Part 1

Rene Descartes, a renowned French Mathematician in the 16th century, discovered the beauty of Cartesian coordinates system while lying on his back and gazing at a spider on the ceiling. Do some research and write about his discoveries.

Descartes and His Coordinate System Descartes, a French mathematician and philosopher, was born in La Haye, France (now named in his honor) on March 31, 1596. His parents taught him at home until he was 8 years old, when he entered the Jesuit college of La Flche. There he continued his studies until he graduated at age 18. Descartes was an outstanding student at La Flche, especially in mathematics. Because of his delicate health, his teachers allowed him to stay in bed until late morning. Despite missing most of his morning classes, Descartes was able to keep up with his studies. He would continue the habit of staying late in bed for his entire adult life. After graduating from La Flche, Descartes traveled to Paris and eventually enrolled at the University of Poitiers. He graduated with a law degree in 1616 and then enlisted in a military school. In 1619, he joined the Bavarian army and spent the next nine years as a soldier, touring throughout much of Europe in between military campaigns. Descartes eventually settled in Holland, where he spent most of the rest of his life. There Descartes gave up a military career and decided on a life of mathematics and philosophy. Descartes attempted to provide a philosophical foundation for the new mechanistic physics that was developing from the work of Copernicus and Galileo. He divided all things into two categoriesmind and matterand developed a dualistic philosophical system in which, although mind is subject to the will

and does not follow physical laws, all matter must obey the same mechanistic laws. The philosophical system that Descartes developed, known as Cartesian philosophy, was based on skepticism and asserted that all reliable knowledge must be built up by the use of reason through logical analysis. Cartesian philosophy was influential in the ultimate success of the Scientific Revolution and provides the foundation upon which most subsequent philosophical thought is grounded. Descartes published various treatises about philosophy and mathematics. In 1637 Descartes published his masterwork, Discourse on the Method of Reasoning Well and Seeking Truth in the Sciences. In Discourse, Descartes sought to explain everything in terms of matter and motion. Discourse contained three appendices, one on optics, one on meteorology, and one titled La Gometrie (The Geometry). In La Gometrie, Descartes described what is now known as the system of Cartesian Coordinates, or coordinate geometry. In Descartes's system of coordinates, geometry and algebra were united for the first time to create what is known as analytic geometry.