Timeline for "Species" and "terms" meaning polynomials and monomials
Current License: CC BY-SA 4.0
9 events
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| Jun 18, 2020 at 8:32 | history | edited | CommunityBot |
Commonmark migration
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| Oct 5, 2018 at 6:08 | comment | added | Mauro ALLEGRANZA | @SasQ - species and genus are clearly form Aristotle. | |
| Oct 4, 2018 at 23:40 | comment | added | SasQ | Long story short, @Viktor Blasjo's remark about Newton's attempt at classification of polynomials may be on point here as well, since Euler seems to make a taxonomy-like system starting from "individuals", then "species" and "generi" (Lat. "specierum et generum" was explicitly stated in the original text), and it is in the context of categorizing functions into polynomials, rational functions, irrational functions and transcendental functions. | |
| Oct 4, 2018 at 23:36 | comment | added | SasQ | Another one by Ian Bruce: "Evidently to the extent that ideas of the appearances and kinds of variables are formed from notions of their indivisibility, thus a variable quantity is a kind, within which all the determined magnitudes may be contained." (But this translation doesn't seem to match the original very well, even with my limited knowledge of Latin I can tell that it's totally off :q ) | |
| Oct 4, 2018 at 23:32 | comment | added | SasQ | "Quemadmodum scilicet ex ideis individuorum formantur ideae specierum et generum, ita quantitas variabilis est genus, sub quo omnes quantitates determinatae continentur." There are two different English translation of this passage I have. One by J.D.Blanton (emphasis mine): "Just as from the ideas of individuals the ideas of species and genus are formed, so a variable quantity is a genus in which are contained all determined quantities." | |
| Oct 4, 2018 at 23:25 | comment | added | SasQ | @Mauro: Interesting trail to investigate. I definitely have to take a closer look at Viète's works then. But I'm pretty sure I've seen the word "species" used in older works too (unles they were later translations and that word has been used there post factum, not by the original authors). However, here's an example excerpt from Euler's "Introductio in Analysin Infinitorum" I.I.2: | |
| Oct 4, 2018 at 19:46 | comment | added | Francois Ziegler | “species seu formas” seems especially relevant to the title question, as (homogeneous) polynomials were certainly long called forms. Is species older, and might form actually have arisen as a synonym or preferred translation of it? | |
| Oct 4, 2018 at 19:42 | history | edited | Mauro ALLEGRANZA | CC BY-SA 4.0 |
added 304 characters in body
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| Oct 4, 2018 at 15:09 | history | answered | Mauro ALLEGRANZA | CC BY-SA 4.0 |