continued proportion

noun

Mathematics.

1. an ordered set of numbers such that the ratio between any two successive terms is the same, as 1:3:9:27:81.

Word History and Origins

Origin of continued proportion¹

First recorded in 1790–1800

Example Sentences

Continued proportion, the series and the summation of the series.

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Hippocrates did not, indeed, solve the problem, but he succeeded in reducing it to another, namely, the problem of finding two mean proportionals in continued proportion between two given straight lines, i.e. finding x, y such that a : x = x : y = y : b, where a, b are the two given straight lines.

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Hippocrates of Chios reduced the problem of duplicating the cube to that of finding two mean proportionals in continued proportion between two straight lines, that is, he showed that, if the latter problem could be solved, the former was thereby solved also; and it is probable that there were still earlier cases in the Pythagorean geometry.

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Hippocrates did not indeed solve the problem of duplication, but reduced it to another, namely that of finding two mean proportionals in continued proportion between two given straight lines; and the problem was ever afterwards attacked in this form.

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From this twofold relation it follows that the continued proportion between the sovereign, the prince, and the people is not an arbitrary idea, but a consequence of the nature of the state.

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