Definition:Catenary/Historical Note

Historical Note on Catenary
The problem of determining the shape of the catenary was posed in 1690 by as a challenge.

It had been thought by to be a parabola.

showed in 1646 by physical considerations that it could not be so, but he failed to establish its exact nature.

In 1691,, and  all independently published solutions.

From a letter that wrote in 1718:
 * The efforts of my brother were without success. For my part, I was more fortunate, for I found the skill (I say it without boasting; why should I conceal the truth?) to solve it in full ... It is true that it cost me study that robbed me of rest for an entire night. It was a great achievement for those days and for the slight age and experience I then had. The next morning, filled with joy, I ran to my brother, who was still struggling miserably with this Gordian knot without getting anywhere, always thinking like  that the catenary was a parabola. Stop! Stop! I say to him, don't torture yourself any more trying to prove the identity of the catenary with the parabola, since it is entirely false.