Mathematical Errors
Some proofs in the work being "botched", as Noel Malcolm puts it, De Corpore had a negative effect on Hobbes's scholarly reputation. The inclusion of a claimed solution for squaring the circle, an apparent afterthought rather than a systematic development, led to an extended pamphlet war in the Hobbes-Wallis controversy
Read more about this topic: De Corpore
Famous quotes containing the words mathematical and/or errors:
“An accurate charting of the American womans progress through history might look more like a corkscrew tilted slightly to one side, its loops inching closer to the line of freedom with the passage of timebut like a mathematical curve approaching infinity, never touching its goal. . . . Each time, the spiral turns her back just short of the finish line.”
—Susan Faludi (20th century)
“I shall do less whenever I shall believe what I am doing hurts the cause, and I shall do more whenever I shall believe doing more will help the cause. I shall try to correct errors when shown to be errors; and I shall adopt new views so fast as they shall appear to be true views.”
—Abraham Lincoln (18091865)