GAUSS, CARL FRIEDRICH. - THE METHOD OF LEAST SQUARES IN GERMAN.

Theorie der Bewegung der Himmelskörper welche in Kegelschnitten die Sonne umlaufen. Ins Deutsche übertragen von Carl Haase. Mit einem Anhange sowie mit einer photographisches Abbildung...Gauss-Medaille...Facsimile der Gauss'schen lateinischen und deutschen Handschrift.

Hannover, Carl Meyer, 1865. 4to. Contemp. modest hcloth. 2 orig. photographs mounted as frontispiece (Gauss-medal). 279,72,(2) pp. 3 plates, 6 tables. Internally clean.

First German edition of this milestone in mathematical statistics, first published in Latin as "Theoria motus corporum coelestium in sectinibus conicis solem ambientum. 1809." - In this work Gauss revealed for the first time his method of least squares. On January 1, 1801, the Italian astronomer Giuseppe Piazzi discovered the planetoid Ceres, but could only observe it for few days before it was lost in the glare of the Sun until the end of the year. After so many months of not being observed it was not possible to calculate with existing methods at which position it should reappear. However Gauss, at an age of 24, astounded when he in December predicted the exact location at which Ceres again could be observed. Gauss did not reveal how he had calculated the orbit of Ceres. First in 1809 Gauss published his second book "Theoria motus corporum coelestium in sectionibus conicis solem ambientium" (the offered item) in which he revealed his new method of orbit calculation. In the first part he dealt with differential equations, conic sections and elliptic orbits, while in the second part, the main part of the work, he showed how to estimate and then to refine the estimation of a planet's orbit using a new method involving minimizing the sum of squared residuals, e.g., the method of least squares. He was able to prove the correctness of the method under the assumption of normally distributed errors. It is here that the Gaussian curve, expressing statistical distribution in probablility, makes its appearance. This work, along with the 'Discuisitiones', was the fruit of the triumphal decade in Gauss' life and established his reputation as a mathematical and scientific genius of the first order.
Hald: History of Mathematical Statistics 1750-1930, pp.351-357.

Order-nr.: 38464