Analytic geometry

Analytic geometry, also called coordinate geometry and earlier referred to as Cartesian geometry, is the study of geometry using the principles of algebra. Usually the Cartesian coordinate system is applied to manipulate equations for planes, lines, curves, and circles, often in two and sometimes in three dimensions of measurement. As taught in school books, analytic geometry can be explained more simply: it is concerned with defining geometrical shapes in a numerical way, and extracting numerical information from that representation. The numerical output, however, might also be a vector or a shape. Some consider that the introduction of analytic geometry was the beginning of modern mathematics.

Related Topics:
Geometry - Algebra - Cartesian coordinate system - Equation - Vector - Shape - Mathematics

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René Descartes is popularly regarded as having introduced the foundation for the methods of analytic geometry in 1637 in the appendix titled Geometry of the titled Discourse on the Method of Rightly Conducting the Reason in the Search for Truth in the Sciences, commonly referred to as Discourse on Method. This work, written in his native language (French), and its philosophical principles, provided the foundation for calculus in Europe. Calculus had been originally invented by Madhava of Sangamagrama and his Kerala school in 14th century India, and was later re-introduced by Isaac Newton and Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz, independently of each other.

Related Topics:
René Descartes - 1637 - Discourse on Method - French - Calculus - Madhava of Sangamagrama - Isaac Newton - Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz

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