The philosophy of mathematics · Auguste Comte
CHOICE OF CO-ORDINATES.
In order to complete the philosophical exposition of the conception which serves as the base of analytical geometry, I have yet to notice the considerations relating to the choice of the system of co-ordinates which is in general the most suitable. They will give the rational explanation of the preference unanimously accorded to the ordinary rectilinear system; a preference which has hitherto been rather the effect of an empirical sentiment of the superiority of this system, than the exact result of a direct and thorough analysis. _Two different Points of View._ In order to decide clearly between all the different systems of co-ordinates, it is indispensable to distinguish with care the two general points of view, the converse of one another, which belong to analytical geometry; namely, the relation of algebra to geometry, founded upon the representation of lines by equations; and, reciprocally, the relation of geometry to algebra, founded on the representation of equations by lines. It is evident that in every investigation of general geometry these two fundamental points of view are of necessity always found combined, since we have always to pass alternately, and at insensible intervals, so to say, from geometrical to analytical considerations, and from analytical to geometrical considerations. But the necessity of here temporarily separating them is none the less real; for the answer to the question of method which we are examining is, in fact, as we shall see presently, very far from being the same in both these relations, so that without this distinction we could not form any clear idea of it.
1. _Representation of Lines by Equations._ Under _the first point of view_--the representation of lines by equations--the only reason which could lead us to prefer one system of co-ordinates to another would be the greater simplicity of the equation of each line, and greater facility in arriving at it. Now it is easy to see that there does not exist, and could not be expected to exist, any system of co-ordinates deserving in that respect a constant preference over all others. In fact, we have above remarked that for each geometrical definition proposed we can conceive a system of co-ordinates in which the equation of the line is obtained at once, and is necessarily found to be also very simple; and this system, moreover, inevitably varies with the nature of the characteristic property under consideration. The rectilinear system could not, therefore, be constantly the most advantageous for this object, although it may often be very favourable; there is probably no system which, in certain particular cases, should not be preferred to it, as well as to every other. 2. _Representation of Equations by Lines._ It is by no means so, however, under the _second point of view_. We can, indeed, easily establish, as a general principle, that the ordinary rectilinear system must necessarily be better adapted than any other to the representation of equations by the corresponding geometrical _loci_; that is to say, that this representation is constantly more simple and more faithful in it than in any other.
Let us consider, for this object, that, since every system of co-ordinates consists in determining a point by the intersection of two lines, the system adapted to furnish the most suitable geometrical _loci_ must be that in which these two lines are the simplest possible; a consideration which confines our choice to the _rectilinear_ system. In truth, there is evidently an infinite number of systems which deserve that name, that is to say, which employ only right lines to determine points, besides the ordinary system which assigns the distances from two fixed lines as co-ordinates; such, for example, would be that in which the co-ordinates of each point should be the two angles which the right lines, which go from that point to two fixed points, make with the right line, which joins these last points: so that this first consideration is not rigorously sufficient to explain the preference unanimously given to the common system. But in examining in a more thorough manner the nature of every system of co-ordinates, we also perceive that each of the two lines, whose meeting determines the point considered, must necessarily offer at every instant, among its different conditions of determination, a single variable condition, which gives rise to the corresponding co-ordinate, all the rest being fixed, and constituting the _axes_ of the system, taking this term in its most extended mathematical acceptation. The variation is indispensable, in order that we may be able to consider all possible positions; and the fixity is no less so, in order that there may exist means of comparison. Thus, in all _rectilinear_ systems, each of the two right lines will be subjected to a fixed condition, and the ordinate will result from the variable condition.
_Superiority of rectilinear Co-ordinates._ From these considerations it is evident, as a general principle, that the most favourable system for the construction of geometrical _loci_ will necessarily be that in which the variable condition of each right line shall be the simplest possible; the fixed condition being left free to be made complex, if necessary to attain that object. Now, of all possible manners of determining two movable right lines, the easiest to follow geometrically is certainly that in which, the direction of each right line remaining invariable, it only approaches or recedes, more or less, to or from a constant axis. It would be, for example, evidently more difficult to figure to one's self clearly the changes of place of a point which is determined by the intersection of two right lines, which each turn around a fixed point, making a greater or smaller angle with a certain axis, as in the system of co-ordinates previously noticed. Such is the true general explanation of the fundamental property possessed by the common rectilinear system, of being better adapted than any other to the geometrical representation of equations, inasmuch as it is that one in which it is the easiest to conceive the change of place of a point resulting from the change in the value of its co-ordinates. In order to feel clearly all the force of this consideration, it would be sufficient to carefully compare this system with the polar system, in which this geometrical image, so simple and so easy to follow, of two right lines moving parallel, each one of them, to its corresponding axis, is replaced by the complicated picture of an infinite series of concentric circles, cut by a right line compelled to turn about a fixed point. It is, moreover, easy to conceive in advance what must be the extreme importance to analytical geometry of a property so profoundly elementary, which, for that reason, must be recurring at every instant, and take a progressively increasing value in all labours of this kind.
_Perpendicularity of the Axes._ In pursuing farther the consideration which demonstrates the superiority of the ordinary system of co-ordinates over any other as to the representation of equations, we may also take notice of the utility for this object of the common usage of taking the two axes perpendicular to each other, whenever possible, rather than with any other inclination. As regards the representation of lines by equations, this secondary circumstance is no more universally proper than we have seen the general nature of the system to be; since, according to the particular occasion, any other inclination of the axes may deserve our preference in that respect. But, in the inverse point of view, it is easy to see that rectangular axes constantly permit us to represent equations in a more simple and even more faithful manner; for, with oblique axes, space being divided by them into regions which no longer have a perfect identity, it follows that, if the geometrical _locus_ of the equation extends into all these regions at once, there will be presented, by reason merely of this inequality of the angles, differences of figure which do not correspond to any analytical diversity, and will necessarily alter the rigorous exactness of the representation, by being confounded with the proper results of the algebraic comparisons. For example, an equation like: _x^m_ + _y^m_ = _c_, which, by its perfect symmetry, should evidently give a curve composed of four identical quarters, will be represented, on the contrary, if we take axes not rectangular, by a geometric _locus_, the four parts of which will be unequal. It is plain that the only means of avoiding all inconveniences of this kind is to suppose the angle of the two axes to be a right angle.
The preceding discussion clearly shows that, although the ordinary system of rectilinear co-ordinates has no constant superiority over all others in one of the two fundamental points of view which are continually combined in analytical geometry, yet as, on the other hand, it is not constantly inferior, its necessary and absolute greater aptitude for the representation of equations must cause it to generally receive the preference; although it may evidently happen, in some particular cases, that the necessity of simplifying equations and of obtaining them more easily may determine geometers to adopt a less perfect system. The rectilinear system is, therefore, the one by means of which are ordinarily constructed the most essential theories of general geometry, intended to express analytically the most important geometrical phenomena. When it is thought necessary to choose some other, the polar system is almost always the one which is fixed upon, this system being of a nature sufficiently opposite to that of the rectilinear system to cause the equations, which are too complicated with respect to the latter, to become, in general, sufficiently simple with respect to the other. Polar co-ordinates, moreover, have often the advantage of admitting of a more direct and natural concrete signification; as is the case in mechanics, for the geometrical questions to which the theory of circular movement gives rise, and in almost all the cases of celestial geometry.
Text from Project Gutenberg, public domain in the United States.