The discovery of wonders: reading between the lines of John Wallis's \textit{Arithmetica infinitorum} (Q5952716): Difference between revisions

The author's summary begins: ``John Wallis's \textit{Arithmetica infinitorum} (1655) was his finest piece of work and a major influence on the course of seventeenth-century English mathematics. This paper describes the background, content and methods of the book, and its reception by English and continental mathematicians; it also explores some of the mathematical ideas that arose in or from the \textit{Arithmetica infinitorum} and suggests that the book played an important role in the seventeenth-century transition from geometrical to algebraic thinking.'' The best-known result first published in this book is the infinite product \({4}/{\pi} = 3/2\cdot 3/4\cdot 5/4 \cdot 5/6 \cdot 7/6 \ldots\). Wallis discovered it through ingenious interpolation (for rational \(p\) and \(q\)) of the integral \[ 1 : \int_0^1 (1-x^{1/p})^q dx \] at the values \(p= 1/2\), \(q= 1/2\), which at the time (before the discovery of the calculus) could only be evaluated for integral values of \(q\). Soon William Brouncker converted the product into an infinite continued fraction (also published by Wallis in the \textit{Arithmetica infinitorum}); for the collaboration of these two mathematicians see the author's article ``Catching Proteus: the collaborations of Wallis and Brouncker. I'' [Notes Rec. R. Soc. Lond. 54, 293--316 (2000; Zbl 0983.01004)]. The author reports on the reactions to Wallis's book by British and foreign mathematicians (including the hitherto unknown statements of John Pell), the virulant attack by Thomas Hobbes and the critical remarks by Fermat. At the heart of the matter was the discrepancy between the classical geometric methods and the heuristic arithmetical approach involving the use of (incomplete) induction by Wallis. Under the heading ``Enlargement of the mathematical empire'' the switch from geometry to algebra is illustrated. Newton's early research is sketched insofar as it was based on Wallis's method and led him to the discovery of the general binomial theorem. The previous accounts of the content of the \textit{Arithmetica infinitorum} mentioned in footnote 4 could be supplemented by \textit{Adolf Prag}'s inspiring article: ``John Wallis, 1616--1703. Zur Ideengeschichte der Mathematik im 17. Jahrhundert''. Quellen und Studien zur Geschichte der Mathematik, Astronomie und Physik, Abt. B, Band 1, 381--412 (1930; JFM 56.0812.03), esp. section I: ``Arithmetica infinitorum'' (384--402), and by \textit{F. D. Kramar}'s detailed description: ``Integral methods of John Wallis'' (in Russian), Istor.-Mat. Issled. 14, 11--100 (1961; Zbl 0119.00704). The present article represents another chapter from the author's doctoral thesis; cf. Hist. Math. 28, 73--122 (2001; Zbl 0993.01008).