3 ms·
Page 32: > At which time I found that method of Infinite series. And in summer 1665 being forced from Cambridge by the Plague I computed the area of the Hyperb
by alister 6y ago
Page 32:
> At which time I found that method of Infinite series. And in summer 1665 being forced from Cambridge by the Plague I computed the area of the Hyperbola of Boothby in Lincolnshire to two & fifty figures by the same method. [signed] Is. Newton
He made a signed statement of his discovery just as in a 20th century engineer's/inventor's notebook.
The mention of being forced from Cambridge because of the plague makes me wonder if some great discoveries are being made right now because many bright minds have been forced home by coronavirus.
- josh_fyi 6y agoWhat looks like y^2 (or superscript 2) is an abbreviation for "the".
- alister 6y agoThank you, I've corrected it. It raises the question of why anyone bothered with a 2 symbol abbreviation for just 3 letters.
- MLR 6y agoOld English had a letter called thorn that would eventually be replaced with the modern th or a y (ye olde is just said the old). The y^e form was apparently used for the King James Bible in 1611 so it's plausible it might still have been a normal way of writing "the" as late as 1650, rather than as an affectation or abbreviation. Edit: He also uses y^t for that which I hadn't noticed at first glance.
- jabirali 6y agoYou could raise the same question about many historic ligatures, like abbreviating "et" to "&" in Latin?
- LadyCailin 6y agoIt's such a long word, makes sense to abbreviate it.
- vmilner 6y agoI was really hoping Boothby (Pagnell) would have a pub called "The Hyperbola" but it appears not... :(