laws of probability to r esults in very close agreemen t

with observation L Boltzmann tried to establish kinetic theories
. .
of gases by assuming the forces between molecules to act according to

d i fferent laws fro m those previously assu med R Clausius C M ax . .
,
.
well and their predecessors took the m utual action of molecul es in

,
collision as repulsive but L B olt zmann assu med that they may be
,
.
attractive E xperiments of J P Joule and Lord Kelvin seem to sup

. . .
port the latter assu mption .
Among the later researches on the kinetic theory is Lord Kelvin s ’
disproof of a general theore m of C M axw ell and L B oltzm ann as . .

,
serting that the average kinetic energy of two given portions of a

system m ust be in the ratio of the n umber of degrees of freedom of
those portions .
In recent years the kinetic theory of gases has received less attention ;
it is considered inadequate since the founding of the quantum hypothe
sis i n physics .
Rel a ti vi ty
P rofound and startling is the theory of relativi ty On the theory .
that the ether was stationary it was predicted that the time requi red
for light to travel a given di stance forward and back would be diff erent
when the path of the light was parallel to the motion of the earth in its
orbit from what it was when the path of the light was perpendicular .
In 1 88 7 A A M ichelson and E W M orely found exp er imen tal l ythat

. . . .
such a difference in time di d not e xist M ore generally the resul ts .

,
of this and other experi ments indicate that the earth s motion through ’
space cannot be detected by observations m ade on the earth alone .
In order to explain M ichelson and M orley s negative result and at ’
the sam e time save the stationary ether theory H A L orent z con
“
structed in 1 895 a contraction hypothesis according to which a mov
-
,
” ,
. .
ing solid contracts slightly l ong i tu di on all y This same idea occurred .
independently to G F Fit zgerald In 1 90 4 and in his C ol u mbi a Uu i

. . .
ver s i ty L ectu r es Lorent z ai med to reduce the electro magnetic equations

’
for a moving system to the form of those that hold for a system at
rest Instead of x y z t he introduced new independent variables
.
, , , ,
)y( —)y — )where 7

fi
' '
vi z .
,
x = x
'
x vi ,
=h ,
y z = he, t = Ava ’
x ,
depends
upon velocity of light c and of the moving body v and A is a nu merical
coefficient such that )
,
x= 1 when v= o His fundamental equations

, .
tion .
”
turn ed out to be invariant under this now called Lorentz transfor ma
In 1 90 6 H P oincar é made use of this transform ation for the
.
treatment of the dyn amics of the electron and also of universal g ravi
ta ti on
1
In 1 90 5 A Einstein published a paper on the el ec trodyn am
. .
ics of moving bodies in A n n al en der P hysi k Vol 1 7 aiming at perfect ,

.
,
L Sil be rstei n The Th y f R l ti vi ty L ondon 1 9 4 p 8 7

1
.
,
eor o e a , , 1 , . .
reciprocity or equ i valenc e of a pair of mov ing systems and investi

”
,
gating the whole proble m fro m the bottom carefully considering the ,
“
m atter of si mul taneous ev ents in two di stant places ; he has suc
c eed ed in giving plausible support to and a striking inte rpreta tion
”
of L or en tz s transform ations Einstein O pened the wa y to the modern
’
.
“
theory of relativity He developed it som ewhat more fully in 1 90 7
. .
A fundam ental point of view in his theory was that mass and energy
are proportional For the pur pose of taking accoun t of gravitational
.
phenomena Einstein generali z ed his theory by assum ing that mass

,
and weight are also proportional so that for example a ray of light , , ,
is attracted by m atter The m athem atical part of Einstein s theory.

’
,
as developed by M Grossmann in 1 91 3 employs quadratic diff erential

.
,
forms and the absolute calculus of Gregorio Ricci of P adua Another .
rem arkable speculation was brought out in 1 90 8 by Hermann M in

k ow ski who read a lectur e on Rou m u nd Z ei t in which he maintained ,
that the new views of space and time developed from exp erimental ,
considerations are such that space by itself and ti me by itself sin k

,
“
i nto the shadow and only a kind of u nion of the two retains self de -
pen den ce No one notices a place except at some particular time

”
.
, ,
nor tim e except at a particular place A syste m of values x y z t

he calls a world point (Weltpunk t)
.
, , ,
”
“
; the life path of a m aterial point
-
—
in four dimensional space is a world line “
The idea of t ime as a .
fourth dimension had been conceived m uch earlier by J Lagrange in .
”
hi s Theor i e des f on c ti on s an al yti qu es and by D Al emb er t i n his article
’
“
Dimension in Diderot s En cycl opédi e 1 7 54 H M inkowski con
1 ’
,
.
siders the group belonging to the di fferential equation for the propaga
tion of waves of l ight H er mann M i n k ows ki ( 1 8 64 . was born at
Al exot e n in Russia studied at Konigsberg and B erli n held associate
, ,
professorships at Bonn and Konigsberg and was pro moted to a full

professorship at KOnig sb er g in 1 8 95 In 1 896 he went to the poly .
technic school at Zurich and in 1 903 to Gottingen The importance .
which H M inkowski starting with the principle of relativity in the

.
,
form given it by Einstein has given to the Lorent zian transfor ma ,
tions by the introduction of a four di mensional manifoldness or space

time world has been m ade int u itively evident by a nu mber of writers
-
, ,
particularly F Klein . L Heti ter A Brill and . .
“
H E Ti mer di ng
. . F Klein said : What the modern physicists .
call theory of relativity is the theory of invariants of the fourth di ’
men si on al space ti me region x y z t (M inkowski 5 world ) in relation ’
—
-
, , ,
to a definite g roup O f col li n eati on s na mely the Lorentz g roup 2

,
‘
.
A novel presentat i on aiming at great precision was given in 1 9 1 4 by

Alfred A Robb who on the idea of conical order and 2 1 postulates
.
“ ”
builds up a syste m in which the theory of S pace beco mes absorbed in
the theory of ti me A philosophical d i scussion of relativity mechan
.
,
1
R C A rchi b al d i n B u ll A m M ath S oc , V o l
. . . . . . . 20 , 1 9 1 4 , p 4 10 . .
2
K l e in i n J ahresb d d M oth Ver ei n , Vo l 1 9 ,
. . . . . 1910, p 287
. .
48 2 A H ISTORY O F MAT H EMATI CS
( 181 1
—89 )
1in which the di stances of points from the origin are n ot
2
necessarily proportional to the actual values of the data but may be ,
other functions of them j udi ciously chosen In the product 2 12 2 = Z 3

,
.
,
the variables and 212 are brought in correspondence respectively , ,
with the straight lines x = l og zl y= l og 2 2 S O that x+y= l og 2 3, , ,
which represents the straight lines perpen di cul ar to the bisectors of the
angle between the co ordi nate axes Advances along thi s line were
-
.
m ade by J M assau of the University of Ghent in 1 884 and E A

.
, , . .
Lalle mand in 1 88 6 The Scotch Captain P atrick Weir in 1 889 gave

.
an az imuth di agram which was an anticipation of a spherical triangle

nom ogram B ut the real creator of nomog raphy i s M aur i ce d Ocogn e
.
’
of the Ecole P olytechnique i n P aris whose first researches appeared i n ,
1 8 9 1 ; his Tr ai te de n omographi e cam e out in 1 8 99 The principle of .
anamorphosis by successive generaliz ations has led to the con

, ,
sideration of equations representable not only by two systems of

straight lines parallel to the axes of co ordinates and one other uh ~ -
lines un der no such restrictions ”

restricted system of straight lines but by three system s of straight ,
D O c a g ne also studied equations

.
’
representable by m eans of system s of circles He has introduced the .
m ethod of collinea r points by which it has been possible to represent

‘‘
nomographically equati ons of m ore than three variables of which ,
the previ ous methods gave no convenient representation 1

.
M othemati cal Tabl es

The increased accuracy now attainable in astronomi cal and geodetic
m easurements and the desire to secure m ore complete eli mination of
errors from logarithmic tables has led to recomputa tions of logarithm s
, .
Edward Sang of Edinburgh published in 1 8 7 1 a 7 place table of c om -
mon logarithm s of numbers to These were ma inly derived

from hi s u npublished 2 8 place table of logarithm s of primes to
-
an d co mposite nu mbers to and his 1 5 place table fro m -
to In 1 889 the Geog raphical Institute of Florence issued a

photographi c reproduction of G F Vega s Thesau ru s of 1 794 ( 1 0 ’
figures )Vega had computed A Vl acq s tables anew but his last
. .
’
. .
,
fig ur e was unreliable In 1 89 1 the French Govern m ent issued 8

.
_
place tables which were derived from the unpublished Tabl es du

Cadastr e ( 1 4— places 1 2 correct ) ,
whi ch had been computed near the
Close of the eighteenth century under the supervision of G Riche de .
P rony These tables give logarithm s of nu mbers to

. and of
sines and tangents for 1 0 centesi m al seconds the quadrant being ,
3every
di vided c en t esirnal ly P rony consulted A M L egendre and other
. . .
D ocag ne i n Napi er Ter centen ar y M emor i al Vol u me, L o n do n , 1 9 1 5 , pp 2 79

1 ’
—
.
S ee a l so D O cag n e , L e cal cu l s i mpl ifi é , P a ri s , 1 90 5 , pp 1 4 5 1 5 3

’
2 83
E M Hor sb u rg h , N a pi er Ter cen ten ary C el ebra ti on H a ndbook , 1 9 1 4 , p p 3 8—

. . .
2
. .
43 . .
3
Thi s an d si mi l ar i n fo rma t io n i s d raw n f rom J W L G l ai sher i n N api er Ter
—
. . .
cen ten ary M emor i al Vol u me, L o n do n , 1 9 1 5 , pp 7 1 7 3 . .

A PP LIED M ATHE M ATICS 8
4 d7
mathematicians on the choice of methods and for mulas , an d entrusted

the computation of primary results to professional calculators , whi le
the task of filling the rest O f the colu mns beyond the primary results
”
was perform ed by assistants apt merely in performing addi tions
by the use of the m ethod of di ff erences It is curious , says D Ocagn e
’
.
”
to note that the majority of these assistants had been recruited from
a mong the hair dressers wh om the abandon m ent of the powdered wig
-
in men s fashi on had deprived of a livelihood

’ ”
In 1 891 M J de M e i za bel —
.
Ta mbor rel published at P aris tables of

) —
. .
logarithm s of n um b e to 1 2 5 000 ( 8 places and a n es a n d t an g en t s /
)
( 7 or 8 places for every millionth of the circu m ference which were ,
alm ost wholly derived from original 1 0 place calculations W W -

. . .
Dufii el d published in the Report of the U S Coast and Geo detic Sur
—
. .
v ey, 1 8 95 1 8 96 , a I O place table of logarithm s of nu m bers to 1 00 00 0 ,

-
in 1 91 0 , 8 place tables of numbers to

-
and trigonom etric tables
to every sexagesim al second were published by J B ou schi n ger an d .
J P eters of S trassbur g
. A special machi ne was constructed for the
.
computation of these tables In 1 9 1 1 H A n doyer of P aris published a . . .
1 4 pl ace table of lo g arithm s of sines and tangents to eve r y 1 0 sex

-
“
ag e simal seconds This table was derived from a complete recalcula
.
tion , made entirely by M An doyer hi mself , without any assistance , ,
personal or m echanical .
In recent years a demand has arisen for tables giving the natural
values of sines and cosines In 1 91 1 J P eters published in B erlin such . .
a table extending from 0 to and carried to 2 1 decimals for every

°
1 0 se xagesi m al seconds ( and for every second of the first si x degrees )

,
Extensive tables of n atural values first computed by Rhae ti cu s and ,
publi shed in 1 6 1 3 we re abandoned after the invention of logarithms

, ,
but are now returning in use again since they are better fitted for the ,
growing practice of calculating directly by means of machi nes and

without resort to logarithm s .
The decimal di vision of angles has been agitated again in recent

years In 1 900 R M ehm ke made a report to the German M a thema
. .
tiker Vereinig un g Wh y are degrees preferred to radians i n practical

1
.
trigonom etry ? B ecause on account of the periodicity of the trig ,
on ome tr i c functions we frequently would have to add and subtract

,
or 2 71 whi ch are irrational numbers and therefore obj ectionable .
The sexagesim al subdi vision of the degree which resulted in great

harmony am on g the Babylonians who used the sexagesimal notation
of numbers and fractions and the sexagesimal divisions of the day , ,
hour and minute is less desirable n ow that we have the decimal

,
notation of nu mbers There has been s om e difference of opinion

.
a mong advocates of the decimal sys t em in angul ar measurem ent what '
uni t should be chosen for the decimal subdivision In 1 864 Y von .
1
S ee J ohr es b d d M ath Verei ni gun g , L ei p i g , V o l 8 , P ar t
. . . . z . 1, 1 90 0 , p . 1 39 .
Vi ll orceau , at a m eeting of the B ureau of Longitudes in P aris sug~ ,
gested the deci mal subdiv ision of the entire circu mference whi le in ,
1 896 B ou q u et de l a C rye preferred the semi circu m feren ce R M ehmk e -

. .
argues that whatever the unit may be that is subdi vided the four ,
arithmetical operations with angles would be materially simpli fied ,
interpolation in the use of trigono metric tables would be easier the ,
computation of the lengths of arcs would be S horter If the right .
an gle is the unit that is subdi v ided then the reduction of large angles ,
to corresponding acute angles can be e ffected merely by the su b tra c

tion of the integers 1 2 3 The determination of supplementary or
, , ,
co mplem entary angles is less laborious A m ore convenient arrange .
m ent of trigonom etric tables was clai med by G J H ou el and g reater . .
co mfort in taking observ ations was promised by J Delambre Never . .
thel ess no deci mal division of angles is at the present time threatened
,
with adoption n ot even in France , .
”
A very S peciali z ed kind of logarithms the so called Gaussian loga
rithms which give log (o+ b)
,
—
and log (o b)when log a and log b
,
-
are known were first suggested by the Italian physicist Gu i seppe

—
Z ecc i i eo el li ( 1 7 7 6 1 84 7 )
,
h n L n in his Theor i e des l ogar i thmes Bordeaux ,
1 8 0 3 ; the first table was published by K F Gauss in 1 8 1 2 in Z ach s

’
. .
M on atl i che K or r esponden z It is a 5 place table M ore recent tables -
are the 6 place tables of Carl Brem iker ( 1 80 4—1 8 7 7 )

. .
-
of the geodetic
—
institute of Berlin Siegmund G u n del fin g er ( 1 84 6 1 9 1 0 ) of Darmstadt
a d George William Jones ( 1 83 7 1 91 1 ) —
, ,
n of Cornell University and the ,
7 place table of T Wi tt st ein

-
. .
P roceeding to hyperbolic and e xponential functions we mention ,
the 7 place tables of log 16 si n h x and log 16 cosh x prepared by Christoph

-
G u dermann of M unster in 1 8 3 2 the 5 place tables by Wilhelm -
—
( 1 8 1 1 8 93 )
,
i
L g ow s k i 2 of Kiel in 1 8 90 the 5 place tables by G F ,
-
. .
B ecker and C E Van O r s t ran d in their S mi ths on i a n M athemoti cal

. .
Ta bl es 1 90 9 Tables for s i n h x and cos h x were published by Lig ow sk i

,
.
B u rrau Dale B ecker and Van O rs t ran d In the Cam , ,

.
bridge P hi l os ophi cal Tr a nsacti on s Vol 1 3 1 8 83 there are tables for , .

, ,
l og e and e by J W L Glaisher for e

5 x
by F W Newman x
‘
. . . . .
, .
G F B ecker and C E Van O rst ran d also giv e tables for these
. . . .
functions .
An isolated m atter of interest is the origin of the term radian ,
use d with trigonom etric functions I t first appeared in print on .
June 5 1 8 73 in exa mination questions set by James Tho mson at

, ,
Q ueen s Co l lege B elfast Jam es Tho mso n was a brother of Lord

’
”
.
,
Kelv in He used the term as early as 1 8 7 1 while i n 1 8 6 9 Thomas

”
.
,
”
M uir then of St Andrew s University hesitated betw een rad
“ ’
.
, , ,
“
ra dial and radian In 1 8 74 T M uir adopted radian after
.
“
.
a consultation wi th Jam es Thomson 1

.
1
Natu r e, V ol 8 3 , pp . . 1 56 , 2 1 7 , 4 59 , 4 6 0 .
a small pflrtion of it was put toge ther before his death This engine .
was i ntended to evaluate any algebraic formula for any given values ,
of the variables In 1 90 6 H P Babbage a son of Charles B abbage

. . .
, ,
completed part of the engine and a table Of 2 5 mul tiples of 7r to 2 9

,
figures was published as a speci men of its work 1

.
P lanimeters have been d esig n e d independently and in many dif

fer en t ways I t is probable that J M Her mann desig ned one in 1 8 1 4
. . . .
P lani meters were devised in 1 8 2 4 by G o n el l a i n Florence about 1 8 2 7

—
by Johannes Oppik offer ( 1 7 83 1 8 59)of B ern and constructed by
2
,
Ernst in P aris about 1 849 by Wetl i of Vienna and improved by the

,
astronomer P eter Andreas Hansen of Gotha about 1 8 5 1 by Edw ard ,
Sang of Edinburgh and i mproved by Clerk M axwell J Thomson and ,

.
Lord Kelvin All of these were rotation planim eters M ost noted of
polar plani meters are that of Jak ob A msl er ( 1 8 2 3—1 9 1 2 )
. .
and those con

structed by Coradi of Zurich J A msler was at on e time privatdocent
. .
at the University of Zurich later m anufacturer of instrum ents for ,
precise m easure ments He invented his polar pl an irn eter i n 1 8 54 h is

.
,
account of it was published i n 1 8 56

Another interesting class of instru ments called i n teg raphs has
been invented by Ab dank Abak an ovicz ( 1 8 5 2 —1 90 0 )
,
in 1 8 78 and by C
Vernon B oys in 1 88 2 These i n struments draw an integral curve
3
.
“ ”
.
when a pointer is passed round the periphery of a figure whose area is

required M ore recently nu merous i n teg raph s have been invented
.
through the researches of E P asca l of the University of Naples Thus

. .
in 1 9 1 1 he designed a polar integraph for the quadrature of diff erential

equations .
1
N api er Ter cen tenar y C el ebra ti on Han dbook , 1 9 1 4 , p 1 2 7 . .
M o ri n , L es A ppar ei l s d I ntégr a ti on , 1 9 1 3 S ee E M H o r sb u rg h , op ci t , p 1 90
’
2
”
. . . . . . .
3
B o y s i n P hil M o g 1 8 8 2 ; A bd an k A b ak a n o w i cz , L es I n tégr a phes , P ari s , 1 886
. .
, .
t
S ee al so H S H e l e S haw , G rap hi c M e ho d s i n M ec h an i ca l S c ie n ce i n Repor t of
— —
. .
B r i ti sh A ss n for 1 89 2 , p p 3 7 3 5 3 1 ; E M H orsb u rg h , Handbook , pp 1 94 2 06

’
. . . . .
I ND EX
Abacu s, 53 .
1 1 6, 1 1 8 1 2 2 — 6 7. 1 1 4. 73, 7 5
62 .
E gypti an , 13 , 1 4
.
H i nd u , 9 3 9 6 , 1 0 3
G reek , 5 6
Japan ese , 7 9 — .
.
Abb at i , P , 3 5 2 ; 2 5 3
. L aw s of, 2 7 3 Li near assoc iati v e , 2 8 5 ,
.
Abb at t , R , 3 7 0 .
3 3 8, 339 . M odern d evel op me n ts , 3 29
M u l ti p l e
A bdank Ab ak anovi cz , 4 8 6
— 3 66 Of
.
3 3 8, 3 39, 3 44 , 2 8 9, .
Ab el , N H , 4 1 0 4 1 7 ; 2 3 8,
.
2 90 . 3 1 3 . 3 1 6 .
.
—
3 49 3 5 3 , 3 7 4 . 3 9 3 . 4 0 5 . 4 1 7 .
2 6 6, 2 7 8, 2 89 , R en ai ssa n c e, 1 3 7 - 1 4 1
1 03 .
O rig i n o f w ord ,
R he t o ri cal , sy n c opa t ed an d sym
.
4 2 6 , 44 2 ; A b eli a n fu n c t ion s , 2 8 1 , 3 1 3 , 3 4 2 , boli c , 1 1 1 ; t he sci en ce of t i me, 33 3 S ee .
3 90 . 4 1 1 . 4 1 2 . 4 1 5 . 4 1 8 . 4 1 9 . 4 2 1 . A u sdehn u ng sl ehr e , C ovari a n t s , E ua q

4 2 8. 4 2 9 ; A b eli a n g ro u p s. 3 5 7 . 3 5 8 . 3 60 . t i on s , I nv a ri a n t s , Q ua t erni on s
3 88 ; Abel s t heorem , 4 1 3 , 4 1 5 Al g eb ra o f l og i c , 2 8 5
’
A braham, M .
, 33 5 A l g o ri t hm , 1 1 9 O ri g i n o f w ord , 1 0 2
.
A b raham, i b n E sra, 1 10 A l H as n i b n A l H ai t am, 104 , 1 0 7

a
- -
Ab sci ssa , 1 75 Al ~K al sadi , 1 10 , 1 1 1

A bu K ami l , 1 0 3 , Al ~Kark hi 1 0 6 , 10 7
—
,
A b u l H asan Ali , 1 09 A l K ashi , 1 0 8

’
Ab u l J ud , 1 0 6 , 1 0 7 A l -K hoj a n di , 1 0 6
’
Ab-u l Wefa, 1 0 5 ; 1 0 4 , 1 0 6 , 1 0 7 , 1 09 Al — K ho w ari zmi , 1 0 2

’
1 0 6 , 10 8 , 1 1 8,
“ ”
A c cel er at i on , 1 7 2 , 1 83
A chi ll es , 2 3 , 1 8 2
1 19
Al K uhi , 10 5 1 0 7
- —
A cta erudi tor u m, fou n ded , 2 09 All man , G J , 1 6 ; 3 0
. .
A da m, C h , 1 7 7 Al mag est , s ee t ol emy P

A I—
.
Adams, J C , 449 ; 2 00 , 33 2
. . M aha ni , 1 0 7
A dl er, A , 2 6 8. Al M aj ri ti, 1 09
-
A dr ai n, R , 3 8 2 . Ai -N adim, 1 0 2
Ag am i s, 4 8 , 1 84 Al N i ri zi , 4 8
-
Al—
—
Ag g reg at es, t heo ry o f, 2 4 , 66 , 1 7 2 , 3 2 5 , 3 2 6 ,
3 9 6 40 6 ; E num erabl e , 6 6 , 400 S ee .
Sag ani , 1 0 5 , 1 0 6
Al ~Z ark ali 1 3 2 ,
P
oi n t set s
-
A masi s, Ki ng , 1 5
Ag nesi , M G , 2 50 ; Wi t c h ; 2 50
. . A rn i cabl e n u mb ers , 5 6 , 1 0 4, 1 0 9, 23 9
Ag ri men sores, 6 6 Amp ere, A M , 2 8 1 , 3 8 6 , 4 2 5

