34 , E LE M EN TA R Y I LLU S T RA TI O N S OF

ab
’

l
/a 2 -

5 2

there are two p oin ts of i n tersecti on When ( a b )r .

2 2 2

z
2 2
a b th e t wo v al ues o f x b eco me equ al an d al so
, ,

those o f y an d there is on l y one p oi n t in whi ch th e

,

s trai gh t l ine m eets th e circle ; i n th i s case E F is a

tangen t to the ci rcle A n d i f the .

values of x an d y are i mp o ssible an d the s trai gh t li ne ,

doe s n o t m eet the ci rcle .

O f the se three c ases we confine ourse lve s to th e

‘

first in whi ch there are two p oints o f intersection

, .

T he p roduct of the val ues o f x w i th their prope r ,

*
S i gn is
'

an d o f y,
a? ,
2

2 y
a b

the si gn s of whi ch are the s am e as th ose o f b2 r"

an d a2 —r2 I f b and a b e bo th > r the two value s
,

.
,

o f x h ave the s ame S ign ; and i t will ap pe ar fro m the

fig ure th at the l ines the y represen t are me asured in
,

the s am e d irecti on A n d th i s whe th er b an d a be po s

.

it ive o r neg ative s ince b 2 —r

2
and a 2
,
— r
2
are b oth
posi tive when a and b are n um erical l y g re ater th an r ,

wh atever th ei r si gn s m ay be T h at is i f our rule .

, ,

connect ing th e S ig n s o f algeb rai cal and the dire ction s

of g eo m etric al m agni tud es be true le t the di recti on s , ,

o f O E and O F be al tere d i n an y w ay so lon g as O E ,

an d O F are b oth grea ter th an O A the two v alues of ,

O M wi ll h ave th e s am e direc tion and also those of ,

MP .This resul t m ay easily be verifi ed fro m the

figure .

St dy y M at lm at i ( C hi ag C rt P b
'
S ee u ( Th O pze cs
pag 36 c o : e en ou u . e 1 .
38 E LE M E N TA R Y I LLU S T RA TI O N S or

g le which the t an gen t m akes wi th the a x i s o f x i n any

curve m ay b e fo un d by g iving x an i n crement fin d
, ,

in g th e ra ti o wh i ch the co rre sp onding i ncrem en t of y

bears to th at of x and determ i nin g the li m i t of th at ,

ratio or th e dzfieren tialcoefi cien t T hi s lim i t i s the

'

, .

trigono metric al t an gen t * o f the angle which the geo

m etri cal t an gen t m a k es wi th the a x i s o f x I f y ( x
p . :
,

mx i s thi s tri gon ometri cal t angent Thus i f the curve

’
.
,

be such th at the ordin ates are the N aperi an l oga

rit h m s j of the absci ssae
‘

or y l og x an d y + dy = ,
z
,

1 1
l
og x dx dx 2
e tc the geom etr i c al t angen t
5 ,
.
,
2x
of an y poin t whose absci ss a i s x ,
m a k es wi th th e a x i s
1
an an gle wh ose tri gono m etric al tan gen t i s
E
Th is prob lem o f drawin g a tan gen t t o an y curve , ,

was one the con si deration of whi ch g av e ri se to the

,

m etho ds of the D i fferen ti al C alculus .

RA T I O NAL E X P LA N A T I O N O F T H E L A N G UA G E O F LE I B N IT Z .

As
the pe culi ar l an g uage of the theory o f i nfini tel y
s m al l q uan ti ties i s e x ten sivel y u se d especi all y i n ,

works o f n at ural ph ilosoph y i t h as appeared ri gh t t o ,

u s t o i ntroduce i t i n order t o show how the term s ,

whi ch are used m ay be made to refer to som e n at ural

and ration al m ode of e x pl an ati on I n ap plying th is .

l an guag e to F ig 2 i t would b e s ai d th at the curve .

,

O P i s a p olygon con si stin g o f an i nfin ite n umber of

Th r i s s m
e e f si b tw oth s diff r t s s f t h w rd ta
e c on u on e e en e e e en u e o e o n

g t T h g m tri al ta g t is as alr ady d fi d th li b tw w hi h

en . e eo e c n en , e e ne , e ne e e en c

a da
n rvcu straight li
e no a b dra w ; t h trig m tri al ta g t has
ne c n e n e o no e c n en

r f r
e e en c e t a a gl a d is th rati w h i h i a y right a gl d tri a gl
o n n e, n e o c , n n -
n e n e,

t h sid
e pp sit t h a gl b ars t that w hi h i adj a
e o o e e t n e e o c s ce n .

I I t m ay b w l l t ti that i a alysis t h N a p ria l garith m s a

e e o no ce n n e e n o re

the on ly s s d ; w hil i p ra ti th
one u e mm r Briggs s l garith m s
e n c ce e co on , o
’
o ,

are al w ays pr f rr d e e e .
 E LE M E NT A RY I LLU S T RA T I O N S O F

the chord i s alwa ys of one len g th th e hei gh t o f the ,

arch can be m ade as s m all as we p le ase seein g th at ,

i t c an be m ade as sm all a p art as we ple ase of a given

l ine. I t i s possible in thi s w ay to con ceive a wh ole
curve S 0 m agn ified th at a given arc h owever Sm all , , ,

sh all be repre sen ted by an arc of any given len gth ,

however gre at ; an d the p ropo si ti on am oun ts to th is ,

th at l et th e d i m en sio ns o f th e m agn ified cu rve b e an y

give n n u mber o f ti me s the o ri gin al h owever gre at an , ,

arch can be take n up o n the ori gin al curve so sm all ,

th a t th e hei gh t o f the corre sp ond in g arch i n the m ag

n ified fi g ure S h al l b e as sm all as we please .

L et P P ( F i g 4 ) be a p art o f a cu rv e who se equ a

’
.
,

ti on i s y th at i s P M m ay alway s be foun d by
:
,

sub s titu ting the n u meri cal value of O M i n a given

fun ctio n o f x Let O M x re ceive th e i ncrem ent
. z

dx wh ich we m ay afterwards su ppos e as s m al l

’
MM z
,

as we ple ase but whi ch in orde r to ren der the fi gure

, ,

m ore di stin ct i s h ere con siderab le T he val ue of P M

, .

mx an d th at of P M o ry + dy i s m( x + dx )
'
o ry i s
’

, .

D raw P V the t an gen t at P whi ch as h as been

, , ,

S hown m a k es w ith P Q an angle whose t rig o n o m e t

, , , ,

d
lt an gent
f f when
0 0

the l i m i t of the rat i o

o o

ri c a is , x is de
x
’
cre ased , or gp x . D raw the chord P P ’

,
an d from an y