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William Neile′s Contribution to Calculus

2016; Taylor & Francis; Volume: 47; Issue: 1 Linguagem: Inglês

10.4169/college.math.j.47.1.42

1931-1346

Andrew Leahy,

Mathematics, Computing, and Information Processing

SummaryIn 1657, the Oxford University student William Neile, using infinitesimal techniques developed by Bonaventura Cavalieri, Evangelista Torricelli, and John Wallis, successfully found the arc length of the semicubical parabola. We give an exposition and modern interpretation of his result and discuss some of the historical outcomes that stemmed from it.