Pioneering British mathematician and mechanical engineer (1791-1871) whose Difference Engine and Analytical Engine are generally acknowledged as the first programmable computers. Signed book: On the Application of Analysis to the Discovery of Local Theorems and Porisms by Charles Babbage. Edinburgh: Offprint from Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, printed by P. Neill, 1822. Custom leather-bound hardcover with marbled boards, 7.75 x 10, 16 pages. Prominently signed on the title page in ink by Babbage, "From the Author." In fine condition, with light foxing and toning to the textblock, and offsetting to the last page from the facing plate.
In this paper, Babbage explores mathematical techniques for identifying specific relationships within broader general theorems. Babbage's work primarily addresses porisms, a class of geometric propositions describing conditions for which certain mathematical properties hold. This early mathematical inquiry laid groundwork for methods in algebraic and analytical problem-solving, emphasizing the use of analysis in uncovering hidden properties in equations and systems.
