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Concept
Quadrature (mathematics)
Summary
In mathematics, quadrature is a historical term for the process of determining area. This term is still used in the context of differential equations, where "solving an equation by quadrature" or "reduction to quadrature" means expressing its solution in terms of integrals.
Quadrature problems served as one of the main sources of problems in the development of calculus. They introduce important topics in mathematical analysis.
Greek mathematicians understood the determination of an area of a figure as the process of geometrically constructing a square having the same area (squaring), thus the name quadrature for this process. The Greek geometers were not always successful (see squaring the circle), but they did carry out quadratures of some figures whose sides were not simply line segments, such as the lune of Hippocrates and the parabola. By a certain Greek tradition, these constructions had to be performed using only a compass and straightedge, though not all Greek mathematicians adhered to this dictum.
For a quadrature of a rectangle with the sides a and b it is necessary to construct a square with the side (the geometric mean of a and b). For this purpose it is possible to use the following: if one draws the circle with diameter made from joining line segments of lengths a and b, then the height (BH in the diagram) of the line segment drawn perpendicular to the diameter, from the point of their connection to the point where it crosses the circle, equals the geometric mean of a and b. A similar geometrical construction solves the problems of quadrature of a parallelogram and of a triangle.
Problems of quadrature for curvilinear figures are much more difficult. The quadrature of the circle with compass and straightedge was proved in the 19th century to be impossible. Nevertheless, for some figures a quadrature can be performed. The quadratures of the surface of a sphere and a parabola segment discovered by Archimedes became the highest achievement of analysis in antiquity.
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