Descartes and the birth of analytic geometry (Q1239142)

The traditional thesis that analytic geometry evolved from the concepts of axes of reference, coordinates, and loci, is rejected. The origins of this science are redefined in terms of Egyptian, Greek, Babylonian, and Arabic influences merging in Vieta's Isagoge in artem analyticam (1591) and culminating in a work of his pupil Ghetaldi published posthumously in 1630. Descartes' Very mathesis, conceived over a decade earlier, served to revive and strengthen the important link with logic and thereby to extend the field of application of this analytic method to the corporeal and moral worlds.