Abstract
Viète, Fermat, and Descartes were the main protagonists in the creation and adoption of algebraic analysis as a tool for geometry. As explained in the general introduction (cf. Section 1.5), I consider this development as the principal dynamics within the early modern tradition of geometrical problem solving. Yet Fermat figures less prominently in my story than Viète, and much less so than Descartes. The reason is that, although Fermat was strongly interested in the new analysis, and applied it in various mathematical areas, he showed little concern about geometrical constructions and their exactness.1
Cf. [Bos 1996b].
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© 2001 Springer Science+Business Media New York
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Bos, H.J.M. (2001). Fermat. In: Redefining Geometrical Exactness. Sources and Studies in the History of Mathematics and Physical Sciences. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4613-0087-8_13
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4613-0087-8_13
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