Book

Geometry

by René Descartes

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Published

1637

Genre

Science/Math

Publisher

Dover Publications

René Descartes' Geometry, published in 1637 as one of three essays appended to his Discourse on Method, is the book that taught algebra and geometry to speak the same language. By treating a curve as a relationship between two changing quantities, it showed that problems of shape could be settled by calculation and problems of number by construction — and it gave later mathematics the grid of coordinates that still carries his name. Descartes wrote it in French rather than Latin so that the interested reader of his day could follow it, and it is short: three books, on constructions, on curves, and on the construction of solid problems.

Collections

St. John's College · 2

ISBN

ISBN-13

9780486600680

ISBN-10

0486600688

Tags

GeometryScienceScience-MathematicsScience-PhilosophySt. John's College