—
. .
Ahm es, 7 . 9 1 4. 1 6 . 44 . 1 23 Amsl er, J 4 8 6

Ahren s, W , 3 2 3 . Amycl as , 2 9
Ai da Ammel , 8 1 A n al emma, 4 8
Airy . J B 44 9 ; 3 83 . 4 6 2 A nal ysi s, me t hod of, 2 6 , 2 7 , 2 9 . M odern ,
j
A i ma C hok uy en , 8 1 6 -
3 7 411
Ak hm im p a pyru s , 1 4 A n al y si s S i tus , 2 1 1 , 2 8 5 3 2 3 , 3 2 4
—
,
Al -B att a ni , 1 0 5 ; 1 1 8 A n al yt i c fu n c ti o n s , 2 5 7 , 2 5 8 , 4 2 5 4 2 8 , 4 3 9
Al bert us M ag n us, 1 2 7 A n al y ti c g eo me t ry, 40 , 1 5 9 , 1 6 2 , 1 63 1 6 7 ,
Al — — — ,
B i ru ni , 1 00 , 1 0 1 , 1 0 5 , 1 0 6 1 7 3 1 84 . 2 2 4 . 2 7 s. 2 7 6 . 2 93 2 9 5 . 3 0 9 3 2 9
3
Al chaz i n, 1 0 7 A naxag or as, 1 7 ; 2 5
Al c ui n, 1 1 4 ; 1 1 6 1 2 0 , A n axi man der, 1 6
Al e mb ert , J ean l e R on d d , S ee D Al emb ert A n axi men es, 1 7
’ ’
Al e xander, C A , 2 66 . . A n doy er, H , 483 .
Al e xa nder the G r eat , 7

Al exandri an S choo l , fi rst , 2 9 4 5 ; seco n d , 4 5 — A n drade , J , 40 5
A n d r ew s , W
.
S , 3 66 . .
52 A ng eli , S t e fa n o d elg i , 1 7 5
Alfo n so X 1 19 A ng er, C T , 449
—0 4
. .
,
A lg ebra A rab i c ,
, 10 2 1 , 1 0 6 , 1 20 . C hi n es e A ng l e, t ri sec ti o n o f S ee Tri se c t io n .
4 88 INDEX
—
—
A n g l e v er t i cal 1 6
, , A ry abha ta, 8 5 ; 8 6 , 8 7 , 89 , 9 2 , 94 9 6
A n harmoni c rat i o S ee C ross rat i o . A rz el a, C , 3 7 7 .
An n ui t i es , 1 7 1 A s chi eri , F 2 89, 3 0 7 , 3 08

An t ho ni sz A , 7 3 , 1 43
, . Ascoli , G , 40 5 .
An ti n omi es , 2 8 6 40 1 40 2 , 409 , , A st roid , 2 6 9

A n t i-p arall el , 2 99 300 , A st rol ab e, 4 8
A n t i pho n 2 3 ; 2 4 5 1 A st ro nomy, A rabi c , 102 , 1 04 , 1 09 B ab y
—
, , .
—
A p ices of B oet hi us , 5 2 , 6 8 , 1 00 , 1 1 4 , 1 1 6, ioni a n 7 9 C hi nese , 7 6 7 7
, C reek , 1 6 , .
, .
1 9, 4 3 , 4 6 4 8 H i n d u , 8 3 , 8 4 , 9 5 M od . .
A po l l o ni a n p rob l e m , 4 1 , 1 44 , 1 7 9 , 2 88 em . 1 3 0 . 1 3 1 . 1 5 9 . 1 60 . 2 80 . 2 8 9 . 43 7 .
A po ll o n i us , 3 8—
43 ; I , 3 0 , 3 1 , 3 3 , 5 1 , 5 5 , 10 1 , 45 1
—
455
450 .
1 04 , 1 0 6 1 09 , 1 3 1 , 1 4 2 , 1 6 6 , 1 7 4 , 1 7 5 ,
,
1 8 1, A symptot es , 40 , 1 4 2 , 1 7 7 , 1 85 , 1 8 8, 2 24
275 A symp tot i c sol u t io n s of e q u ati on s , 39 1 , 3 9 2 ,

A ppell . P 3 90 ; 3 88 . 4 0 5 4 54
A pp ro xi ma t i o n s t o roo t s of e q u a t io ns . S ee A sym pt ot i c val u es , 43 8
N u me ri cal e u a tio ns q A tab eddi n J ams hi d, 1 1 0
q
A u i nas , Th 1 2 6 ; 1 6 1 , A t hel ard of B at h, 1 1 8
A r ab i c n o t a t ion S ee . H i n du -
arab i c nu A tomi c t heory , 1 2 6
meral s A t w ood , G , 1 5 5
A rabs , 99—
.
112 A ub rey , 1 5 1
A rag o , D F J
. . . 2 60 , 2 6 9 , 2 7 5 , 3 6 8 , 44 1 , 4 7 0 A ug u s ti ne S t , 6 7 , .
A rb og ast e L 2 5 0 ; 2 7 1
, A u sde hn u ng sl ehre , 3 3 6 , 33 7
A rb u t hn o t , J 2 44 .
, A xi o ms , G eo met rical , 1 1 , 2 6 , 3 1 , 3 2 , 4 8 ,
A rchi bald R C , 3 3 , 4 1 2 4 6 2 7 5 , 3 0 1 , 4 80 1 0 8 , 1 8 4, 3 0 2 , 3 0 3 , 3 0 5 , 3 0 8 Alg e b ra i ca l ,
A rchi medes 3 4—
. . .
, , ,
39 ; I . 2 8. 30. 3 1 . 3 3 . 4 1 . 4 2 . 409
5 1 . 5 4 . 7 3 . 7 7 . 90 . 1 0 1 . 1 0 4 . 1 0 6 . 1 2 8 . 1 3 1 . B abbag e , C , 4 85 ; 2 7 2 , 40 5 , 4 8 6 .
1 43 , 1 5 0 , 1 7 1 1 8 1 , 2 2 1 3 1 7 , 3 70 A rc hi B abb ag e H P , 4 8 6
B aby l oni a ns , 2 , 4—
. . .
, , ,
medean post ul ate, 3 5 , 3 2 7 A rc hi me~ . 8, 1 7

d e an p robl e m, 1 0 7 A r c hi media n sp i ra l , . B acharac h, M , 4 7 2 .
3 6 1 63
,
C a t t l e p robl em 5 9 M en su ra
.
-
, . B achet ( l e M éz i ri ac , 1 6 7 ; 1 6 8 , 1 7 0 2 5 4 ,
ti on of t he c ircl e 5 4 S an d cou n t er, 5 4, , . B ac hma nn , P ; 444 ; 43 6 .
7 8 . 90 B ack l un d, A V , 3 2 1 , 3 2 5 . .
Archyt as . 1 9 ; 2 0 . 2 5 . 2 7 . 3 7 . 5 3 B a con , R , 1 2 6 .
A re nari u s 5 4 , 7 8 , 90
, B aer, K , 4 7 0 .
A rg a n d. J R . 2 6 5 ; 2 5 4 . 3 49. 4 20 . B ag nera, G , 3 60 .
A rist aeu s 2 9 3 9
, , B a ill et , J , 1 4 .
A risto p han es 1 7 , B ai re , R , 4 0 1 , 40 2 .
A ris t otl e . 2 9 ; 7 . 9 . I s. 2 3 . S I . 5 5 . 1 1 8. B ak er, H F , 3 1 7 , 3 1 9 , 343 . uo ted , . . Q 282,
1 2 6 , 1 2 9, 1 6 1 , 1 7 9 2 85 3 97 O n dy n a , , .
mi cs , 1 7 1 H is P hys i cs , 2 3 , 2 9 B ak er Th , 1 0 7 , 2 0 3
10 2 —
.
, .
A ri t hmet ic , A rab i c , 1 0 8, B ak hs hal i ar it hme t ic 8 4, 8 5 , 8 9, 9 1 , 9 2

— —
1 04 111 , .
,
—
B aby l on i a n , 4 7 C hi n ese, 7 1 7 4 , 7 6 7 7 .
, . B all R S , 4 5 5 ; 3 0 8
, . .
Egyp t i an, 9 1 4 G r eek , 1 8 , 1 9, 3 2 , 5 2 B all W W R 2 04

—
. . .
,
62 . H i ndu , 8 5 90 93 J ap anese , 7 8 7 9 , .
, . B a lli st i c cu rv e , 2 6 6
M i ddl e A g es , 1 1 4 R e nai ss an ce , 1 2 5 , 1 2 7 , z
B al t e r H R , 3 2 1 ; 3 0 4 , 3 4 1
R o ma n 6 3 —
. . .
,
1 28 . 68 , B a nachi evi tz , T , 4 5 3 .
A ri t hmet i cal mac hi n es , 2 0 6 , 2 7 2 , 4 83 , 4 8 5 , B ang , A S , 3 00 . .
486 a B arbier , E , 3 4 1 3 7 9 .
,
A ri t hm e t ic al prog r ess io n , 5 , 1 2 , 1 3 , 5 8, 7 5 , B ar l e-D uc , E w ard

-
S ee E w ard de B ar l e .
-
Duc
A rit hm et i cal t ri ang l e, 7 6 , 1 83 , 1 8 7 B ar nard, F P , 1 2 2 . .
z
A rit hme ti at io n , 3 6 2 , 3 98 , 3 69 , 4 2 4 B arr , A , 3 0 1
—
.
Arme na nt e , A , 3 1 4 . B arr o w , I , 1 88 1 90 ; 1 5 8, 1 6 3 , 1 9 2 , 2 0 7 ,
. 212
A r n au ld , A , 1 7 0 . B art el s , J M , 4 3 4 . .
A r ne t h A , 9 7 . B asset A B , 3 1 9 , 3 2 0 , 4 5 7 , 4 6 1 , 4 6 9
, . .
A ro n ho ld S H . .
, 3 46 ; 348 B a tema n H , 3 1 9 , .
Arro w 23, B a t t ag li ni , G , 3 5 4 ; 3 0 8 .
496 I N D Ex
B on ol a , R , 48 , . 1 0 8 , 1 84 , 30 7 B row n . E . W . 4 5 0 . 45 1 . 453 . 4 5 4 . Q uoted.
B ool e. G 40 7 ; 2 7 8 . 2 81 . 2 8 5 . 3 4 2 . 3 83 . 3 84 . 450
J W 3 83
B rownl ee , . .
,
B oo t h, J , 3 1 2 . B run el H M 3 0 1
, . .
,
B opp , K , 1 8 1 . B run o, Faa de, 345

B orchardt , C W , 4 1 8 ; 4 2 5 . . B run s. H 45 2 . 4 5 4
B o rda , J C , 2 66 . . B ru ssel s a cademy o f s ci en c es , 1 6 8
B orel , E , 3 7 5 , 3 8 6 , 40 1 40 2 40 4 4 2 7 , 4 8 1
. .
. . . B ry a n t , W W , 45 1 . .
Q uo ted, 3 89 B ryson of H eracl ea , 2 3 ; 2 4

B orelli , G A , 1 84 . . B u b n ow , N , 9 8 .
B ort k ewi ch, L v S ee B ortk i evi cz . . B u chanan , D , 4 53 .
B or tk ievi cz , V , 3 7 9 3 8 1 .
,
B uchheim, A , 4 5 5 ; 3 0 8 .
B ort ol ot ti , E , 3 49 , 3 5 0 . B u ck l e, H T , 1 90 . .
B osmans , H , 7 7 . B u ck l ey , W , 1 4 7 ; 1 83 .
B udan , F D , 2 6 9 , 2 7 1
‘
B ou g u er P 1 5 7 , 2 7 3
,
.
,
. .
B u fi o n , Cou n t de , 2 43 , 2 44 , 2 63 , 3 7 8 , 3 7 9
'
B ou ndary v al u e p rob l ems, 2 7 0 , 2 84 , 3 9 1 ,

-
B u hl er, 88
B ouni ak ov sk i , V J , 4 3 6 . . B ung us, P , 1 44 .
q
B o u u et J C , 3 88 ; 2 4 1 , 3 83, 3 8 7 , 4 1 8 , 4 20
, . . B ur ck hard t , J C H , 440 . . .
q
B ou u e t de l a G ry e , 4 84 B urali F orti , C , 2 89 , 3 2 2 , 3 3 5 , 40 1 , 40 2 , 40 8
-
.
B ou r, E , 3 84
. B ur g ess , E , 8 5 .
B ouss i n esq J , 4 6 2 , 4 69 , 4 7 1, . B urg i . J . 1 5 2 ; 1 3 7 . 1 4 8 . 1 5 4 . 1 7 8

.
B oht rou x E , 4 1 0 , . j
B ur a , A , 1 5 5 , 2 5 8.
B o u troux, P , 4 2 9 . B ur kh ardt, H , 2 80 ; 3 50 , 2 5 2 , 3 1 8 u o t ed ,
. . Q
B ou v ell e s C , 1 6 2 , .
B ow di t c h , N 2 6 2 ; 3 3 8 B urk hardt, J P , 2 6 2 . .
B ow l ey, A L , 3 8 1 . . B u rma n n , H , 2 7 2 .
B oys , V , 4 8 6
. B urmest e r, L , 2 9 7 .
B ra chi st oc hron e, 2 3 4 B u rn s, J B , 3 5 2 . .
B radw ardi ne , T 1 2 7 ; 1 1 6 , 1 2 8 , 1 3 2 , 1 6 1 .
, B u rn side . W , 3 5 7 . 3 5 8. 3 5 9. 3 60 .
B rahm ag u p ta . 8 5 ; 7 1 . 8 6 . 8 7 . 9 2 . 94 . 9 7 . 99 B urrau , 4 84
B rai k enridg e, W , 2 2 8 . B urr oug hs, 4 8 5
B ranck er, T , 1 40 , 1 69 . B u sc he , E , 43 6 .
B rau n mu hl , A v 4 8 ; 1 3 7 , 2 3 5 , 4 8 1 . . B u teo , J , 1 43 , 1 5 6
.
B redon , S , 1 28 . B u tterw or th , J 2 9 8
B remik er, C , 4 8 4 . B u t zb erg er, F , 2 9 2 .
B uy s B all o t , C H D , 4 7 8
’
B re nnan , L , 4 5 8 .
-
. . .
B r et , J J , 2 6 9
. . By erl y, W
E , 470 . .
B ret schneider, C A , 9 ; 8 8 , 33 6 . . C aj o ri , F , 3 , 2 4 , 1 2 7 , 1 5 6 , 1 7 4 , 1 8 2 ,
. 1 90 , 2 0 2 ,
B rew ster, D , 1 9 1 , 1 93 , 2 0 1 , 4 6 1 . 2 2 4. 2 4 8 . 2 7 1 . 3 3 9 . 344 . 44 7

B ri an chon, C J 1 6 6 , 2 7 5 , 2 8 7 , 2 88 , 2 9 8 . C al andri , Ph , 1 2 8 .
B r ig g s. H . . 1 5 5 . 1 8 7 . 3 43 C al cul at e, orig in of w ord, 6 4

B ri ll . A 2 93 . 3 1 3 . 3 1 6 . 3 2 8. 4 1 9 . 43 0 . 43 1 C al cul ati ng eng ine S ee A ri t hmet i ca l ma .
4 80 c hi n e .
B ri ll L 3 09 , 3 2 8
. C al cul us, S ee D ifferen t i al C , I n t eg ral C . .
B ri ng , E S , 3 49 . . C al c ul u s i n t eg r al is , t he n a me , 2 2 1
B ri oschi . F 3 4 5- 34 7 ; 2 7 9 . 30 7 . 340 . 34 1 .
.. C al cul us of fun c t ions , 40 5
3 47 . 3 48 . 3 6 1 . 3 7 0 . 3 88 . 4 1 3 . 4 1 7 . 4 5 6 C al cul u s of r esidu es , 4 2 0
B ri ot , C 3 88 ; 2 4 1 , 3 83 , 3 8 7 , 4 1 8 4 2 0 C al cul u s o f va ri a t io ns , 2 3 2 , 2 3 4 , 2 5 1 , 2 5 5 ,
—
. .
,
B ri sso n M J , 2 6 5
. . . 2 67. 2 81. 29 1 . 3 9 4. 3 13 . 3 6 7 . 3 69 3 7 2 .
B ro card, H , 2 98 ; 2 99 ; B poi n t s, 2 99 . .
40 4. 40 5 . 43 0 . 43 1 . 43 7
B ang l es, 2 99 ; B ci r cl e, 2 99 , 3 00
. . C al e n dars , 8 , 6 6, 7 0 , 7 6 , 7 8, 1 14, 1 2 2, 13 2 ,
B roc h, O J , 4 1 4 . . 1 44
B roden , T , 433 . C al l et , F , 2 66 .
B ro u nck er, W , 1 5 6 ; 1 69 , 1 8 7 , 1 88 , 2 2 8 . C alli s t he n es , 7

B rou w er L E J , 40 3 , 4 3 3
, . . . C ambu s to n , H , 3 3 2 .
B row n , C , 3 2 9 . Ca mp ano, G , 1 20 ; 1 4 2 .
IN DEX 49 1
Campbell G 20 2 C enter of oscill ati on 1 83 2 2 7

—
, .
, , ,
C antor G 39 7 49 4 ;
. 24. 6 7 . 1 7 2 . e8s. 3 25 . Cen t er of simili tu de of c ircl es 2 7 5 ,
3 6 7 . 400 . 404 . 409 . 4 2 6 . 43 2 . 44 0. 44 7 . Cent rif ug al force 1 7 2 1 83 200 2 44 , , , ,
Q uot ed . 44 7 C esé ro. E . 3 2 4 . 3 7 5 . 3 7 9.
C an tor . M .
,
6; 1 0 . 1 3 . 1 4. 4 2 . 63 . 8 7 . 9 1 . 9 6. C eva, G , 2 7 7 .
1 0 1 , 10 5, 1 0 6 , 1 10 , 1 1 4 , 1 1 5 , 1 1 7 , 1 1 9, 1 2 3 , C hamb erl i n , T C , 4 50 . .
1 40 . 2 1 1 . 2 4 7 . 2 49. 2 69. 3 84 C hampo l lio n, 1 1

C apell a M , .
,
1 13 C han c e S ee rob abili ty
. P
C apel li , A , 3 65 . C handl er , S C , 2 4 1 . .
C a pill ari ty, 2 6 4 C hang C h i u-c hi en, 7 3

’
C apo rali , B , 3 1 4 ; 3 1 9 Chang C hun C h i ng , 8 8

’
-
.
q Chan g T ee ns . 7 1 ; 97
—
C a u é, J , 3 8 7 .
C ardau . H 4 1 34 1 3 6 ; 1 45. 147 . C haract eri st i c t ri ang l e, 1 8g , 207

1 7 0 , 1 7 9, 1 8 1 , 1 8 2 , 1 8 4 , 1 8 5 C hapman , C H , 3 40 . .
Carett e , A M , 2 6 8 . . C ha rli er, C , 3 80 , 4 5 2 , 453 .
C arlini , F 4 5 2 C harpi t, P , 2 5 5 .
C arl] , L B , 3 70
. . Chasl es . M , 2 9 2 - 2 94 ; 33 . 3 9- 4 1. 43 . . 16 2.
C armi cha el , R D , 3 9 1 , 3 9 6 uot ed , 3 9 1

. . . Q 1 7 4. 2 4 6 . 2 7 6 . 2 8 7 . 2 95 . 2 9 7. 3 1 2.
C ar no t, L N M , 2 7 6 ; 4 6 , 2 1 9, 2 2 1 , 2 8 7 ,
. . .
C hauv en et , W .
, 3 83 ; 4 5 5
C ar no t . S . 4 7 5 . 4 7 6 ; 4 7 3
. C hebi chev, P
L , 3 80 ; 3 0 1 , 3 44 , 43 8 . .
C a rra de Vaux, 98 C h eng Tai w ei 7 6

’
-
,
C arsl aw , H S , 4 8 , 1 0 8 , 4 6 5. . C hern a c L 43 9 , .
,
C art an , E J , 339, 3 5 8
. . C hev ali er de M ere 1 7 0 ,
C a rva ll o , B , 33 5 , 3 6 5 . C hey n e G , 1 94 ,
.
C asey. J . 3 1 4; 3 2 4 C hild, J M , 1 89
C h i n C hiu —
. . .
C aso r a t i , F 3 4 6 ; 3 0 7 , 3 83
’
sha o 7 4 ; 7 5 ,
C ass i ni D , 2 44 ; 1 90 , 2 2 2 , 2 4 5 , 4 5 1
. Chi nese , 7 1 7 7 ; 1 7 84 S ol u tion of e ua-
, . q
C assmi J , 2 44 . ti on 5 . 7 4 . 7 5 . 2 7 1 M ag i c sq uar eS . .
C ass ini 5 ov al , 2 2 1 , 2 4 5 Chi ng C h ou c h ang , 7 1

’
~
’
C ass iodo ri us , 6 8, 1 1 3 C hi t t en de n E W , 395 , . .
C as tell a n o, F 409 Chi n Chan g 7 1

-
,
C as tel n uo vo, G , 3 1 6 ; 3 1 7 , 3 1 8 , 43 1 . C hl ad ni 4 64 ,
C as tin g ou t ni nes , 5 9 , 9 1 , 1 0 3 C hoq uet , C , 3 63 .
C atal a n , E C , 3 4 1 ; 33 0 , 3 83 , 4 7 0
. . Chou pet} 7 1
-
C at al di , P
A , 1 4 7 , 1 84, 2 54
. . C hr ee , C , 4 6 1 , 4 6 9.
C at en ary , 1 83 , 2 1 7 C hr i s t i n a , uee n , 1 7 9 Q
C attl e p robl em, 5 9, 60 C hri st ofi el , E B 3 1 4 ; 3 4 6 , 3 5 6 , 43 1 , 4 7 0
C au chy, A L , 3 6 8—
. .
,
3 7 0 ; 2 2 7 , 2 3 2 , 2 3 8,
. . 2 49 , C hrystal . G , 3 7 8 ; 3 7 9 .
2 5 3 . 2 5 8 . 2 6 s. 2 87. 3 3 7 . 3 40 . 3 4 1 . 349 . C hu p roff, A A , 3 7 9 . .
3 54 . 3 6 1 -
3 6 3 . 3 6 7 . 3 7 3 . 3 7 4 . 3 7 6 . 3 83 C hu q u et , N 1 2 5 1 7 8 .
, ,
3 89 . 3 9 5 . 3 9 6 . 40 5. 4 1 2 . 4 1 6 . 4 1 7 . 4 1 9 . 4 2 0 . C hu S hi h C hie h 7 5 ; 7 6 -
,
4 2 6 . 4 2 8. 43 0 . 43 1 . 4 3 8 . 44 0 . 44 6 . 4 5 2 . 4 6 1 . C ip her o ri g i n o f t erm , 1 2 1
— 6
4 6 5 4 8, 4 7 1 , 4 7 3 C au c hy s t heo rem on
’
.
,
,
C i r cl e 2 0 , 2 2 2 3 2 5 4 2 1 0 4 1 4 3 2 9 7 - 3 oo , , , , , , ,
g ro u ps, 3 5 2 Cou rs d an al ys e, 3 6 9, 3 7 3.
’
.
370 . N i ne poi n t C i rcl e 2 9 8 D i vi si on -
, .
Tes ts of co nverg en ce of seri es, 3 7 3 o f. 1 0 7 . 3 5 0 . 4 1 4 . 4 3 5 . 43 6

