Let us now determine the angle . If we increase the force by the
differential , without varying the force , that angle will be diminished by
the infinitely small quantity ;[1] now we may conceive the force to be
resolved into two other forces, the one in the direction , and the other
perpendicular to ; the point will then be acted upon by the two forces
and , perpendicular to each other, and the resultant of these two
forces, which we shall call , will make with the angle ;[2] we shall
thus have, by what precedes,
[4];
consequently the function is infinitely small, and of the form ,
being a constant quantity, independent of the angle ;[3]</ref> we shall therefore
have
[5],
(5) The resultant of the forces , , is, by hypothesis, in the direction , and, by increasing the force by , the forces become equal to in the direction , and in the direction , and the resulting force , must evidently fall between , , on a line as , forming with an infinitely small angle , represented by . Then the force , in the direction , may be resolved into two forces, the one in the direction , the other in the direction , and as this last force is inclined to by the angle , we shall have as above ; or by substituting the preceding value of .
f (6) This angle is equal to GAE.== '^—dd ; and if the force z' in the direction A G
is resolved into two forces in tiie directions A Z, AE, the last will (by tiie nature of the
function cp) be represented hy z' .cp( -^ — dd.
X (7) Because (p r- — d& contains only die quantities ^, <?^, but does not explicitiy con-
tain ^. Moreover, the function (p ( 1^ — di being developed m the usual manner, according