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Mathematical Treasure: Jacob Bernoulli's Collected Works

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

This is the first volume of the two-volume Collected Works of Jacob Bernoulli, published in 1744. Jacob Bernoulli (1654-1705) was the older of the two most famous mathematical Bernoullis, the brothers Jacob and Johann Bernoulli (1667-1748).


On pages 182 and 183 of Jacob Bernoulli’s Opera Omnia, above, is a discussion of series summation.


Page 747, above, concerns the behavior of infinite series.

The Special Collections staff at the Linderman Library of Lehigh University in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, is pleased to cooperate with the Mathematical Association of America to exhibit this and other items from the Library’s holdings in Mathematical Treasures. In particular, Convergence would like to thank Lois Fischer Black, Curator, Special Collections, and Ilhan Citak, Archives and Special Collections Librarian, for their kind assistance in helping to make this display possible. You may use these images in your classroom; all other uses require permission from the Special Collections staff, Linderman Library, Lehigh University.

Frank J. Swetz (The Pennsylvania State University), "Mathematical Treasure: Jacob Bernoulli's Collected Works," Convergence (June 2014)