C au st ic c urves , 2 2 2, 2 2 5 -
q
C i rc l e s u arers, 1 , 3 3 1 S ee uadr a t ure o f . Q
C avalie ri , B , 1 6 1 , 1 6 2 ; 7 9 , . 1 5 9, 1 6 2, 1 65 , t he c irc l e .
C i rcu l ar po i nt s a t i n fi ni ty, 2 8 2
Cayl ey A . .
, 34 2 -
3 4 8 ; 2 40 . 2 7 8 . 2 90 . 2 9 1 . 2 93 . C ircu mfer en ce, 2 9 7
C i ssoi d, 4 2 , 5 1 , 1 8 2
—
-
2 95 3 20.
3 23 . 33 2
—
33 5
—
. 3 3 8 3 40 . 3 5 1 3 5 3 . 3 6 1 . 3 83 . C l ai rau t , A C , 2 44 ; 2 2 7 2 2 9 , 2 3 9 2 4 2 2 45 ,
. .
, , ,
4 1 5. 43 2 . 4 5 6 C ay l ey li ne. 2 9 1 .
. 2 5 2 , 3 0 2, 4 5 7 Hi s diff eren ti al eq u at , 2 4 5 . .
Q uot ed, 2 80 . S ixt h memoi r on u an t i cs , q C l apeyron B E , 467 , 47 5

, . P . .
C l ark e A R , 3 7 9
met ho d, 75—
. . .
C e l est ial el e me nt 80 C l asse s, t heo ry of, 4 1 0

C e nter of g ravi ty, 2 89 C l au se n , T , 3 3 0 ; 2 2 .
49. INDEX
C l au siu s R 4 7 6 ; 4 6 8 . 4 7 4 . 4 7 7- 4 7 9 400 ; W el l - order ed , 40 1 ; N ot den umerabl e ,
C l av i u s C 1 44 ; 4 7 , 1 43 , 1 5 8 , 1 8 1 , 1 84
, .
, 40 2
C l ay t o n , H H , 4 64 . . C o n verg en ce of se ri es S ee S eri es .
C l ebsch, R F A , 3 1 3 , 3 1 4 ; 2 9 1 , 2 9 6 , 3 1 1 , C o nv erg en ce of ag g r eg ates , 3 98

—
. . .
3 1 6 . 3 1 8. 345 3 48. 3 84 . C o nverg en t seri es , u se of t erm, 2 2 8 , 2 3 7

4 2 2 . 43 1 . 4 5 7 . 4 69 C o olidg e , J L , 3 00 , 3 0 8 . .
C li fl ord. W K . 3 0 7 ; 2 7 8 . 3 0 3 . 3 0 8. 3 1 7 . 3 3 3 . C oo r di n at es, 40 , 4 2 1 7 4 , 1 7 5 , 1 84 , 2 1 1 , 2 3 5 , ,
2 8 9 . 2 94 . 3 2 1 . 3 2 4 . 4 8 2 ; E llip ti c ,
C ockl e J , 3 2 1
, .
4 5 6 ; G en erali ed 2 5 5 ; H omog eneous, 2 9 7 z ,
C olbur n , e rah , 1 69 Z I nt rin si c , 3 2 4 ; O bli ue , 1 7 4 ; P e n t asp her q

C ol di n g , L A , 4 7 5 . . i cal , 3 1 5 ; ol ar, 2 2 1 ; Tang e n ti al , P 3 10 ;
C ol e. F N , 3 4 7 . 3 5 4 . 3 5 8 Trili near, 3 1 0 ; M ovabl e axes, 3 2 1
‘
. .
C ol eb ro ok e , H T , 8 5 . . C opern i c us , N 4 6 , 1 3 0 , 1 3 1
C oll a . 1 3 3 . 1 3 5 C ossera t , E 3 1 5 , 3 2 5
—
.
,
C ollins, J , 1 9 2 , 1 93 , 2 0 3 , 2 0 9 , 2 1 2 2 1 6
. C o t es , 2 2 6 ; 1 99, 2 3 6 , 3 8 2 ; Theorem of,
C ol so n , J 1 93 .
, 2 28
C omb esc u re , E , 3 1 5 . C ou n t ers , 1 2 2

C ombi n at io n s t heory o f, 1 2 8 1 7 0 , 1 8 3 , 2 2 1
, ,
C oun t i ng board, 7 5 , 90 , 9 1 , 1 2 2
C o mbi nato r ia l s c hoo l , 2 3 1 2 3 2 ,
C ou ran t , R , 43 3 .
C o mman di n u s, F , 1 4 1 ; 1 7 5 , 1 84 . C o u rno t , 2 8 1
C o mm erci u m ep i st olicu m ( C o ll i n s
’
1 94 ) ,
C ou r ti v ron, 2 2 7
C ou si n P , 4 2 9 .
C ommerc iu m e p i s to l i cu m ( alli s 1 68 W ’
) . C ou sin ery, B E , 2 9 6 . .
C omp e n sat io n o f e r ro rs , 2 1 9 C ou t urat, L , 2 8 6 .
C omp l ex vari abl es , 4 2 0 , 4 2 2 C ove na n t s . 345 . 3 4 8. 349. 3 5 6. 4 1 7 . 440

C omt e A , 2 8 5
, . C o x, H , 3 0 8 .
C o n cho i d, 4 2 5 1 , 2 0 2 , C raig , C F , 3 1 9 . .
C o ndor cet , N C de , 2 44 ; 2 5 2 , 2 66 , 3 80
. . C raig , J , 1 7 1 , 2 1 0.
C o n e . 2 7 . 33 . 3 9. 4 6 . 7 9 . 1 4 1 . 3 1 9 C raig , T , 4 1 8 ; 3 0 8 , 3 9 1 , 4 6 1
.
C o ng r esses, i n t er n at io n al S ee I n t er n a . Cramer, G , 2 4 1 ; 1 7 5 , 2 0 4 , 2 2 3 , 3 2 0 ; C
. .
t io n al c parado x, 2 2 8
—
.
'
C o ru CS . 2 7 . 2 9 . 3 3 . 41. 88. 1 4 1 . C re ll e , A , 4 1 1 ; 2 89 , 2 90 , 2 98 , 2 99 , 4 1 8
—
.
1 4 2 , 1 6 0 , 1 6 5 1 6 7 , 1 8 1 , 1 84 , 2 4 6 ; C on C r emona , L , 2 95 , 2 9 6 ; 2 7 8 , 2 8 7 , 2 9 1 , 3 0 7 ,
.
j u g a t e d i a met e r s 4 1 ; F oci , 40 , 4 1 , 1 60 ; , 3 1 4, 3 1 8 , 3 1 9 , C t ransformati on , .
G e nerat ion o f, 1 80 2 2 8 ; N am es el li p se , , 2 95
p arab o l a hy pe rbol a, 3 9 ; N ame l at u s

, C r ew H , 1 7 2
, .
rec t u m , 40 C rofton , M W , 3 7 9 ; 3 80 , 3 8 2 . .
C o n oid, 3 6 C rone, C , 3 2 0 .
C on o n , 3 4 ; 3 6 C ross-rati o , 1 6 6 , 2 89 , 2 93 , 2 94 , 2 9 7 , 3 0 8
C o n ser va t io n of areas 2 40 ,
z
C ro et , C , 2 7 6 .
C o nse rva t io n o f vi s vi va o r e nergy , 1 83 C t esibi u s, 43

C o ns t ru c t io n s , 2 , 2 1 , 2 2 , 27, 47, 84 , 86 , C u b e , d up l i cat io n of, S ee D u p li ca t io n
106 , 2 97 , 3 00 , 3 1 0 , 3 3 6 , 4 3 6 ; B y c om C u b e roo t 7 1 , 7 4, 1 2 3 ,
p asses on l y , 2 6 8 ; B y i n s e r t i o n , 3 6 ; B y C u bi c cur v es , 2 0 4, 2 2 8 , 2 2 9 , 2 44 , 2 49, 2 95 ,

rul er and co mp ass es , 1 24, 1 74 , 177, 20 2 , 3 20
2 92 , 3 5 0 , 4 3 6 , 44 6 ; B y ru l er an d fix e d C ub i c e q u a t io ns , 7 4, 1 0 7 , 1 1 0 , 1 1 1 , 1 24, 13 3
ci rcl e , 29 1 ; By s i ng l e op e ni ng of co m 1 3 8 . 1 40 . 1 4 2 . 1 7 7 . 2 4 7 . 3 5°
p asse s , 1 0 6 ; O f maps , 2 95 ; Of reg u l ar C ul mann , K , 2 9 6 ; 2 94, 2 9 7 .
pol yg on s 4 7 . 1 28 C un eiform wri t i ng , 4 , 7 , 8

C on t a ct ~t ra n sformati o n, 3 5 4 , 3 5 5 C unni n g ham, A J C , 44 6 . . .
C ont i , A S , 2 1 6. . C ur tz e, M , 2 9 6 ; 7 3 , 1 2 3 , 1 70 .
C ont i n u ed frac tion s, 1 1 1 , 1 4 7 , 1 8 8 , 2 4 6, 2 5 8, C u rvat ur e t heo ry of, 2 7 5 , 2 9 6 , 3 20 , 3 2 1

,
375 C ur ves, 1 6 3 , 2 0 2 , 2 0 4 20 6 , 2 0 7 , 2 09 , 2 2 4, ,
C o n t i n u i ty , 2 2, 2 4, 2 9, 94 , 1 60 , 1 84 , 1 85 , 2 2 6 . 2 2 8 . 2 3 5 . 2 44 . 2 5 0 . 2 7 5 . 2 9 5 . 3 1 8- 3 2 0 .
2 1 1 , 2 1 8 , 2 8 2 , 2 83 , 2 8 7 , 3 1 8, 3 2 6 , 3 6 7 , 3 9 1 , 3 2 1 ; A l g eb rai c , 3 0 2 , 4 1 9 ; B all i st i c , 2 6 6 ;
3 99 . 4 19
—
42 1 . 426 C a te n a ry, 1 83 , 2 1 7 ; C aus ti c c u rv e s , 2 2 2 ,
C o n t i nu u m . 2 4. 3 5. 1 26. 2 85. 39 7 . 3 9 8 . 2 2 5 ; C l ass of c ur v e s , 2 88 ; C o nch oi d , 4 2 ,
INDEX
2 63 , 391 ,S ee P ar t i al difi eren t i al
3 93 . D u p u y, P , 3 5 1 .
q
e u a t ions , S i ng ul a r so l u t i o n s D i fi e re n ti al , D ur eg e , H , 3 1 1 ; 4 1 8 .
ca l cu l u s, I n t eg ral cal cu l us , Thr ee b o di es D u rer A 1 4 1 ; 1 7 0 , 1 45

)
.
, ,
(p rob l em of . D y ck W . .
, 3 2 4 . 3 2 9 . 43 2
D i fl eren t i al g eo me t ry , 3 0 6 , 3 1 5 , 3 2 1 , 3 2 2 Dy na me . 3 3 5
'
D ynamics , 1 7 1 ,
'
D ifi e re n t i al i n v ari an t s , 34 5 , 3 5 5 , 3 5 6 , 3 88 1 7 2 , 1 83 , 2 2 3 , 2 5 5 ,
D in g el dey, F 3 2 3 33 2 , 47 7 . S ee P o t en ti al
D in i . 3 7 5 ; 2 7 9 . 3 7 7 . 4 3 1 D z i ob e k , O , 4 5 3 4 5 5 .
,
D i nos t ra tu s , 2 7 ; 2 1 E ar nsh aw S , .
, 462
D iocl es 4 2 , Eart h, fi g u re a nd s i e of , 1 0 2 , 2 2 9 , 2 8 1 z
D iodo rus , 9, 3 4 Ear th, rig idi ty of, 2 40 , 4 6 9
D iog e nes L aert iu s, 9 , 1 6 E col e n or mal e fo u nd ed , 2 5 6
D iony sodoru s , 4 5 Ecol e pol ytechni q u e foun ded , 2 5 6

D i ophan ti ne a n al y si s 6 2 , 8 1 , 9 5 , 1 6 8 E ddy, H T , 2 9 6
—
. .
,
D iophantus, 60 - 6 2 ; 4 5 . 4 8. 5 1 . 8 7 . 93 9 5 . Edg ew ort h, F Y , 3 7 8 , 3 8 1 . .
10 1 , 1 03 , 105, 1 06 , 1 1 1, 135, 1 67, 1 6 8, E dl es ton , J , 2 1 2 , 2 1 6 .
Eell s, W C , 70
40 1
Egyp t i a ns , 9— —
. .
D i rectrix, 50 1 5, 1 7 1 9
D i ri chl e t , P . G . L .
, 43 8 ; 1 6 8, 1 7 0 , 2 7 0 , 2 7 8, Ehr enfes t, 4 8 1
357. 3 6 2. 3 7 2 . 3 7 6. 3 7 7. 39 2 . 4 1 8. E i n st ei n A , 3 3 5 , 4 7 9 , 4 80 , 4 8 1
, .
4 19. 4 2 1 . 4 2 9 . 43 9 . 470 ; Ei sen har t , L P , 3 1 9 , 3 2 1 ; Q uot ed , 3 1 5 . .
D p ri n c i p l e . 2 84 . 3 9 2 . 4 2 2 . 4 2 8 . 4 2 9. 43 0 . E isenl ohr, A , 9 , 1 0 .
Ei se n l ohr, F 3 6 9 .
D is cri mi n ant ( name) 3 45 E i se ns te i n, F G , 440 ; 3 4 6 , 3 4 8, 4 1 7 , 4 2 1 , . .
D i stance 3 0 8 ,
D iverg e n t seri es 2 2 8 2 3 7 238, 24 2 El as t i c c urv e , 2 2 1 , 2 9 6

—
, , ,
D ivis ion o f c i r cl e 1 0 7 3 50 , , , 4 1 4, 43 5 , 43 6 E l ast i c i ty, 4 60 , 4 64 4 7 0

D ivisio n of n u mb e rs 7 7 3 , , ,
1 1 7, 1 19 E l i mi n an t , 2 49
D i w ani n u meral s 1 00
-
, El i mi na t io n , 3 1 1 , 3 1 2 , 3 6 1
D O c ag n e , M , 4 8 2 ; 4 83 , 4 85
’
. z
E l i abeth , ri ncess , 1 7 9 P
D odd E L , 3 8 2
,
. . E l lio t t , E B , 3 48 . .
D odg son C L , 3 0 2 , . . E l lips o id, att rac ti o n o f, 2 2 9 , 2 44 , 2 63 , 2 66 ,
D odso n , J , 1 55 .
D o nki n , W
F , 4 5 6 ; 4 65 . . Ell ip t ic fu n c t io n s , 2 2 5, 23 2 , 23 9, 29 1 , 3 13 ,
Dosi t heu s, 3 4 3 1 4.
3 6 2 . 3 90 .
-
4 4 . 4 4 4 1 7 . 43 4 . 4 3 7 ;
1 1
D os t or G J , 3 4 1
,
. . A ddit io n-t heorem, 2 9 1 ; D ou b l e peri odi
D oubl e fal se positio n S ee Fal se position . ci ty , 4 14
D ove H W , . .
, 463 E llip t ic i n t eg ral s , 2 3 9, 2 58, 2 66 , 2 67 , 414
D Ovi dio , E , 3 0 8 , 34 1
’
. E l l is A J
, . .
, 1 55
D rach, S M , 3 66 . . Ell is, L , 1 5 2.
D robi sch, M W , 2 2 4 . . El y, G S , 444

. .
D ronk e, A , 3 1 1 . Emsh, A , 300 .
D uali ty p ri n ci pl e of, 2 8 8 , 2 90 , 2 94 , 3 1 0
, Emmeri ch, A , 3 00 .
D ub ois Ayme, 2 7 3-
En ck e. J F 4 5 2 ; 3 8 2 . 43 7
D ufii eld, W , 4 83 W . . E ncy cl opéd ie d es s ci e nc es mat h , 2 80 .
D uhamel , J M C , 3 83 ; 3 63 , 3 6 9, 4 1 6 , 4 6 7
. . . E n cyk l op adie d ma t h i ss , 2 80 . . W .
D u hem, P , 1 2 7 ; 1 2 8 . Enestrom, G , 1 2 8, 1 40 , 1 48 , 1 5 8, 1 7 3 , . 1 7 4,
D ii hri ng , E , 1 83 . 1 7 9. 1 84 . 2 2 1 . 2 2 3 . 2 2 5 . 2 3 3 . 2 3 5 . 2 3 9.
D uilli er S ee Fat io de D uill i er

.
439
D ul au r en s , F 2 2 5 Eng el . F 3 5 5. 3 5 6
D u mas, W , 3 48 . Ennepe r, A , 4 1 6 , 4 1 7 .
D u ns S c o t u s, 1 2 6 q
E n ri u es , F , 3 1 6 , 3 1 7 , 3 2 2 , 3 2 8 , 44 6 , 4 8 1
.
D uode cimal s , 63 , 6 4 , 1 1 7 , 1 1 9 E nt ropy 4 7 6 ,
D u p i n , C , 2 7 5 ; 2 9 6 , 3 2 0 , 3 7 9 ; D t h eor em,
. . E n u mera t iv e g eo me t ry 2 9 2 , ,
2 93 , 2 95
275 E nvel ope s t heory o f 2 1 1 , ,
D u pl ica t io n o f a c u be , 2 , 1 9 , 20 , 2 1 , 2 7 , 3 8, E p i cy c loids 1 4 1 1 66 2 2 4 , , ,
42 ; 1427 I 7 71 20 2 ) 3 4 0 E p ime ni des pu l e 40 2 zz ,

IND EX 49 5
E pp i ng . I . 8 tuu m l u n ae, 23 4 ; Tkear i a mal a u m pl ane

E q u at i ons , theory of, 1 3 8 , 1 3 9 , 1 5 6 , 20 1 , 2 4 9 , taru m, 2 3 4
'
2 5 3 . 2 5 4. 2 6 4 . 3 44 . 3 4 7 . 3 49 3 66 ; Ab eli a n .
-
Eu toc iu s 5 1 ; 3 8 . 44 . 53 . 5 4
C ub i c , E v a ns G C 3 9 5
—3 7 74,
41 1 ; 10 7, 1 10 , 1 1 1, 1 2 4, , . .
,
133 1 , 1 40 , i rred u c ibl e c ase ,

1 77, 247 ; E vol u t es 4 1 1 83 , ,
1 3 5, 1 3 8, 1 42 , 3 5 0 ; E v e ry e has a . E xc he u e r 1 2 2 q ,
roo t . 3 . 2 3 7 . 2 5 3 . 349 ; F u n c t io n al . 3 9 5 . E xhau s tion met hod a ndp rocess of,

— , 2 3 , 24 ,
40 5 ; I ndet ermi nat e, 6 0 , 7 3 , 7 4 , 94 9 6 , 1 0 6 , 1 0 9 . 1 60 . 1 6 1
1 2 4 . 1 6 7 . 44 1 ; L i near . 1 3 . 103 . 2 1 1 . E xhaustio n o ri g i n of name 1 8 1 , ,
3 93 . 3 94 ; M odu l ar . 3 5 2 . 4 1 6 . 4 1 7 ; N eg a E xpo n e ntial cal cul us 2 2 2 ,
t ive root s o f, 1 7 6 ; O f s u are d difi ere n c es ,

’
q E xpo n en t s 1 40 1 4 8 1 49 1 7 8 1 8 7 2 3 5 ; , , , , , ,
2 4 9 , 2 5 4 ; R e s u l t a n t o f , 2 4 9 ; R u l e o f sig n s , F rac t io nal 2 3 8 2 4 7 ; I mag i na ry , , ,
1 7 8 , 1 7 9 , 2 0 1 , 2 2 4 , 2 4 8 ; Q ua dra t i c 13, , 2 2 5 ; L i t era l 1 9 2 ; N eg ati ve 1 8 5 2 3 8 , , ,
5 7 ; 7 4 . 7 5 . 94 . 9 5 . 1 0 3 . 1 0 6 . 1 0 7 . 1 3 8 ; F ab e r G 4 2 9 44 6
, .
, ,
Q u ar ti c , 6 1 . 1 o 7 . 7 5 . 1 7 7 . 2 3 5 . 1 3 5 . 1 3 8 ; F ab ri H 2 0 6, .
,
R esol ve n ts , 1 3 8 ; u i nt i c , 2 5 3 , 3 3 2 , 3 49 , Q F abry C E 3 7 5 , . .
,
3 5 0 , 4 1 1 ; sol u t io n by e ll ip t i c i nt eg r al s, Fae rber C 3 66 , .

