"There is another point... and that is the method of demonstration by geometrical figures. In the first solution of Isoperimetrical problems, the Bernoullis use diagrams and their properties. Euler, in his early essays, does the same; then, as he improves the calculus he gets rid of constructions. In his Treatise [footnote: Methodus inveniendi, &c.], he introduces geometrical figures, but almost entirely, for the purpose of illustration: and finally, in the tenth volume of the Novi Comm. Petrop. as Lagrange had done in the Miscellanea Taurinensea, he expounds the calculus, in its most refined state, entirely without the aid of diagrams and their properties. A similar history will belong to every other method of calculation, that has been advanced to any degree of perfection."
Quote Details
Added by wikiquote-import-bot
Unverified quote
0 likes
University of Cambridge alumniFellows of the Royal SocietyUniversity of Cambridge facultyMathematicians from England
Original Language: English
Available Languages (1)
Sources
Imported from EN Wikiquote
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Robert_Woodhouse
Revision History
No revisions have been submitted for this quote.
Categories
Robert Woodhouse
Robert Woodhouse (28 April 1773 – 23 December 1827) was an English mathematician and Fellow of the Royal Society of London. He authored one of the earliest comprehensive histories in the English language for the development of the methods of calculus.
8 quotes on TrueQuotesView all quotes by Robert Woodhouse →
Related Quotes
"Taylor's method... has no recommendation from its neatness and perspicuity, but is justly censured by John Bernoulli …"
"On a novel plan, I have combined the historical progress with the scientific developement of the subject; and endeavo…"
"The Authors who write near the beginnings of science, are, in general the most instructive: they take the reader more…"
"Although I am not aware of having omitted any thing that is requisite to the full explanation of the subject, yet I c…"
"To history we shall adhere no farther, than is sufficient to preserve an unbroken series of methods gradually becomin…"
"The methods of the Bernoullis and of Taylor, were held, at the time of their invention, to be most complete and exact…"
"In 1810 a work was published in Cambridge under the following title—A Treatise on Isoperimetrical Problems and the Ca…"
"The more I thought about it, the more obsessed I became with the idea of a swimming journey. I started to dream ever …"
"From water level, I observed the mating joined in flight like refuelling aircraft, and the random progress of the clo…"
"It is through trees that we see and hear the wind: woodland people can tell the species of a tree from the sound it m…"