5 ms·
Ah, I get it now. Descartes suggested that the representation of numbers need not be dictated by the geometric interpretation of how they were calculated. For e
by civilized 5y ago
Ah, I get it now. Descartes suggested that the representation of numbers need not be dictated by the geometric interpretation of how they were calculated. For example, a^2 doesn't have to be represented as an area, even though geometrically it would be the area of a square.
- javajosh 5y agoThe "paper" was La Géométrie[1], originally published as an appendix(!) to another work, Discourses on the Method [2]. Not sure why all the downvotes. Oh well. 1 - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_G%C3%A9om%C3%A9trie https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_G%C3%A9om%C3%A9trie 2 - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Discourse_on_the_Method https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Discourse_on_the_Method