Chapter 16

A History of Mathematics: An Introduction · 24 exercises

Problem 1

Calculate a power series for \(\sqrt{1+x}\) by applying the square root algorithm to \(1+x\).

4 step solution

Problem 2

Calculate a power series for \(1 /\left(1-x^{2}\right)\) by using long division.

5 step solution

Problem 4

Use Newton's method to solve the equation \(x^{2}-2=0\) to a result accurate to eight decimal places. How many steps does this take? Compare the efficacy of this method with that of the Chinese square root algorithm.

4 step solution

Problem 5

Solve \(y^{3}+y-2+x y-x^{3}=0\) for \(y\) as a power series in \(x\). Begin by finding the value of \(y\) when \(x=0\), that is, by solving \(y^{3}+y-2=0\). Since \(y=1\) is a solution, assume that \(y=1+p\) is a solution to the original equation. Substitute this value for \(y\) and get \(1+3 p+3 p^{2}+p^{3}+1+\) \(p-2+x+p x-x^{3}=0\). Removing all terms of degree higher than 1 in \(x\) and \(p\), solve \(4 p+x=0\) to get \(p=-\frac{1}{4} x\). Thus, \(1-(1 / 4) x\) are the first two terms of the desired power series for \(y\). To go further, substitute \(p=-(1 / 4) x+q\) in the equation for \(p\) and continue as before. Show that the next term in the series is \((1 / 64) x^{2}\)

7 step solution

Problem 7

Calculate, using the power series for \(\log (1+x)\), the values of the logarithm of \(1 \pm 0.1,1 \pm 0.2,1 \pm 0.01,1 \pm 0.02\) to eight decimal places. Using the identities presented in the text and others of your own devising, calculate a logarithm table of the integers from 1 to 10 accurate to eight decimal places.

3 step solution

Problem 8

Calculate the relationship of the fluxions in the equation \(x^{3}-a x^{2}+a x y-y^{3}=0\) using multiplication by the progression \(4,3,2,1\). What do you notice? What would happen if you used a different progression?

5 step solution

Problem 9

Find the relationship of the fluxions using Newton's rules for the equation \(y^{2}-a^{2}-x \sqrt{a^{2}-x^{2}}=0\). Put \(z=\) \(x \sqrt{a^{2}-x^{2}}\)

4 step solution

Problem 10

Solve the fluxional equation \(\dot{y} / \dot{x}=2 / x+3-x^{2}\) by first replacing \(x\) by \(x+1\) and then using power series techniques.

5 step solution

Problem 11

Find the curvature of the ellipse \(x^{2}+4 y^{2}=1\) by using Newton's procedure.

4 step solution

Problem 12

Check the third value in Newton's integral table (integral 16.3) by showing that the derivative of $$ z=\frac{2 a}{n c}\left(-\frac{2}{15} \frac{b}{c}+\frac{1}{5} x^{n}\right)\left(b+c x^{n}\right)^{3 / 2} $$ is \(y=a x^{2 n-1} \sqrt{b+c x^{n}}\)

3 step solution

Problem 13

Use modern techniques to integrate \(y=\frac{a x^{n-1}}{e+f x^{n}}\) and compare your answer with Newton's answer in integral \(16.5: z=\frac{1}{n} s\), where \(u=x^{n}\) and \(s\) is the area under the hyperbola \(v=\) \(\frac{a}{e+f u}\)

4 step solution

Problem 14

Find the derivative of \(z=\frac{8 a g s-4 a g x v-2 a f x}{4 n e g-n f^{2}}\), where \(u=x^{n}\) and \(s\) is the area under the curve \(v=\sqrt{e+f u+g u^{2}}\). This should equal Newton's value of \(y=\frac{a x^{n-1}}{\sqrt{e+f x^{n}+g x^{2 n}}}\), from integral \(16.6\).

4 step solution

Problem 15

Use a modern table of integrals to find the antiderivative of $$ y=\frac{a x^{2 n-1}}{\sqrt{e+f x^{n}+g x^{2 n}}} $$ Show that your answer is equivalent to Newton's answer in integral 16.7: \(z=\frac{-4 a f s+2 a f u v+4 a e v}{4 \text { neg }-n f^{2}}\), where \(u=x^{n}\) and \(s\) is the area under the curve \(v=\sqrt{e+f u+g u^{2}}\).

5 step solution

Problem 16

Find the ratio of the fluxion of \(x\) to the fluxion of \(1 / x\) using Newton's "synthetic" method of fluxions.

3 step solution

Problem 20

Suppose in a simplified solar system that all planets revolved uniformly in circles with the sun at the center. If the centripetal force is inversely as the square of the radius,| show that the squares of the periodic times of the planets are as the cubes of the radii. (This is a special case of Kepler's third law.)

9 step solution

Problem 21

Construct Leibniz's harmonic triangle by beginning with the harmonic series \(1 / 1,1 / 2,1 / 3,1 / 4, \ldots\) and taking differences. Develop a formula for the elements in this triangle.

4 step solution

Problem 22

Show that the sum of the denominators in row \(n\) of the harmonic triangle is given by \(n 2^{n-1}\).

4 step solution

Problem 25

Prove the quotient rule \(d\left(\frac{x}{y}\right)=\frac{y d x-x d y}{y^{2}}\) by an argument using differentials.

3 step solution

Problem 26

Derive the rule \(d\left(x^{3}\right)=3 x^{2} d x\) using differentials.

4 step solution

Problem 27

Derive the general power rule \(d\left(x^{n}\right)=n x^{n-1}\) for \(n\) a positive integer using differentials.

3 step solution

Problem 30

Derive the power series for the logarithm by beginning with the differential equation \(d y=\frac{1}{x+1} d x\), assuming that \(y\) is a power series in \(x\) with undetermined coefficients, and solving simple equations to determine each coefficient in turn.

5 step solution

Problem 33

Use the method of Hayes and Ditton to calculate the fluxion of \(y=x^{x} .\) Compare with Exercise 28 .

4 step solution

Problem 34

Compare and contrast the "calculuses" of Newton and Leibniz in terms of their notation, their ease of use, and their foundations.

5 step solution

Problem 35

Outline a series of lessons on power series using the ideas of Newton. Is it useful to introduce such series early in a calculus course? Why or why not?

7 step solution

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