Blaise Pascal Warning: You are not logged in. Your IP address will be publicly visible if you make any edits. If you log in or create an account, your edits will be attributed to your username, along with other benefits.Anti-spam check. Do not fill this in! ===Cycloid=== [[File:Pascal Pajou Louvre RF2981.jpg|thumb|upright|Pascal studying the [[cycloid]], by [[Augustin Pajou]], 1785, [[Louvre]]|alt=]] In 1658, Pascal, while suffering from a toothache, began considering several problems concerning the cycloid. His toothache disappeared, and he took this as a heavenly sign to proceed with his research. Eight days later he had completed his essay<ref name="Ball_1960">{{cite book |last=Ball |first= W. W. Rouse |date=2010-09-16 |title=A Short Account of the History of Mathematics |url=https://www.gutenberg.org/files/31246/31246-pdf.pdf |location=New York, NY, USA |publisher=Dover Publications, Inc |page=234 |isbn=978-0486206301}}</ref> and, to publicize the results, proposed a contest.<ref name="Ferroli_1935">{{cite journal |last1=Ferroli |first1=D. |date=April 1935 |title=A Note on Blaise Pascal (1623-1662). A Forerunner of Leibnitz and Newton in the Discovery of the Calculus |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/24221628 |journal=Current Science |volume=3 |issue=10 |pages=459 |access-date=2024-03-02}}</ref> Pascal proposed three questions relating to the [[Center of mass|center of gravity]], area and volume of the cycloid, with the winner or winners to receive prizes of 20 and 40 Spanish [[doubloon]]s. Pascal, [[Gilles de Roberval]] and [[Pierre de Carcavi]] were the judges, and neither of the two submissions (by [[John Wallis]] and [[Antoine de Lalouvère]]) were judged to be adequate.<ref>{{citation | last=Conner | first=James A. | title=Pascal's Wager: The Man Who Played Dice with God | pages=[https://archive.org/details/pascalswagermanw00conn/page/224 224] | isbn=9780060766917 | edition=1st | year=2006 | publisher=HarperCollins | url-access=registration | url=https://archive.org/details/pascalswagermanw00conn/page/224 }}</ref> While the contest was ongoing, [[Christopher Wren]] sent Pascal a proposal for a proof of the [[arc length|rectification]] of the cycloid; Roberval claimed promptly that he had known of the proof for years. Wallis published Wren's proof (crediting Wren) in Wallis's ''Tractus Duo'', giving Wren priority for the first published proof. {{Clear}} Summary: Please note that all contributions to Christianpedia may be edited, altered, or removed by other contributors. If you do not want your writing to be edited mercilessly, then do not submit it here. You are also promising us that you wrote this yourself, or copied it from a public domain or similar free resource (see Christianpedia:Copyrights for details). Do not submit copyrighted work without permission! Cancel Editing help (opens in new window) Discuss this page