International Journal of Mathematical Education in

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Stevinus epitaph: Thermodynamics meets number

theory
Michael A.B. Deakin & G. J. Troup
To cite this article: Michael A.B. Deakin & G. J. Troup (1976) Stevinus epitaph: Thermodynamics
meets number theory, International Journal of Mathematical Education in Science and
Technology, 7:3, 271-276, DOI: 10.1080/0020739760070303
To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/0020739760070303

Published online: 09 Jul 2006.

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Date: 10 March 2016, At: 00:16

INT. J. MATH. EDUC. SCI. TECHNOL., 1976, VOL. 7, NO. 3, 2 7 1 - 2 7 6

Stevinus' epitaph:
Thermodynamics meets number theory
by MICHAEL A. B. DEAKIN
Mathematics Department, Monash University, Australia
and G. J. TROUP
Physics Department, Monash University, Australia

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(Received 9 March 1976)

A number of versions of the diagram known as the ' Epitaph of Stevinus '
are presented. The diagram has the purpose of demonstrating the law of
the resolution of forces from considerations of the impossibility of perpetual
motion. The usual versions of the diagram require a number-theoretical
result, proved herein, for completeness of the account.

Simon Stevin (Stevinus), 1548-1620, produced the diagram of figure 1 to

prove his law of resolution of forces. In this version, the figure appears as the
frontispiece of his Hypomnemata Mathematica of 1608, over the legend
" Wonder en is gheen wonder ", rendered by J. R. Maddox, translator of Dugas'
History of Mechanics [1], as " The Magic is not magical ". This, according to
Dugas, is Stevin's indication that he had logically explained a fact instead of
invoking magic as the Greeks had done, before Archimedes, in connection with
levers.

Figure 1. The Epitaph of Stevinus: Stevin's first version of the diagram. Redrawn from
Dugas [1]. The (erroneously) circular arc AC is a feature of the original, but the
precise form is irrelevant.

The salient features of figure 1 are the lengths of the lines BC, AB, which
are in the ratio 2 : 1 . The four spheres or cylinders on the gentler slope AB
balance the two resting on BC. The eight others form, by symmetry, a subsystem in equilibrium. The precise role of the points S, T, V will be discussed
later.
Stevinus then generalized this result to
WAB

WBC

fee

{)

272

M.A.B. Deakin and G. J. Troup

where WAB, W-RC are the weights resting on the sides AB, BC, respectively, and
JAB, fee are the corresponding lengths. It is understood in this that AC is to
be horizontal. Figure 2 gives a special, but important case, and figure 3
indicates the more general situation.

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Figure 2. A later version by Stevin; AB = 2BC. Redrawn from Dugas [1].

Figure 3. A generalized version of the Epitaph. AB : BC must be rational. AC must

be horizontal. The case shown here has AB : BC = 3 : 4. The precise form of
the polygonal arc AC is not relevant.

Figure 2 is rather more stylized than figure 1 in that the continuous belt
of weights has been replaced by a configuration that is seen to be equivalent
once equation (1) is reached. Nevertheless, that continuous belt is required
for the general derivation of equation (1). The proportionality of W, I on both
sides of the point B is assured by the construction. The argument that
produces the static equilibrium is based on the impossibility of perpetual motion.
Were there a tendency for the loop to rotate clockwise (say), this would
persist, and be due to an excess in the vertical component of WBC over the
vertical component of WAB- That these vertical components are equal leads
us to suspect that the vertical component is actually proportional to PFAB- TO
construct a proof along these lines it is preferable to employ a specialized form
of the diagram.
Figure 4 gives such a specialization. This particular form is that reproduced
in The Feynman Lectures on Physics [2] (which incidently repeats the story that
the diagram is carved on Stevin's tomb; the diagram and the motto " Wonder

Figure 4. A specialization of figure 3. Here AB is vertical, AC horizontal. AB : BC

must be rational. The case shown here is A B : B C = 3:5. Redrawn from
Feynman [2]. The form of the arc AC, which is in fact erroneous, is irrelevant.

Stevinus' epitaph

273

en is gheen wonder " are both referred to as The Epitaph of Stevinus. Either
would be a fitting monument, but we are unable to discover whether the story
is accurate or apocryphal).
An even simpler form is figure 5, where the slack has been taken up. It
may also be noted that this version may be presented with the triangle inverted.
Figures 4 and 5 show the situation in which AB is vertical. WAB itself may
now be assumed to be the vertical component of WAB, SO that now we have
vertical component of WAB WAB = vertical component of WBC

(2)

But
WAB = IABWBCIIBC = WBC cos 6

(3)

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Thus
vertical component of W-^c = W-QG COS 6
(4)
which is, essentially, the triangle law of force. A complete proof may readily
be constructed along these lines.

Figure 5. A more compact form of figure 4. In this version, the arc AC has collapsed
to a straight line and the triangle ABC could be inverted.

