FIG. 55. DESCARTES. 



CHAPTER VII. 



MATHEMATICAL SCIENCES OF THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY. 



HP HE progress of astronomy, and of those other branches of physical 

 -L science which have sometimes been termed mixed mathematics 

 (mechanics, hydrostatics, etc.), already in full career by the close of the 

 sixteenth century, received a vast impetus from certain grand disco- 

 veries in pure mathematics which distinguish the seventeenth century. 

 This century may indeed be justly termed the golden age of mathe- 

 matics, for it witnessed the introduction of new methods, which ex- 

 tended the resources of the science in a manner truly marvellous. Be- 

 fore speaking of these capital discoveries and of the men who made 

 them, it may be expedient to mention some of the more important 

 .advances made in mathematics since the time of Regiomontanus. 

 The study of mathematics was introduced into Italy chiefly by a 



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