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Mathematical Treasure: Correspondence of Leibniz and Bernoulli

Author(s): 
Frank J. Swetz (The Pennsylvania State University)

The philosophical and mathematical correspondence between Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz and Johannes Bernoulli for the period 1694 to 1716 was published in 1745 as the two-volume collection, Virorum celeberr. Got. Gul. Leibnitii et Johan. Bernoullii Commercium philosophicum et mathematicum. Volume I of this collection contains the correspondence from 1694 to 1699. The title page for Volume I is shown below.

Title page of published correspondence between Leibniz and Johannes Bernoulli.

In a letter from Leibniz to Bernoulli dated July 1696, Leibniz continued a discussion between the two great mathematicians about the Brachistochrone Problem.

Page 182 of correspondence between Leibniz and Johannes Bernoulli.Page 183 of correspondence between Leibniz and Johannes Bernoulli.

Page 184 of correspondence between Leibniz and Johannes Bernoulli.Page 185 of correspondence between Leibniz and Johannes Bernoulli.

Page 186 of correspondence between Leibniz and Johannes Bernoulli.Table 7 from correspondence between Leibniz and Johannes Bernoulli.

The images above are presented courtesy of the University of Pennsylvania Libraries.

Editor's note: Part of the Leibniz-Bernoulli correspondence from 1694 to 1701 has been published in the historical-critical edition, Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz, Sämtliche Schriften und Briefe, Reihe III, vols. 5-8. These volumes are accessible online and can be downloaded from the following website:
http://www.leibnizedition.de/baende/reihe-iii-mathematischer-naturwissenschaftlicher-und-technischer-briefwechsel.html.
The individual letters are accessible via: https://leibniz.uni-goettingen.de/persons/view/55.

We thank Siegmund Probst of the Leibniz Research Center of the Göttingen Academy of Sciences (Leibniz-Archiv) for bringing these resources to our attention.

Index to Mathematical Treasures

Frank J. Swetz (The Pennsylvania State University), "Mathematical Treasure: Correspondence of Leibniz and Bernoulli," Convergence (July 2016)