A number of objections may be raised against this derivation. In the first

place, the possible role of friction needs discussion. We may discuss it to
dismiss it. Even without a precise law of friction, we may imagine that the
friction plays a relatively smaller role as the weights WAB, WBC are increased
(by, for example, increasing the density of the spheres or cylinders represented
by the circles). This is particularly the case in the configurations of figures
4 and 5. We may also imagine friction reduced by lubrication or use of bearings.
Friction, moreover, prevents motion in either direction; we can say that
equation (4) represents a central point of that set of possible equilibria, and is at
least approximately true.
But there is a more fundamental reason for discounting friction, because
ultimately we find the idea that the device generates perpetual motion repugnant,
even in a frictionless world. We should not need to invoke friction to prevent
perpetual motion.
A more difficult objection is the question of whether or not the device might
catch or jam. Feynman's version, whose geometry we reproduce exactly in
figure 4, seems to be on the point of doing just this, and the mechanism of figure
5 would undoubtedly jam in many configurations even if there were a genuine
tendency to movei.e. it would equilibrate even if the weights disobeyed
equation (1). This objection seems to have been foreseen by Stevin, who
inserts (see figure 1) the points S, T, V, " three fixed points on which the cord
can run freely without being caught".
Quite how Stevin intended his diagram to be interpreted seems now to be
an unanswerable question. A number of quite feasible possibilities exist.

274

M. A. B. Deakin and G. J. Troup

One possibility is that the individual cylinders have the cross-section shown in
figure 6, the central axle passing through the cord arid the lower rims having
rolling or sliding contact with the surface of a triangular prism.

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Figure 6. A possible cross-section for one of Stevin's cylinders. The line of sight is in
the plane ABC from the left of figure 1.

We ourselves prefer to redraw the diagram slightly. Figure 5 then takes on

the appearance shown in figure 7. The attachment to the cord, or belt, is shown
in figure 8. Roller bearings may be inserted directly at the points A, B, C, any
resulting reduction in the lengths of the sides being reducible to arbitrarily
negligible proportions. These roller bearings take the place of Stevin's points
S, T, V.

Figure 7. An alternative version of figure 5. The altered geometry is provided as an

answer to possible jamming.

Figure 8. A method of attachment to the cord or belt of figure 7.

A third possibility is to abolish the cylinders entirely and imagine a heavy

(and, given that this implies thickness, flexible) band as in figure 9. This too
leads to equations (1) and (4) and does so in a reasonably direct way. However,
this does not have the immediate impact of the other versions, such as figure 7.
A final difficulty does not arise with figure 9, but is relevant to the discrete
versions of the diagram. All such versions require lengths in integral ratios
if we are to apply the argument of equations (1); these ratios must also form a
right-angled triangle if the argument of equations (2)-(4) is to hold.

275

Stevinus" epitaph

It is well known that the sides of such a triangle must be in the ratio
luv : u2 v2 : u2 + v2, where u, v (u> v) are positive integers; u2 + v2 is the
hypotenuse (BC in figures 4, 5 and 7). Thus
luv
u2-v2
...
C0S

^=~2

~2

(>

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It is apparent that not all angles 6 can be analysed in terms of the discrete
versions. However, we shall show that all angles 6 may be arbitrarily approximated by angles <f> satisfying equation (5). This theorem is unlikely to be new,
although we are unable to find a reference to it; the proof moreover is relatively
straightforward if the details are tedious. We present an outline.

Figure 9.

A continuous version of figure 7.

Let us agree to call the fractions

{Iuvj{u2 + v2)},

{(u2 v2)l(u2 + v2)},

'Pythagorean fractions '. We then have:

Theorem :
Any real number x in (0, 1) may be approximated to arbitrary accuracy by a
Pythagorean fraction.

Proof:
{A) It will be sufficient to show that any such x may be approximated to
arbitrary accuracy by a fraction of the form {(w2 v2)j(u2 + v2)}.
(B) As every real x is approximable to arbitrary accuracy by a rational number
it will suffice to show that, for all e (> 0), there exist u, v such that

P__\~
q

<e

(C) To find such u, v form \/ {(q+p)l(qp)} This is a real number approximable to arbitrary accuracy by rationals. Let un be the numerator and vn the
denominator of the wth in a sequence of rationals tending to the required limit.
Clearly un > vn. Then
un2-vn2
pjq as w->oo

(D) Hence the result. The stated result on the angle 0 follows immediately
by setting # = cos 9 and use of the continuity of the cosine function.
The need for this result does not arise in the continuous version (figure 9),
but figures 5 and 7 require such a result if equation (4) is to be deduced with
any generality from them. This point is, if not new, insufficiently publicized.
Moreover, it gives a case of a number theoretical result, albeit a straightforward
one, with application to mechanics.

276

Stevinus' epitaph

The use of thermodynamical principles, especially through the proposal of

some perpetual motion machine and the requirement that it fails, has, we suspect,
wide application in the derivation of physical laws. The present paper deals
with a previously known but historically and mathematically interesting case.
We hope in later papers to explore other situations in the same spirit.

Acknowledgment
We thank Jean Hoyle, who drew the diagrams.

References

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[1]

R., 1957, A History of Mechanics, translated by J. R. Maddox (London:

Routledge & Kegan Paul Ltd.), pp. 123-127.
[2] FEYNMAN, R., LEIGHTON, R., and SANDS, M., 1963, The Feynman Lectures on Physics,
Vol. 1 (Reading, Massachusetts: Addison-Wesley), pp. 4 and 5.
DUGAS,