The Remez algorithm is then used to compute the new approximations.
When a first approximation has been obtained in this way, further approximations can be obtained in various ways.
As far as the order to which he carried the approximations - which, however, were based on a simplifying hypothesis that the molecules influenced each other through mutual repulsions inversely as the fifth power of their distance apart--the result was that the equations of motion of the gas, considered as subject to viscous and thermal stresses, could be satisfied by a state of equilibrium under a modified internal pressure equal in all directions.
If we use c 1 to represent the chord of the whole arc, c 2 the chord of half the arc, and c 4 the chord of one quarter of the arc, then corresponding to (i) and (iii) of § 70 or § 79 we have a (8c 2 - c i) and4 5 (256c 4 - 40c2+ci) as approximations to the length of the arc. The first of these is Huygens's rule.
Such theories, as we have noticed, are extremely likely to be only approximations in ancient times, even if recognized then; and our data are quite inadequate for clearing the subject.