"So far we have studies how, for each commodity by itself, the law of demand in connection with the conditions of production of that commodity, determines the price of it and regulates the incomes of its producers. We considered as given and invariable the prices of other commodities and the incomes of other producers; but, in reality the economic system is a whole of which the parts are connected and react on each other. An increase in the incomes of the producers of commodity A will affect the demand for commodities Band C, etc., and the incomes of their producers, and, by its reaction will involve a change in the demand for A. It seems, therefore, as if, for a complete and rigorous solution of the problems relative to some parts of the economic system, it were indispensable to take the entire system into consideration. But this would surpass the powers of mathematical analysis and of our practical methods of calculation, even if the values of all the constants could be assigned to them numerically."
Quote Details
Added by wikiquote-import-bot
Unverified quote
0 likes
Original Language: English
Available Languages (1)
Sources
Antoine Augustin Cournot. Researches into the Mathematical Principles of the Theory of Wealth, 1897, English transl. by Nathaniel T. Bacon. p. 137
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Mathematical_analysis
Revision History
No revisions have been submitted for this quote.
Categories
Mathematical analysis
24 quotes on TrueQuotesView all quotes by Mathematical analysis →
Related Quotes
"In the entire history of Greek mathematics, all but the incomparable Archimedes and a few of the more heterodox sophi…"
"I presume that few who have paid any attention to the history of the Mathematical Analysis, will doubt that it has be…"
"Perhaps the least inadequate description of the general scope of modern Pure Mathematics I will not call it a definit…"
"THEY who are acquainted with the present state of the theory of Symbolical Algebra, are aware, that the validity of t…"
"The terms synthesis and analysis are used in mathematics in a more special sense than in logic. In ancient mathematic…"
"The analytic method is not conclusive, unless all operations involved in it are known to be reversible. To remove all…"
"Mathematical Analysis is... the true rational basis of the whole system of our positive knowledge."
"Every attempt to refer chemical questions to mathematical doctrines must be considered, now and always, profoundly ir…"
"Those skilled in mathematical analysis know that its object is not simply to calculate numbers, but that it is also e…"
"The great masters of modern analysis are Lagrange, Laplace, and Gauss, who were contemporaries. It is interesting to …"