26 Mr. A. De Morgan on the Conic Octagram. [April 25, of Them, That 8 Is the Tangential of 4
26 Mr. A. De Morgan on the Conic Octagram. [April 25, of them, that 8 is the tangential of 4. We have here the theorem that the third point of 1 and 7 is also the tangential of 4. Similarly, 10, 11, 13 are each of them (like 8) determined by two constructions ; 14, 16, 17, 19, each of them by three constructions, and so on; the number of constructions increasing by unity for each group of four numbers. And the theorem is, that these constructions, 2, 3 or more, as the case may be, give always one and the same point. Prof. Cayley mentioned that on a large figure of a cubic curve he had, in accordance with the theorem, constructed the series of points 1, 2, 4, 5, 7, 8, 10, 11, 13, 14. Prof. Sylvester made a communication " On the Theory of Re- siduals." Mr. Walker gave a proof of the Rectangle of Forces ; and demon- sti-afcion of tbe principle of the Parallelogram of Forces. These are new and interesting specimens of a class of proofs on the character of which mathematical opinion has been much divided. The interest of these proofs now turns on the question, how much and what there is of a physical character in the assumptions on which they are founded: in fact, what there is to prevent their being purely geometrical, and having a conclusion time of mathematical necessity. April Ihth, 18G7. Prof. SYLVESTER, President, in the Chair. M. Chasles was elected a Foreign Member of the Society. Prof. Clerk-Maxwell, F.R.S., Dr.
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