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James Gregory: A Study in the Early History of Interpolation

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2009

H. W. Turnbull
H. W. Turnbull
Affiliation:
University of St Andrews.
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In a highly interesting critical account of the mathematical work of James Gregory (1638–1675), written for the Proceedings of the Edinburgh Mathematical Society, (1) 41 (1923), 2–25, by the late Professor G. A. Gibson, there occurs at p. 8 something of a mathematical puzzle. On that page a pair of formulae are quoted, which certainly are striking examples of the analytical power of Gregory, and which run as follows:—

Gibson adds that “there is another formula (Rigaud, p. 207), but it is of a very complicated character and I do not reproduce it.” It will be convenient to refer to the above pair as formulae A′ and B′, and to the more complicated but analogous series as formula C, and to the original series, from which the above were transcribed, as formulse A and B. I am indebted to Mr A. Inglis for drawing my attention to the problem.

Type
Research Article
Information
Proceedings of the Edinburgh Mathematical Society , Volume 3 , Issue 3 , February 1933 , pp. 151 - 172
Copyright
Copyright © Edinburgh Mathematical Society 1933

References

BIBLIOGRAPHY

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