A Short Account of the History of Mathematics Quotes

“For other great mathematicians or philosophers, he used the epithets magnus, or clarus, or clarissimus; for Newton alone he kept the prefix summus.”
― W.W. Rouse Ball, A Short Account of the History of Mathematics

“Babbage … gave the name to the [Cambridge] Analytical Society, which he stated was formed to advocate 'the principles of pure d-ism as opposed to the dot-age of the university.”
― W.W. Rouse Ball, A Short Account of the History of Mathematics

“The manner of Demoivre's death has a certain interest for psychologists. Shortly before it, he declared that it was necessary for him to sleep some ten minutes or a quarter of an hour longer each day than the preceding one: the day after he had thus reached a total of something over twenty-three hours he slept up to the limit of twenty-four hours, and then died in his sleep.”
― W.W. Rouse Ball, A Short Account of the History of Mathematics

“...and his analysis proved him to be the first of theoretical astronomers no less than the greatest of 'arithmeticians.”
― W.W. Rouse Ball, A Short Account of the History of Mathematics

“Newton took no exercise, indulged in no amusements, and worked incessantly, often spending eighteen or nineteen hours out of the twenty-four in writing.”
― W.W. Rouse Ball, A Short Account of the History of Mathematics

“Biot, who assisted Laplace in revising it [The Mécanique Céleste] for the press, says that Laplace himself was frequently unable to recover the details in the chain of reasoning, and if satisfied that the conclusions were correct, he was content to insert the constantly recurring formula, 'Il est àisé avoir' [it is easy to see].”
― W.W. Rouse Ball, A Short Account of the History of Mathematics

“The great masters of modern analysis are Lagrange, Laplace, and Gauss, who were contemporaries. It is interesting to note the marked contrast in their styles. Lagrange is perfect both in form and matter, he is careful to explain his procedure, and though his arguments are general they are easy to follow. Laplace on the other hand explains nothing, is indifferent to style, and, if satisfied that his results are correct, is content to leave them either with no proof or with a faulty one. Gauss is as exact and elegant as Lagrange, but even more difficult to follow than Laplace, for he removes every trace of the analysis by which he reached his results, and studies to give a proof which while rigorous shall be as concise and synthetical as possible.”
― W.W. Rouse Ball, A Short Account of the History of Mathematics

“Foreshadowings of the principles and even of the language of [the infinitesimal] calculus can be found in the writings of Napier, Kepler, Cavalieri, Fermat, Wallis, and Barrow. It was Newton's good luck to come at a time when everything was ripe for the discovery, and his ability enabled him to construct almost at once a complete calculus.”
― W.W. Rouse Ball, A Short Account of the History of Mathematics

“THE history of mathematics cannot with certainty be traced back to any school or period before that of the Ionian Greeks.”
― W.W. Rouse Ball, A Short Account of the History of Mathematics