Scheda

Overview of Scheda (mid–1690s)

This "Scheda" from the mid-1690s, which Leibniz himself characterized as "good" amidst many other writings of the same period, provides a good overview of the foundations of analysis situs in this period. In it Leibniz presents his own thinking in deductive form (which is uncommon, but not altogether rare in writings on geometry), thus showing which propositions he considers more elementary and which are derivable from previous ones.

Constructor

Overview of Constructor (1674)

The construction of curves represented a major interest in Leibniz's mathematical research, as attested by several documents of his Nachlass devoted to the study of curves and the invention of new machines for this purpose. Leibniz devoted several pages to mechanisms for the tracing of transcendental curves, namely curves that could not be described by algebraic equations, which constituted at the time the least known domain of geometry, but he also studied machines for the construction of algebraic curves.

Nova ratio construendi lineas differentialiter datas, per motum

Overview of Nova ratio construendi lineas differentialiter datas, per motum (1676 – 1716)

This manuscript and De Tractrice contain Leibniz’s exploration in the geometry of curves and their constructions. The dating of these manuscripts is uncertain, although both were written during the Hannover period, i.e. after 1676. The Nova ratio was certainly written after 1676 while the other, De Tractrice can be dated after 1690.

De Tractrice

Overview of De Tractrice (1690 – 1716)

This manuscript and Nova ratio construendi lineas differentialiter datas, per motum contain Leibniz’s exploration in the geometry of curves and their constructions. The dating of these manuscripts is uncertain, although both were written during the Hannover period, i.e. after 1676. The Nova ratio was certainly written after 1676 while the other, De Tractrice can be dated after 1690.

De Progressione Dyadica

Overview of De Progressione Dyadica (1679)

De Progressione Dyadica is probably the most famous manuscript concerning the development of the binary numeral system. It is dated by Leibniz himself (15 March 1679) and is thus considered the earliest reliable document on this topic, but at the same time, no one has yet offered a complete transcription of it: it is in fact only mentioned by Couturat [Leibniz 1903, 574] as early as 1903, while in 1966 a facsimile of the manuscript with an incomplete German translation appeared in Leibniz [1966].

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