The main reason why he was unable to realize how rich he was – that is, to understand the significance of his own Laws – is a technical one: the inadequacy of the mathematical tools of his time. Without differential calculus and/or analytical geometry, the three Laws show no apparent connexion with each other – they are disjointed bits of information which do not make much sense. Why should God will the planets to move in ellipses? Why should their speed be governed by the area swept over by the radius vector, and not by some more obvious factor? Why should the ratio between distance and
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