Author: Victor
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Newton Manuscript CUL Add. MS 3958.3, f.72, Line by Line Commentary
In this Unpublished manuscript, Newton integrates the hyperbola and the circle between arbitrary points on the x axis, by considering a wider class of curves whose curves are easy. This is a good example of the Inventor’s Paradox, where the more general problem is easier to solve than a specific case of it. Click here…
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Newton 1669, De Analysi Line by Line Commentary
Newton integrates the hyperbola by using the ‘extraction of roots’ method – basically guessing and checking for increasingly higher order terms of a tentative polynomial expansion. He then integrates the resulting infinite algebraic expression term by term. Note that he does not use the binomial theorem here, although it would have made his life easier.…
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Examiner 1844, Review of “Vestiges of Natural History of Creation”
Original Text (Bold text mine) In this small and unpretending volume we have found so many great results of knowledge and reflection, that we cannot too earnestly recommend it to the attention of thoughtful men. It is the first attempt that has been made to connect the natural sciences into a history of creation. An…
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“Botany for the Ladies” by Mrs Loudon; Preface and Introduction
See full text here. Mrs Loudon was a 19th century botanist and popular science author. Her husband ruined them financially by self-publishing Arboretum et Fruticetum Britannicum Mrs Loudon does two things in this preface. First, she identifies a problem in 19th century botanical knowledge. Typical “introductions” to botany – especially those based on the Linnean…