,
3 50 .S ee D iff er ent i al e , I n t eg ral e , . . F ag n ano C o u nt de 2 2 5 ; 2 3 9 , ,
nu meri cal e F al k M 4 2 8
, .
,
E q ui pol l e n ces , 33 7 F alli ng b odies 1 7 1 1 83 , ,
E rat ost henes

“
s ie ve ,
” 58
, 38 ; 2 1, 3 0, 3 4, 58 . Hi s Fal se p osi ti on , 1 2 , 1 3 , 9 1 , 93 ,
D ou bl e, 44, 1 03 , 1 1 0 , 1 2 3
10 3 , 1 3 7 , 3 66 ;
E rdmann G , .
, 37 1 F ano, G , 3 2 2 . .
E rmak o fl , W .
, 3 75 Faraday . M , .
Er ra rd de B ar l e D u c, I - -
.
, 1 58 Fark as , J , 40 5 .
E sc heri c h, G , V , 3 7 2 . . F arr , W , 3 83 .
E spy J P , 46 2
, . . Fat io de D u il l ier, 2 1 4
E t her t heo ry o f 460 4 6 1
, , , F aye. H 4 55
E t t i ng hau se n A V 3 63 F e c hn e r , G T , 3 8 1
—
.
, .
, . .
E u cl id 2 9 3 4; 1 8. 2 2 . 2 5 . 2 9. 3 9
, . 4 6 . 5 3 . 5 9. F ek e t e , M , 3 6 2 .
1 0 1 . 1 2 3 . 1 84 . 2 6 8 . 3 5 3 . 44 2 Fel t, D E , 485
—
. .
E u cli d s El ements F e nn J 3 0 2
’
1 8, 28
—7
, 1 5, 1 9, 27, 35 , 44 , , .
,
4 7 2 50 , S I ) 5 7 : 5 8 ) 6 7 7 8 6 ;
12 9 . 1 3 0 . 1 4 2 . 1 4 8 . 1 6 5 . 16 7 . 1 9 2 .
1 047 10 81 1 18 F ermat P d e
1 74 —7 7 1
, .
, 1 80
, 1 63
-
1 8 2 , 1 89
1
—
0 ; 142 , 1 46 ,
1 9 1 , 2 3 9 , 2 50 , 2 7 6 ,
1 47 , 1 62,
2 0 5 2 2 6 , 3 0 2 3 0 3 , 3 0 7 ; E uclid s D ata , 3 3 ;
’
, ,
El ements i n C hi na , 7 7 ; A lg ebra , 6 1 Fe rmat s th eo re m, 1 6 9 ,

’
2 3 9 , 2 54
E u demian su mmary, 1 5 , 1 6 , 1 8, 2 6 , 2 8, 30 Fe rma t s l ast t h eor em ,

’
106, 1 6 8, 2 3 9, 2 54 ,
Eu demus, 1 5 . 57
E udoxu s, 2 8 ; 1 5 . 2 5 . 2 7 . 3 0. 3 1 . 3 2 . 3 5 . 4 2 . Fe rr ari . L 1 3 5 ; 1 3 4. 1 3 9 . 2 53
F err el . W 4 63 ; 4 49. 4 5 8. 4 64
—4
327
Eul er, L v 23 2 6 2 , 95 3 Ferr ero , A , 3 8 2
—7
2 2; 1 43 7 1 44 9 1 5 27 .
Ferr et s , N 4 7 0
—47
1 90 , 2 2 0 , 2 2 2 , 2 2 3 , 2 2 5 22 , 23 1 ,
2 3 2 : 2 45 2 , 2 49 , 25 72 2 64, F err o, S d el S ee D el Ferro , S. . .
2 7 0. 2 7 5 . 2 9 7 . 3 2 0 . 3 2 2 . 3 2 4 . 3 2 9. 3 3 0 . Fe rroni , P , 2 2 1 .
3 5 3 . 3 6 5 . 3 6 9. 3 7 3 . 3 7 7 . 3 80 . 3 8 1 . 3 8 9 . 40 5 . F eu erb ach, K W , 2 98 . .
F i b onacci S ee L eonardo of Pisa .
4 6 4 , 4 6 5 , 4 7 7 ; Eu l er s A l g ebra , 2 3 3 ;A naly
’
F i edl er, W , 2 9 7 ; 3 1 3 .
si s si t u s, 3 2 3 ; E u l er l i n e , 2 9 8 ; I n fi ni t e Fi el d, P , 3 20 .
'
seri es , 3 7 3 ; I n sti tuti ones cal cul i di fi, 2 33 , Fi el ds, J C , 43 6 . .
2 39 ; I n sti tu ti ones cal cul i i n t , 2 33 , 23 9 ; Fifteen school g i rl s, probl em of, 3 23

I nt eg rat i ng fac tors, 2 3 9 ; I n trodu cti o i n F i nck , Th , 1 5 1 .
an al ysi n , 2 2 7 , 2 33 , 2 4 1 ; M ag i c s uare s, q Fi ne , H B , 3 6 2 , 3 83 ; u o te d, 3 6 2
. . Q
1 7 0 ; M echan i ca, 2 40 ; M ethodu s i n ven i endi Fi ng er symb o lis m, 6 3 , 6 5 , 6 8, 1 1 4
l i neas cu rva s , 2 3 4 ; M et ho d of e l i mi na Fi n i t e diff ere n ces, 2 2 4, 2 2 6 , 2 3 0 , 2 3 8 , 2 5 8,
t io n , 2 5 ; N u mber- t h eory , 1 6 8 1 7 0 , 2 3 9 ; — 2 64 . 4 66
P ol yedra 2 40 ; u ad r at i c re ci pro c ity , 2 3 9
, Q Fi n k , K , 2 9 1 .
Symm etri c fun c ti ons , 2 3 5 ; Theari a mo Fi scher, B , 3 7 6 , 3 96 .

4 96 INDEX
Fi sher A 3 7 8 , .
, F rou de W 45 7 ; 4 6 2 , .
,
F isk e T S 2 7 9
, . .
,
F u chs L . 3 8 7 ; 3 8 5 . 3 8 8. 3 90 . 43 2
, .
Fi t e , W
B 3 57 . .
,
F uc hs R 2 7 9 3 4 7 . .
, .
z
F i t g eral d G F , . .
, 4 7 1 , 4 79 Fu et er R , 44 5
‘
, .
F l eck A 4 44
, .
,
F uj i t a S adasuk e, 8 1
Fl o q uet , G , 3 4 8 . F u nc t ion al cal cul us, 3 9 2, 3 95
F l o ri das , 1 33 , 1 34 F u nc t ional s 3 95 ,
F l ow er, R , 1 5 5 . F un c tions, 1 2 7 , 2 1 1 , 2 3 4, 2 3 8 2 5 8 , 2 70, 2 84, ,
F l u e nt s , 1 93 , 1 94 , 1 9 5 , 2 00 , 2 1 3 3 88 . 3 89. 400 . 44 5 . 44 6 ; A b el ian

‘
F l uxions 1 5 0 , 1 9 2 — 1 9 7 , 200 , 2 1 0 2 1 3 , 2 2 8, f . 2 8 1 . 3 1 3 . 3 4 2 . 3 90 . 4 1 1 . 4 1 2 . 4 1 5 . 4 1 8 .
—
.
, ,
2 4 7 ; C o n t ro v e rsy o n i n v e n t ion , 2 1 2 2 1 8 ; 4 1 9, 4 2 1 , 4 2 3 4 2 4 ; Al g eb rai c , f 2 95 4 1 8 , , .

, ,
B e rk el ey s a t t ac k o n , 2 1 9 , 2 2 0 ; C o mp e n f
’
0
4 3 . 43 ; 1 A na l y t i c . . 2 2 8
5 7 . 5 . 4 5 4 2 8.
2 -
.
s at i o n o f e r ro rs i n , 2 1 9 43 9 ; Arb i t rary f 2 4 2 , 2 5 1 , 2 5 2 2 5 8, 2 7 0 , , .
, ,
F o liu m of D esc art es , 1 7 7 , 2 2 9 4 1 9 ; A u to mo rp hi c f , 43 2 ; B esse l f , 4 4 8 ; . .
F once ne x, D l e , 2 3 7 ; 2 5 7 . . B et a f , 2 3 4 ; C al c ul us of, 3 3 1 3 3 2 ; Com

.
,
Fo n ct io n ell es , 3 95 , 40 5 p l e x v a riabl es 4 2 0 , 4 2 2 ; D e fi ni t io n o f 2 7 0, , ,
F o n t a i ne , A , 2 3 9 ; 2 4 2 .
3 2 6 , 4 00 , 4 1 9; F uc hs i an f , 3 8 9 3 90 ; .
,
F o rd , W
B 375 . .
,
G amma f , 2 34 , 4 1 6 ; H yperb ol i c f , 2 4 6 , . .
F orsy t h . A R , 2 7 9 . 3 45 . 3 5 6 . 3 84 . 3 8 5 . 3 8 6 .
. .
4 2 4 , 4 8 4 ; Hyp erelli p t i c f , 2 8 1 , 4 1 1 , 4 1 8 ; .
3 88 43 3 ; , uo t e d 2 8 1 , 4 1 6 , 3 4 2 Q , M odul ar f , 4 1 6 , 4 1 7 43 2 ; M ul tiply . ,
F os t e r , S , 1 5 8
'
.
p e r i o di c f , 2 8 3 ; N o n -
di fi ere nt iabl e f , 3 2 6 ;
. .
F o u c au l t , J B L , 4 7 3 F on p oi nt set s , 40 3 , 404 ; O rt hog o nal f ,

F ouri er J , 2 6 9—
. . . . .
2 7 1 ; 1 6 4, 2 3 4 , 2 4 2 , 2 4 7 , 2 8 1 ,
, .
3 96 ; o t e n t i al f P 2 8 4, 4 2 2 ; S ig ma f , 4 1 7 ; .
,
.
4 1 8. 4 73 ; S y mmet ri c f , 2 93 , 3 6 1 , 4 1 4 ; Theta, 3 4 2 , .
A n al yse des éq u ati on s , 2 6 9 2 8 4 ; F ou r ie r s S ee Ell i p t i c fu n c tio ns

’
4 15 416 4 18
—
.
, , ,
ser ieS . 2 4 2 . 2 7 0 . 2 83 . 3 7 5 3 7 7 . 3 93 . 3 9 6 . Tri g o no me t r ic f , 2 3 4, 2 3 6 ; Zet a f , 43 9 . . .
4 6 1 , 4 6 5 ; F ou r i e r s t heo re m F u ni c ul ar p ol yg ons , 29 6
’
2 69 2 84 , , ,
4 3 8 ; Theor i e an al yti q u e de l a c hal eu r, 2 7 0 ,

F u rs t e nau E 34 1 3 6 5 , .
, ,
27 1 F u rt wa ng l er H 443 44 5 , P . .
, ,
Fou rth dime nsion 1 84 , , 2 56, 3 1 8, 3 3 5 , 4 80 F uss , P

H 1 5 7 2 3 7 2 49 . .
, , ,
Fov ille A de 3 80 , .
, G aba M G 3 95 , . .
,
F ract ion s : D uod eci mal 63 , 64 1 1 7 1 1 9 ; , , , G a l b r u n , H 39 1 .

,
P ar t i a l , 2 1 1 ; R at io n a l , 2 2 ; S e xag esi m a l ,
G alil eo , 1 7 1 , 1 7 2 ; 3 7 , 80 , 1 3 0, 14 6 , 1 5 9, 1 6 1 ,
5 5 4 4 83 ; U n i t f rac t io n s 1 2 1 4 44 7 1 16 2, 1 70, 1 7 9, 2 23
-
, , , , , , ,
1 2 3 ; C o n t i nue d , 1 1 1 , 1 4 7 1 88 , 2 4 6 258 , , , G al l ow ay T 3 8 2 , .
,
3 7 5 ; R o ma n 6 4 ; C hi nese , 7 1 ; D e c i ma l , ,
G al o i s E 3 5 1 ; 3 5 2
. . . 3 5 8 . 4 1 1 . 43 2 .
5 1 1 9 , 1 4 7 1 4 8 ; F ra c t iona l li ne , 1 2 3
, , 44 5 ; G reso l ven t .
, 41 1; G .
g ro u p , 3 1 8
F ra nces ca ie r de l l a , 1 2 8 ,
P G al to n F 3 8 1 ; 3 80 ,
.
,
F ran k l i n B , 1 7 0 , . G arbie ri G , 3 4 1 , .
F ra nk li n C hri s t i n e L add, 40 7 G a rdin er 2 3 5

—
, ,
F rank li n . F . 3 43 . 34 5 . 43 6 . 444 . G au ss. K F 1. 43 4 43 9 ; 3 . 6 . 6 2 . 1 4 6 . 1 6 9 .

.
z
Fr an t , J , 44 8 1 8 4 . 2 3 1 . 2 3 2 . 2 3 5 . 2 3 7 . 23 8 . 2 48 . 2 5 3 . 2 6 5 .
F réc het . M , 3 7 2 . 3 9 3 . 3 9 4 . 40 4—
.
40 6
—
.
F re dhol m. E I 3 9 3 ; 3 9 4 . 3 4 1 . 4 2 7 . 4 6 9 3 3 6 . 3 40 . 3 4 2 . 3 4 8 3 5 1 . 3 5 3 . 3 6 1 . 3 6 6 .
F reg e , G , 40 8 ; 2 8 6 , 4 0 7 , 4 0 9
.
Fre n ic l e de B essy , 1 6 9 , 1 7 0 448 . 4 5 2 . 4 5 9 . 4 60 . 4 6 9 . 4 7 2 . 4 7 5 . 4 8 4 ;

F r es n e l . A J . 4 7 0 . 4 7 1 ; 1 8 3 . 2 7 5 . 3 1 1 . 3 1 4 . D i sq u i s i ti on es ar i thmeti cae, 43 5 43 7 ; N o n —
—
.
3 1 9 . 3 3 3 . 3 44 . 4 6 0 . 4 6 5 . 4 7 3 e ucl i dea n g eo me try , 3 03 3 0 6 ; Theari a

Frézi e r, A F , 2 7 4 . . motus . 4 3 7 . 44 7
F ri c k e. R , 4 1 7 . 4 3 2 . 43 3 . G ay de Ve rn o n , S F 2 7 4 .
Fri edl e in , G , 6 4 ; 6 5 . G ay L u ss ac , 2 7 5
-
F risc hau f, J 4 5 2 G eb er, 1 0 9

z
F ri ell A B 40 2 , 40 3
, . .
,
G ehr k e , J , 3 00 .
F rob e niu s F G , 3 5 4 ; 33 9 . 3 4 1 . 3 4 7 . 3 5 3 . G e ise r, C F , 3 1 8

—
. . .
3 5 7 . 3 6 0 . 3 6 2 . 3 8 7 . 390 . 4 2 7 . 43 1 3 44 3 ; G ellib rand, H , 1 5 1 1 5 2 .
Q uo t ed 3 6 2 , G e mi n us. 44 ; 3 9 . 4 2 . 4s. 4 7 . 4 8
Fros t A H , 3 6 6
, . . G en eral A nal y sis , 3 9 2 , 3 9 4 , 395
498 IND EX
G yl den . 4 5 3 ; 4 54 H ay ashi T 7 8 8 2 , .
, ,
H aan D B d e 3 7 2
, . .
, z
H a l et t O C 3 39 , . .
,
H aas A 3 2 1
, .
,
H earn 1 5 5 ,
H ab e ni c ht B 2 5 0 , .
,
H eat t heory of 2 7 0 3 9 1 47 0 - 4 7 9
, , , ,
H achet t e J N P 2 7 6 ; 2 7 5 2 96 , . . .
, ,
H ea t h R S 3 0 8 , . .
,
H adamard J 3 7 2 ; 3 2 4 . 3 40 . 3 7 5 . 395 . . 40 2 . H eat h T L 3 2 4 1 60 6 2 1 6 8 3 0 2

, . .
, , , , , ,
4 2 7 . 4 39; Q uo t e d . 3 92 H eavi s ide 0 . 47 5 .
H adl ey J 20 4 ,
H eaw ood J 3 23 , P . .
,
H ag en G H L 3 8 2, . . .
,
H eb rew s 7 1 7 , ,
H ahn . 429 H eck e E 433 , .

,
H ah n P h M , 4 8 5
, . . H ec k er J 3 4 9 , .
,
H ali fax J 1 2 7 , .
,
H edri ck E R 3 2 8 3 7 2 43 0 , . .
, , ,
H al l am 1 3 9 ,
H efl t er L , 3 2 4 , 4 80 , .
H all ey E . 1 5 6 ; 3 8 . 4 1
. . 1 7 1 . 1 90 . 1 99. 200 . H eg el . 44 7
H eiberg . J H 3 4 . 3 5 . 44 .
H al phen G H . .
. 3 1 3 ; 2 93 . 3 2 1 . 3 2 2 . H ei ne. E , 3 7 7 ; 3 9 7 . 3 9 8 . 4 00 . 4 7 0 .
3 75 . 3 8 8 . 3 90 . 4 r 7 H el li ng e r E , 40 6 , .
H al st ed. G B 1 3 0 . 3 04 . 3 2 7 . 3 89 . 3 90 . 4 2 5 ;
. z
H el mhol t , R . 4 7 4 4 7 7 ; 4 5 9 . 4 6 0 . 4 6 1 . 4 6 3 . -
Q uoted, 44 6
H amb urg er A 3 8 7 , .
, H e nderson A 3 1 7 3 1 8 , .
, ,
H amb urg er M 3 83 , .
, H enri ci O 4 2 2 4 2 3 , .
, ,
H amel G 40 5 , .
, H en ry J 4 7 3 , °
2
Hamil t on W 1 7 2 1 7 3 , .
, , ,
2 7 3 , 2 7 8, 33 1 H ensel K S 4 3 1 44 5 , . W . .
, ,
H amil ton R 33 2 ; , W . .
, 25 5 , 2 80 , 3 1 4, 3 2 2, H é n g o ne, P , 20 5
D
‘
C
\
H erma nn, J M , 4 8 6 . .
3 49 . 3 84 . 3 5 2 . 3 5 3 . 4 5 5 . 4 5 6 . 4 7 1 . 4 7 3 . H ermes, O , 43 6 .
4 7 7 ; C o ni c a l re fra cti on , 3 3 2 , 4 7 1 ; H am il H ermi t e. C . 4 1 5 . 4 1 6 ; 4 . 7 . . 2 7 9. 3 45 . 3 4 6 .

t oni an g rou p , 3 5 7 3 7 5 . 3 88 . 4 13.
H ammond J 3 4 5 3 48 . .
H an coc k H 3 7 1 3 7 2 , .
, , H e rmot i mus ,
28
H ank el H . 4 2 3 ; 1 0 2 5
. . . 5 2 . 5 7 . 6 2 . 9 1 . 93 H ero S ee H e ron.
9 6, 1 0 2 , 1 0 5, 1 1 5, 1 20 , 1 2 9, 1 3 5 , 1 4 1 , 2 2 6 , H erodi ani c sig ns 5 2 ,
273. 3 3 7 . 3 4 1 . 3 6 7 . 3 7 6 . 4 00 . 40 4 . 4 2 3 ; H erodi an us , 5 2
P ri n c ip l e of permanen ce, 33 7 ; uo t ed , Q H erodo t us , uot ed, 9 , q 11
Hero n , 4 2 : 5 42 6 1 7 6 6 , 84 : 8 6 : 1 0 1 2 1 1 42
H an s e n , P A . .
, 449 ; 3 8 2 , 4 5 1 , 4 5 2 , 4 86 13 1
Il an us, P H . .
, 341 H ero n t he You n g e r 43 ,
H an n J 4 6 3 . 4 6 4
. H ers c hel J F W 4 6 4 ; 1 2 6 , . . .
, ,
27 2, 40 5
H ar dy A S 2 6 5 , . .
, H er tz H R 2 8 1 4 7 4
, . .
, ,
Hardy C 1 64 , .
, z
H er t i an w av es 3 93 ,
H ardy G H 43 9 , . .
, H ess W 4 5 8 , .
,
H ark n ess J 43 3 , .
, H esse L O 3 1 1 3 1 2 ; 3 1 3
, . .
, , , 3 20 , 3 4 1 , 3 46,
H arnack A 404 . .
,
H armoni cs t heory of 40, 4 6

Harmu th Th 3 66 ,
,
.
,
, H esse] L O 2 9 1
“
H essi an 3 1 2 3 4 5
, .
,
” .
,
Harpedonapt ae 1 0 2 5 , ,
H et t ner, G , 4 2 5 .
H arri ng t on M W 4 5 5 , . .
, H eu raet , H v an , . 181
H arriot T 1 5 6. 1 5 7 ; 1 3 7 .
. .
, 1 4 1 . 1 49. 1 5 8 . H exag o n ,
6, 1 8, 1 66 , 2 2 8, 2 90 , 29 1 , 3 1 8,
1 7 8 . 1 7 9. 1 8 4 327
H art A S 2 98 ; 2 9 1 3 1 8
, . .
, , I l exag r ammu m my s t icum . S ee H exag on
H art H 30 1
, .
, H eyw ood, H B , 3 83 . .
H art og s F M , 40 1 4 2 9 , . .
, H ick s, W
M , 4 60 , 4 6 2 . .
z
H ar er P 4 5 2 , .
, H ie rat i c w ri t i ng , 1 1
H ask ell M W 3 1 0 , . .
, H i erog lyp hi cs 1 1 ,
H ask in s C N 3 5 6 , . .
,
H atz idak i s, N .
, 321
H a wk e s H E , . .
, 339 44 6 ; (2u o t e d. 43 0
I N DEX 4 99
H il debrandt T H 406 , . .
, H u xl ey 3 44 .
H ill C F 1 2 1
, . .
, H uyg en s C , .
, 182, 1 83 ; 1 43 , 1 66 , 1 6 9- 1 7 1 ,
H il l . G W 450 ; 394. 34 1 . 45 1 . 453

. .
, 1 73 . 1 79. 1 88 . 1 90 . 1 9 9. 200 . 2 0 5. 2 0 6 .
H ill J E 3 1 9
, . .
,
2 1 7, 221, 2 25, 230 , 2 44 , 4 7 0 ; Cycl oidal
H ill J M 3 84
, . .
, p endu l u m, 1 66
H ill Th 3 2 4
, .
,
H y de E W 2 50 33 7
, . .
, ,
Hi l p recht H V 7 , . .
, H ydrody n ami cs 2 2 3 240 , , , 24 2
H il ton H 3 60 , .
, Hydrostati cs 3 7 ,
H i ndenb urg C F 3 7 3 ; 2 7 2 Hyp at i a 50 ; 3 1

—
. .
, , ,
H i ndu Arab ic n um e ral s 2 5 2 6 8 88

-
, , , , 9 0, Hyp erb ol a 1 8 5 1 8 8 20 6 , , , , 2 47 ; E q uil at era l ,
1 28, 1 88 S ee C o n i c s
98,
—
1 00 , 10 1, 10 7 , 1 2 0, 1 2 1, 147
H indu s 83 9 8 ; 2 8 ; G eometry 8 3 —
.
, 86 , , Hyp erbo li c fu nc t io ns , 2 46 , 4 2 4 , 484

H ip p archus 4 3 ; 5 . 4 5 4 7 . 1 4 1 . 4 8 1 .
-
Hyperellip t i c fu n c t io ns , 2 8 1 , 4 1 1 , 4 1 8
Hi pp asus , 19 Hyp e rg eo met ri c e uatio n 2 8 2 q ,
H ip p ias of E li s 2 1 , Hyp erg eome tri c se ri e s , 1 8 5 , 2 3 8 , 3 7 3 , 3 8 5 ,

H ippocrat es of C hi os , 2 1 ; 2 2 , 23, 25, 2 6, 30 , 3 86
H yp erspace . S ee G eome try of n di men sions
H i p po lyt os Hyp si cl es, 5 8 ; 5 . 3 2 . 4 2 . 4 3 . 1 0 1
H ippop ede , 4 2 I ambli chu s 5 9 ; 6 , 9, 1 9 , 4 5 , 1 1 1
,
H i rn , G A , 4 7 6 I b b et s o n J , 46 9 W
—
. . . .
,
H i story of M ath s w hy st udied ’

