[UJF]∎ PDF Gratis The Principia Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy Isaac Newton I Bernard Cohen Anne Whitman Julia Budenz 9780520088177 Books

The Principia Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy Isaac Newton I Bernard Cohen Anne Whitman Julia Budenz 9780520088177 Books

Download As PDF : The Principia Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy Isaac Newton I Bernard Cohen Anne Whitman Julia Budenz 9780520088177 Books

The Principia Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy Isaac Newton I Bernard Cohen Anne Whitman Julia Budenz 9780520088177 Books

This is the definitive reference for anyone who genuinely has an interest in the basic historical foundations of mathematics, physics, and cosmology. It is a heavy undertaking to study this book and I found myself somewhat lulled by my modern mathematical training into expecting equations and formal proofs via induction upon formulae. This book forms the basis for calculus and mathematical physics entirely on the foundation of geometry and nearly every proof is geometrical in origin. Having the guide as an integral part of this book helped to soften the transition from my more modern expectations and opened my mind to this great work of the past.


Tags : Buy The Principia : Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy on Amazon.com ✓ FREE SHIPPING on qualified orders,Isaac Newton, I. Bernard Cohen, Anne Whitman, Julia Budenz,The Principia : Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy,University of California Press,0520088174,History,Physics - General,Celestial mechanics - Early works to 1800,Celestial mechanics;Early works to 1800.,Mechanics - Early works to 1800,Mechanics;Early works to 1800.,Newton, Isaac,Celestial mechanics,Classical mechanics,Early works to 1800,History of science,Mathematics & science,Mechanics,Physics,SCIENCE Mechanics General,Science,Science General,Science History,Science Physics General,ScienceMathematics,1642-1727,Newton, Isaac,,Principia,Sir,

The Principia Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy Isaac Newton I Bernard Cohen Anne Whitman Julia Budenz 9780520088177 Books Reviews

This is an impressive work of scholarship & I highly recommend it to all serious students of physics.
The authors set out to produce a modern translation of the third and final version of Newton's masterpiece which was originally written in Latin and published in 1726.
The first & only complete English translation of the Principia, before this new translation was made, was by Andrew Motte in 1729 - only three years after Newton's work in Latin appeared.
Motte's translation was revised and "modernized" several times in the intervening 270 years, the last being in the mid 1800's but it still was regarded as being almost as difficult and opaque as Newton's original.
This new translation by Cohen & Whitman is really two books in one. The first 370 pages of the 966 page work is "A Guide to Newton's Principia" and consists of eleven Chapters that explain the structure of Newton's work and how to read it. This part is indispensable to the modern reader. The last 596 pages is a careful translation into modern English of the original Latin version.
I was excited when this book was suggested for me. The problem is that it takes a great deal of concentration to read it. I barely recognized Newton's three laws of motion. It is about as readable as a PhD thesis.
Anyone can afford to acquire this premier work which presents the fundamental principals of physics.
I gave it three stars because the idea of having it on the format is commendable. However, the translation needs a translation. Perhaps, there is a brillant writer , like Michael Guillan or Andy Weir, who can put the concepts into a form that is much easier to comprehend.
This is the work which, for better and for worse, changed how we humans live forever, uniting the heavens and earth under a satisfying physical theory for the first time. The English translation is smooth enough that it feels like Newton wrote the work 'yesterday'. The introductory sections by Cohen give a detailed overview of the work itself and the broader context in which it was written, which helps in recognising some mathematical presentation and concepts we no longer use or are unfamiliar with.

The overall methods used in the Principia have found their use throughout modern physics practice--mathematical modelling, idealisations, theory-mediated measurements, etc. Even with the advent of General Relativity and Quantum Field Theory, we still do physics (in a broad fashion) in a way which is present in this book. No wonder, as a physicist-in-training, I found this work to be an exemplar, despite the less-than-satisfying results in some sections, as Newton himself admitted, of how natural science is to be done (notwithstanding its limitations, as unfortunately we learned the hard way).
I've only examined the book in a very cursory (e.g., turning pages, looking at diagrams, etc.) way, so I don't have anything profound to say. Newton's use of geometry to "prove" many mathematical properties leading to calculus is very interesting. Today, these concepts can be explained in terms of point set topology, for example. I'm amazed at how Newton was able to use the only mathematical tools available to him at the time to develop his "version" of calculus (Leibniz also).
This is not an easy read even for mathematicians. But hey, you can't blame the publishers for that ... it's Newton's original text, and it's a work of genius. Newton did use some pretty heavy language and sentence structure, so you have to read it real slowly and multiple times to grasp the concepts.

What I can blame the publishers for, though, is that some of the text is hard to see clearly. Letters and words are cut-off at the margins of the page, so some words are truncated. This makes it even a more difficult text to parse and understand.
The explanatory material, publishers's notes, and most of the reviews above all refer to the Bernard Cohen translation and commentary (UC Berkeley Press, blue cover) - but they are attached to the listing for the Snowball Publishing edition (brownish cover), which is not the same thing at all!!

The entry for the Snowball edition - listed on discount for about $13 - clearly states that it is the Cohen translation with his commentaries. In fact, it is merely a cheap reproduction of some earlier edition of the standard Motte translation, with modernized spelling. It is the complete text of the (translated) Third Edition of the Principia, but with no other associated works by Newton and nothing by Cohen. Snowball does not even give the translator's name, either on the cover or in the front matter! The lithographic reproduction is readable but poor quality - with many broken characters and even edges of pages slightly cut off. This is a usable cheap edition of the well-known 1729 translation, but it is NOT the modern translation, as the listing explicitly states. (In fact, 's "Search Inside This Book" feature, from the Snowball edition page, takes you to the search pages for the Cohen edition - a completely different, and much more expensive, book!)

I'm sure this was a good-faith error on 's part, but it is completely misleading. Buyers should know what they are getting. If you are reading this on the page listing for the Snowball Publishing edition of the Principia, you aren't getting what they say you are. Be forewarned.
This is the definitive reference for anyone who genuinely has an interest in the basic historical foundations of mathematics, physics, and cosmology. It is a heavy undertaking to study this book and I found myself somewhat lulled by my modern mathematical training into expecting equations and formal proofs via induction upon formulae. This book forms the basis for calculus and mathematical physics entirely on the foundation of geometry and nearly every proof is geometrical in origin. Having the guide as an integral part of this book helped to soften the transition from my more modern expectations and opened my mind to this great work of the past.