Analytic and arithmetic methods in Liouville's identities (Q2660405)

The paper is devoted to a reconstruction of the main aspects of the history of Liouville's identity. The authors clarify the role that Liouville gave to his identity and write about the debate between Liouville and Charles Hermite. Various proofs of Liouville's identity and methods used in them are analysed, in particular methods used by Pierre Nazimoff and Eric Temple Bell (who followed Hermite's suggestions) as well as by James Victor Uspensky (who followed Liouville's elementary methods).