The principles of science : $b a treatise on logic and scientific methodJevons, William Stanley
Philosophy
The principles of science : $b a treatise on logic and scientific method
Jevons, William Stanley
Logic; Science -- Methodology
There are two kinds of magnitude, indeed, which do not need to be
expressed in terms of arbitrary concrete units, since they pre-suppose
the existence of natural standard units. One case is that of abstract
number itself, which needs no special unit, because any object which
exists or is thought of as separate from other objects (p. 157)
furnishes us with a unit, and is the only standard required.
Angular magnitude is the second case in which we have a natural unit
of reference, namely the whole revolution or *perigon*, as it has
been called by Mr. Sandeman.[208] It is a necessary result of the
uniform properties of space, that all complete revolutions are equal
to each other, so that we need not select any one revolution, but can
always refer anew to space itself. Whether we take the whole perigon,
its half, or its quarter, is really immaterial; Euclid took the right
angle, because the Greek geometers had never generalised their notions
of angular magnitude sufficiently to treat angles of all magnitudes,
or of unlimited *quantity of revolution*. Euclid defines a right angle
as half that made by a line with its own continuation, which is of
course equal to half a revolution, but which was not treated as an
angle by him. In mathematical analysis a different fraction of the
perigon is taken, namely, such a fraction that the arc or portion of
the circumference included within it is equal to the radius of the
circle. In this point of view angular magnitude is an abstract ratio,
namely, the ratio between the length of arc subtended and the length
of the radius. The geometrical unit is then necessarily the angle
corresponding to the ratio unity. This angle is equal to about 57°,
17′, 44″·8, or decimally 57°·295779513... .[209] It was called by De
Morgan the *arcual unit*, but a more convenient name for common use
would be *radian*, as suggested by Professor Everett. Though this
standard angle is naturally employed in mathematical analysis, and any
other unit would introduce great complexity, we must not look upon it
as a distinct unit, since its amount is connected with that of the half
perigon, by the natural constant 3·14159... usually denoted by the
letter π.
[208] *Pelicotetics, or the Science of Quantity; an Elementary
Treatise on Algebra, and its groundwork Arithmetic.* By Archibald
Sandeman, M. A. Cambridge (Deighton, Bell, and Co.), 1868, p. 304.
[209] De Morgan’s *Trigonometry and Double Algebra*, p. 5.
When we pass to other species of quantity, the choice of unit is found
to be entirely arbitrary. There is absolutely no mode of defining a
length, but by selecting some physical object exhibiting that length
between certain obvious points--as, for instance, the extremities of a
bar, or marks made upon its surface.
*Standard Unit of Time.*
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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