E444 -- De motu gravium citissimo super curvis specie datis
(On the most rapid (descending) motion of weights along curves of a specified type)
Summary:
One problem Euler treats in this paper is given by Homer White:
Problem 2, for example, runs as follows: Given two points A (higher) and B (lower),
to find, among all semi-ellipses whose axes lie along the line AB, that semi-ellipse
which permits the most rapid descent of the weight from A to B.
Publication:
-
Originally published in Novi Commentarii academiae scientiarum Petropolitanae 17, 1773, pp. 488-504
-
Opera Omnia: Series 1, Volume 25, pp. 236 - 249
Documents Available:
- Original publication: E444
Return to the Euler Archive