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Euler, Kuhn, and Kochanski on the Rectification of the Circumference of a Circle

Philadelphia Area Seminar on the History of Mathematics PASHoM

Thursday, November 21, 2024 - 6:30pm to 8:00pm

Professor Roman Snajder

Bowie State University, Maryland

Location

Villanova University

Mendel 103

Zoom link: https://villanova.zoom.us/j/91964019309?pwd=QmhlS3hncSs1Tm5LemZ1T082OG1JQT09 Meeting ID: 919 6401 9309 Passcode: 105071. PASHoM will meet both in-person and remotely via ZOOM. A light supper will be available @ $10 donation.

Abstract: I will focus on the letter by Heinrich Kühn (1690-1769) to L. Euler. Kühn was a math professor at the Danzig Academic Gymnasium (Danzig: Gdańsk, Poland). The letter was sent on February 1741 and offered a simple approximation of the rectification of the circumference of a circle, a theme that was quite fashionable at those times. Euler responded by providing a more sophisticated and precise construction, but the answer appeared in print not until 1753. I will compare these results to the construction by Adam Adamandy Kochański (1631-1700), a Court Mathematician of the Polish King Johannes III Sobieski.