Newton's Principia : $b The mathematical principles of natural philosophyNewton, Isaac
General
Newton's Principia : $b The mathematical principles of natural philosophy
Newton, Isaac
Celestial mechanics -- Early works to 1800; Mechanics -- Early works to 1800
Let ABL be the globe, C its centre, BPV the wheel insisting thereon,
E the centre of the wheel, B the point of contact, and P the given
point in the perimeter of the wheel. Imagine this wheel to proceed in
the great circle ABL from A through B towards L, and in its progress
to revolve in such a manner that the arcs AB, PB may be always equal
one to the other, and the given point P in the perimeter of the wheel
may describe in the[Pg 185] mean time the curvilinear path AP. Let AP be the
whole curvilinear path described since the wheel touched the globe in
A, and the length of this path AP will be to twice the versed sine of
the arc as 2CE to CB. For let the right
line CE (produced if need be) meet the wheel in V, and join CP, BP,
EP, VP; produce CP, and let fall thereon the perpendicular VF. Let PH,
VH, meeting in H, touch the circle in P and V, and let PH cut VF in G,
and to VP let fall the perpendiculars GI, HK. From the centre C with
any interval let there be described the circle nom, cutting the
right line CP in n, the perimeter of the wheel BP in o,
and the curvilinear path AP in m; and from the centre V with the
interval Vo let there be described a circle cutting VP produced
in q.
Because the wheel in its progress always revolves about the point of
contact B, it is manifest that the right line BP is perpendicular
to that curve line AP which the point P of the wheel describes, and
therefore that the right line VP will touch this curve in the point
P. Let the radius of the circle nom be gradually increased or
diminished so that at last it become equal to the distance CP; and by
reason of the similitude of the evanescent figure Pnomq, and the
figure PFGVI, the ultimate ratio of the evanescent lineolæ Pm,
Pn, Po, Pq, that is, the ratio of the momentary
mutations of the curve AP, the right line CP, the circular arc BP, and
the right line VP, will be[Pg 186] the same as of the lines PV, PF, PG, PI,
respectively. But since VF is perpendicular to CF, and VH to CV, and
therefore the angles HVG, VCF equal; and the angle VHG (because the
angles of the quadrilateral figure HVEP are right in V and P) is equal
to the angle CEP, the triangles VHG, CEP will be similar; and thence
it will come to pass that as EP is to CE so is HG to HV or HP, and
so KI to KP, and by composition or division as CB to CE so is PI to
PK, and doubling the consequents as CB to 2CE so PI to PV, and so is
Pq to Pm. Therefore the decrement of the line VP, that
is, the increment of the line BV - VP to the increment of the curve
line AP is in a given ratio of CB to 2CE, and therefore (by Cor. Lem.
IV) the lengths BV - VP and AP, generated by those increments, are in
the same ratio. But if BV be radius, VP is the cosine of the angle BVP
or , and therefore BV - VP is the versed
sine of the same angle, and therefore in this wheel, whose radius is
, BV - VP will be double the versed sine
of the arc . Therefore AP is to double the
versed sine of the arc as 2CE to CB. Q.E.D.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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