T H E D I FFE RE NT I A L AN D I NT E G RA L CA L C ULUS .

di m i ni she d i t i s p ossible th at B wh ich we wil l s up ,

pos e t o be a t first a h un dre dth p art o f C m ay after , ,

a di m i n ut ion o f bo th b e i ts tenth or th o u s an dth or

, ,
'

m ay st ill rem ain i t s h un dre d th as the foll owi n g ex ,

am pl e w il lsho w
'

(2 3 6 00 1 8 00
B 36
1 1
B C B C B C B
100 1 000

H e re the val ue s o f B an d C i n the seco nd th ird an d , ,

fo ur th col u m n are le ss th an th o se i n th e fi rs t ; n ever

th e l ess the ratio of B to C i s les s i n the seco nd col
,

u m n th an i t was i n the fi rst rem ain s th e s a m e i n the

,

third a n d i s gre ate r i n the fourth

, .

I n e sti m at in g the app ro ach to or de p artu re from ,

e q u ali ty wh ich t wo m agn i t ude s u ndergo i n c o n se

,

q u e n ce o f a ch an ge i n their v a l ues we m u s t n o t lo ok ,

at thei r di fferen ces b u t at th e p roportio n s wh i ch those

,

d i fferen ces be ar to the whole m a gni tudes F o r ex .

a m ple if a geo m e tri c al fi gu re two of who se S i de s are

, ,

3 and 4 i nch e s now b e altered i n d i m en s i on s so th at

, ,

the corresp ondin g sides are 1 00 an d 1 01 i n ch es th ey ,

are ne arer t o e qu ali ty i n th e seco n d c ase th an i n the

firs t ; bec ause tho u gh th e di fferen c e i s the s am e i n
,

bo th n am ely one inch i t i s o ne third o f the l eas t si de

, ,

i n the fi rs t case an d o nly on e hu ndredth i n the sec

,

o nd . Thi s corre s po nds to th e co m m o n u s ag e which ,

rej ects q u an t i t ie s n o t merely b ecau se th ey are sm al l

, ,

b u t be cause they are s m al l i n propo rti on to th ose o f

whi ch they are co n sidered as p a rts T hu s twenty .
,

m i le s wo ul d b e a m ateri al error i n tal k in g o f a day s ’

j o urn ey b u t wo ul d n o t be consi dere d worth m en tion

,

in g i n o ne of three m on ths and wo ul d be c al led to ,

 T H E D I FFE RE NT I A L AN D I NT E G RA L C A L C ULU S . 1 3

l
e t a n u m ber ever s o gre at A will before i t be
he , ,

co m e s n o th in g con t ain l
t
?
m ore th an th at n u mber o f
,

ti m e s H ere all d i sp ute about a st an dard of s m allness

.

i s avoi ded bec au se b e th e stand ard wh atever i t m ay

, , ,

the prop orti on of it? to It m ay be bro ugh t under i t I t .

i s indi ffe ren t whethe r the thous andth ten — th ou san dth , ,

o r h undre d m il li onth p art of a q u an ti ty i s to b e con

-

s ide re d sm all en o u gh to be rej e cte d by t he side of the

1 1 1
whole for le t , A be ’ or °f th e
1 000
un i t an d it will con ta in
,
l
fl 1 00
0 , , or
o f ti m es .

Th e prop o si ti on th ere fore th at l z c an be t a k en so

, ,

sm all th at 2 a ]: 122 an d 2 a ]: are rig orou s ly e q ual ,

thou gh n o t t rue and therefore e nt ai lin g erro r up on

,

al l i t s su bse q ue n t co n sequ ence s ye t i s o f thi s ch arac ,

ter th a t by t a k i n g it su ffi cien tl y s m all all errors m ay

, , ,

b e m ade as sm all a s we p le a se Th e desire o f co m .

bining S i m pl i ci ty wi th th e a ppe aran ce o f rigorou s

'

de m on stra tion prob ab ly i n trodu ced the n o ti on o f in

,

fin i tel y s m all q uanti t ie s ; wh i ch was further es tab

lish e d by o b servin g th at thei r c arefu l u s e never led t o
any erro r The m eth o d o f s tatin g the ab ove m en tioned
.
-

pro po si ti o n i n s tric t an d ra ti on al term s i s a s fol lows :

I f a be i n cre ase d by n a i s i ncre ase d by 2 o l
2
z + 11
,
2
,

wh i ch wh a teve r m ay b e th e val ue o f 12 i s to it i n th e
, ,

p rop ortio n o f 2 a + l z to 1 T he s m al ler 1: i s m ade .

,

the m o re n e ar does thi s proportio n d i m i ni sh towards

th at of 2 a t o 1 to which i t m ay b e m ade to approach
,

wi thin an y qu an ti ty i f i t be allowa bl e to tak e l , i as

s m all as we p le ase H ence th e ratio incremen t of a2

.
,

in cremen t of a i s a decre asin g rat io wh o se li m i t i s 2 0

, , .

I n further il lus tration o f the l an g uage o f L ei bn it z ,

we ob serve th a t a cc ordin g to hi s phraseology i f A B

, ,
 T H E D I F F E R E NT I AL AN D I NT E G RA L C AL C ULU S . 2 3

The origin al v al ue m x i s i n cre ased by the I n cre m en t

mxl
1 +
¢
N
x x + et c .
,
2 2 . 3

when ce ( it b ein g the increm en t of x )

in cremen t of mx 11
x
Iz’
I—e tc ’

i n cremen t of x 2 3 '

wh ich i s an e x p re s sio n for the rati o wh i ch the i n cre

m en t of a fu nc ti o n be ars to the i n crem en t o f i ts v ari
ab le I t con si s ts of two p arts
. The one mx in to .
,
’

whi ch l z d oes no t en te r depen ds o n x on l y ; the re ,

m ain de r i s a serie s ever y term of whi ch i s m ul tip li ed

,

by so m e power of it and wh i ch th erefore d i mi n i shes

,
"
as it di m ini sh es an d m ay b e m ad e as s m a a s we
,
.

please by m a k in g 12 su ffici en tl y s m all .

To m ake thi s l ast assertio n cl e ar observe th at all ,

'
th e rati o e x ce p t i t s fi rst term qJ x m ay b e wri t te n a s
, ,

follows
l( m
t x
é + cp x

the second facto r of whi ch ( p age 1 9) i s a convergen t

1
ser i e s wh enever 11 is t a k en le s s th an ’
whe re A is
A
the li m i t to ward s wh i ch we ap pro x i m ate by t a k in g
1
the coeffici en ts
2 — " etc an d form
"

m go x X ,
x x .
,
2 3
in g th e rati o o f e ach to th e on e i m m edi ately pre ced
in g. Thi s l i m i t as h a s been observed i s fini te i n
-

, ,

every seri es whi ch we h ave oc ca si o n to u se ; an d

th erefore a val ue fo r it c an be ch o sen s o s m all th a t ,

fo r i t th e serie s i n the last n am ed form u l a i s c onver -

gen t still m ore wil l i t b e s o fo r eve ry sm alle r val ue

o f 11 L e t the serie s h e c alled P I f P b e a finite q u an
. .

ti ty whi ch decreases whe n it de cre ase s P l

, z can be ,

m ade as s m all as we ple ase by s u ffici en tly d i m i n i sh in g