Brook Taylor : Methodus Incrementorum Directa & Inversa

translated and annotated by Ian Bruce

This is an annotated translation of Brook Taylor's Methodus Incrementorum Directa & Inversa (1715; 2nd ed. 1717). This is a truly inspirational work, and gives us a fascinating glimpse of the state of the mathematical world at the start of the 18th century, as presented by someone living in the shadow of Newton, and who was himself totally versed in the ways of the calculus. owever, do not e!pect an easy ride leading up to an e!position of Taylor's Theorem, which is presented as an afterthought to the main business of "rop. #$$, which is initially concerned with the mathematics of finite differences, here invented by Taylor% indeed, the function notaton had not yet been invented, so one has to make do with the e&uaivalent contemporary way of setting out mathematics. This is a challenging work, in which a great deal of interesting material is presented. This work was influential at the time, though it attracted a lot of attention of the wrong kind from 'ohan Bernoulli, who was publishing similar material at the time, and who accused Taylor of plagiarism, which appears to be totally unfounded% at least one can see the need for a proper set of symbols for calculus( There are theorems that re&uire e!tra attention to be understood% however, if you are a casual reader, and a theorem does not make sense to you, then )ust go on% there are parts that are &uite delightful. Taylor gave a summary of the chapters in the Philosophical Transactions o the !o"al #ociet", #ol. *+, pp ,,+-,.*, available from '/T01, that we now to present in abbreviated form as a "roposition guide. 0ne should note perhaps the difficulty Taylor had with the centre of percussion, which in the modern sense is )ust the same as the centre of oscillation. 20NT3NT/ $ntroduction 4 5 description of the method of increments is given, including a definition of the symbols used, and the relation to Newton's 6lu!ions. "art $ 4 "rop.$4 3!planation of the direct method and relation to flu!ions 7differentiation8% "rop.$$ shows how to change an 7difference8 incremental e&uation so that the &uantities flow from the right rather than from the left% "rop.$$$ sets out to show how the dependent and independent variable in a flu!ional e&uation can be interchanged, mindful of a function and its inverse, and useful in inverting series solutions of fluctional e&uations% "rop.$# and "rop.# show how to find the number of boundary conditions in

a flu!ional or incremental e&uation% "rop.#$ gives the general e!planation of the inverse method 7integration8% for a given relation between increments or flu!ions, to find the relation between the fluents% Taylor considers this tentative, as there is no general method% he considers solutions in terms of infinite or finite series 4 these are considered in "rop. #$$ and #$$$. "rop. $9 e!tends the method of series solutions in an elegant manner% "rop. 9 and 9$ and 9$$ give general series solutions arising from integration by parts in an e!tended form. "art $$ deals with applications 4 "rop. 9$$$ looks at the binomial theorem% "rop. 9$# sums arithmetical series% "rop. 9# deals with curvature and related problems% "rop. 9#$ 4 &uadrature of all sorts of curves% "rop. 9#$$ 4 the isoperimetric problem% "rop. 9#$$$ 4 solution of catenary curves% "rop. $99 deals with the arch% "rop. 99 deals with a sail filled with water% "rop. 99$ deals with an arch supporting a fluid% "rop. 99 $$ and 99$$$ deal with the motion of a musical string and gives a formula for the fre&uency in terms of the tension, density, and length of the string% these are new results of which Taylor is rightly proud% "rop. 99$# deals with centre of oscillation% "rop. 99# 4 centre of percussion% "rop. 99#$ 4 the density of air at any distance from the centre of the earth% this establishes the use of calculus as a means of deriving a formula by considering the forces on a small element% "rop. 99#$$ 4 refraction of light passing through the atmosphere% this last prop. attributes unrealistic mechanical properties to light beams in the earth's gravity% yet from a calculus point of view it shows how difficult problems can be solved by series e!pansions. :ethodus $ncrementorum "art 0ne.
"art 15 4 :ethodus $ncr...."rop.$-#$. "art $B 4 :ethodus $ncr...."rop.#$$-9$$.

:ethodus $ncrementorum "art Two.

"art $$5 4 :ethodus $ncr...."rop.9$$$-9#$$. "art $$B 4 :ethodus $ncr...."rop.9#$$$-99$$$. "art $$2 4 :ethodus $ncr...."rop.99$#-99#. "art $$; 4 :ethodus $ncr...."rop.99#$-99#$$.