On Gauss' priority in the discovery of the method of least squares
type: Item
instance of: scholarly article
title: On Gauss' priority in the discovery of the method of least squares
zbMATH Open document ID: 0854.01015
DOI: 10.1007/BF00374703
author: Jacques Dutka
published in: Archive for History of Exact Sciences
publication date: 1997-01-19T00:00:00Z
review text: Issuing from the same meridian arc measurements as Gauss did in 1799, the author computes the flattening of the earth's spheroid by the method of least squares (MLSq) and, comparing his result with that of Gauss, concludes that Gauss had indeed used the same method. He thus opposes (rather than ``supplements'') S. M. Stigler's opinion of 1981. The author makes a similar inference concerning Gauss's (1799) reduction of Ulugh Beg's table of the equation of time and notes that von Zach (1809) agreed that Gauss had used the MLSq ``since 1795 and [had] shared [it] at that time with some of his ... friends''. Von Zach however did not state that Gauss had acquainted him with the method. The article is especially important since Stigler's (1986) treatment of the work of Gauss (and Euler) is misguided. I refuted him and, in particular, noted that Bessel was one of Gauss's confidants [see the reviewer, On the history of the principle of least squares. \S 7. in Arch. Hist. Exact. Sci. 46, No. 1, 39-54 (1993; Zbl 0783.01004)]. The author has strengthened my arguments. However, he is not sure that Gauss had a number of confidants (and he does not mention Bessel); he does not prove his attribution of the invention of the repeating theodolite to Borda rather than to Mayer, and two mistakes corrupt his bibliography.
reviewed by: O. B. Sheĭnin
Mathematics Subject Classification ID: 01A55
zbMATH DE Number: 881715
MaRDI profile type: Publication
cites work: Robert Adrain and the method of least squares
cites work: Q4123280
cites work: Q5181304
cites work: Gauss and the invention of least squares
full work available at URL: https://doi.org/10.1007/bf00374703
OpenAlex ID: W2060973058
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description: scientific article; zbMATH DE number 881715