Theory Of Maxima And Minima

Mathematicians have always been occupied with questions of maxima and minima. With Euclid one of the simplest problems
of this character was : Find the shortest line which may be drawn from a point to a line, and in the fifth book of the conies of
Apollonius of Perga occur such problems as the determination of the shortest line which may be drawn from a point to a given
conic section.