The early application of the calculus to the inverse square force problem
type: Item
instance of: scholarly article
title: The early application of the calculus to the inverse square force problem
zbMATH Open document ID: 1207.01009
published in: Archive for History of Exact Sciences
publication date: 2010-09-22T00:00:00Z
review text: The author concentrates on the translation of Newton's propositions in the Principia on inverse square central forces into the language of the differential calculus. He studies the proofs of Jacob Hermann, Pierre Varignon and Johann Bernoulli in detail. His conclusion is that although these proofs lack rigor, the mathematicians involved knew very well what they were doing. The problem was visualized geometrically and solved analytically using rules for differentials that satisfied clear algebraic identities. That is why the lack of rigor was not experienced as a frustrating problem.
Mathematics Subject Classification ID: 01A45
Mathematics Subject Classification ID: 01A50
zbMATH DE Number: 5790091
zbMATH Keywords: history of calculus
zbMATH Keywords: law of gravitation
zbMATH Keywords: Isaac Newton
zbMATH Keywords: Leibniz
zbMATH Keywords: Jacob Hermann
zbMATH Keywords: Pierre Varignon
zbMATH Keywords: Johann Bernoulli
author: Michael Nauenberg
reviewed by: Teun Koetsier
MaRDI profile type: Publication
full work available at URL: s00407-009-0056-z
OpenAlex ID: W2139932496
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DOI: 10.1007/S00407-009-0056-Z
description: scientific article; zbMATH DE number 5790091