Bliss’ Contributions in Light of the Pure Mathematics of the Era

We now turn to an account of the pure mathematics within which Bliss’ ideas were developed and to which they contributed. In doing so very little of Moulton’s work is mentioned, but it is not to be inferred from this that the latter’s efforts on differential variations were of lesser consequence. The scope of Moulton’s investigations was vast: the studies of numerical integration, the accuracy of differential approximations, weighting factor tables, and muzzle velocity studies, not to mention the co-ordination of these activities, were all his initiatives.