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Mathematicians: An Outer View of the Inner World
Portraits of 92 living mathematicians, with autobiographical comments. Read more
Euclidean and Non-Euclidean Geometries: Development and History
This textbook seamlessly combines the history of non-Euclidean geometry with the mathematical ideas. Read more
Pythagoras' Revenge
A novel dealing with Pythagoras and his followers Read more
Problem from another time...
Faster than a Speeding Horse
A horse, halving its speed each day, travels 700 miles in 7 days. How far does it travel each day?
See whole problem
Loci: Convergence
Welcome to Convergence! This section of Loci offers a wealth of resources to help you teach mathematics using its history. Please check back regularly for new articles, look at all the archived articles in What's in Convergence?, and send us your comments and suggestions. As of July 1, 2009, the editors of this section are Janet Beery and Kathy Clark. The founding editors, Victor Katz and Frank Swetz, continue to be involved, mostly in the expansion of Mathematical Treasures.
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| Nov 22nd | |
| 1850 | Sylvester called to the Bar. ... |
 Pick a different day |
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Meetings & events dealing with the History of Mathematics
Today's Quotation
A theory has only the alternative of being right or wrong. A model has a third possibility: it may be right, but irrelevant.
Jagdish Mehra (ed.) The Physicist's Conception of Nature, 1973.
Illustrations
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This is the title page of Johannes Kepler’s Astronomia Nova published in Linz in 1609. In translation its full title reads “New Astronomy based upon Causes or Celestial Physics". Further clarification is also added, “Treated by means of commentaries on the Motion of the Star Mar, from observations of Tycho Brahe, Gent.” Thus using Tycho Brahe’s data, Kepler focused work on the orbit of Mars. His ten year investigation led him to conclude that the orbit of Mars was not a circle but another conic section, an ellipse. In this book he substantiates and formulates two of his laws: 1. Planets orbit the sun on elliptical paths. 2. The sun serves as one focus of these ellipses. | |
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Mathematical TreasuresA collection of images from the George Arthur Plimpton and David Eugene Smith Collections of Mathematical Materials in the Columbia University Library. |
HOM SIGMAA 2009 Award WinnersThese are the winning entries from the annual History of Mathematics SIGMAA Student Paper Contest. |
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"In these numbers we use no fractions": A Classroom Module on Stevin's Decimal NumbersAfter completing this assignment on Simon Stevin's treatment of decimal fractions in his 1585 De Thiende, the author's preservice mathematics teachers understood why our usual procedure for multiplying such fractions works. |
The Classic Greek Ladder and Newton's MethodGreek ladders for approximating square roots may be more ancient than the ancient Greeks. Students at any level can appreciate their beauty and simplicity. Those who have studied calculus can compare them with Newton's Method for approximating roots. |
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Sums of Powers of Positive IntegersA history of attempts to develop formulas expressing the sums of powers of the first n positive integers from the Pythagoreans to Jakob Bernoulli. |
Investigating Euler's Polyhedral Formula Using Original SourcesThe author shows how teachers can use Leonhard Euler's original works in the classroom to explore the polyhedral formula and related results. |
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