the geometry of Rene Descartes | translated from the French and Latin by David Eugene Smith and Marcia L. Latham Dover Publications, Inc. New York 10, N. Y.This new Dover edition, first published in 1954, is an un- abridged and unaltered publication of the first English translation made by David Eugene Smith and Martha L. Latham. Manufactured in the United States of AmericaPreface If a mathematician were asked to name the great epoch-making works in his science, he might well hesitate in his decision concerning the product of the nineteenth century; he might even hesitate with respect to the eighteenth century ; but as to the product of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, and particularly as to the works of the Greeks in classical times, he would probably have very definite views. He would certainly include the works of Euclid, Archimedes, and Apollonius among the products of the Greek civilization, while among those which contributed to the great renaissance of mathematics in the seventeenth century he would as certainly include La Géométrie of Descartes and the Principia of Newton. But it is one of the curious facts in the study of historical material that although we have long had the works of Euclid, Archimedes, Apollonius, and Newton in English, the epoch-making treatise of Des- cartes has never been printed in our language, or, if so, only in some obscure and long-since-forgotten edition. Written originally in French, it was soon after translated into Latin by Van Schooten, and this was long held to be sufficient for any scholars who might care to follow the work of Descartes in the first printed treatise that ever appeared on analytic geometry. At present it is doubtful if marly mathemati- cians read the work in Latin; indeed, it is doubtful if many except the French scholars consult it very often in the original language in which it appeared. But certainly a work of this kind ought to be easily access- ible to American and British students of the history of mathematics, and in a language with which they are entirely familiar. On this account, The Open Court Publishing Company has agreed with the translators that the work should appear in English, and with such notes as may add to the ease with which it will be read. To this organization the translators are indebted for the publication of the book, a labor of love on its part as well as on theirs. As to the translation itself, an attempt has been made to give the meaning of the original in simple English rather than to add to the dif- ficulty of the reader by making it a verbatim reproduction. It is believed that the student will welcome this policy, being content to go to the original in case a stricter translation is needed. One of the translators having used chiefly the Latin edition of Van Schooten, and the other the original French edition, it is believed that the meaning which Descartes had in mind has been adequately preserved.