Page:Newton's Principia (1846).djvu/318

 medium will be as the ordinate of the circle or ellipsis described upon the diameter Ba; and therefore the figure BKVTa will be nearly an ellipsis. Since the resistance is supposed proportional to the velocity, let OV be the exponent of the resistance in the middle point O; and an ellipsis BRVSa described with the centre O, and the semi-axes OB, OV, will be nearly equal to the figure BKVTa, and to its equal the rectangle Aa $$\scriptstyle \times$$ BO. Therefore Aa $$\scriptstyle \times$$ BO is to OV $$\scriptstyle \times$$ BO as the area of this ellipsis to OV $$\scriptstyle \times$$ BO; that is, Aa is to OV as the area of the semi-circle to the square of the radius, or as 11 to 7 nearly; and, therefore, $$\scriptstyle \frac{7}{11}$$Aa is to the length of the pendulum as the resistance of the oscillating body in O to its gravity.

Now if the resistance DK be in the duplicate ratio of the velocity, the figure BKVTa will be almost a parabola having V for its vertex and OV for its axis, and therefore will be nearly equal to the rectangle under Ba and OV. Therefore the rectangle under ½Ba and Aa is equal to the rectangle ⅔Ba $$\scriptstyle \times$$ OV, and therefore OV is equal to ¾Aa; and therefore the resistance in O made to the oscillating body is to its gravity as ¾Aa to the length of the pendulum.

And I take these conclusions to be accurate enough for practical uses. For since an ellipsis or parabola BRVSa falls in with the figure BKVTa in the middle point V, that figure, if greater towards the part BRV or VSa than the other, is less towards the contrary part, and is therefore nearly equal to it.


 * If the resistance made to an oscillating body in each of the proportional parts of the arcs described be augmented or diminished in a given ratio, the difference between the arc described in the descent and the arc described in the subsequent ascent will be augmented or diminished in the same ratio.

For that difference arises from the retardation of the pendulum by the resistance of the medium, and therefore is as the whole retardation and the retarding resistance proportional thereto. In the foregoing Proposition the rectangle under the right line ½aB and the difference Aa of the arcs CB, Ca, was equal to the area BKTa. And that area, if the length aB remains, is augmented or diminished in the ratio of the ordinates DK; that is, in the ratio of the resistance and is therefore as the length aB and the resistance conjunctly. And therefore the rectangle under Aa and ½aB is as aB and the resistance conjunctly, and therefore Aa is as the resistance. Q.E.D.