This is a translation of Du Calcul de L'effet des Machines (1829) by Gaspard-Gustave de Coriolis. The title translates to either On the Calculation of Mechanical Action or On the Calculation of the Effects of Machines. This book was fundamental in defining kinetic energy and work, and is important to the history of mechanical engineering.
This translation was assisted by ChatGPT, an large language model developed by OpenAI. The final text has been thoroughly proofread and edited by me to ensure accuracy and coherence.
I have taken care to make minimal changes to the text to preserve the authenticity of the document. Minor revisions were undertaken to correct unnatural phrasing and to clarify mathematical terms and equations. Any changes made are indicated in the LaTeX code of this document.
The term "living force" was not translated into its modern equivalent, "kinetic energy." I am quite fond of this historical phrase and preferred to keep it intact. I think "living force" is much too beautiful of a phrase to remove from this book.
Considerable effort has been put into ensuring the accuracy of the equations in this book. Despite these efforts, there may still be errors in the translation. If any are discovered, or if there are suggestions for improvements, please feel free to email me. I welcome and appreciate any feedback.
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Samantha White
ssrpw17[at]gmail[dot]com