Arithmos XII - Descartes

From: Saturday, February 28, 2004, 2:00 pm
To: Sunday, February 29, at 12:30.
Location: Western Connecticut State University
Danbury, CT
Contact: Ed Sandifer, esandifer@earthlink.net
Readings: All of these excerpts are from Descartes' Gé ometrie in the Dover edition, with the original French text interleaved with the English translation by Latham and Smith.
Reading List:
1. pages 2-5 geometry and arithmetic
2. pages 9 + 11 Descartes justifies adding inhomogeneous quantities
3. pages 12-15 quadratic formula
4. pages 17-33 problem of Pappus
5. pages 95-99 algebraic method of finding tangents
If time permits:
1. pages 44-47 "Descartes' compass" - that odd device to draw mean proportionals that appears so often, along with the context in which Descartes designed it
2. pages 113-115 Conchoid of Nicomedes and Cartesian ovals.
Schedule:
- Saturday, 12:00, optional lunch for early arrivers
- Saturday, 2:00 pm, afternoon session begins
- Saturday, 6:30 pm, dinner
- Sunday, early, optional fun run
- Sunday, 9:00 am, morning session begins
- Sunday, 12:30, farewells and optional lunch

Last modified: January 25, 2004.