, , 1 3 I b n Alb a n n a 1 1 0 ,
H obso n E W , 2 2 1 44 2 6 8
, . .
, , , 44 6 , 4 7 0 ; I b n Al H ai t a m, 1 0 4 , 1 0 7 , 1 09
-
Q u ot ed, 3 98 I b n Ju nos 1 0 9 ,
H odg ki nson E 4 6 7 , .
,
I deal n u mb ers , 44 2 , 44 3
H odog rap h 33 2 ,
I k eda 80 ,
H oer n l y, R , 85 I mag i na ri es , 2 2 5 2 2 6 , 2 2 9 , 2 3 6 , 23 7 , 2 7 5,
—2 94
.
,
H ol der . 0 . 3 5 7 . 3 5 8. 4 2 7 2 7 9 . 2 8 4 . 2 88 . 2 9 2 . 3 1 5 . 33 2 . 3 90 . 4 20 .
H ol mboe , B , 4 1 4 ; 3 7 4 , 4 1 1 .
434
z
H o l mann , W , 1 4 1 I mag i n a ry r oo s , t 1 23 , 13 5, 1 56, 1 7 9, 20 2 ,
—
.
H o mog raphy. 2 93 2 48 , 3 6 3 3 6 5 ; G raphi c

2 49 , rep resen ta
H omol og i cal fi g u res 1 6 6 , t i on of, 1 84 , 2 3 7 , 2 6 4 , 2 6 5
H ook e R 1 99 2 00 2 95
,
.
, , , I mamu ra C hi sho, 7 9
H op it al G F A S ee H ospi tal
, . . . I mp a ct , 1 7 9
H oppe . R 3 09 ; 4 5 3 .
, I mshen et s k i , G , 3 85 ; 3 8 6 W . .
H or n J 3 8 7
, I nco mme nsurabl es 2 2 2 8 , 3 1 , 3 2 , 57 , 1 2 6 ; , ,
H orn er J 3 66 I ndet ermi n a t e coe ffi ci ent s 1 7 6 204

, ,
—
.
, ,
H o rner G 75 , W . .
, I ndet er mi n at e e u at io ns 6 0 7 3 7 4 94 9 7 q , , , , ,
H om er s met hod 7 2 7 4 7 5 2 7 1
’
, , , , , 3 65 10 6 , 1 2 4 1 6 7 , 44 1 ; O f se c ond deg ree , 6 2
,
H orsbu rg h E M 3 2 9 4 8 2 4 8 5 , . .
, , , , 4 86 I ndetermi n at e fo rm 2 2 2 2 24 .
H ospital G F A l 2 2 4 ; 1 7 7 I ndi an n ot at ion S ee H i ndu A rabic

’
-
,
. . .
, , 2 13 , 2 17, .
I ndi c at rix, 2 7 5
Hou el . J 3 1 5 ; 304. 3 34 . 3 6 9 . 4 84 I ndivi sibl es, 1 2 6 , 1 6 1 , 1 6 2 , 1 6 5 , 1 7 2 , 1 7 5 ,
Hsu . 7 7 1 84
H u dde J , .
, 1 80 ; 1 7 8 , 1 8 1 , 1 93 I nduc ti on 1 6 9 , 33 1
H udson R H T 3 19
, . W . . .
, I nfini te p ro duct s, 1 8 6 , 1 8 7 , 4 1 7
H ug el Th 3 6 7
,
.
, I nfi ni te seri e s , 7 5 , 7 7 , 80 , 8 1 , 1 0 6 , 1 2 7, 1 7 2,
H u g h es T M P 7 4 ,
. . .
, 1 8 1, 1 8 7, 1 88 , 1 92, 1 93 , 1 96 , 20 6 , 2 1 2,
H u mb ert M G 3 1 7 , . .
, 2 27. 23 2 . 2 3 8. 2 46 . 2 48. 2 5 7 . 2 5 8. 3 6 1 .
H u n ai n i bn I shak 1 0 1 3 6 7 . 3 7 3 . 4 2 5 . 4 34 . 4 1 1 ; C o n v e rg e nce of .
H un t i ng t on E V 3 5 7 .
,
2 2 7 . 2 49 . 2 7 0 . 2 8 4 . 3 67 . 3 73 37 5 . 4 1 7
—
—
. . .
,
H u nyadi E 3 4 1 , .
, I n fi ni t el y s mall , 1 60 , 1 65, 1 94 1 9 8 , 20 7 ,
z
H ur wi t . A 3 7 6 . 4 2 3 4 2 6 . . 43 2 . 444 . 44 5 . 2 1 0, 2 1 8 2 20 , 2 3 7
44 6 I n fi ni t esi mal s ,
24, 3 5 , 48, 49 , 5 1 , 1 8 1, 1 8 9,
H u rwi t z W A 3 95 , . .
,
H u s se y W J 45 5
, , . . I nfin i t e si mal c al cul u s . S ee D ifferen t ial
H u t c hi n so n J I , . .
, 3 19 c al cul u s
H u tt o n C 24 7 ; , .
, 1 54, 1 55 I n fi ni t y , 2 3 , 2 4 , 6 6 , 1 2 6 , 1 60 , 1 6 6, 1 7 7, 1 84 ,
5cx3 IIJIDIB}(
—
1 85 . 2 19. 23 7 . 2 4 1 . 2 43 . 25 7. 2 83 . 2 8 7 . Jann i G 34 1
, .
,
J apanese 7 8 8 2 ,
I ng old, L , 3 2 8 , 3 3 3 . J as tremsk i 3 8 1 ,
I n g ra m J R , 2 9 2
, . . J e an s J H 4 5 0
, . .
,
I n sur ance , 1 7 1 , 2 2 3 J ell e t t J H . 3 7 0 ; 4 5 7 46 8

. .
.
I n t eg r al cal c u l us 3 , 7 9 , 8 1 , , 161, 209 , 2 10, J erard of C remo na 1 1 9 ; 1 2 3 ,
J err ard G B 3 49
I n t eg ral e u at i on s , 3 9 2 —
. .
, ,
q
3 9 4 , 4 0 5 , 40 6 4 1 3 ,
J e vo n s , W
S 3 7 8 ; 2 8 1 40 7 . .
, ,
I n t eg r al s , 3 6 . 3 1 6 . 3 7 6 . 3 86 . 3 88 . 4 2 4 ; J oac hi m G S ee R hae ti cus , .

,
Al g eb ra i c , 2 83 ; D efi ni t e , 1 89 , 2 3 7 , 2 63 , J oa chi mst hal F 4 2 4 ,
J oc hmann E 4 7 8 , .
,
E ll ip t ic , 239, 2 5 8, 2 6 6 , 2 6 7, 4 14 ; E ul eri an , J ohanso n A M 43 3 , . .

,
2 6 7, 272; H yp erel li p t i c , 4 13 , 4 1 5 ; L eb es J o hn of al e rmo 1 2 4 P ,
g u e , 40 6 , , 4 0 7 ; M u l t ip l e
2 84 , 3 9 2 ; ier P J ohn of S ev ill e 1 1 8 ; 1 1 9 1 4 7 , ,
p o nt , 4 0 6 ; R a do n , 40 6 ; R i emann , 40 6 , 40 7 J ohn so n W W 3 0 2 , . .
,
I n t eg raphs, 4 8 6 J oly C J 333

I n t eg ra t io n s an t e —
. .
da t i ng t he cal cul u s , 1 89 J ones C W 4 84

, . .
,
-
'
I n t eg ro di fi ere nt ial e u at io n s , 39 2 , 3 95 , q J ones W 1 55 1 5 8 23 5

, .
, , ,
J ordan C 3 1 8 3 2 5 3 2 6 3 4 7 34 8 . 3 5 3 . 3 5 4 .
40 5
— . .
. . . . .
I n t er nat i o n al commi ssi o n o n t eac hi ng , 3 5 6 3 57 36 0. 3 7 9. 3 90 . 4 2 8 ; J o rdan curv e .
I nt ern at i o n al co ng r esses , 2 80 3 2 5, 3 2 6 ; J orda n

p ro bl em , 3 5 9
’
s
I n t e r p ol a t i o n 1 8 6 1 8 7 , 1 9 2 , , J ordanu s N emora ri us , 1 1 8
I nv aria n t s 2 8 2 , 3 1 2 3 1 6 , 3 1 9 3 2 1 3 4 2
, , , ,
J osephus F 7 9 , .
,
3 4 8 . 3 49 . 3 5 1 . 3 5 5 . 3 5 6 . 3 8 8 . 4 1 7 . 4 44 ; J osephu s p robl em 7 9 45 9 , ,
N a me 3 45 J o u b er t P 4 1 7
—9 J o ul e J P 4 7 5 ; 4 7 7—
.
,
I n v e r s e m e t h o d o f t an g e n t s 1 8 0 , , 207 20 . 47 9 .
.
I nv ersi on , H i n du met ho d of 9 2 , J ou rdai n E B 20 5 2 1 2 , P . . .

, , , 2 1 5 , 25 7, 3 99 ,
I n v ersio n ( i n g eo met ry , 2 9 2 ) 400 4 0 1 40 2 ; Q uo t e d 40 7
. . . . 40 8 . 409
I nv o l u t e 1 8 3 , J ou r nal des S avan s fou nded , 2 0 9
I nv ol u t io n of p o i n ts 5 0 1 66 , , J ou rn al of the I n di an M a th S oci ety, 9 8 .
I o ni c s ch ool , 1 5 1 7
-
J ou rn al s 8 2 , 9 8 , 2 0 9 , 2 7 3 , 2 7 8, 2 88 ,
I rra t io n al s , 2, 1 9, 2 2, 3 2 , 43 , 5 7 , 6 1 , 8 6 , 9 3 ,
94 . 1 03 . 1 33 . 1 40 . 33 0 . 39 6 —
4 00 . 4 83 ; J up i t er s sat ellit es
’
,
25 2
F i r st u se o f w o rd, 6 8 J u rg ensen C 4 1 4 , .
,
I rrat io nal roo t s S ee R oo t s . J u ri n J . 2 1 9 ; 3 6 9

I shak ib n H u n ai n 1 0 1 , K a n t I 2 6 1 , 449 .
,
I sidoru s , 5 1 , 1 1 3 , 1 2 1 K arp i n ski , L C 6 8 8 8 , 8 9 , 1 0 2 , 1 03 , 1 2 1 . .

, ,
I sochro nous cu rv e 2 1 7 2 2 1 , , K ars te n J G 23 7 ; 2 6 5

, W . . .
,
I somu ra Ki t t ok u 7 9 , K a sne r E , 3 1 8 3 2 0 , 3 2 2 ; Q u o t ed , 3 2 4
, .
,
I sop erimet ri c al fi g u r e s , 4 2 K as tn er, A G , 4 3 4 43 5 ; 2 0 4 2 4 8

—
221, 222, 2 3 4,
—
.
,
.
, ,
25 1 Kay e . G R . 84 8 7 . 96 9 8
I sot hermi c su rfa ces , 3 1 4 Keill , J , 2 1 5 ; 2 1 6 , 2 1 8
.
I t el son , G , 2 8 6 . Kell an d, P , 4 6 1 ; 4 7 4 .
I vory, J , 2 7 3 ; 4 6 9 ; H i s t heore m, 2 7 3
. K el vi n , Lo rd ( S ir i ll i a m Thomso n , 4 7 2 , W )
J abi r i b n Afl ah, 1 09 ; 1 1 9 4 73 ; 2 7 1 . 2 7 2 . 2 7 9. 2 9 2 . 3 2 3 . 3 2 9.
J acobi , C G J , 4 1 4 , 4 1 5 ; 2 6 6 2 7 8 2 89,
. . .
, , 2 90 ,
—
4 7 9 , 4 86 ; T ho mson
’
s p ri nc i pl e , 2 84, 422,
428 43 0 , 43 3 , 4 7 3 ; T ide
-
cal cu l a t i ng ma
4 2 1 . 4 2 4 . 4 2 5 . 4 2 9 . 43 6 . 4 3 7 . 44 1 . 44 8 . c hi ne , 3 29 ; Vor t ex a toms , 3 23
4 5 5 . 4 5 8 . 4 6 9 . 4 7 0 ; J a c obi a n . 3 4 5 ; Theory K empe . A B . 2 8 6 . 3 0 2 . 3 2 3 . 3 2 4. 409 .
o f u l t i m at e mu l t i p li er, 4 5 6 K e mp n er . A J 444. 44 6
Ke pl er. J 1 5 9—
.
J acob i K F A, . . .
,
2 9 8 ; 2 99 1 6 1 ; 1 3 1 . 1 4 5 . 1 4 6 . 1 48 . 1 5 4 .
J acob o de B il ly , 158 1 63 , 1 70, 1 7 8, 1 84 , 192, 1 99
J acob s J 3 80
,
.
, K ep l er s p rob l e m
’
,
25 2
J ahnk e E 33 5 ,
.
, K e tt el e r C , 4 7 1 , .
J a hr bu c h u ber di e Fo-r tschri tte der M e the K ey s e r C J 6 6

, . .
, , 1 7 4, 2 85
mati k ,
2 78 K hayy am, O mar, 10 3 , 108
02 INDEX
Least res ist an ce ( soli d of)2 0 1 2 3 4 2 84 , , , Limi t s , 2 4 , 1 8 2 , 1 84 , 1 9 8 , 2 20 , 2 4 3 , 2 57 , 2 83 ,
q
Le as t s u ares 2 6 3 2 66 2 6 7 2 7 3 3 8 2 434 , , , , , ,
L eb esg u e V A 40 5 ; 3 4 1 . 3 6 9 . 40 1 40 2
. . . Li ndeb erg J W 3 7 2 , . .
,
L in del of L L 3 7 0
'
, . .
,
Leb on E 3 89 , .
, L i ndemann F 3 0 8 3 6 2 4 1 9 44 6 , , , ,
Leg endre A M , . .
, 2 66 - 2 6 8 ; 23 1 , 23 2 , 24 6, L in ear t r ansformat ion s 2 8 2 2 89 , , , 340 , 342
2 47 . 2 5 6 . 2 63 . 3 0 6 . 3 4 9. 3 5 1 . 3 7 0 . L i ng G H 3 5 7 3 5 8
. .
— .
. .
3 7 1.
3 8 2 . 3 8 8
3. 3 5. 4 5. 4
0 1 1 -
4 1 3 . 4 1 7 . 43 5 . Li nk ag es 3 00 30 2 344 , ,
4 3 8 . 43 9 . 44 2 . 4 66 . 4 6 9 . 4 7 3 . 4 8 2 ; C ri m e Li n t eri a , 2 2 1
tr i e, 2 6 8 , 3 0 2 ; L coeffi ci en t s, 4 1 4 ; N u m . Liou vill e . J 440 ; 2 9 2 . 3 2 1 . 3 40 . 3 5 1 . 3 5 2 .
b er t heory , 1 7 0 , 2 39 3 64 . 3 8 8 . 3 93 . 4 1 3 . 4 1 8 . 4 20 . 43 6 . 44 1 .
L ehmann Pil he s , R , 3 83 , 4 53
’
44 6 . 4 5 6 . 4 7 3
-
.
Lehmer, D N , 440 , 44 6 Li pki n 3 0 1

— 9; 3
. .
,
L eibni z , G W . .
, 205 5 1 , 80 , 1 4 6 , 1 5 8,
21 , Li pschitz R 30 8 ; 3 7 6 . 43 1 . 44 9. 4 6 1
. .
1 7 3 . 1 7 5 . 1 7 9. 1 8 2 . 1 83 . 1 88 . L i st ing J B 3 2 3 ; 3 5 9
1 91 , 1 93 , 1 96 1 9 8 ,
—
2 2 0, 2 2 2, 2 2 4, 2 2 6, ,
.
L i t tl e C N 3 2 3 . .
,
2 3 6 - 2 3 9 . 2 46 . 2 4 8 . 2 5 7. 3 23 . 3 6 9. L i tt l ew ood J E 43 9 , . .
,
40 8, 4 1 0 , 4 8 5 ; De arte combi n ator i a, 20 5 ; Li t uu s 2 2 6,
N otation of cal cu l us, 20 7, 208 , 2 10 ; Li u H u i 7 1 , 7 3 ,
O ther n o t at io ns , 2 1 1 , 1 5 7 ; C on t rover sy Ll oy d , H , 4 7 1
wi t h N ew t on , 2 1 2—
.
2 18 L obachevsk i , N I . .
, 30 3 ; 2 7 8, 30 4 , 3 0 6 , 3 0 7 ,
L ei tz mann , H , 3 40 I
.
425
L emni scat e, 1 8 8 , 2 2 1 , 2 4 5 L ocal pro b abil i t y, 2 44
Lemoi ne , E , 2 99; 3 00 , 3 7 9 ; L poin t , 2 99 ; . . Lo cal v al ue , p ri n c ip l e o f, 5 , 6 9 , 7 8 , 88 , 94 ,
L circl e, 3 00
. 1 00 , 102
Lemonni er, C , 256 P . . Lo ewy A 3 60 , .

,
Leodamas, 2 8 Log ari t h mi c c u rv e 1 5 6 1 83 2 3 6 , , ,
L eon , 2 8 ; 3 0 Lo g ari t hmi c seri es 1 8 8 ,
Leo nardo de Vi nci , 1 2 8

L eonardo of isa , 1 20 1 2 5 ; 1 3 , 1 0 4 , 1 1 0 , P — Log ari t hmic sp iral 1 5 6 2 2 1
Log ari t hms 1 40 1 49— 1 56 1 89 2 3 5 ; C om
, ,
1 20
—5 12 , 1 27, 1 2 8, 14 1 mo n , 15 1 ;
,
C omp u t at io n of 1 5 3 1 5 6 , 1 88
, ,
,
,
—
L eonelli G Z 4 84 ; 1 5 5 , . .
, , 3 66 radix me thod, 1 5 3 , 1 5 5 C harac t eri s t ic ,
Lerch M 4 2 8 1 5 2 ; L of cross rat i o 2 93 ; L o f i m ag i n a
”
-
ri es ; 2 2 5 , 2 3 5—
,
.
, .
, .
Lesl ie J 2 1 8 1 45, .
, ,
2 3 7 2 43 , 3 3 0 , G auss i an , ,
Leuschn er A O 4 5 2 , . .
, 4 84 , N at u ra l l 1 5 0 , 1 5 2 , 1 5 3 ; 2 4 7 ; M a n ,
Le Vav asseur . S ee Vav asseur , Le t i ssa , 1 5 2 ; I n C hi n a 7 7 ; L og ari t hm i ; ,
cu rve , 1 5 6 1 83 , 2 3 6 ; L og a ri t hmi c s p i r a l ,
‘
Lever 3 7 , ,
L ev err i er U J I 449 ; 3 3 2 4 5 1 . .
. 1 5 6 2 2 1 ; L og ari t hmi c t abl e s , 4 8 2 , 4 8 3
,
L evi b en G erson 1 2 8 ,
L og ic , 2 2 20 5 2 4 6 , ,
L evi C ivi t a T 3 33 3 5 6 . 433 . 4 53 . 4 54

-
. .
. . L ommel E , 44 9, 4 7 1 , .
Levy M . 4 69 ; 2 9 6
. . L ondon, F 2 9 2
L ewi s C I 40 8 , . .
, Lo n g I 1 5 5
. .
.
Lewi s G N 3 3 5 4 8 1
, . .
, , Lo ng omo nt a nu s C , .
, 1 69
Lew i s T C 4 60 , . .
, L oo mi s E 4 63 , .
,
Le xi s W 3 8 1 ; 3 80 ; D i spe rs ion t heory

, .
, , 381 L oren tz H A 4 7 9 , . .
, , 48 1
L eziu s J 98 ,
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L o re n J F 3 0 2
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L H ospi tal
’
S ee H o sp i tal . z
L o r en L 4 7 1, .
,
L i Ch
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u nféng , 71 L o ri a 0 7 2 2 4 2
. . . . . 1 5 6 . 1 7 6 . 1 7 7 . 1 83 . 2 4 5 .
Li e. S .
. 354 ; 2 7 9. 3 0 6 . 30 7 . 3 1 9 . 3 2 0 . 3 2 1 .
L o tt n er, E , 4 5 8 .
Q uoted. 3 55 Lotz e R H , 309

, . .
L ig ht , corp usc ul ar t heo ry o f, 2 04 ; W ave L ou d, F H , 2 94 . .
t heo ry of, 1 83 Lo v e, A E H , 4 7 0 . . .
Lig ow ski , W , 4 84 . Lov ett , E O ; Q uot ed, 4 5 2 , 4 5 3 . .
Lig ni ne V , 3 0 2 , . L oxodromi c cu rve, 1 4 2

L i lav ati , 8 5 8 7 , 9 2 ,
L oxodromi c spiral , 2 2 1
Lil i ent hal , R V , 3 2 1 . . L u cas, E , 44 6 ; 3 66 .
IN D EX 50 3
L u cas de B urg o 1 2 5 1 8 7 M athemat ic al per iodi cal s S ee J ou rnal s

—
.
, ,
L ucreti us T 66 , .
,
M a t he mat ic al p hy s ics 3 9 2 3 94 ,
L u dl am W 30 2 ,
.
,
M at hemat i c al seminar 4 2 4 ,
L u dol p h V an C eul e n S ee V an Ceul en M at he ma ti c al so c ie t ies S ee S oci eti es

M at hemati cal Tabl es 4 8 2 —
. .
L u nar t heo ry S ee M oon .

4 84 ,
, q
L un e s u ar ing of 2 2 5 7 , , M at he ma ti cs defi ni tion of 2 8 5 2 8 6 , , ,
L u p t on S 1 5 5 , .
,
M at hews G B 395 4 1 4 44 5 , . .
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L u roth, J , 4 2 2 ; 3 7 7 . M at hi eu . E . 3 5 3 ; 4 1 7 3 5 8 . 4 69 . 4 75 .
M ac C ull ag h, J , 3 1 2 ; 4 6 1 , 4 7 1 . M at hi eu P 4 70 , .
,
M ac Co ll , H , 40 8 ; 3 7 9 , 40 7 . M at ri ces 3 3 5 3 3 7 . 33 8 3 3 9 3 40
. . . . . 3 44 . 408
M acdon ald, W R , 1 5 0 . . M atthi esse n L 10 7 1 10 2 5 3 , .
, , ,
M acfarl ane. A . 3 3 5 ; 3 2 3 . 3 3 4. 40 7 . 44 1 M audi t h J 1 2 8 1 3 2 , .

