The Theory of Skew Determinants and Pfaffians in the Historical Order of its Development up to 1857

Sets of equations of the formwhere the coefficient of xr in the sth equation differs only in sign from the coefficient of xs in the rth equation, had often made their appearance in analytical investigations before the determinant of such a set came to be considered. An instance is to be found in a memoir of Poisson's, read before the Institute in October 1809, and printed in the Journal de l'École Polytechnique, viii., pp. 266 — 344; and similar instances of an earlier date in writings of Lagrange and Laplace therein referred to. The mathematician who first referred definitely to the determinant appears to have been Jacobi.