Posted by T.Gracken on October 02, 2002 at 07:51:52:
In Reply to: une "Montee" is French for "a rise"....and "Monter" (verb)= climb/rise... posted by Denis Borris on October 01, 2002 at 22:38:18:
: : : In the formula for the slope of a line...the slope is "m". Is "m" named after the mathematician that discovered the formula?
: : : Thanks,
: : : Jason
: : There has been a lot of research done on that. So far, no one has been able to prove their claim as to why m is used for slope. One fairly common belief (besides the initial of a mathematician) is that there is an archaic French word (beginning with m) that means slope. Many people tend to believe this as one of the early developers of similar topics was the French philosopher/mathematician Rene Descartes.