Many years ago, after I had taken my degree, I was much interested in the study of the original memoirs on reciprocal curves and curved surfaces, published in the * Annales Mathematiques ’ of Gergonne, and in the works of such accomplished geometers as Monge, Dupin, Poncelet, and Chasles. In the course of my own researches, it occurred to me that there ought to be some some way of expressing by common algebra the properties of such reciprocal curves and surfaces, some method which would, on inspection, show the relations existing between the original and derived surfaces. I was then led to the discovery of a simple method and compact notation from the following considerations. But before I state them, it is proper to mention that I published the discovery in a little tract which I printed at the time, of which the title was, ‘On the Application of a New Analytic Method to the Theory of Curves and Curved Surfaces. This little tract, which is now out of print, as only a few copies were printed, excited but little attention. Nor is this to be wondered at Mathematical researches, and, indeed, I might add, scientific pursuits in general, command but small attention in this country, unless they promise to pay. The obscurity of the author, and the remoteness of a provincial press, still further account for the little notice it obtained. Besides, it must in fairness be added, that the materials were hastily and crudely thrown together; that to save space, the demonstrations were for the most part omitted, and that the principles on which the method rests were not so clearly explained as to enable an ordinary reader,—who had to incorporate with his own thinking the notions of another,—to pursue the train of argument, or he successive steps of a proof with facility and conviction. This may to some extent also explain why the method has hitherto received so little countenance as not to he admitted into any elementary work on the application of the principles and notation of algebra to the investigation and discussion of the properties of space. But the addition of a new method of investigation to those already in use, the development of its principles, with illustrations of the mode of its application, are surely not of less value to a philosophical appreciation of what that is in which mathematical knowledge truly consists, than the giving of problems, which, while they embody no general principle, are yet often difficult to solve ; and when solved, frequently afford no clue by which the solution may be rendered available in other cases.
Membaca Pemahaman Hadis Muḥammad Al-Ghazālī dan Yūsuf Al-Qarḍāwī: Studi Kasus Pemikiran Suryadi
