Concept of the exponential law prior to 1900
Abstract
The historical development of a quantitative perception of the processes of exponential growth and decay is traced from its ancient origins through pre-20th century mathematical formulations and physical applications. Evidence indicates that the concepts of the mean life and the half life and their relationships to linear differential rate equations and to multiple simultaneous and sequential processes, as well as the nonlinear conditions which bring about the breakdown of the exponential law, were all understood and presented in written records long before their now nearly synonymous application to nuclear radioactivity. Exponential processes were among the earliest quantitative concepts to be mathematically formulated, and our modern understanding of them can be enhanced by historical perspective.
- Publication:
-
American Journal of Physics
- Pub Date:
- September 1978
- DOI:
- 10.1119/1.11512
- Bibcode:
- 1978AmJPh..46..896C
- Keywords:
-
- 01.65.+g;
- 02.30.-f;
- History of science;
- Function theory analysis