Mathematical Treasure: Cayley's Elliptic Functions

Arthur Cayley (1821-1895) was a British mathematician noted today mainly for his contributions to modern algebra. However, he was an extremely talented and prolific mathematician. During his lifetime, he published over 900 papers on various aspects of modern mathematics but he wrote only one book. Cayley’s An Elementary Treatise on Elliptic Functions was published in 1876. The title page of this rare work is shown above.

The “Preface” of Cayley’s Elliptic Functions is shown above. Note the author’s references to the work of his contemporaries.

The first page of the “Table of Contents” is shown above.

The images above are supplied through the courtesy of the Rare Books and Manuscripts Collection of the Pennsylvania State University Library and the assistance of Dr. Sandra Stelts, Curator of the Collection.