Jean-Étienne Montucla citations

Jean-Étienne Montucla, né le 5 septembre 1725 à Lyon et mort le 18 décembre 1799 à Versailles, est un mathématicien français, auteur d’une Histoire des mathématiques en 1758. Wikipedia  

✵ 5. septembre 1725 – 18. décembre 1799
Jean-Étienne Montucla photo
Jean-Étienne Montucla: 5   citations 0   J'aime

Jean-Étienne Montucla Citations

Jean-Étienne Montucla: Citations en anglais

“No one ever squared the circle with so much genius, or, excepting his principal object, with so much success.”

Attributed to Montucla in Augustus De Morgan, A Budget of Paradoxes, (London, 1872), p. 96; Cited in: Robert Edouard Moritz. Memorabilia mathematica; or, The philomath's quotation-book, (1914) p. 366
About Gregory St. Vincent, described by De Morgan as "the greatest of circle-squarers, and his investigations led him into many truths: he found the property of the arc of the hyperbola which led to Napier's logarithms being called hyperbolic."

“Mathematics and philosophy are cultivated by two different classes of men: some make them an object of pursuit, either in consequence of their situation, or through a desire to render themselves illustrious, by extending their limits; while others pursue them for mere amusement, or by a natural taste which inclines them to that branch of knowledge. It is for the latter class of mathematicians and philosophers that this work is chiefly intended j and yet, at the same time, we entertain a hope that some parts of it will prove interesting to the former. In a word, it may serve to stimulate the ardour of those who begin to study these sciences; and it is for this reason that in most elementary books the authors endeavour to simplify the questions designed for exercising beginners, by proposing them in a less abstract manner than is employed in the pure mathematics, and so as to interest and excite the reader's curiosity. Thus, for example, if it were proposed simply to divide a triangle into three, four, or five equal parts, by lines drawn from a determinate point within it, in this form the problem could be interesting to none but those really possessed of a taste for geometry. But if, instead of proposing it in this abstract manner, we should say: "A father on his death-bed bequeathed to his three sons a triangular field, to be equally divided among them: and as there is a well in the field, which must be common to the three co-heirs, and from which the lines of division must necessarily proceed, how is the field to be divided so as to fulfill the intention of the testator?"”

This way of stating it will, no doubt, create a desire in most minds to discover the method of solving the problem; and however little taste people may possess for real science, they will be tempted to try iheir ingenuity in finding the answer to such a question at this.
Source: Preface to Recreations in Mathematics and Natural Philosophy. (1803), p. ii; As cited in: Tobias George Smollett. The Critical Review: Or, Annals of Literature http://books.google.com/books?id=T8APAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA410, Volume 38, (1803), p. 410

“There is reason, however, to think that the author would have rendered it much more interesting, and have carried it to si higher degree of perfection, had he lived in an age more enlightened and better informed in regard to the mathematics and natural philosophy. Since the death of that mathematician, indeed, the arts and sciences have been so much improved, that what in his time might have been entitled to the character of mediocrity, would not at present be supportable. How many new discoveries in every part of philosophy? How many new phenomena observed, some of which have even given birth to the most fertile branches of the sciences? We shall mention only electricity, an inexhaustible source of profound reflection, and of experiments highly amusing. Chemistry also is a science, the most common and slightest principles of which were quite unknown to Ozanam. In short, we need not hesitate to pronounce that Ozanam's work contains a multitude of subjects treated of with an air of credulity, and so much prolixity, that it appears as if the author, or rather his continuators, had no other object in view than that of multiplying the volumes.
To render this work, then, more worthy of the enlightened agt in which we live, it was necessary to make numerous corrections and considerable additions. A task which we have endeavoured to discharge with all diligence”

Source: Preface to Recreations in Mathematics and Natural Philosophy. (1803), p. vi; As cited in: Tobias George Smollett. The Critical Review: Or, Annals of Literature http://books.google.com/books?id=T8APAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA412, Volume 38, (1803), p. 412

Auteurs similaires

Blaise Pascal photo
Blaise Pascal 66
mathématicien, physicien, inventeur, écrivain et philosophe…
Joseph Joubert photo
Joseph Joubert 107
philosophe et essayiste français
Luc de Clapiers, marquis de Vauvenargues photo
Luc de Clapiers, marquis de Vauvenargues 23
moraliste et essayiste français
Sébastien-Roch Nicolas de Chamfort photo
Sébastien-Roch Nicolas de Chamfort 45
poète, journaliste et moraliste français
François de La Rochefoucauld photo
François de La Rochefoucauld 143
écrivain, moraliste et mémorialiste français
Jean de La Bruyère photo
Jean de La Bruyère 50
écrivain et moraliste français
Montesquieu photo
Montesquieu 17
écrivain et philosophe français
Pierre-Augustin Caron de Beaumarchais photo
Pierre-Augustin Caron de Beaumarchais 20
écrivain, musicien, homme d'affaires et poète français
Denis Diderot photo
Denis Diderot 41
écrivain, philosophe et encyclopédiste français
Maximilien de Robespierre photo
Maximilien de Robespierre 118
homme politique français