The parallelogram rule from Pseudo-Aristotle to Newton (Q524418): Difference between revisions

This paper traces the history of the parallelogram rule -- ``If two uniform and independent quantities are represented as adjacent sides of a parallelogram, their composite will be represented by the diagonal'' -- ``from its first adumbration in Pseudo-Aristotle [\textit{Questiones mechanicae}] to its inculcation in physical science during Newton's lifetime''. The story is significantly complicated by resistance to conceptual matters, primarily to the notion of physical quantities as directed magnitudes. It is ``a tale of slow and halting development, impeded by resistance to the representative and conceptual framework it requires''. Although suggested in \textit{Questiones mechanicae}, ``late-Renaissance readers failed to comprehend its significance''. The modern rule can be traced to Stevin, Fermat and Hobbes (in response to Descartes's \textit{Optics}). Its modern, axiomatic status, can be found in the third part of John Wallis's \textit{Mechanica} (1671), in Pierre Varignon's \textit{Projet d'une nouvelle méchanique} (1687), and as the first corollary to the ``Axioms or laws of motion'' in Newton's \textit{Principia} (1687).