[AntonioLao]

The conic sections, as contained in Apollonius' 8-volme treatise 'On Conics' (circa 225 B.C.), can be considered as the beginning of all math analyses between Euclid's less numeric geometry and Euler's more abstract topology.

Conics contributed to the mathematicalization of physical sciences was never been more obvious than when Kepler applied the ellipse to his 3 laws of planetary motion. Furthermore, these were discovered about the same time that Galileo started the revolution of empirical science. Kepler's measurements led to Newton's 3 laws of motions and the universal law of gravitation.

In our modern search for a final theory, it might be important to look back and in a more detailed analysis just why nature chooses the conics as paths of optimum time differential of all continuous and gradual changes.