“We have already various treatises on Mechanics, but the plan of this one is entirely new. I intend to reduce the theory of this Science, and the art of solving problems relating to it, to general formulae, the simple development of which provides all the equations necessary for the solution of each problem. I hope that the manner in which I have tried to attain this object will leave nothing to be desired. No diagrams will be found in this work. The methods that I explain require neither geometrical, nor mechanical, constructions or reasoning, but only algebraical operations in accordance with regular and uniform procedure. Those who love Analysis will see with pleasure that Mechanics has become a branch of it, and will be grateful to me for having thus extended its domain.”

Mécanique analytique (1788) as quoted by E. W. Hobson, Mathematics, from the points of view of the Mathematician and of the Physicist (1912) an address delivered to the Mathematical and Physical Society of University College London, p.13. https://books.google.com/books?id=H7Y_AQAAIAAJ&pg=PA13

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update June 3, 2021. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "We have already various treatises on Mechanics, but the plan of this one is entirely new. I intend to reduce the theory…" by Joseph Louis Lagrange?
Joseph Louis Lagrange photo
Joseph Louis Lagrange 6
Italian mathematician and mathematical physicist 1736–1813

Related quotes

Leonid Kantorovich photo

“I discovered that a whole range of problems of the most diverse character relating to the scientific organization of production (questions of the optimum distribution of the work of machines and mechanisms, the minimization of scrap, the best utilization of raw materials and local materials, fuel, transportation, and so on) lead to the formulation of a single group of mathematical problems (extremal problems). These problems are not directly comparable to problems considered in mathematical analysis. It is more correct to say that they are formally similar, and even turn out to be formally very simple, but the process of solving them with which one is faced [i. e., by mathematical analysis] is practically completely unusable, since it requires the solution of tens of thousands or even millions of systems of equations for completion.
I have succeeded in finding a comparatively simple general method of solving this group of problems which is applicable to all the problems I have mentioned, and is sufficiently simple and effective for their solution to be made completely achievable under practical conditions.”

Leonid Kantorovich (1912–1986) Russian mathematician

Kantorovich (1960) "Mathematical Methods of Organizing and Planning Production." Management Science, 6(4):366–422, 1960, p. 368); As cited in: Cockshott, W. Paul. " Mises, Kantorovich and economic computation http://www.dcs.gla.ac.uk/publications/PAPERS/8707/standalonearticle.pdf." (2007).

Karl Popper photo

“Whenever a theory appears to you as the only possible one, take this as a sign that you have neither understood the theory nor the problem which it was intended to solve.”

Karl Popper (1902–1994) Austrian-British philosopher of science

Objective Knowledge: An Evolutionary Approach (1972)

Jan Tinbergen photo
George Peacock photo
Rasmus Lerdorf photo

“Ugly problems often require ugly solutions. Solving an ugly problem in a pure manner is bloody hard.”

Rasmus Lerdorf (1968) Danish programmer and creator of PHP

php.devel Mailing List, October 2002 http://osdir.com/ml/php.devel/2002-10/msg00704.html

René Descartes photo
Piet Hein photo

“Art is this: art is the solution of a problem which cannot be expressed explicitly until it is solved.”

Piet Hein (1905–1996) Danish puzzle designer, mathematician, author, poet

As quoted in Man Creates Art Creates Man (1973) by Duane Preble, p. 14
Variant translation: Art is solving problems that cannot be formulated before they have been solved. The shaping of the question is part of the answer.
As quoted in Architecture: form, space, and order (2007) by Francis D.K. Ching, p. ix
Context: After all, what is art? Art is the creative process and it goes through all fields. Einstein’s theory of relativity — now that is a work of art! Einstein was more of an artist in physics than on his violin.
Art is this: art is the solution of a problem which cannot be expressed explicitly until it is solved.

Brook Taylor photo
Niels Henrik Abel photo

“The mathematicians have been very much absorbed with finding the general solution of algebraic equations, and several of them have tried to prove the impossibility of it. However, if I am not mistaken, they have not as yet succeeded. I therefore dare hope that the mathematicians will receive this memoir with good will, for its purpose is to fill this gap in the theory of algebraic equations.”

Niels Henrik Abel (1802–1829) Norwegian mathematician

A Memoir on Algebraic Equations, Proving the Impossibility of a Solution of the General Equation of the Fifth Degree (1824) Tr. W. H. Langdon, as quote in A Source Book in Mathematics (1929) ed. David Eugene Smith

Related topics