Curvilinear Geometry: Sectors, Lunes and the Limits of Squaring
Sectors of equal value, dividing curved triangles, nested tangent circles, and why unequal arcs cannot be squared
The verso continues the study of curvilinear figures, crowded in its lower half with small diagrams of circle sectors, portions, crescents and nested circles. A long list of problems asks how to give many sectors (quarter, eighth, sixteenth, thirty-second, sixty-fourth) of the same value, to divide a curved-sided triangle into three equal parts, to make crescents equal to rectilinear triangles, and to relate portions of one circle to those of a double circle. A section headed "On impossibility" states the limiting case: crescents formed of unequal arcs of one same circle cannot be squared, since the value taken from one side cannot be returned on the other; squaring succeeds only when the circles stand in rational proportion, such as one double the other. Lettered figures (a–b, c–b–a–d, and concentric circles numbered 1–4) support each claim.
On this page
Many sectors of equal value, from quarter to sixty-fourth
A row of five sector figures is labelled quarter, eighth, sixteenth, thirty-second and sixty-fourth, posing the problem of giving many various sectors of a circle all of the same value.
Dividing a curved-sided triangle into three equal parts
To divide a triangle of three curved sides into three equal parts, the triangle having two convex curved sides and a third concave curved side. Here all the curved lines of the triangle must be of equal curvature, and the dividing curve must be of like curvature.
Nested tangent circles doubling toward a point
Making a triangle tangent to two circles that are double one another and touch each other, all further circles that touch one another and the sides of the triangle toward the point, proceeding infinitely, are always double one another. The same holds toward the base if the triangle is extended, and for any figure wholly within these circles.
Which curvilinear portions can be squared
From three circles, three sectors of equal value are taken; removing their portions, one seeks the difference of the remainders. No difference can be known between the first and second, because the first has a curved side and the second all straight sides; but the rest, being rectilinear, remain squared, each equal to a curved portion.
On impossibility: crescents of unequal arcs
It is impossible to give a square equal to any crescent formed of arcs of one same circle whose arcs are of unequal length, because the value taken from one side cannot be returned on the other.
Squaring succeeds only for circles in rational proportion
Crescents of arcs of different circuits and lengths cannot be squared unless the circles stand in rational proportion — as arc a, of a circle double the circle of c, so that a quarter of one is worth an eighth of the other. Removing the whole portion c and returning the half-portion b squares the crescent c a, and so it follows for every proportion (triple, quadruple, quintuple) to infinity.
