|
Varignon
Pierre Varignon (; 1654 – 23 December 1722) was a French mathematician. He was educated at the Society of Jesus, Jesuit College and the University of Caen, where he received his Magister Artium, M.A. in 1682. He took Holy Orders the following year. Varignon gained his first exposure to mathematics by reading Euclid and then René Descartes, Descartes' ''La Géométrie''. He became professor of mathematics at the Collège des Quatre-Nations, Collège Mazarin in Paris in 1688 and was elected to the Académie Royale des Sciences in the same year. In 1704, he held the departmental chair at Collège Mazarin and also became professor of mathematics at the Collège de France, Collège Royal. He was elected to the Prussian Academy of Sciences, Berlin Academy in 1713 and to the Royal Society in 1718. Many of his works were published in Paris in 1725, three years after his death. His lectures at Mazarin were published in Elements de mathematique' in 1731. Varignon was a friend of Isaa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Varignon's Theorem
In Euclidean geometry, Varignon's theorem holds that the midpoints of the sides of an arbitrary quadrilateral form a parallelogram, called the Varignon parallelogram. It is named after Pierre Varignon, whose proof was published posthumously in 1731. Theorem The midpoints of the sides of an arbitrary quadrilateral form a parallelogram. If the quadrilateral is convex or concave (not complex), then the area of the parallelogram is half the area of the quadrilateral. If one introduces the concept of oriented areas for ''n''-gons, then this area equality also holds for complex quadrilaterals. Coxeter, H. S. M. and Greitzer, S. L. "Quadrangle; Varignon's theorem" §3.1 in Geometry Revisited. Washington, DC: Math. Assoc. Amer., pp. 52–54, 1967. The Varignon parallelogram exists even for a skew quadrilateral, and is planar whether the quadrilateral is planar or not. The theorem can be generalized to the midpoint polygon of an arbitrary polygon. Proof Referring to the diag ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Mechanical Explanations Of Gravitation
Mechanical explanations of gravitation (or kinetic theories of gravitation) are attempts to explain the action of gravity by aid of basic classical mechanics, mechanical processes, such as pressure forces caused by Impulse (physics), pushes, without the use of any Action at a distance (physics), action at a distance. These theories were developed from the 16th until the 19th century in connection with the aether theories, aether. However, such models are no longer regarded as viable theories within the mainstream scientific community because general relativity is now the standard model to describe gravitation without the use of actions at a distance. Modern "quantum gravity" hypotheses also attempt to describe gravity by more fundamental processes such as particle fields, but they are not based on classical mechanics. Screening This theory is probably the best-known mechanical explanation, and was developed for the first time by Nicolas Fatio de Duillier in 1690, and re-invented ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Statics
Statics is the branch of classical mechanics that is concerned with the analysis of force and torque acting on a physical system that does not experience an acceleration, but rather is in mechanical equilibrium, equilibrium with its environment. If \textbf F is the total of the forces acting on the system, m is the mass of the system and \textbf a is the acceleration of the system, Newton's second law states that \textbf F = m \textbf a \, (the bold font indicates a Euclidean vector, vector quantity, i.e. one with both Magnitude (mathematics), magnitude and Direction (geometry), direction). If \textbf a =0, then \textbf F = 0. As for a system in static equilibrium, the acceleration equals zero, the system is either at rest, or its center of mass moves at constant velocity. The application of the assumption of zero acceleration to the summation of Moment (physics), moments acting on the system leads to \textbf M = I \alpha = 0, where \textbf M is the summation of all momen ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Guillaume De L'Hôpital
Guillaume François Antoine, Marquis de l'Hôpital (; sometimes spelled L'Hospital; 7 June 1661 – 2 February 1704) was a French mathematician. His name is firmly associated with l'Hôpital's rule for calculating limits involving indeterminate forms 0/0 and ∞/∞. Although the rule did not originate with l'Hôpital, it appeared in print for the first time in his 1696 treatise on the infinitesimal calculus, entitled '' Analyse des Infiniment Petits pour l'Intelligence des Lignes Courbes''. This book was a first systematic exposition of differential calculus. Several editions and translations to other languages were published and it became a model for subsequent treatments of calculus. Biography L'Hôpital was born into a military family. His father was Anne-Alexandre de l'Hôpital, a Lieutenant-General of the King's army, Comte de Saint-Mesme and the first squire of Gaston, Duke of Orléans. His mother was Elisabeth Gobelin, a daughter of Claude Gobelin, Intendant in t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Michel Rolle
Michel Rolle (21 April 1652 – 8 November 1719) was a French mathematician. He is best known for Rolle's theorem (1691). He is also the co-inventor in Europe of Gaussian elimination (1690). Life Rolle was born in Ambert, Basse-Auvergne. Rolle, the son of a shopkeeper, received only an elementary education. He married early and as a young man struggled to support his family on the meager wages of a transcriber for notaries and attorney. In spite of his financial problems and minimal education, Rolle studied algebra and Diophantine analysis (a branch of number theory) on his own. He moved from Ambert to Paris in 1675. Rolle's fortune changed dramatically in 1682 when he published an elegant solution of a difficult, unsolved problem in Diophantine analysis. The public recognition of his achievement led to a patronage under minister Louvois, a job as an elementary mathematics teacher, and eventually to a short-termed administrative post in the Ministry of War. In 1685 he joine ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
University Of Caen
The University of Caen Normandy (French: ''Université de Caen Normandie''), also known as Unicaen, is a public university in Caen, France. History The institution was founded in 1432 by John of Lancaster, 1st Duke of Bedford, the first rector being a Cornishman, Michael Tregury, afterwards Archbishop of Dublin. It originally consisted of a faculty of Canon Law and a faculty of Law. By 1438, it already had five faculties. The foundation was confirmed by the King of France Charles VII the Victorious in 1452. On 7 July 1944 the university was completely destroyed by aerial bombing during Operation Charnwood, an action of the Battle of Caen. Between 1944 and 1954, the university was based in the buildings of the regional teachers’ college. A new campus was designed by Henry Bernard and constructed between 1948 and 1957. The new university was inaugurated on 1 and 2 June 1957. Its logo, the mythical Phoenix, symbolises this revival. Rankings Notable people Notable alumni ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
