Introduction to the Analytical Art (In artem analyticen Isagoge) (Russian translation from Latin with comments by E. A. Zaytsev)

This is the first translation into Russian with comments of a classical work of Western mathematics – a treatise by F Viète dedicated to the exposition of the so called “logistics of species”. First published in Latin in 1591, translated into French in 1630, and republished in Latin in 1646 within the largest posthumous collection of Viète's mathematical writings, this short book was a source of inspiration for the next generation of European mathematicians, active during the first half of the 17th century, who have finally created a novel highly efficient means of mathematical study – symbolic algebra. Having contributed to the overcoming of the shortages of Greek geometrical approach, Viète's ideas have considerably assisted in opening the way to the subsequent application of symbolic reasoning in various domains of mathematics, in particular, analysis. The translation is made using the posthumous edition: Francisci Viete. Opera mathematica, in unum volumen congesta ac recognita, opera atque studio Francisci a Schooten, Officine de Bonaventure et Abraham Elzevier. Leyden, 1646. P. 1–12. Besides the text by Viиte himself, the translation includes the comments by the editor of this collection – Frans van Schooten.