Random Quotation

Abel, Niels H. (1802 - 1829)

[About Gauss's mathematical writing style]
He is like the fox, who effaces his tracks in the sand with his tail.

In G. F. Simmons, Calculus Gems, New York: McGraw Hill, Inc., 1992, p. 177.

Loci: Loci: Convergence

On This Day ...

Important events from the history of math that happened on this day:

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1615	Giambattista della Porta, a playwright, scientist, and mathematician who published books on cryptography and geometry, died in Naples, Italy, on this day. More information about: Giambattista della Porta
1895	Thomas Kirkman, of "Kirkman Schoolgirls Problem" fame, died near Manchester, England. The self-educated mathematician so delighted in versifying problems and devising mnemonics for troublesome formulas that he wrote a whole book on this topic! He is best remembered for a problem he posed in 1850 in the Lady's and Gentleman's Diary: Fifteen schoolgirls took daily walks arranged in five rows of three each so that each might have a companion. How can they arrange it so that they can take seven walks without any girl walking with any other girl in a triplet more than once? More information about: Thomas Kirkman
1964	ENIAC patent issued. Yes, we really do mean 1964! The Electronic Numerical Integrator And Computer was developed and built during 1943-46 at the University of Pennsylvania for the U.S. Army, with patent paperwork filed in 1947. More information about: ENIAC
2004	Mark Zuckerberg founded Facebook for his fellow students at Harvard University. More information about: Facebook

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