, ,
M ach E , 3 7 ; 2 1 9 . M au pe rti u s P 2 44 ; 2 40 4 7 7 , .
, ,
M achi n , J , 2 0 6 ; 2 2 7 . M au roly cu s 1 4 1 ; 1 4 2 1 4 5 , ,
M ack ay , J S , 2 99 ; M c i rc l e , 3 00 . . . M axi ma a nd mi nima 3 2 40 8 1 , , , , 142, 1 60 ,
M acl au ri n C , 2 2 8 , 2 2 9 ; 1 7 7 , 2 0 2 , 2 2 0 , 2 2 6
, .
,
1 63 , 1 64 , 1 80 , 1 93 , 1 96 , 2 10 , 2 2g , 267,
2 6 7 . 2 7 3 . 2 7 7 . 2 93 . 3 6 9 . 3 7 7 ; M 29 1. 3 94 . 3 7 0 . 3 7 6 . 3 84
t heo re m, 2 2 6 , 2 2 8 , 3 6 5
M ac M ahon . P A 2 40 . 3 43 . 3 45 . 3 48. 3 66 . W axw e u’ C '
s 47 4 4 79 ;
3 2 2 . 3 33 . 3 3 4 . 3 3 7 . 4 5 1 . 4 5 8 . 4 60 . 4 6 1 . 4 6 8 .
-
27 1 7 2 7 9, 281, 2 96 7
43 6 4 7 1 . 4 7 2 . 4 7 7 . 4 7 9. 4 8 6
M ac M ill an D 43 3 4 5 3 , W . .
, , M aya . 6 9. 70
M ag ic c i rcl es 7 6 7 7 7 9 80 , , , , M ay er A 4 2 5 ; 3 5 5
. .
.
M ag i c cub es 7 9 8 1 , , M ayer M 3 6 3
, .
,
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M ag i c s u ares 7 6 7 7 7 9 80 . . . . . 9 2 . 93 . 1 04 M ay e r R 4 7 5 ; 4 49
. .
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1 2 8. 1 4 1 . 1 4 5 . 1 6 7 . 3 6 6. 3 6 7 M c C l i n toc k E 3 6 5 ; 3 60 , .
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M ag i c wheel s 7 9 , M c C ol l H S ee M ac C oll H
, .
, .
M ag nus H G 4 5 9 , . .
, M c C ow an 46 2 ,
M ag nu s L I 2 95 , . .
, M e an Val ue t heor em of 4 20 , ,
M ah avi ra 8 5 ; 8 6 88 9 6 9 7 , , , , M easu remen t 4 1 ; I n P ro ec ti ve G eomet ry , j ,
M aill et . E 3 54 ; 3 5 7. 3 59. 3 66 . .
, 44 2 . 444 . 2 94 ; I n t heo ry of i rrati on al s , 3 97 ; Of
44 6 a re as , 45 5
M ai n R 4 5 5
, .
, M ec hani cs , 1 9, 3 7, 1 7 1, 172, 1 79,
M ai nardi G 3 70 2 2 9, 2 3 1 , 2 40 , 2 4 2 , 2 5 5 , 2 6 0 , 2 7 6 , 2 88 , 2 9 6 ,
—
.
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M L are n J 3 66
’
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, 307 . 30 8 . 8 8
3 3 . 3 4 . 3 9 . 44 7 4 6 4 . 4 7 7 . 4 8 1 ;
1
M al ebra nc he N 2 2 2 , .
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Th eo ry t op , 4 5 8 ; F l uid of m ot i o n 4 6 0 ,
M alfat t i G F 2 9 1 ; 3 49 . .
, 4 6 4 ; Least ac t io n, 2 40 , 2 55 S ee S t at i cs ,
M alfa tti s p robl em 8 1 2 9 1 3 1 4 , , ,
D y n ami cs
M ang oldt H von 3 1 4 43 9 , .
, , M ehl er G 4 70
, .
,
M a n nheim A 3 2 4 , .
, M ehmk e R 2 66 3 66 4 83 4 84
, .
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M ann in g Th 1 5 5 , .
, M ei Ku ch éng 7 7 -
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M anni ng W A 3 60 , . .
, M ei ssel E 4 1 6
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M annoury G 403 , .
, M ei ssner W 443 , .
,
M an si on P 3 84 , .
, M el an cht ho n 1 40 ,
M ap col ori ng 3 2 3 3 2 4 , , M e n aechm us 2 7 ; 2 9 3 9 40 1 0 7 , , , ,
M ap constru cti o n 4 8 1 6 7 2 9 5 3 1 4 , , , ,
M e n di z ab el Tamb o rre l M J d e 4 83 -
, . .
,
M archi L de 4 64 , .
, M e nel aus 4 6 4 7 ; 1 1 9 ; L e mma 4 6
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M arcol ong o R 33 5 4 6 9 , .
, , M eng oli P 1 7 3 , .
,
M arg et t s 4 8 1 , M e nsu rati on in E u cli d 3 3 ; i n B oethi u s , ,

67 ;
M ar g ul es M 46 4 , .
, i n C hi n a 7 1 ,
M arie Ab bé 2 6 6 ; 2 5 2
, , M éray. C . 3 9 7 ; 400 . 4 2 6 .
M ari e M 2 94 ; 43 1 6 2
, .
, , M ercat or, G , 1 8 9 2 95 3 1 4 .
, ,
M aschero ni L 2 6 8 ; 4 7 2 69 , .
, , M er cat or N , 1 5 6 ; 1 8 8 2 0 6
, .
,
M aschk e H 3 5 9 ; 3 1 8 3 3 3 3 4 7 . 3 5 6
. .
. . . M eridi an measu r ed, 2 00 , 2 44 ; ero meri d Z
M asl ama al M aj ri ti 1 0 4 -
, i an , 2 5 9
M ason M 3 7 2 39 1
, .
, , M erse n n e P , 1 5 6 1 6 3 1 6 8 1 7 4 , 1 7 7 , 1 8 1 ,
, .
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M as sau J 4 8 2 , .
, 1 83 , 1 88 ; M n u mb e rs 1 6 7 .
,
M athemat ic al i nd u c tio n 1 4 2 , M ert e ns . F 3 7 3 . 43 8 . 43 9. 446

50 4 . I IJ IDIZ}C
M et eoro l ogy 4 6 2 4 6 4 ,
— 2 60 . 2 6 2 . 44 9 . 4 5 0 . 4 5 1 . 4 5 3 . 4 6 2 ; Libra
M e t ho d of e xhau s ti o n S ee E xhau st i o n . t i on o f, 2 5 2 ; Va ri a ti on o f, 1 0 6
M et hod of fl u xio n s 1 94 1 96 S ee F l u xi on s , , . M o or e C L E 3 2 2, . . .
,
M et ho d o f t ang e n t s 5 1 1 63 1 6 4 1 7 7 1 80 , , , , , , M oo re E H 3 1 8 . 3 2 5 . 3 5 7 . 3 5 8 . 394. 3 95 .
. . .
,
1 89, 1 93 , 20 7, 20 9 , 212; I n v e rse me t hod 4 04 . 40 5 ; Q u o t ed. 40 3

of, 1 80 , 20 7 —9 20 M oore H L 3 80 , . .
,
M et i u s A 7 3 , .
,
M oore R L 3 2 5 3 2 8
, . .
, ,
M e tri c sy st em 2 5 6 2 5 9 2 6 5 2 6 6 , , , ,
M o rera G 4 2 8 , .
,
M eusni er J B M 3 2 0 , . . .
,
M od K amb ei Shi g eyoshi 7 8 ,
M ey er A 3 84 , .
,
M or i n ,
M ey er G F 3 7 2 , . .
,
M ori tz R 1 5 2 3 4 5 44 6 . 44 7
. 4 . .
M ey er 0 E 4 6 1 ; 4 6 9 4 7 8
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M orl ey E W 4 7 9 , . .
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M eyer R 1 90 , .
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M orl ey F 3 1 9 3 2 0 43 3
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M eyer F 2 80 3 00 3 4 6
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M orl ey S G 6 9 , . .
,
M éz iri ac S ee B ac he t de M éz i ri ac. M ort al i ty 1 7 1 ,
M ic hell J 2 3 0 ,
.
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M oschop ul us M 1 2 8 , .
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M i c hel so n A A 4 6 5 4 7 2 4 7 9 M os er L 3 8 1
—
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M ik ami Y 7 1 7 8 8 1 88 , .
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M o ti o n l a w s o f 1 7 1 1 7 9 1 99
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M ill J S . 3 7 9 ; 1 7 3
. . M oul t o n F R 3 2 7 . 4 5 0 4 5 3 . .
. . . 45 9. 4 60 ;
M i ll er G A 8 2 . 2 7 9 . 3 4 1 . 3 5 0 3 5 1
. . .
, .
-
3 55 . Q uot e d.
M ou rraill e J R 2 4 7 2 6 9 3 64 , . .
, , ,
M il ner I 2 4 8 , .
, M outon G 2 0 6 ; 2 1 5 , .
,
M in chi n G M 4 5 7 , . .
, M ui r Th 3 4 0 3 4 1 4 84
. .
, . .
M i n d i ng F A 4 1 4 ; 3 2 1 , . .
,
M ul l er F 2 7 9
, .
,
M ini mal s u rfaces S ee S u r face s .

, mi n i mal M ull er J S ee R eg i omont anus
, .
M i nk ow sk i H 4 80 ; 3 3 5 3 7 1 . . . 44 5 . M ul l e r J H 4 8 5
, . .
,
48 1 M ull er R 3 0 1, .
,
M i ran C he l eb i 1 1 0 , M ul t i p l e p o i n t s 2 9 5 ,
M iri m ano fi D 44 2 443 , .

, , M u N ik o 7 7 ,
M ises R M E 3 9 1
, . . .
, M u ra mat su 7 9 ,
M i t chell H H 3 6 0 M u sa S aki r 1 0 4
'
.
, .
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M i t t ag L e fii er G M 4 2 7 ; 2 7 9 3 8 8 , 4 2 6
-
, . .
, ,
M u si cal p roport io n 6 ,
M i t zs c he rli ng A 43 7 , .
, M y do rg e C 1 6 6 ; 1 64 , .
,
M iyai A nt ai 8 1 , N a c hr e i n er V , 3 4 1 , .
M o bius A F 2 89 ; 2 8 7 2 97 3 1 0 3 2 3 3 3 6 N ag el sb a ch , H , 3 4 1 3 6 5
1 49 —
, . .
, , , , , ,
.
,
N ap i e r. J 155 ; 1 2 7 . 1 4 s. 1 4 6 . 1 4 8 ;
M odel s ( g eo met r i c )3 2 8 3 2 9 , ,
A na l og ies , 1 5 2 ; R u l e o f c i r c u l ar p ar t s 1 5 2 ,
M o d u l a r e u at i o n s 3 5 2 4 1 6 4 1 7 q , , , N ap ie r M , 1 4 7
, .
M odu l us fi r s t u se of t e rm 2 6 5 , , N ap o l eo n I , 3 1 2 6 8 , 2 7 0 , 2 7 5 , 2 7 6 ,
M oh r O 2 9 6
, .
, N a sce n t u an t i t ies, 1 9 2 q
M oig no F 3 7 0 ; 2 4 1 3 6 4, .
, , N asi r E ddi n , 1 0 8
-
M o ivr e A de S ee D e M oi v re
, . . N au M F , 8 9
, . .
M ol e nb roek P 3 3 5 , .
, N avi er, M H , 4 6 5 ; 3 7 9 , 3 83 , 4 60 , 4 6 1 , 4 6 8
. .
M oli e n Th 3 3 9 , .
, N e b u l ar hy p o t he s i s , 2 6 0 , 4 5 0
M ol k J , 2 80
, . N eg a t i ve n u mbe rs 6 1 7 1 , 7 5 , 9 3 , 94 , 1 0 7 , , ,
M ol l e r M , 4 6 4
, . 1 2 3 , 1 3 8 1 4 1 , 2 7 6 , 2 89 ,
M oll eru p J 3 27 ,
P . .
, N eik i rk , L I 3 60 . .
,
M oll w e ide K B 2 3 5 ; 43 7 , . .
, N eil , W , 1 8 1 ; 1 8 8 .
M ome n t s o f fi u xi o n s 1 94 ,
N ek raso ff , P , 3 6 5 .
M omen t s of u an t it i es 1 9 5 1 9 6 q , ,
N emor ari us J , 1 2 7 ; 1 1 8 , .
M omen t u m 1 7 2 , N eocl eides , 2 8

M o ng e G , .
, 2 7 4, 2 7 5 ; 41, 2 3 1 , 23 2 , 2 46, 2 66 , N essel ma n n , G H F , 6 2 , 1 1 1 . . .
N e tt o E . 3 4 1 . 3 4 8 . 3 5 4 . 4 2 5
,
N eu b e rg J , 3 00 ; his c i rc l e , 3 0 0
, .
M on t mo rt P R de 2 2 4 ; 2 2 2 2 3 0 3 83 , . .
, , ,
N eu ma nn C . 4 7 0 ; 3 1 1 . 3 2 1 . 3 93 . 43 0 . 449. .
M on t u c l a J F 2 5 0 ; 1 6 2 1 8 5 , . .
, ,
M o o n t heory of 1 0 5 20 4 2 40 2 4 5 2 5 9
, , , , , , ,
N eu m a n n , F , 3 1 1 , 3 1 3 .
50 6 IN D EX
H om er 7 4 7 5 2 7 1 3 6 5 ; I n fi n i t e de ter
, , , P appu s . 49. so ; 45 . 5 4 . 5 5 .
mi nant s 3 6 5 ; I n fi n i t e ser ies 2 2 7 3 6 5 ;
, , , 142, 1 6 6 ; P robl em of 50
J ap an ese 80 8 1 ; L eon ardo of Pisa 1 2 4 ; , , , P ar ab ol a, 1 62, 17 7, 1 85 , 1 88 , 20 6 , 2 24
N ew to n 20 3 ; R ap hson , 20 3 ; R ecen t r e
, C ubi cal 1 8 2 1 88 , , ,
208 ; Diverg ent , 204 ,
s earc hes , 3 6 3 - 3 6 6 S ee Alg ebra, E ua . q 2 44 ; S emi cu bi cal -
, 1 81 ; Focu s of, 50
t io n s , R oo t s P aradoxes , 400 , 409 S ee eno . Z
z
N u ne P , 1 4 2 ; 1 43
, . P aral l el l i nes , 1 66 , 3 02 , 3 03 , 3 2 7 ; D efined ,
Ob enr auc h , F J , 29 7 . .
48 S ee P arall el po stul at e, Eucli d, Non
.
Ob erb eck A , 4 64 , . eu cl i dean g eomet ry
O cag ne S ee D ocag ne P arall el motion, 3 00

’
.
O dhn er W T , 4 85
O e no p ides , 1 7 ; 1 5
, . . P arall el post ul at e, 3 2 , 4 8 1 08 , 1 84, 3 0 2 , 3 03 ,
“
3 05 , 3 0 8 ; p roofs of, 4 8, 10 8
” ,
O hm G S , 2 8 1
, . . P ar all el og ram of forces, 1 7 2
O hm M 3 2 9 ; 3 30 4 2 4
, .
, , P aren t A , 1 6 7 , .
O h rt ma nn C 2 7 8 , .
, P ar is academy of sc i e nces, 1 6 8 , 1 8 2 , 2 4 6
O lb ers . H M . 4 5 2 ; 4 3 5 . 43 7 . 44 7 .
. W . P arme n ides , 2 4
44 8 P ars ev al M A , 3 7 6
—
.
, .
O l de nb u rg H 1 7 8 1 8 7 2 1 2 2 1 4 , 2 1 5
, .
, , ,
P art i al diff eren t i al eq u at io n s, 1 9 6 , 2 4 2 , 2 5 1 ,
O li v ie r T , 2 9 6
, . 2 5 5 . 2 63 . 2 64 . 2 70. a7 s. 281. 392. 3 1 3 .
O m ar K hayya m, 1 0 3 , 1 0 7 8
3 5 5 . 3 4 3 88 . 4 2 2 . 4 5 6
-
Opp e l F W , 2 3 5 P ar ti tion of n u mbers, 2 3 9 , 3 44 , 3 6 7 , 444

—
. .
,
Oppert 8 , P ascal , B , 1 64 1 66 ; 7 6 , 1 4 2 , 1 4 6 , 1 4 7 , 1 6 3 ,
.
Opp ik offer J , 4 8 6 , . 1 6 2 , 1 6 7 , 1 80 , 1 83 , 1 84 , 1 8 7 1 90 , 20 6 , 20 7 , ,
z
O ppol er . T v . 45 2 ; 45 5 . . 2 4 6 , 2 7 2 , 2 7 3 , 2 8 7 , 3 1 1 , 4 85 ; asca l li ne, P
Or chard , 1 55 2 90 ; O n c hance, 1 7 0 ; Theo re m on hexa
Ordin at e, 1 7 5 g on , 2 2 8 , 1 66 , 3 1 8 , 3 2 7 ; C al cul a ti ng ma
O r esme, N , 1 2 7 ; 1 4 8 . chi n e, 1 6 5 , 4 85
O ri g e n , 6 7 , 1 2 6 P asca l , E rnest o, 3 1 8 , 3 1 9, 3 40, 3 7 1 , 4 8 6 ;
O ro n t ius, 1 1 6 Q u ot e d, 3 7 1
O r t hoc ent er 2 97 , Pasch. M . 3 09 . 3 99. 400 . 40 9
O sc ill a t io n , ce nt er o f, 1 83 P avan i ni , G , 45 3 .
O sc ul a ti n g c u rv es 2 1 1 ,
P as cal , E ti enn e, 1 6 4
O s g oo d . W
F. 3 7 2 . 4 0 5 . 4 3 3 . P eacock , G , 2 7 3 ; 1 2 2 1 2 5 , 2 7 2 , 145 , 3 3 0 ,
.
,
O s t ro g radski , M , 3 6 9 3 7 1 , 4 5 6 .
, 33 2 ; P
ri n c i p l e of p e r ma ne n ce , 2 7 3 , 3 3 7
O t ho V , 7 3 , 1 3 2
, . P eano, G 2 8 5 . 2 89. 3 0 9 . 3 2 5 . 3 2 6 . 3 48 . 3 8 7 .
O t t o , V S ee O t ho , V 400 , 40 1 40 7 409 ; F o r mu l ai re, 40 8
-
O u g ht red , W , 1 5 7 —
.
,
1 5 9 ; 1 1 1 , 1 3 7 , 1 48 , . 1 52, P earson K , 3 80 3 8 1 , 3 83 , 4 6 5 , 4 6 8
,
.
,
1 5 3 . 1 55 . 1 7 4 . 1 9 2 . 48 1 P eau celli e r, A , 3 0 1 .
Ov a l s of D escartes , 1 7 6 P eda l c u rv es , 2 2 8
O v idi o , E d , 3 0 8
’
. P e i rce . B .
, 33 8 ; 2 7 8 . 2 85 . 2 86 . 3 3 2 . 3 83 . 4 5 1 .
O z anam , J , 1 7 0 , 1 5 5 .
45 7 ; L ine ar a sso ci a t i v e alg e b ra , 3 3 8 , 3 39
71 app ro xi mat io n s t o ,
. 7 . 1 0. 3 5. 7 1 . 73 . 7 7. P ei rce . C S . .
. 40 7 ; 3 1 . 2 85. 3 09 . 3 3 7 . 33 8 . 3 3 9
7 9 8 1 . 8 7 . 1 86 . 2 0 6 . 2 3 8 . 1 0 4 . 1 43 . 4 83 .
-
P el et i e r,
J 137 1 56 .
, ,
4 8 6 ; D e t er mi n a t i o n o f, 1 7 , 1 8 5 2 2 5 , 2 3 8 ; ,
P e ll A J
, 3 96 . .
,
N ot at ion o f 1 5 8 ; roved i r ra t io n a l , 2 4 6 , , P P ell J, 1 69 ; 20 6

.
,
2 68 ; P
ro v ed t ransc e n den tal , 2 , 1 43 , 3 6 2 , P e ll s e
’
q u ati on , 9 6, 1 69
P e mb erto n H 2 1 9 ; 1 9 2 1 99, 2 20
P acio li , L , 1 2 8—
.
, , ,
1 30 ; 1 2 5, 1 3 3 , 1 4 1 ,
. 1 44 , 1 4 6 P e nd ul um 1 83 2 0 5 2 6 6 , , , , 4 60 , 4 7 8
P adé, H , 3 7 5 . P e ndu l u m c l ock s 1 83 ,
adm an ab h a, 8 5 P e n t ag ra m 1 9
g
,
adoa , A , uo t ed , 4 1 0 . q P ep i n , Th .
, 43 6
Pag an i , G M , 33 0 . . P e rfect n u mb ers , 56 , 1 04 , 1 1 4, 1 67
P ai nl evé. P . 2 7 9 . 3 89 . 4 5 3 . 4 5 4 . P ( mat hemat i ca l ) S ee Jo u rnal s

e ri odi ca l s .
Pja ot , L L , 1 7 0 . . P e rmu t at io ns 2 2 1 S ee r ob abi li ty , . P

P al at i n e an t hol ogy , 5 9 , 60 P er n t e r J M 4 6 3 , . .
,
P aoli s , R d e , 3 0 8 . P e rr au l t , C .
,
182
P ap pe ri t z , E , 2 8 6 . P e rron , O .
, 348, 3 7 0
IN DEX 50 7
P erseus, 4 2 P ohl k e K 2 9 6 , .
,
P W M 3 80 Po ig nard 1 7 0
—
ersons , . .
, ,
P e rspect ive , 1 66 , 2 27 . S ee P ro j ect iv e P oin ca re. H . 3 88 39 1 ; 3 2 7 . 33 9. 3 4 1 . 3 5 3 .

g eomet ry ,Descrip t ive g eomet ry 355. 3 7 8. 3 8 6 .
Pert urbati ons o f pl anet s, 2 40 2 5 2 , ,
261; 4 1 5 . 4 2 9 . 43 2 . 433 . 43 8 . 4 5 0 . 45 2 . 4 5 3 .
S ee A stronomy
P esl oii an C L de, 4 1 2 ,
. P oi n sot . L , 4 5 5 ; 2 93 3 7 9 . 4 5 8 .
.
P eters A 3 24 .
, Poi nt , 2 6
P e ters J 48 3 , Poin t set s 3 2 5 3 2 6 394 , 39 5 4 04 ; D enu
, , , ,
P etersbur g probl em 2 23 243 , , merabl e 40 3 ; N on meas urabl e 40 3 S ee ,

-
, .
P eterson J 43 6 :3 2 3 , Ag g reg ates

P et rus Hart sl ng i us, 8 1 P oi sso n . S D 4 6 5 4 6 7 ; 1 6 4 . 2 2 3 . 2 9 3 . 3 4 9 .
.
-
P eu rbach G 1 2 7 ; 1 3 1 , 1 3 2 ,
.
, 3 6 9 . 3 7 7 . 3 7 9 . 3 80 . 3 83 . 4 1 3 . 43 8 . 449 .
P zz
e o D el , 30 7
, 4 5 5 . 4 5 6 . 4 5 8 . 4 60 . 4 6 1 . 4 6 4 . 4 6 8 . 4 7 0 .
P faff. J F. 384 ; 434 . 43 5
.
4 7 2 . 4 73
P hi l al ethes C an tab rig ien si s, Pol ar c oordi nat es , 2 2 1 , 2 24
J uri n J , . P ol ars t heory of, 1 6 7
,
P hil i ppu s of M ende 2 9 , P ol e W , 3 83

