incl CONIC SECTIONS - maths help needed -JOHN WALLIS research

[verity]

Can anyone help me? I am doing a project on John Wallis for a project for my degree (Graphic Design). To find out somethign interesting about our home town.. I discovered that John Wallis (infinity symbol, conic sections, notation of powers) was born in my home town and decided to base my project around him. I wondered if anyone can help with some questions I have:

* I found information that he developed the standard notation for powers.. to confirm does that mean he was the first person write powers as a number followed by a smaller number raised to the right of it?

* most importantly I would like to know what wouldn't exist today if it wasn't for the work of john wallis e.g. everyday items we use, and the more mundane the better!

I know that Wallis first used the symbol for infinity and the less than or equal to / more than or equal to symbols where there is only one line beneath the 'arrow'... if i knew that he was the first to write powers as i mentioned above, this could make a nice set of graphic posters.... my other option is to document what we use or see today that might not exist if not for john wallis.

Thank you for any help!

[Glaysher]

Tried this link?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Wallis

[verity]

yes have got that information but thank you... as a non-mathmetician some of it is quite confusing or atleast too brief for me... the search continues if anyone can help

[Glaysher]

Well from the way it talks about powers it suggests that he was not the first to write powers as a number followed by a smaller number raised to the right of it.

Instead he extended it so that powers weren't just positive whole numbers but any number that can be written as a fraction, both positive and negative.

If you were to make a poster highlighting his work on powers, a list like:

... 2^-2 = 1/4 2^-1 = 1/2 2⁰ = 1 2¹ = 2 2² = 4 ...

or something similar

Or the laws of indices as in this link

http://library.thinkquest.org/C01102.../islindlaw.htm

Can't help you with objects that wouldn't exist today I'm afraid