  The basic idea here provides the core of the conception of analysis  that one can find reflected, in its different ways, in the work of  Plato and Aristotle (see the supplementary sections on   Plato  and   Aristotle).  Although detailed examination of actual practices of analysis reveals more than just regression to first causes, principles or theorems,  but decomposition and transformation as well (see  especially the supplementary section on   Ancient Greek Geometry),  the regressive conception dominated views of analysis until well into the early modern period.