Article ID: CBB001321043

Galileo's quanti: Understanding Infinitesimal Magnitudes (2014)

unapi

In On Local Motion in the Two New Sciences, Galileo distinguishes between `time' and `quanto time' to justify why a variation in speed has the same properties as an interval of time. In this essay, I trace the occurrences of the word quanto to define its role and specific meaning. The analysis shows that quanto is essential to Galileo's mathematical study of infinitesimal quantities and that it is technically defined. In the light of this interpretation of the word quanto, Evangelista Torricelli's theory of indivisibles can be regarded as a natural development of Galileo's insights about infinitesimal magnitudes, transformed into a geometrical method for calculating the area of unlimited plane figures.

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Authors & Contributors
Torrini, Maurizio
Roberto Biancarelli Martinelli
Petroski, Henry
Strano, Giorgio
Settle, Thomas B.
Sellés, Manuel A.
Concepts
Mathematics
Geometry
Physics
Mechanics
Cosmology
Astronomy
Time Periods
17th century
16th century
Renaissance
Early modern
Medieval
18th century
Places
Italy
Europe
Florence (Italy)
Venice (Italy)
Tuscany (Italy)
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