Diagram relating to hyperbola
Date
10 September 1669
Creator
Unknown, Artist
Object type
Archive reference number
Manuscript page number
vol3 p220
Material
Dimensions
height (page): 300mm
width (page): 181mm
width (page): 181mm
Subject
Description
A diagram from an extract of John Wallis's letter to Renatus Franciscus Slusius dated 10 September 1669. Henry Oldenburg sent this on to Slusius, though it was lost in the post.
Wallis stated that Christopher Wren had asked him to confirm 'a hyperbola' as the answer to the question: if to the points of any straight line ordinates are applied normally at any number of equal intervals, the squares of which are as the squares of the continually increasing numbers 1, 2, 3, 4 etc. increased by any one certain square or by equal squares, what is the curve that passes through their extremities? Wallis reproduced a demonstration of it from his book De cycloide (1659). This was part of Wallis's effort to ensure Wren's priority in the discovery of a hyperbolical cylindroid.
This figure is copied from LBO/3/181, in turn copied from EL/W1/95/002.
Wallis stated that Christopher Wren had asked him to confirm 'a hyperbola' as the answer to the question: if to the points of any straight line ordinates are applied normally at any number of equal intervals, the squares of which are as the squares of the continually increasing numbers 1, 2, 3, 4 etc. increased by any one certain square or by equal squares, what is the curve that passes through their extremities? Wallis reproduced a demonstration of it from his book De cycloide (1659). This was part of Wallis's effort to ensure Wren's priority in the discovery of a hyperbolical cylindroid.
This figure is copied from LBO/3/181, in turn copied from EL/W1/95/002.
Related fellows
John Wallis (1650, British) , Mathematician
Renatus Franciscus Slusius (1622 - 1685, Belgian) , Mathematician
Renatus Franciscus Slusius (1622 - 1685, Belgian) , Mathematician
Associated place