Subject: Re: [HM] Radian Measure
From: Julio Gonzalez Cabillon (jgc@adinet.com.uy)
Date: Sun Mar 05 2000 - 19:11:25 EST
On Wed, 09 Feb 2000 07:51:49 +0000, Robert Mena typed:
|
| In the book by Cajori on notation and symbols there is a very short
| reference to when radians showed up. Could someone help with a better
| reference or with a brief but more extended history?
|
According to Cajori's "History of Mathematical Notations", vol 2 (1929):
"The word 'radian' was first used in print in 1873
by James Thomson, a brother of Lord Kelvin. (*)"
(*) Cajori, _History of Mathematics_ (2d ed., 1919), p. 484.
Now, on page 484 it reads:
"An isolated matter of interest is the origin of the
term 'radian', used with trigonometric functions. It
first appeared in print on June 5, 1873, in examination
questions set by James Thomson at Queen's College,
Belfast. James Thomson was a brother of Lord Kelvin.
He used the term as early as 1871, while in 1869 Thomas
Muir, then of St. Andrew's University, hesitated between
'rad', 'radial' and 'radian'. In 1874, T. Muir adopted
'radian' after a consultation with James Thomson. (+)"
(+) _Nature_, Vol. 83, pp. 156, 217, 459, 460.
For a handy (and secondary) reference I suggest you to take a look at:
Cooper, Michael:
"Who Named the _Radian_?", _Mathematical Gazette_, vol 76 (1992),
no 475, pp 100-101.
Anyhow, your question seems to be "who introduced the _circular or
radian measure_ (concept)?" rather than "who coined the _radian_
(term)?" Actually, neither I know who first introduced the recent
usage of _radian measures_ nor the convention of measuring angles
in a _counterclockwise sense_. I might throw a couple of guesses
but they will be just that.
Kind regards,
Julio Gonzalez Cabillon
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