This is the title page to Rene Descartes' Treatise on Method, with its three famous essays on Dioptrics, Meteorology, and Geometry. The third essay contains Descartes' treatment of analytic geometry as well as his theory of equations and his rule for finding the normal to a given curve.
From the Rare Book and Manuscript Collection at Columbia University.
Part of the Mathematical Treasures section of Loci: Convergence.
Go to the photo pageFrank Swetz, Victor Katz, "Rene Descartes' Treatise on Method," Convergence (November 2008)