Hostname: page-component-745bb68f8f-cphqk Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-01-12T02:48:47.031Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Seventeenth century instruments for drawing conic sections

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 August 2016

Jan Van Maanen
Jan Van Maanen*
Affiliation:
University of Groningen and University of Utrecht, Mathematical Institute, Budapestlaan 6, P.O. Box 80.010, 3508 TA Utrecht
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

One of the consequences of Descartes’ new approach to geometry (1637) was an increased interest in instruments for drawing conic sections. Conic section drawers, which is the name I shall give to instruments for drawing conic sections in a continuous movement, had been described earlier, but the central role of conic sections in the geometry of Descartes made them by about 1640 into a new topic of research. This article sketches the background to this growing interest and then describes some of the instruments designed by the Dutch mathematician Van Schooten (1615/6 – 1660). It concludes with an application of this material in mathematics teaching.

Type
Research Article
Information
The Mathematical Gazette , Volume 76 , Issue 476 , July 1992 , pp. 222 - 230
Copyright
Copyright © The Mathematical Association 1992

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)