Quote#Science & Reason
The student's curiosity and attention will be more excited and…
Quote byRobert Woodhouse · 1773–1827
Commonly attributed — not confirmed in an authoritative edition. Cited on Wikiquote to: A Treatise on Isoperimetrical Problems, and the Calculus of Variations (1810).
English (original)
the student's curiosity and attention will be more excited and sustained, when he finds history blended with science, and the demonstration of formulae accompanied with the object and the causes of their invention, than by a mere analytical exposition of the principles of the subject
— Robert Woodhouse
More from Robert Woodhouse
no doctrine, of novelty and intricacy, can be completely taught by a single Treatise.
he introduces geometrical figures, but almost entirely, for the purpose of illustration: and finally
he expounds the calculus, in its most refined state, entirely without the aid of diagrams and their properties. A similar history will belong to every other method of calculation, that has been advanced to any degree of perfection.
The Authors who write near the beginnings of science, are, in general the most instructive: they take the reader more along with them, shew him the real difficulties, and, which is a main point, teach him the subject, the way by which they …
In the first solution of Isoperimetrical problems, the Bernoullis use diagrams and their properties. Euler, in his early essays, does the same; then, as he improves the calculus he gets rid of constructions. In his Treatise
the subject should be put under several points of view: that if not apprehended under one, it may be under another.