Diagrams
Date
1658
Creator
Unknown, Artist
Object type
Archive reference number
Manuscript page number
p3
Material
Dimensions
height (page): 305mm
width (page): 202mm
width (page): 202mm
Subject
Description
Christopher Wren's solution to a problem posed by Jean de Montfert (a pseudonym of Blaise Pascal): 'given the greatest diameters of an ellipse, and an assigned point in its transverse diameter, to find the numerical value of the segment of the line, limited by the ellipse, passing through the given point and making a given angle with the said diameter'. (As translated in The Correspondence of Henry Oldenburg, ed. by Hall and Hall, vol. 4, p. 291.)
Transcription
Spectatissimos Viros
Matheseos Professores
Et alios praeclaros in Anglia Mathematicos, ut hoc Problema solvere dignentur,
Jean de Montfert maximé desiderat.
Transcribed by the Making Visible project
Matheseos Professores
Et alios praeclaros in Anglia Mathematicos, ut hoc Problema solvere dignentur,
Jean de Montfert maximé desiderat.
Transcribed by the Making Visible project
Object history
John Wallis, 'Concerning some mistakes of a book entitled Specimina mathematica Francisci Dulaurens, especially touching a certain problem, affirmed to have been proposed by Dr Wallis to the mathematicians of all Europe', Phil. Trans., vol. 3, no. 34 (April 1668), p. [6]55. Wallis explains that this was not his challenge, but one issued by a Jean de Monfort (Blaise Pascal) in 1658, and solved by Christopher Wren.
Related fellows
Christopher Wren (1632 - 1723, British) , Architect
Associated place