#0, Question on CTK article on Regular Polyhedra
Posted by Abi Kirk on Oct-18-06 at 02:04 PM
In the cTK article Regular Polyhedra, Alexander Bogomolny discusses Euler's Formula. He remarkds that it was first proved by Descartes in 1639. I would be grateful if he or anyone could give me a reference for this; I haven't been able to find anything on-line about Descartes' proof.
Many thanks, Abi Kirk.
#1, RE: Question on CTK article on Regular Polyhedra
Posted by alexb on Oct-18-06 at 02:21 PM
In response to message #0
The fact is mentioned in
Courant, Robbins What Is Mathematics?, Oxford University Press, 1996, p. 236 (Descartes + date just mentioned)
Lakatos, Proofs and Refutations, Cambridge University Press, 1976, p. 6 (an elaborate foot note that takes more than 1/2 page)
#2, RE: Question on CTK article on Regular Polyhedra
Posted by alexb on Oct-18-06 at 02:26 PM
In response to message #0
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=Descartes+and+Euler+characteristics
|