1867 1892

History of Virtual Work Laws

The book presents a history of classical mechanics by focusing on issues of equilibrium. The historical point of view adopted here restricts attention to cases where the effectiveness of forces is assessed on the basis of the virtual motion of their points of application. For completeness, hints of the alternative approach are also referred, the Archimedean for ancient mechanics and the Newtonian for modern mechanics. The laws resulting from consideration of virtual motions are named laws of virtual work. The modern formulations of the principle of virtual work are only a particular form of them. The book begins with the first documented formulations of laws of virtual work in the IV century BC in Greece and proceeds to the end of the XIX century AD in Europe. A significant space is devoted to Arabic and Latin mechanics of Middle Ages. With the Renaissance it began to appear slightly different wordings of the laws, which were often proposed as unique principles of statics. The process reached its apex with Bernoulli and Lagrange in the XVIII century. The book ends with some chapters dealing with the discussions that took place in the French school on the role of the Lagrangian version of the law of virtual work and its applications to continuum mechanics.

A History of Analysis

Analysis as an independent subject was created as part of the scientific revolution in the seventeenth century. Kepler, Galileo, Descartes, Fermat, Huygens, Newton, and Leibniz, to name but a few, contributed to its genesis. Since the end of the seventeenth century, the historical progress of mathematical analysis has displayed unique vitality and momentum. No other mathematical field has so profoundly influenced the development of modern scientific thinking. Describing this multidimensional historical development requires an in-depth discussion which includes a reconstruction of general trends and an examination of the specific problems. This volume is designed as a collective work of authors who are proven experts in the history of mathematics. It clarifies the conceptual change that analysis underwent during its development while elucidating the influence of specific applications and describing the relevance of biographical and philosophical backgrounds. The first ten chapters of the book outline chronological development and the last three chapters survey the history of differential equations, the calculus of variations, and functional analysis. Special features are a separate chapter on the development of the theory of complex functions in the nineteenth century and two chapters on the influence of physics on analysis. One is about the origins of analytical mechanics, and one treats the development of boundary-value problems of mathematical physics (especially potential theory) in the nineteenth century. The book presents an accurate and very readable account of the history of analysis. Each chapter provides a comprehensive bibliography. Mathematical examples have been carefully chosen so that readers with a modest background in mathematics can follow them. It is suitable for mathematical historians and a general mathematical audience.

The Intersection of History and Mathematics