, .
P hi lolau s 1 9 ; 2 5 , 5 5 , Pol en us , 4 8 5
P hi l oni des 39 , P ol ya G , 3 6 2
, .
P hr ag mén . E 4 2 6 . 4 2 7 . 4 53 .
, P ol yhedr a , 2 40
P i zzi
a , G 44 7 P on cel et J V 2 88 ; 1 66 ,
, . .
, 1 90 , 2 6 8 , 2 7 5 ,
Pi card. C E. 433 ; 2 7 9 . 2 8 1 . 3 1 5- 3 1 7 . 3 5 1 .
. 2 7 6 . 2 86 . 2 90 . 2 97 . 2 98 . 3 0 1 . 3 08. 3 1 1 .
3 8 7 . 3 8 8 . 3 9 1 . 4 1 3 . 4 1 5 . 4 1 6 . 43 2 ; uo t ed . Q 3 5 4. 3 95 . 4 6 7 ; P .
p aradox. 3 1 0
2 5 8. 2 6 4 . 3 5 3 . 4 2 9. 44 7 . 4 54. 4 7 7 ; I nt e P oor, V C , 3 3 5 . .
g ral s. 3 1 7 Pori s m 33 ,
P i card, J , 2 00 . P orphyr i us 7 , 4 5 ,
P i con e, M , 3 9 1 . P osidoni u s 4 8 ,
q
Pi c u et , H , 3 4 1 . P osi t i on p ri n ci p l e of
, S ee Local val ue .
P iddi ngt on , H , 46 3 . P o s t ul at es 3 5 ; comp l et e i n depe n de n c e of ,

,
P i eri . M 3 2 7 ; 3 09 . 3 2 8 . 400 . 409 395 ; O f E u cl id 3 1 ; O f g eo m et ry , 3 2 6 ,
P i erpo nt. J 40 6 . 3 5 1 ; uo t ed . 4 2 5 . 430 . 43 1 Q 3 28 .S ee arall el post ul a t e P

P in cherl e, S 3 94 , 40 5 P ot en t i al . 2 5 6 . 2 6 3 . 2 6 4 ; 2 84. 3 1 4 . 3 89. 3 93 .
P i ol a , G , 4 6 7 .
P i t cher A D , 3 9 5
, . . P o tre m, M , 3 60 .
P i t ig i ani s , F de, 1 2 6 . Fo u chet, 48 1

P i ti scu s, B , 1 3 2 ; 1 3 7 , 1 4 8 . P ow ell B 2 6 0, .
,
zz
P i e tt i, P , 3 8 2 . P ow er seri es, 1 85 , 3 8 7 , 4 20 , 43 1 , 44 5 S ee .
P l ana, G A A , 44 9 ; 4 6 5 , 4 7 3
. . . S eri es
P l an etesi mal hypo t hes is, 4 50 P oyn ti ng . J H . 4 7 4 . 4 7 5
P l an ime ters, 4 86 P randl , L , 33 4 .
P l an isp he re, 48 P recessio n of e u ino xes , 2 4 2 q

P l anu des , M 1 2 8 .
, P re st et , J 2 4 8 ; 1 7 0 .
,
P l at eau , J , 3 7 1 ; 4 6 1 . P res t o n , T , 4 7 6 .
Pl a t0 . 2 5 2 9 ; 7 . 1 5 . 1 9 . 2 1 . 23 . 3 0 . 5 9 ; I n
-
P riho nsk i F , 3 6 7 , .
s c ri ption at hi s acade my 2 , 2 6 ; Q uo ted , , P ri me n u mb er s 5 8 , 1 6 7 , 23 9 , 2 49 , 2 5 4 3 44 , , ,
9. I S 43 8 , 43 9 ; F e rma t , 1 6 9 ; ri me n u mb er P
P l ato Tiburt i nu s ( P l ato of Tivo li)1 0 5 , , 1 18, t heorem, 43 9
1 23 P ri me a n d u l t im at e rat ios 1 89 2 5 7 , ,
Pl at oni c fi gu res , 33 P r i nci pi a of N ew t on S ee N ew t on .
Pl at oni c n u mb er 7 P ri n cipl e of du ality S ee D u ali ty

—
.
,
P l a t o n ic s chool , 2 5 2 9 P ri n c i pl e o f pos i t io n S ee L oc al v al u e .
P l ay fair, J 1 4 5 , 1 9 2 , 2 1 8 3 0 2 P r i ng shei m, A 3 7 4 400 4 7 5 4 2 8

— —
.
.
, , , , , ,
P ii l ck er, J 30 9 3 1 2 ; 2 7 8 2 8 8 , ,
2 97 , 30 6 , P r o b abili t y, 165 1 70 17 1 1 83 2 2 1 2 24 , , , , ,
3 13. 3 14 . 33 5 . 3 54 ; P q e uat io n s . 3 10 ; P 2 2 9 . 2 3 0 . 2 4 0 . 2 4 3 . 2 44 . 2 5 8 . 2 6 2 . 2 6 3 . 2 7 3
—
. .
l ines , 290 3 44 . 367. 3 7 7 3 83 . 47 8 ; I nv e rse p ro

Pl u t a rc h, 15, 16 , 34 b abili ty , 230 , 378 ; L oc a l p ro b abil i t y, 2 30 ,
50 8 INDEX
3 78, 3 7 9; M oral e xp ec t ati on , 3 78;
2 23, Q u et e l e t , A .
, 3 80 ; 1 44 , 1 48, 3 7 8 ; Av erag e
P m of p o i n t s 1 7 0 2 2 4
rob l e , , ,
2 6 3 ; L aw o f m a n 3 80 ,
l arg e n u mb e r s 2 2 2 3 80 , ,
Q uet e l et , L A J . . .
, 2 89
P ro bl e ms fo r u i c k e ni ng t he m i n d 1 1 4 q ,
R a a be . J L . 3 7 4 ; 3 9 7 .
P ro b l e m o f ap p us 1 7 6 P ,
R a dau R , 4 5 2 , .
P robl e m of t hree b o di es S ee Three b odies . R adi an s 4 83 ; O rig i n o f w ord, 484

,
P ro c l us , 5 1; 1 5, 17, 2 1, 2 8, 30, 3 1, 3 3, 4 2 , R adi u s o f curv at u r e, 1 9 6 , 2 2 1

R a do n J , 40 6 , .
P blro e me des re nc o n t res , 3 66 R a ffy , L , 3 2 5 .
P g ro r ess io n S ee A ri t hme t i cal ; G eo me t r ica l

. R a h n J H 1 40 ; 1 6 9
, . .
,
P j ro ec t ion : S t e reog ra p hic 4 8 , 1 6 7 ; O rt ho , R a l l ie r des O u rmes, 1 7 0

g rap hi c , 4 8 ; G l ob u l ar 1 6 7 , R ama n u a n S , 3 6 7 j ,
.
P j ro ec t i v e g eo me t ry , 2 76, 2 85 , 2 9 2 - 2 94 , R a mu s , P , 1 4 2 .
R ang ac ary a 8 5 ,
P r o ny , F M de . .
, 3 00 , 3 0 1 R a nk i ne , J M , 4 7 6 ; 4 68 W . . .
P ro ny , G . R i c he de 4 8 2 , R an u m A , 3 2 2 , .
P ro p or t i o n , 6, 10, 16, 1 9, 20 , 2 2, 3 1 , 3 2 , 5 6, R a p hso n , J 20 3 ; 2 2 7 , 2 4 7 , 2 7 1 , 3 64

.
,
E u c lid R a t i o na l o r i g i n o f w o r d , 6 8
’
5 8, 73 , 75; s t heory , 3 2 ; A rit h ,
me ti cal , 56 ; G eomet ri c al , 56; H armo n ic ,

R a w l i n so n R , 2 3 4 , .
56; M us i cal , 56 R ay l e ig h. Lo rd. 4 64 ; 44 8 . 4 6 1 . 4 6 2 . 4 6 5 . 4 7 4

P ry m , F .
, 4 18 R e c ip roca l po l a rs , 2 88, 2 96
P se u do - sp he re , 30 5 R e c ip roca l r adii 39 2 ,
Pt ol e my . 4 6 —4 8 ; 5 . 7 . 4 5 . 87 . 9 6 . 1 0 1 . 1 0 2 . R e co r de R , 1 40 ; 1 4 6
—
.
,
1 0 5 , 1 0 9 1 2 7 , 1 2 9 1 3 1 , 1 60 , 1 8 4 , 3 0 6 , 3 1 4 ;
, R ecu rr ing se rie s ,
A l mag est . 5 . 4 6 . 4 9. 5 0 . 5 4 . 88 . 1 00 . 1 0 1 . R edfie l d C , 46 2
,
W . .
1 04, 1 1 9, 1 20 ; Pt ol e mai c sy st e m, 46 ; R ed uc t io ad absurdu m, 2 5

Tabl es o f c ho rds , 4 7 R eec h , F , 4 5 7 .
P u c ht a , A , 3 40 . R eg io mo n t an u s , 1 3 1 ; 1 1 1 , 1 3 2 , 1 3 9 , 1 4 1 ,
P u is eu x , V A , 4 2 0 . . 1 43 . 1 4 5 . 1 4 6 . 1 4 7
P z
u l v er i er, 9 5 R eg nau l t H V , 4 7 3 4 7 6 , . .
,
P u rb ac h , G , 1 2 7 ; 1 3 1 , . 13 2 R eg u l a fal sa , 1 2 , 1 3 9 1 , 93 , 1 0 3 , 1 3 7 , 3 6 6 ; ,
P y ra mids o f E g y p t , 9 10, 14, 16 D ou bl e 4 4 1 0 3 , 1 1 0 1 2 3

—
, , , ,
P y t h ag ora s 1 7 20 ; 2 , , 1 5, 55, 5 7 , 6 8 , 80 , R e g u l a s e x q u an t i t a t u m 4 6 , 4 7 1 0 9 , ,
104 R eg u lar so l id s , 1 8 , 2 7 , 2 9 , 3 3 , 43 , 1 0 6 , 1 5 9 ,
Pyth ag o r e an sc hool , 1 7 —1 9
Pyt h ag o r ea n t he o re m, 2, 1 8, 30,
—
8 6 88 , 9 7 ;
3 47
R e id , A , 1 5 5 .
N i ck n a mes o f, 1 2 9 R eid , W , 4 6 3 .
Py t hag ore ans , 7 , 3 1 2 3 9 , Rel fi, R , 23 8 .
Q u adran t , c e nt esi mal div i sio n o f, 2 59 . S ee R eiss M , 3 4 1

, .
D eg ree R e l a t iv i ty , p ri nc ip l e o f , 3 3 5 , 4 7 9- 4 8 1
Q u a dr a t i c e q u a t io ns , 13, 5 7, 72, 7 4, 94 ; R esa l , H , 4 5 5 .
H i ndu m et ho d of s o l v i ng , 94 R esidual a naly si s , 2 4 7

Q u adrat i c r eci p roc i ty 2 3 9 2 6 7 , , R e so l v e n t s , 2 5 3
Q u ad r at ri x 2 1 2 8 49 , , , R esu l ta n t , 2 49
Q u adrat u r a c u rvat u m ( N e w to n
’
s )9 6 1 , 1 97, R ev u e semes t rie ll e , 2 7 8
1 98 R ey e . T 2 94 . 4 64
Q u adra t u r e of c u rv es , 18 1, 1 84 , 192, 206 , R eymer, 1 7 8
20 7 R eyno l ds , 0 , 4 6 2
Q uadrat u re of t he c ir cl e 7 4 , 7 9 , 1 33 , ,
1 , 2 , 1 7, R h a e t i us , 1 3 1 , 1 3 2 ; 4 83
1 43 , 1 6 9 , 1 8 1 , 1 8 2 , 1 8 5 , 2 1 2 , 2 3 6 , 2 4 6 , 4 4 6 ; R hi nd coll ec t io n , 9
I m p o ss i b ili ty , 1 , 2 , 1 43 , 3 6 2 , 440 , 4 4 6 R ic ca t i, J F 2 2 4 ; 2 2 3 , 2 4 7 ; R i cc at i s
.
’
Q uadri v i u m , 1 1 3 di fi e ren ti al e ua t io n , 2 2 3 , 2 2 5 q
Q ua nt i t y 2 8 5 3 9 6 3 9 8
, , , Ri ccat i V , 2 4 7
, .
Q u ate rn i o n s 3 0 7 3 2 3 3 3 0 . . . 33 2- 335. 33 7. R ic c i . 0 . 33 3 . 3 5 6
3 53 . Q U fi t e r n iO W A S S h , 33 5 R ic c i, M , 7 7 .
Q u e r c u a 1 43
, , R i c ha rd , J A 40 1 , 40 2 , 40 9 . .
,
Q ue rr e t J J 2 7 3
, . .
, R i chard o f a l li ng fo rd , 1 2 8 W
510 IN DEX
S chmidt . E . 3 4 1 . 3 93 . 394 S ervois, F , 2 7 3 , 2 7 5 , 2 88
.
S chmi dt , F , 3 0 3 . S ets o f curves , 40 5

S chmi dt W , 44 , . S et s of l in es , 40 5
S chen e, H , 44 . S et s of pl an es, 40 5
S cho nemann , P , 34 8 S et s o f po i nt s . 3 2 5 . 3 2 6 . 39 4. 3 9 5 . 40 4
''
S c ho nfii es , A , 3 2 6 , 400 , 40 1 . S everi . F . 2 93 . 3 1 7 . 3 1 9

.
S chot te nf el s , I M , 3 5 9 . . S exag es imal n umb ers , 4 , 5 ; 43 , 4 7 , 88 , 1 00 ,

S chot tk y , F , 4 2 5 , 43 1 .
4 8 3 ; F rac ti o ns , 5 , 5 4 , 4 83 ; I nven ti on of,
S chr eib er, G 2 9 6 ; 2 7 6 .
5. 6
S c hr eib er, H S ee G rammat eus . S ext an t , 204
S chr oder , E , 40 7 ; 2 8 5 , 3 6 5 , 40 5 , 40 8 . S extus Empi ri cus , 48

S chro t er, H , 4 66 ; 3 1 4 , 4 1 7 . S e xt u s J u l iu s Afri c anu s, 4 8
S chu b ert , F T V , 3 4 8 . . . Shades and shado w s , 2 9 7 S ee D escrip ti ve .
S c hu ber t , H , 2 93 .
g eometry
z
S chul e, J K , 2 4 7 . . S hak esp eare, 1 90
S c hum a cher, H C , 4 1 1 , 43 7 , 44 9 . . S hank s, W , 20 6 .
S chu r , F , 3 2 7 . S harp , A , 2 0 6 ; 2 4.
S chu st er, A , 4 70 . S harp e , F R , 3 1 9 . .
S chu t t e, F , 1 7 6 , 1 7 7 , 1 83 2 45 2 7 5 S haw , H S H el e , 48 6
—
. . .
, ,
z
S chw a r . H A . 4 3 1 4 3 2 ; 2 93 . 3 1 9 . 3 4 7 . . S haW. J B . 3 3 3 . 3 3 9. 4 1 0 .
3 5 9 . 3 6 8 . 3 7 0 . 3 7 2 . 3 7 6 . 3 90 . 3 9 1 . 4 2 8 ; S hel don , E W , 3 7 2 . .
z
S ch w ar i a n deri va t ive , 43 2 S hot ok u Tai shi , 7 8
S chw eik ar t , F K , 3 0 5 . . S i emen s W , 4 63 , .
S chw ei ns , F 3 40 S ilberst ei n , L , 4 7 9 .
S chw ei tz er, A R , 395 . . S i mart , G , 3 1 6 .
S c ot t , R F , 3 4 1 . . S i mil ar p ol yg o ns, 1 9 , 2 2 , 3 2 , 1 84
S co t us , D u ns, 1 2 6 S i mili t ude , mec ha n i c al , 4 5 7
'
S eb ok ht , S , 8 9 . S i mony O , 3 2 3
, .
S ec tion , g ol den , 2 8 S imp li c iu s 5 1 ; 2 2 2 3 , 4 8 , 1 84

, ,
S eeb er , L , 444 . S i mp son . T , 2 3 5 ; 2 2 7 . 2 3 4 . .

3 82
S eelhofi , P , 1 6 7 , 44 5 . S i mso n . R . 2 7 7 ; 3 1 . 33 .
S eg ner J A , 2 4 8 ; 4 5 8
, . . S i n dh i n d , 99
S eg re . C . 2 89. 3 0 7 . 3 1 8 . 3 2 2 . 43 1
. S i ne fu nc tion , 1 04 , 11 0 ; Ori g in of name,
S ég ui er, J A de, 3 60 . .
S eidel , P
L v , 377 . . . S i n g hal es i a n sig n s , 89
z
S ei t E B , 3 7 9
, . . S ing u l ar sol u t i ons , 2 1 1 , 2 24, 2 27, 2 39 , 2 45 ,
S eki K ow a, 80 ; 8 1
S elli ng , E , 444 . S i ni g al li a , L , 3 95 .
S ell mey er, W , . S i sam, C H , 3 2 2

.
. .
S er en us 4 5 , S lide rul e , 1 5 8 1 5 9 ,
S eri es , 7 5 , 7 7 , 80 , 8 1 , 1 0 6 , 1 2 7 3 1 7 2 , 1 8 1 , 1 8 7 , S l obi n , H L , 4 46 . .
1 88 , 1 9 2 1 9 6 2 0 6 , 2 1 2 2 2 7 , 2 3 2 2 3 8 , 2 46 ,
, ,
4 ,
S l u se, R F de , 1 80 ; 4 2 , 1 88 , 2 0 8, 209
.
S l u ze S ee S l u se
.
.
A l ter n a tin g , 3 7 3 ; A sy mp t o ti c 3 7 5 ; C o n , S mi th, A , 4 5 7 .
di tion all y co nv erg e n t , 3 7 4 ; C o nv e rg e n ce S mi th, D E , 7 , 6 8 , 7 1 , 7 8 , 8 6 , 88 , 8 9, 1 1 6 ,

. .
of. 2 2 7 . 2 49 . 2 7 0 . 2 8 4 . 3 6 7 . 3 7 3- 3 7 5 . 4 1 7 ; 1 2 1 , 1 2 8 , 1 7 7 1 84 , 2 9 1 , 3 3 2 ,
D i verg ent , 3 7 5 , 4 5 4 ; Hy perg eo me tri c , S mi t h. H J S . 44 1 ; 3 4 2 . 4 1 6 . 43 8 . 44 2 . 444

. . .
1 85 , 3 8 7 , 4 3 2 ; rod u c t o f t w o se ries 3 7 3 , P , S mi th, R , 2 2 6 .
3 7 4 ; O f r ecip rocal po w ers , 2 3 8 ; ow er P S mi th , S t , 2 9 2 .
seri eS . 1 8 5 . 3 8 7 . 4 2 0 . 43 1 . 44 5 ; Tri g o S n elli us, W , 1 43 .
n omet ri c se ri es , 4 1 9 , 43 1 ; U n iform con S ni adeck i , J B , 2 5 8 . .
v erg e nce , 8 4 , 3 7 7 ; R ecurr e n t , 1 2 7 S ee . S ny der V , 3 2 0

, .
Ari t hme ti ca l p rog ressi on , G eomet r i cal S oci eti es ( ma t he m a t i cal , 2 7 9 , 2 96 )

p rog ression S ocrates, 2 5
S erret . J A . S o h n ck e L A , 4 1 7
, . .
S e rso n , 4 5 8 S ol a r sy s te m ( s t abil i ty o f)2 8 4 ,
S ervan t , M G . .
, 3 25 , 3 7 5 S ol ids , reg u l ar , 1 9 , 3 3 , 1 0 6 , 1 5 9
INDEX
S ol idus, for w ri ti ng fra ctions, 3 3 2 S tereog raphi c pro ection , 4 8 j
S o mmer J , 44 5 , . S tern , M A , 3 64 ; 3 6 5 , 4 2 1 , 43 6
. .
S omme rfeld, A , 4 5 8 . S t ern eck R V 43 9

, . .
,
S o mmervil l e, D M Y , 3 0 5 , 3 0 6 , 3 2 9 . . . S tevi n . S . 1 4 7 ; 1 2 7 . 1 3 7 . 1 4 8 . 1 7 1 . 1 7 8 . 1 87
.
8 011106 , J I , 4 5 7 S t ew art, M , 2 7 7
—
. . .
S op hi s t s, 20 2 5 j
S ti el t es , T J . 3 7 5 ; 40 6 . 4 4 6 . 4 7 0
—
. .
S oroban , 7 8 S tifel . M , 1 40 ; 1 3 9 . 1 4 1 . 1 44 1 4 6 . 1 49 . 1 83 .
.
S o sig enes , 6 6 1 87
S ou nd, 2 40 , 2 5 1 , 4 60 , Velo ci ty of, S ti rli ng . J 2 2 9 ; 20 4 . 2 2 9 . 3 7 7

2 64 S t Lau re nt , T de , 2 7 3
. .
S p ace o f n dimensio ns S ee g eo me t ry, n . S t ok es , G G , 4 60 , 4 6 1 ; 2 8 1 , 2 84 , 3 3 2 , 3 7 7 ,

. .
di me ns ions
S p arr e , C omte de , 4 5 9 S tole . 0 . 4 2 5 ; 3 5 . 3 6 8 . 399 . 400
S p e ci fi c g rav i ty , 3 7 S t on e E J , 3 8 2
, . .
S p eidel l J , 1 5 2 ; 1 5 8
, . S tory. W 3 0 8 . 3 2 3 . 3 4 8
S perr y . E A , 4 5 8 . . S t ou ffer, E B , 3 2 2 . .
S p here. 1 9. 2 7 . 3 3 . 3 6 . 4 2 . 4 5 . 50 . 7 9 . 1 0 6 . S t rassmai er , J R, 8 P . . .
S t ra tto n , S W , 4 6 5 . .
S pheri cal harmo ni cs , 2 3 2 , 2 6 3 , 4 6 9 S t rau ch , G W , 3 7 0 . .
S p heri ca l t ri g on o met ry S ee Tri g on omet ry . S t ri ng ham , I , 3 0 8 ; 3 09 W . .
S p hero ci rcl e ( i mag i n a ry , 2 93

-
) S t roh, E , 3 48
.
S p he roid, 3 6 ; A t t ra c ti on of, 2 00 , 2 6 7 S tromg ren , F E , 4 5 3 . .
S pi ral s of A rchi medes, 3 6 , 50 ; F erm ati a n , S tru tt , J . W

S ee R ayl eig h, Lord .
2 2 4 ; S p he ri cal , 50 S t ru ve , G W , 43 7 . .
z
S pi t er. S . 3 69 ; 3 6 5
. S t u bbs, J W , 2 9 2 . .
S pot t i sw oode , 34 1 ; 3 3 7 ; uo t ed, 2 8 1 Q S t u b n er , F W , 2 4 8 . .
q
S u ar e roo t S ee R oot . S t u dy . E , 2 89 . 2 93 . 3 0 8 . 3 3 5 . 3 3 9 . 34 8 . 3 5 6
.
q
S u ari ng t he ci rcl e S ee uadra tu re of t he . Q S tu nn . C . 3 63 ; 1 66 . 2 6 9 . 2 7 3 . 3 10 . 3 44 . 4 20 .
.
ci rcl e 456. 4 7 3 ; S t u rm s t heorem. 3 63 .

