Outline
HPM 2024: Two Examples from History
Two Examples from History: Mapping Diagrams to Visualize Relations and Functions
https://flashman.tiny.us/HPM2024
Mapping Diagrams are used to visualize functions and relations as an alternative to cartesian graphs.
They were used in important visualizations for the initial definition of logarithms by Napier.
Later they were used by Newton in his Treatise of the Method of Fluxions to
visualize his solution of the problem of finding the relation of quantities, given an equation involving
their fluxions.
These two examples will be explained and connected (using GeoGebra) to using mapping
diagrams in contemporary approaches to logarithms and differential equations illustrating how this history
can be integrated into current pedagogy.
