The Witch of Agnesi

In 1748, Maria Gaetana Agnesi published Instituzioni Analitiche ad uso della Gioventù Italiana, an early textbook on calculus and the first surviving mathematical work written by a woman.

In it, she includes a study of this curve. She defines the curve geometrically as the locus of points satisfying a certain proportion, determines its algebraic equation, and finds its vertex, asymptotic line, and inflection points.

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