Helping Ada Lovelace with her Homework: Classroom Exercises from a Victorian Calculus Course – Solutions

To see how to solve the problems described in this article, click on the  "Solution" links in the following list. For a reminder of the problem statement, you can click on the corresponding "Problem" link.

• Solution to a Rule of Three Problem that puzzled 10-year old Lovelace.
• Solution given by Somerville to a Trigonometry Problem that perplexed a young Lovelace.
• Solution given by De Morgan to Problem 1, a problem involving algebraic manipulation that arose from a discussion of logarithmic expressions in De Morgan’s Elements of Algebra.
• Solution given by De Morgan to Problem 2, a problem involving functional equations arising from Ada Lovelace's study of Chapter 10 of De Morgan’s Elements of Algebra.
• Solution given by De Morgan to Problem 3, a question posed by Lovelace about imaginary numbers that was sparked by her reading of De Morgan’s article “Negative and Impossible Quantities” in the Penny Cyclopaedia.
• Solution to Problem 4, a problem involving logarithmic differentiation from Peacock’s Collection of Examples of the Application of the Differential and Integral Calculus, based on theorems given by Peacock.
• Solution based on De Morgan’s approach to Problem 5, a problem involving the general power rule.
• Why the Solution given by De Morgan to Problem 6, a problem involving the Mean Value Theorem, was problematic.
• Why the Solution given by Lovelace to Problem 7, a problem involving first-order differential equations, was flawed.
• Errors in the Solution given by Lovelace to Problem 8, a problem involving integration from De Morgan’s Differential and Integral Calculus.                 
• Why the Solution given by Lovelace to Problem 9, a problem involving a complicated integral, is equivalent to the solution given by De Morgan.
• Explanation of the Solution given by Lovelace to Problem 10, a problem involving second-order differential equations.