‎VARIGNON (Pierre)‎
‎Eclaircissemens sur l'analyse des infiniment petits‎

‎P., Rollin, 1725, un volume in 4 (23,5 cm X 18,5 cm), relié en pleine basane, dos orné de fers dorés (reliure de l'époque), habiles restaurations à un mors), (4), 118pp., (1), 6 PLANCHES dépliantes‎

Reference : 5158

‎EDITION ORIGINALE ---- TRES RARE ---- BEL EXEMPLAIRE ---- "Fully occupied by his teaching duties and his responsibilities as an academician, Varignon had no leisure to prepare works for publication... From the papers he left at his death, most of which are now lost, his disciples assembled several posthumous works : Nouvelle mécanique, Eclaircissements sur l'analyse des infiniment petits (1725) and Elémens de mathématiques (1731). His intense pedagogical activity, extending over more than thirty years, constituted his chief contribution to the progress of science and was the source of his fame. By inaugurating a chair devoted specifically to mathematics at the Collège Mazarin, he joined the handful of men who were then teaching advanced mathematics... 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 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. The Eclaircissemens is composed of critical notes that Varignon, as 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. But Varignon accomplished even more : in 1700-1701 he refuted Rolle's arguments against the new calculus, challenged the cabal that had formed within the Academy, and obliged Leibniz to furnish a more precise account of his ideas. Leibniz, to be sure, did not give him all the aid desired. Nevertheless, he encouraged Varignon to cease debating principles and to start developing mechanical applications of the new mathematics. The questions that Varignon subsequently treated show how faithfully he followed Leibniz' advice. In his course at the Collège Royal for 1722-1723, Varignon planned to discuss the foundations of infinitesimal calculus but was able to do no more than outline his ideas. Although he died before he could present what was undoubtedly the core of a lifetime's experience, that experience had already borne fruit". (DSB XIII)‎