Researches in physical astronomy
For the solution of mechanical problems, two methods in general present themselves: the one furnished by the variation of parameters, or constants, which complete the integral obtained by the first approximation,—the other furnished by the integration of the differential equations by means of indeterminate coefficients, or some equivalent method. Each of these methods is applicable to the theory of the perturbations of the heavenly bodies, and they lead to expressions which are of course substantially identical, but which do not appear in the same shape except after certain transformations. The object of the author in the present paper is to effect transformations, by which their identity is established, making use of the developments given in his former papers, published in the Philosophical Transactions. The identity of the results obtained by either methods affords a confirmation of the exactness of those expressions.