What is it about?
In the seventeenth century many changes occurred in the practice of mathematics. An essential change was the establishment of a symbolic language, so that the new language of symbols and techniques could be used to obtain new results. Pietro Mengoli (1626/7– 86), a pupil of Cavalieri, considered the use of symbolic language and algebraic procedures essential for solving all kinds of problems. Following the algebraic research of Viete, Mengoli constructed a geometry of species, Geometriae Speciosae Elementa (1659), which allowed him to use algebra in geometry in complementary ways to solve quadrature problems, and later to compute the quadrature of the circle in his Circolo (1672).
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Why is it important?
This paper shows Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz (1646–1716)'s excerpts on Mengoli's works as well as we provide new insights into Leibniz’s mathematical interpretations and comments.
Perspectives
Leibniz's mathematical manuscripts are very important for understanding history of mathematics in the seventeenth century. I hope that this article encourage to new researches about Leibniz's manuscripts.
Sra Mª Rosa Massa-Esteve
Universitat Politecnica de Catalunya
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This page is a summary of: Mengoli's mathematical ideas in Leibniz's excerpts, BSHM Bulletin Journal of the British Society for the History of Mathematics, October 2016, Taylor & Francis,
DOI: 10.1080/17498430.2016.1239807.
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