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Math Forum » Discussions » Inactive » Historia-Matematica

Topic: [HM] origin of the term "curl"
Replies: 1   Last Post: Sep 29, 1998 3:24 PM

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William C Waterhouse

Posts: 655
Registered: 12/3/04
Re: [HM] origin of the term "curl"
Posted: Sep 29, 1998 3:24 PM
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On Sep 26, Jeff Miller <JeffM@sanctum.com> asked:
-----
....However, I see in a calculus
textbook that Maxwell wrote a letter to Tait on Nov. 7, 1870, in which he
wrote "so for Cayley's sake I might say Curl (after the fashion of Scroll)."

Was Scroll a person to whom he was attributing the term, and if so,
who was he?
------

No, Maxwell only means that he is willing to follow Cayley's
example in adopting a term of ordinary language for a technical
idea. "Scroll" is the name Cayley introduced for certain ruled
surfaces occurring in algebraic geometry.

William C. Waterhouse
Penn State

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