’
S ridhara , 85 , 94
S tabi li ty of sol ar syst em, 2 60 , 2 6 2 S turi n . R , 3 1 7 ; .
3 19
,
S tade, 2 4
”
S tack el P , 1 84 , 2 3 8, 4 2 6
. S t Venant B de , 2 9 7
.
S t Vincen t , G reg ory,

.
, .
181; 182, 1 88 , 1 90 ,
S t ag er, H W , 3 53 . . 20 6
S tahl , H , 3 0 8 . S u an-p an , 5 2 , 7 6 , 7 8
S ta r polyg on s, 1 2 7
-
S u b sti t u t ion s , t heo ry of, 2 8 1 , 4 1 7 ; O rthog
S t ati cs , 1 7 1 , 1 7 2 , 1 8 1 , 2 55 , 2 8 2 , 2 89 ; Theo ry o n al , 3 4 2 O
of cou pl es , 45 5 S ee G raphi c s t ati c s ,
. S u l v as fi t ras , 8 4- 8 6
M echani cs S u meri a ns , 4
—
S t at i sti cs , 3 7 7 3 8 3 ; Ari t hm et i c mea n , 3 8 1 , S u n dman K F , 4 5 2 , 4 5 4
, . .
3 8 2 ; Av erag e s , t heo ry o f, 3 8 1 ; N ormal S u n-Tsu . 7 2 ; 7 3 . 7 5 . 7 8

c ur ve, 3 8 2 ; M edi a n , 3 8 1 ; F re ue n cy q S u rfa ces 49 . 2 3 5 . 2 7 5 . 2 95 . 2 9 6 . 3 1 4 3 1 8 . —
cu rve , 383 ; M ode 3 8 1 ; M or t ali ty , 3 8 1 ;, 3 2 1 , 3 2 2 ; A n chor ri ng , 3 2 3 ; C o n focal ,
-
P o p u l at i o n , 3 8 1 ; I n b iol ogy , 3 8 1 ; S t and 2 93 ; C u bi C . 2 9 5 . 3 1 3 . 3 1 4 . 3 1 7 . 3 1 8 . 3 2 9 .
ard dev i ati o n , 3 8 2 3 43 ; D e forma ti on , 3 2 1 ; I so t hermi c , 3 1 4

S taudt , v on, 2 94— 30 8 ; 2 80 , 2 8 7 , 2 9 7 , 3 0 9 , K um mer, 4 1 8 , 3 2 8 ; M i ni mal , 3 1 5 , 3 2 5 ,
3 10 3 55 , 3 7 1 3 8 5 43 2 ; O f n eg ati v e c urv at u re ,
, ,
S t Au g u st i ne , 6 7
.
3 0 7 ; P l e c toi da l 5 0 ; ol ar, 3 0 7 ; se u do . P P
S t eel e .W J 4 5 7 . 45 9
. sp he ri cal , 3 2 1 ; Q ui nt i c , 3 1 9 ; u ar t i c, 3 2 9 ; Q
S t efa no , A B , 4 6 1 . . R ul ed , 2 95 , 3 1 9 , 3 20 ; Thi rd orde r, 2 9 1 ,
S t eig er, O , 4 8 5 3 1 8 ; F ou r th o rder, 3 1 4 , 3 1 8 , 3 1 9 ; S econd
—
.
S tei ner. L. 2 90 2 9 2 ; 2 87 . 2 89 . 2 97 . 3 0 9. deg ree 2 7 5 2 90 ; S eco n d or der, 2 3 5 , 2 9 5 ,

, ,
3 1 1 ; U n i v er sa l , 2 6
9 ; a v e -
surface , 3 1 1 , W
3 4 6 , 3 6 2 , 3 7 0 , 4 1 1 , 4 2 1 , 4 2 3 , 4 2 4 ; S tei ne r
poi nt , 2 90 ; S t ei ne r su rface, 3 1 9 S urv eying . 44 . 6 6 . 7 7
S t ekl ofi, A W . .
, 3 93 S ury a siddh an ta , 84
S tephanos, C , . 2 89 ; 3 48 S u ss mil c h, J P , 3 80 . .
512 I N D EX
S u t er, H , 1 04 , 1 0 9 , 1 8 1 Thi el e , T N , 3 7 8
—
. . .
S w an p an S ee S uan- p an . Thomae , H 400 .

,
S wede n b org , E , 2 60 . Thoma e , J , 4 1 6

Tho man , 1 5 5
’
S y l ow . L 3 5 4 ; 4 1 4 . 3 5 2 . 3 5 7 . 3 6 1 ; S y l o w s
t h eore m , 3 5 4 Tho ma s, A , 1 2 7 , 1 8 2
—
.
Syl v est er. J J 3 43 349 ; 2 0 2 . 2 49 . 2 7 8 . 2 8 2 . Tho mas Ch X , 4 8 5

, . .
2 85 . 2 9 7 . 31 2. 3 3 3 . 3 3 4. Tho mas A u i na s , 1 2 6 q
3 6 1 . 3 6 3 . 3 7 9. Tho me, L W , 3 8 7 ; 390
'
. .
43 8 . 44 1 . 444 . 4 5 5 . 4 7 2 ; L in k mot i o n . 3 0 1 ; Tho mp so n , S P , 2 7 1 , 33 4 , 4 7 3

-
. .
P ar t i t i o n s , 3 44 ; R ec ip rocan t s , 344 Tho mson . J 4 6 3 ; 4 7 2 . 48 4 . 48 6

S ymboli c l og i c , 2 0 5 2 4 6 ,
Tho mson , J J , 4 6 1 , 4 7 4 . .
Sy mme di an po i n t 2 99 , Tho mson , W

S ee K e l v i n , Lo rd .
Sy mme t ri c fu n c t io n s , 2 3 5 , 4 1 4 Three bo di es , probl em o f 2 40 , 2 43 2 5 2 , 45 2 , ,
S y n t hesi s 2 7 4 5 5 R ed uced p robl em of , 4 5 2

286—
,
S y n t he t ic g eome t ry 1 66, 1 67 309 , , . Thy b au t , A L , 3 2 5 . .
S ee g eome t ry ro e c t iv e g eo me t ry , P j Thyma ri da s , 5 9, 1 1 1
Sy ri a n u s , 5 1 Ti c hy, A 4 8 1 .
,
z
Sy yg i es. 3 4 8 Tides . 2 40 . 2 64 . 3 7 8 . 449
Tab it i bn K o r ra 1 0 4 ; 1 0 1 1 1 0 Tima eu s o f Lo cri 2 5
Tabl es, mat he m a t i ca l , 4 8 2 —
, , ,
4 84 Ti me a fou r t h di me nsi on , 3 0 6 , 4 80
Tab er H , 3 39 3 40
, .
, Ti merdi ng , H E , 4 80 . .
Tai t . P C . 4 5 9 ; 2 7 2 . 2 7 9 . 3 2 2 . 3 2 3 . 3 33 .
. . Ti s sera n d, F F , 3 88 , 4 5 5 . .
33 4 . 3 3 5 . 3 3 7 . 3 8 2 . 4 5 7 . 4 6 6 . 4 7 0 . To dhu nt e r, I 3 7 0 ; 1 7 0 1 7 1 , 2 2 3 , 2 3 0 , 2 43
.
, ,
G olf b all , 4 5 9
-
Ta k ebe 80 ; 8 1 , Tfihok u M athemat i cal J our nal , 8 2

Ta lbo t , H F , 4 1 3 . . To n ell i , A , 4 2 3 .
Ta n ak a K isshi n 7 9 ; 8 1 , To ns t all , C , 1 4 6 .
Tang e n t s , me t ho d o f S ee M et ho d o f t an . Top , t heo ry o f, 4 5 8

g en t s Torr i c elli E , 1 6 2 , 1 6 3 ; 1 4 6 , 1 5 6 , 1 90
, .
Ta n n e ry . J 3 8 5 ; 3 1 4 . 40 1 . 3 5 1 . 3 8 7 . 43 3 To r so r, 3 3 5
Ta nn ery . P 40 1 ; 7 . 2 4 . 3 2 . 43 . 4 5 . 4 6 . 5 3 . To rto li ni B , 3 46
, .
6 0 96 1 7 7 400 ;
, , u o t e d, 1 7 5 , Q T rac t rix , 1 8 2 , 3 2 8
Tar t ag li a 1 3 3 , 1 3 4 ; 1 3 9, 1 4 1 , 1 4 2 , 1 4 6 1 5 8 ,
, , j
Tra ec t o ries , or t ho g o nal , 2 1 7 , 2 2 2 , 3 2 2
“
Tra n sce nde nt a l n u mb e rs , 2 , 1 43 , 3 6 2 , 44 0 ,

Tau rin u s , F A . .
, 30 5 ; 1 84
Tau to c hro n ou s c u rv e , 1 83 , 4 13 T ra n s fi ni t e n u mb e rs 4 2 6 ,
Ta yl o r B ,
2 1 8 , 22 9, 2 4 2 , 2 45 , 2 5 1 ; Tran sformat ion , b i ra t ion al , 2 9 5 , 3 1 4 , 3 1 6 ,
H i s t heo rem, 2 26, 2 5 1, 2 5 7 , 2 5 8, 3 94 , 3 6 9 , 3 1 7 . 3 1 9 ; Li near. 2 9 5 ; 2 9 7
Transou , A , 3 2 1 .
Tayl o r, H M H is ci r cl e, 3 00 Trev iso a ri t hme t ic , 1 2 8

—
. .
, 3 00 ;
Te denat 2 7 3 , Triang l e , 1 6 1 8, 1 9, 7 1 , 1 1 6 , 2 9 7 3 00 ;
,
Te ixei r a, G , 3 2 0 . A ri t hmet i cal , 7 6 , 1 83 , 1 8 7 ; R ig ht , 1 0 ,

Tel escop e 1 83 ; R eflec ti ng , 2 04 , 49 , 5 6 , 66 , 7 1, 86 , 1 0 4, 1 60 , 1 65 , 1 66;
Te nz an met hod, 80 S i mi l a r, 1 6 , 7 3 ; S p he ri cal , 4 6 , 48 , 5 0 ;

Te rq u em O , 2 2 8 I so sce l e s, 8 6 , 1 0 4 ; H e ron s fo rmul a for
’
.
,
Teu b n er, B G ( firm o f , 3 2 8 ) area, 43 , 6 6 , 8 6 , 1 23
Thal es , 1 5—
. .
18 Tri a ng u l ar n u mb ers 5 6 , 1 6 8 , 1 7 3 ,
Th eaet e tu s 2 8 ; 30 , 3 1 , 5 7 , Tri a ng u l u m charac t e ri st i c u m , 1 89 , 2 0 7

Theod oru s o f C y rene 57 Trig o no me t ry , 1 0 8 , 1 0 9 , 1 2 7 , 1 3 1 , 1 3 8 , 1 49
— —2 3 6
.
Theodosiu s , 44 , 4 5 1 0 4, 1 1 8 1 20 , 1 57, 1 69, 2 22, 2 26, 2 2 9, 23 4 ,

265 ,
Theon of A l exan dri a , 50 ; 3 1 , 4 2 , 43 , 8 8 A bi 4 1 0 6 ; F i rs t u se o f
-
54 , 4 3, 4 4; r a c , 1 0
67 w ord, G reek , 4 3 , 4 7 H i ndu , 83 , 9 6 ,

Theon of S my rn a 59 ; 4 5 , 4 8 , 1 4 2 , 9 7 ; N o t a t io n fo r t rig fu n c t io ns , 1 5 8 ; .
Theorem o f y thag or as S ee y t hag o rean P . P N ot a t ion fo r i nv e rse fu nc t io ns , 2 2 3 ;

t heore m S phe rica l , 4 7 , 7 6 , 97 , 105 , 109, 1 10 , 13 2 ,
Theo ry o f n u mb ers S ee N umb e rs, t heo ry o f . 1 44 , 267, 4 3 7 , 4 8 1 ; Tr ig o n o me t ri c fu n c

The udi us , 2 8, 30 t io ns , c o s e ca n t , 1 0 6 ; C osi n e , 1 10 ,
514 IN DEX
2 5 4, 3 20 , 3 6 1 , 3 6 4 ; M i scell anea an alytica, Wi g t E
n a e, .
, 48 1
24 1 ; W
ari ng s t heo re m, 2 48 , 44 2 , 443
’
Wi l k J
n oc , .
, 3 83
Warren , J 3 30 Wi t M n er .
, 4 10
Wt a son , J C 45 5 . .
, W itt F d . e . S ee D e Witt
W t S 379
a so n , .
, W itt g A in , .
, 3 18
W tt J 3 ; W t t
a , 3 .
, 00 a
’
s curve , 00 Wi ttstein , A , 29 1 .
W th y f l ig ht 83
av e eo r o , 1 Wi ttstein , T , 38 1 .
W J H 5
e av e r, . .
, 0 Woepck e , 6 8 , 1 00
W b H 3 6 ; 3 8 3 5 3 3 5 7 3 99
e e r. .
. 1 1 . . . . W ol f, C , 1 58 , 1 7 5 , 2 2 6
.
W b W 6 4 43 4 4 6 7 4 7 4
e er . .
. . 21. . . W o l f. R . 2 5 9 . 3 7 9 .
W ddl Th 3 6 5 ; 5 5 3 9 ; S f
e e, 1 1 ur a ce , 3 19 Wolffi ng , E , 3 24
K 4 3—
.
, , .
Wi te e rs rass ,4 6; 3 58 79 .
, 2 2 2, 2 , 2 , 2 85 ; W ol fra m 2 4 7 ,
3 2 6 . 3 45 . 3 70 . 3 7 1 . 3 7 2. Wol fs hek l F P , 443 , . .
3 7 6 . 3 8 5 . 3 88 . 3 9 7 . 3 9 8 . 3 99 . 400 . 4 1 5 . W ol s te nho l me ,
4 1 7 . 4 1 8 . 4 2 2 . 4 2 8 . 4 2 9 . 4 3 0 . 4 3 1 . 43 2 . W oodhouse R , 2 7 2 ; 2 1 9 , 3 7 0 , .
44 6 , 4 5 3 , 4 5 6 ; e i ers trass C o nstruc tio n ,

’
W W oo dw a rd , R S , 4 5 9 . .
372 W oo l house S B , 3 65 , 3 79 , W . . .
W eig el , E , 2 05 . Wren , C , 1 6 6 ; 1 7 9 , 1 8 1 , 1 8 8 , 1 99, 2 7 5

.
W e il er, A , 3 84 . W rig ht . E . 1 53 . 1 5 5 . 1 89 .
W e i ng art e n , J .
, 3 14 ; 3 25 Wrig ht , J E , 3 5 6 . .
W eir , P .
, 48 2 W rig ht , T , 4 5 1 .
W eissen bor n , H .
, 1 15 Wronsk i , H , 3 40 ; 2 5 8 ; Wro nski ans, 340 .
W e l don , W . F R . .
, 381 Y an H u i , 7 5
W endt , E .
, 35 7 Y e n da mmet hod, 80
W e rner, J 141 Y enr i , 80 8 1 ,
W H , 3 47
e rne r, . Yoshida Shi c hib ei K ay e, 7 8 ; 7 9
Wer thei m G , 60 , . Y ou ng A , 3 4 8 , .
Wert he i m W , 4 6 8 , . Y ou ng , G C , 3 2 5 3 2 6 . .
,
Wessel C 2 65 ; 4 20 .
, Y ou ng J R , 2 7 1
, . .
Wes t e rg aard H , 3 80 , 3 8 1 , . Y o ung J W , 3 2 8

, . .
Wetli 4 8 6 , Yo un g . Th . 4 7 0 ; 1 1 . 1 83 . 46 4 . 4 65
Wey l H . 3 9 1 . 4 6 5 . 4 6 9
. Y ou ng , W
H , 3 2 5 , 3 2 6 , 40 6 . .
Wheat s to n e C , 4 6 5 , . Y ii , emperor, 7 6
W h w ll W 3 4 ; 3 7 6 4
e e , .
, 2 , 1 0, 2 0 Y ul e, G V , 3 8 1 . .
W hi ppl J W 485 e, . .
, Z ac h 4 84 ,
W hi t 3 83
s , Z ehf uss , G , 3 4 1 .
W hi t Ws on , .
, 20 1 Z el l e r, C , 4 3 6 .
W hi t H S 7 8 3 ; Q t d 3
e, . .
, 2 , 00 uo e , 2 50 , 2 95 Z e no o f E l ea , 2 3 ; 2 4 , 2 9 5 1 ; O n moti on , ,
W hi t h d A N 4 7 4 9 ; Q t d
e ea , . 0 , 0 uo e , 2 94 , 3 28 4 8 6 7 1 2 6 1 8 2 , 2 1 9 , 400
, , ,
W hi tl y J 98
e , .
, 2 Z enodarus, 4 2 ; 3 7 0
W hi t y W D 85
ne , . .
,
Z e rmel o, E , 3 7 2 , 40 1 , 40 2 , 403 ; P rin ci p l e of,
.
W hi t t k E T 3 86
a er , . .
, 40 1
W idm J 3 9 ; 5 a nn .
\Vie feri c h A , 443 ,

.
.
, 1 12 Zero
W
, i nvent ion and u se of r m, 1 7 K
b y M aya , 6 9 ; S ymbol s for , 5 ,— ,
Wi el ei tner H 1 2 7 , 1 7 4, 1 8 2 , 2 3 5 , 2 50
, .
, 5 3 . 6 9 . 7 5 . 7 8 . 88. 8 9. 94. 100 ; di vision by.
W iener A 3 6 6 , .
,
Wie ner C , 2 97 ; 2 7 4, 2 7 6 , 3 1 7 , 3 2 6
, . Z e ro-d e n o mi na to r, 1 8 5
W ie ne r H , 2 8 9, 3 2 9
, . Z e ro , fi rst u se o f t erm , 1 28
W ie ner, N 409 Z err, G B M 3 79

. . .
,
W z
il c ynski , E J , 3 2 2 . . Z eu n er, G .
, 381
W ill ia ms K P 3 9 2 , . .
,
Z eu t he n , H G . .
, 3 2 , 1 90 , 2 93 , 3 14 , 3 1 6 , 3 20
W il l ia ms, T 2 6 5 Z euxi ppus 3 4 ,
W il so n E B , 3 3 5 , 40 1 , 4 8 1 ;
, uo t ed , 3 2 7
. . Q Z izek , F 3 80
W il so n , J 2 4 8 ; 2 5 4 ; il son s t heore m, 2 48,
’
W Zti l l ne r F , 3 09
, .
2 54 Z ol o t a rev G , 44 2 , 444 , .
Wi nck l er , A .
, 4 69 Z o ra w sk i K 3 5 6 , .
,
Wi ng , V .
, 1 57 Zyk lo g rap hic 2 9 7 ,
P ri n ted in t he Uni ted S t at es of Ameri ca

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A H IS TO RY OF

P RO F E SS OR O F H I ST ORY O F M ATHE MATIC S I N

A ll r i g hts res erved

S et u p a nd el ec t ro typ ed Jan uary , 1 8 94 . Rep r i nt ed M arc h ,

1 8 95 ; Oc t o be r , 1 89 7 ; N ov e mber , 1 90 1 ; Jan uary , 1 90 6 ; J ul y , 1 909

S econd Edi t ion , Rev i sed and Enl arg ed

BY THE M AC M I LLAN C O M PANY

IN preparing this second edition the earlier portions of the book

are greatly enlarged and al most Wholly new The desirability of .

devote the mselves to an intensive study of the history of mathe matics

from its earliest beginnings to the present time In compiling this .

Nevertheless in covering such a wide territory mi stakes are su re to

have crept in References to the sources used in the revision are

given as fully as the limitations of space woul d permit These ref .

tory of any special subject Frequent use without acknowledgment

has been m ade of the following publications : A n nu ar i o B i ograﬁ co del

H an dworter buch Leip zig ; Geden k tagebn cli f u r M a themati k er v on Felix

M ii ll e r 3 A u ﬂ Leip z ig und B erlin 1 9 1 2 ; Revu e S emes tri ell e des P u b

l i cati on s M a thémati qu es A ms terda m ,

The author is indebted to M iss Falk a M G ibson of Oakland Cal .

for assistan c e in the reading of th e proofs .

The Sop hi st School .

The P latonic School .

The First Alexandrian School .

The Second Alexandrian School .

Gr eek A r i thmeti c and A l gebr a

THE JAP A NESE .

Tr an sl ati on of A r a bi c M an u scr i pts .

EURO P E DUR IN G TH E SIX TEEN TH S EV EN T EEN T H A ND EI GH T

The Ren a i ssan ce

TH E NIN E T EEN T H AN D T WEN TI E TH CEN TURI ES

Funda mental P ostul ates .

Geom etric M odels .

P robabil ity and S tatistics

Integral Equations Integro differential Equatio n s Ge

Theories of Irrationals and Theory Of Aggrega tes

Fer mat s Last Theorem Waring s Theore m

O ther Recent Researches Nu mber Fields . .

Transcendental Nu mbers The Inﬁnite . .

Light Electricity Heat P otential

M athe matical T ables

Al phabeti cal I n dex

that hardl y anything ev er done in m athematics has proved to be use

is pleased to notice that though in course of its develop ment mathe

pre e minently a pr ogr ess i ve science

The history of m athematics may be instructiv e as well as agreeable ;

how to increase our store Says A D e M organ The early history

O f t h e m ind of m en with regard to mathe m atics leads us to point out

to possess unexpected connecting links ; it saves the student f rom

long S ince ; it discourages him fro m attacking an unsolved problem by

n oi t re and occupy the surrounding ground and to discover th e secret

paths by which the apparently unconquerable position can be taken 1

The importance of this strategic rule m ay be e mphasised by citing a

existed in crowds ever S ince the period of Archi m edes After in .

numerable failures to solve the problem at a time ev en when in , ,

v es tig a torspossessed that m ost powerful tool the differential calculus , ,

stil l persisted were completely ignorant of its history and generally

A D e M organ is to square the circle with the ol d al l owan ce of means :

Euclid s postul ates and nothi ng m ore We cannot remember an

instance in which a question to be solved by a deﬁni te method was

B ut progress w as made on this .

proble m by approaching it fro m a different direc tion and by newly

circum ference O f a circle to its diameter is irrational Som e years .