Heading:
Author: Varignon, Pierre
Title: Eclaircissemens sur l'Analyse des infiniment petits
Place Published: Paris
Publisher:Chez Rollins
Date Published: 1725
Description:

[8], 118, [2] pp. With 6 folding engraved plates of diagrams. (4to) 23.5x17 cm (9¼x6¾"), period calf, rebacked with modern calf tooled in gilt, raised bands, morocco lettering piece. First Edition.

First edition of French mathematician Pierre Varignon's commentaries on the calculus of L'Hospital, published posthumously by Varignon's friend and colleague Fontenelle. Varignon was a friend of Newton, Leibniz, and the Bernoulli family, and except for l'Hospital, was the earliest and strongest French advocate of infinitesimal calculus. Many of his works, the present volume among them, were published in Paris in 1725, three years after his death.

g"In working with the model of falling bodies, Varignon encountered difficulties in obtaining acceleration as a second derivative. This problem had the advantage, however, of obliging him to reassess the importance of the new differential and integral calculus. His acceptance of the new procedures occurred between 1692 and 1695, and he was among those who gave the most favorable reception to the publication of L'Hospital's Analyse des infiniment petits in 1696. The éclaircissemens is composed of critical notes that Varignon, as a professor, considered necessary in presenting L'Hospital's pioneering work to young mathematicians - further evidence of his constructive role in the movement to transform the operations used in mathematics" (DSB).

Expert restoration to binding; marginal worming to lower corners throughout; very good.