A controversy and the writing of a history. The discussion of ``small oscillations'' (1760--1860) from the standpoint of the controversy between Jordan and Kronecker (1874) (Q998110)

In the history of the theory of matrices the story of two contending approaches to the theory of bilinear forms -- reducing to canonical forms or computing invariants -- is a complicated story. Here the author outlines the background to the controversy between the two main opponents, Jordan and Kronecker, respectively. An historical key was the application of these methods to Lagrange's 1766 work on small oscillations. The author's doctoral thesis develops the account beyond this point into a broad history of matrices.