Memoirs of the Analytical Society

This 1813 publication by Cambridge undergraduates remains a significant text in the history of British mathematics.

Charles Babbage (Author), John Herschel (Author)

9781108062404, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 26 September 2013

148 pages
29.7 x 21 x 0.8 cm, 0.37 kg

By the end of the eighteenth century, British mathematics had been stuck in a rut for a hundred years. Calculus was still taught in the style of Newton, with no recognition of the great advances made in continental Europe. The examination system at Cambridge even mandated the use of Newtonian notation. As discontented undergraduates, Charles Babbage (1791–1871) and John Herschel (1792–1871) formed the Analytical Society in 1811. The group, including William Whewell and George Peacock, sought to promote the new continental mathematics. Babbage's preface to the present work, first published in 1813, may be considered the movement's manifesto. He provided the first paper here, and Herschel the two others. Although the group was relatively short-lived, its ideas took root as its erstwhile members rose to prominence. As the society's sole publication, this remains a significant text in the history of British mathematics.

Preface
1. On continued products
2. On trigonometrical series
3. On equations of differences.

Subject Areas: History of mathematics [PBX]