SOLUTION TO THE INVERSE-SQUARE PROBLEM

JACOBI, C.G.J.

De motu puncti singularis.

Berlin, G. Reimer, 1842. 4to. No wrappers. In "Journal für die reine und angewandte Mathematik. Hrsg. von A.L. Crelle, 24. Band, erstes Heft". No backstrip. A fine and clean copy. Pp. 5-27. [Entire issue: (6), 99 pp.].

First printing of this important memoire by Jacobi in which Jacobi presented his solution to the inverse-square problem.

"In a memoir written in Latin, Jacobi published in 1842 a simple, concise, and elegant solution of the inverse-square problem. This note argues that Jacobi's solution has not attracted the attention that it deserves and that it should prove valuable to teachers and students in introductory mechanics courses. A translation of the excerpt in which Jacobi describes his solution is given, and the method is then recast in the now more familiar language of vectors." (Gauthier)

Order-nr.: 47254