A Budget of Paradoxes Volume II Part 31

a = [psi]z(z+[psi](z+1))

[psi]z being (a/z)([phi](z+1)/[phi]z); of which observe that it diminishes without limit as z increases without limit. Accordingly, we have

[psi]z = a/z+ [psi](z+1) = a/z+ a/(z+1)+ [psi](z+2) = a/z+ a/(z+1)+ a/(z+2)+ [psi](z+3), etc.

And, [psi](z + n) diminis.h.i.+ng without limit, we have

a/z [phi](z+1)/[phi]z = (a/z+) (a/(z+1)+) (a/(z+2)+) (a/((z+3)+ ...))

Let z = ; and let 4a = -x^2. Then (a/z)[phi](z+1) is -(x^2/2) ( 1 - x^2/(23) + x^4/(2345...)) or -(x/2) sin x. Again [phi]z is 1 - x^2/2 + x^4/(234) or cos x: and the continued fraction is

()x^2/()+ ()x^2/(3/2)+ ()x^2/(5/2)+ ... or -x/2 x/1+ -x^2/3+ -x^2/5+ ...

{371} whence tan x = x/1+ -x^2/3+ -x^2/5+ -x^2/7+ ...

Or, as written in the usual way,

tan x = x ------- 1 - x^2 ------- 3 - x^2 ------- 5 - x^2 ------- 7 - ...

This result may be proved in various ways: it may also be verified by calculation. To do this, remember that if

a_1/b_1+ a_2/b_2+ a_3/b_3+ ... a_n/b_n = P_n/Q_n; then

P_1=a_1, P_2=b_2 P_1, P_3=b_3 P_2+a_3 P_1, P_4=b_4 P_3+a_4 P_2, etc.

Q_1=b_1, Q_2=b_2 Q_1+a_2, Q_3=b_3 Q_2+a_3 Q_1, Q_4=b_4 Q_3+a_4 Q_2, etc.

in the case before us we have

a_1=x, a_2=-x^2, a_3=-x^2, a_4=-x^2, a_5=-x^2, etc.

b_1=1, b_2=3, b_3=5, b_4=7, b_5=9, etc.

P_1=x Q_1=1 P_2=3x Q_2=3-x^2 P_3=15x-x^3 Q_3=15-6x^2 P_4=105x-10x^3 Q_4=105-45x^2+x^4 P_5=945x-105x^3+x^5 Q_5=945-420x^2+15x^4 P_6=10395x-1260x^3+21x^5 Q_6=10395-4725x^2+210x^4-x^6

We can use this algebraically, or arithmetically. If we divide P_n by Q_n, we shall find a series agreeing with the known series for tan x, _as far as_ n _terms_. That series is

x + x^3/3 + 2x^5/15 + 17x^7/315 + 62x^9/2835 + ...

{372} Take P_5, and divide it by Q_5 in the common way, and the first five terms will be as here written. Now take _x_ = .1, which means that the angle is to be one tenth of the actual unit, or, in degrees 5.729578. We find that when x = .1, P_6 = 1038.24021, Q_6 = 10347.770999; whence P_6 divided by Q_6 gives .1003346711. Now 5.729578 is 543'46"; and from the old tables of Rheticus[675]--no modern tables carry the tangents so far--the tangent of this angle is .1003347670.

Now let x = [pi]; in which case tan x = 1. If [pi] be commensurable with the unit, let it be (m/n), m and n being integers: we know that [pi] <>

We have then

1=(m/n)/1- (m^2/n^2)/3- (m^2/n^2)/5- ... = m/n- m^2/3n- m^2/5n- m^2/7n- ...

Now it is clear that m^2/3n, m^2/5n, m^2/7n, etc. must at last become and continue severally less than unity. The continued fraction is therefore incommensurable, and cannot be unity. Consequently [pi]^2 cannot be commensurable: that is, [pi] is an incommensurable quant.i.ty, and so also is [pi]^2.

I thought I should end with a grave bit of appendix, deeply mathematical: but paradox follows me wherever I go. The foregoing is--in my own language--from Dr. (now Sir David) Brewster's[676] English edition of Legendre's Geometry, (Edinburgh, 1824, 8vo.) translated by some one who is not named. I picked up a notion, which others had at Cambridge in 1825, that the translator was the late Mr. Galbraith,[677] then known at Edinburgh as a writer and teacher.

{373} But it turns out that it was by a very different person, and one destined to s.h.i.+ne in quite another walk; it was a young man named Thomas Carlyle.[678] He prefixed, from his own pen, a thoughtful and ingenious essay on Proportion, as good a subst.i.tute for the fifth Book of Euclid as could have been given in the s.p.a.ce; and quite enough to show that he would have been a distinguished teacher and thinker on first principles. But he left the field immediately.

(The following is the pa.s.sage referred to at Vol. II, page 54.)

Michael Stifelius[679] edited, in 1554, a second edition of the Algebra (_Die Coss._), of Christopher Rudolff.[680] This is one of the earliest works in which + and - are used.

Stifelius was a queer man. He has introduced into this very work of Rudolff his own interpretation of the number of the Beast. He determined to fix the character of Pope Leo: so he picked the numeral letters from LEODECIMVS, and by taking in X from LEO X. and striking out M as standing for _mysterium_, he hit the number exactly. This discovery completed his conversion to Luther, and his determination to throw off his monastic vows.

Luther dealt with him as straight-forwardly as with Melanchthon about his astrology: he accepted the conclusions, but told him to clear his mind of all the premises about the Beast. Stifelius {374} did not take the advice, and proceeded to settle the end of the world out of the prophet Daniel: he fixed on October, 1533. The paris.h.i.+oners of some cure which he held, having full faith, began to spend their savings in all kinds of good eating and drinking; we may charitably hope this was not the way of preparing for the event which their pastor pointed out. They succeeded in making themselves as fit for Heaven as Lazarus, so far as beggary went: but when the time came, and the world lasted on, they wanted to kill their deceiver, and would have done so but for the interference of Luther. {375}

INDEX.

Pages denoted by numerals of this kind (_287_) refer to biographical notes, chiefly by the editor. Numerals like 426 refer to books discussed by De Morgan, or to leading topics in the text. Numerals like 126 indicate minor references.

Abbott, Justice, I, _181_.

Abernethy, J., II, _219_.

Aboriginal Britons, a poem, II, 270.

Academy of Sciences, French, I, 163.

Adair, J., I, _223_.

Adam, M., I, _65_.

Adams, J. C., I, _43_, 82, 385, 388; II, 131, 135, 140, 303.

Ady, Joseph, II, 42, _42_.

Agnew, H. C., I, 328.

Agricola, J., I, 394.

Agricultural Laborer's letter, II, 16.

Agrippa, H. C., I, _48_, 48.

Ainsworth, W. H., II, _132_.

Airy, I, _85_, 88, 152, 242; II, 85, 140, 150, 303, 347.

Alchemy, I, 125.

Alfonso X (El Sabio), II, _269_.

Alford, H., II, _221_.

Alfred, King, Ballad of, II, 22.

Algebra, I, 121.

Algebraic symbols, I, 121.

Almanac, I, 300; II, 147, 148, 207.

(_See Easter._) Aloysius Lilius, I, 362.

Alsted, J. H., II, _282_.

Ameen Bey, II, 15.

Amicable Society, I, 347.

Ampere, I, 86.

Amphisbaena serpent, I, 31.

Anagrams, De Morgan, I, 138.

Anaxagoras, II, _59_.

Anghera, II, 60, _60_, 61, 279.