• Journal of the Korean School Mathematics Society
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• v.11 no.1
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• pp.19-30
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• 2008

Cavalieri is chiefly remembered for his work on the problem "indivisibles." Building on the work of Archimedes, he investigated the method of construction by which areas and volumes of curved figures could be found. Cavalieri regarded an area as made up of an indefinite number of parallel line segments and a volume of an indefinite number of parallel plane areas. He called these elements the indivisibles of area and volume. Cavalieri developed a method of the indivisibles which he used to determine areas and volumes. We call this Cavalieri's principle which states that there exists a plane such that any plane parallel to it intersects equal areas In both objects, then the volumes of the two objects are equal. Cavalieri's principle and method of the indivisibles are very important to understand of volume of a pyramid for gifted students.

• Journal for History of Mathematics
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• v.27 no.2
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• pp.127-138
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• 2014

In this paper we investigate how Newton discovered the generalized binomial theorem. Newton's binomial theorem, or binomial series can be found in Calculus text books as a special case of Taylor series. It can also be understood as a formal power series which was first conceived by Euler if convergence does not matter much. Discovered before Taylor or Euler, Newton's binomial theorem must have a good explanation of its birth and validity. Newton learned the interpolation method from Wallis' famous book ${\ll}$Arithmetica Infinitorum${\gg}$ and employed it to get the theorem. The interpolation method, which Wallis devised to find the areas under a family of curves, was by nature arithmetrical but not geometrical. Newton himself used the method as a way of finding areas under curves. He noticed certain patterns hidden in the integer binomial sequence appeared in relation with curves and then applied them to rationals, finally obtained the generalized binomial sequence and the generalized binomial theorem.