Book Description

Excerpt from An Elementary Treatise on Cubic and Quartic Curves The present work originated in certain notes, made about twenty-five years ago, upon the properties of some of the best-known higher plane curves; but upon attempting to revise them for the press, it appeared to me impossible to discuss the subject adequately without investigating the theory of the singularities of algebraic curves. I have accordingly included Plucker's equations, which determine the number and the species of the simple singularities of any algebraic curve; and have also considered all the compound singularities which a quartic curve can possess. This treatise is intended to be an elementary one on the subject. I have therefore avoided investigations which would require a knowledge of Modern Algebra, such as the theory of the invariants, covariants and other concomitants of a ternary quantic; and have assumed scarcely any further knowledge of analysis on the part of the reader, than is to be found in most of the ordinary text-books on the Differential Calculus and on Analytical Geometry. I have also endeavoured to give special prominence to geometrical methods, since the experience of many years has convinced me that a judicious combination of geometry and analysis is frequently capable of shortening and simplifying, what would otherwise be a tedious and lengthy investigation. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.