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Books > Science & Mathematics > Mathematics > History of mathematics
This book celebrates the 50th anniversary of the Institute of Mathematics, Statistics and Scientific Computing (IMECC) of the University of Campinas, Brazil, by offering reviews of selected research developed at one of the most prestigious mathematics institutes in Latin America. Written by senior professors at the IMECC, it covers topics in pure and applied mathematics and statistics ranging from differential geometry, dynamical systems, Lie groups, and partial differential equations to computational optimization, mathematical physics, stochastic process, time series, and more. A report on the challenges and opportunities of research in applied mathematics - a highly active field of research in the country - and highlights of the Institute since its foundation in 1968 completes this historical volume, which is unveiled in the same year that the International Mathematical Union (IMU) names Brazil as a member of the Group V of countries with the most relevant contributions in mathematics.
Most education research is undertaken in western developed countries. While some research from developing countries does make it into research journals from time to time, but these articles only emphasize the rarity of research in developing countries. The proposed book is unique in that it will cover education in Papua New Guinea over the millennia. Papua New Guinea's multicultural society with relatively recent contact with Europe and the Middle East provides a cameo of the development of education in a country with both a colonial history and a coup-less transition to independence. Discussion will focus on specific areas of mathematics education that have been impacted by policies, research, circumstances and other influences, with particular emphasis on pressures on education in the last one and half centuries. This volume will be one of the few records of this kind in the education research literature as an in-depth record and critique of how school mathematics has been grown in Papua New Guinea from the late 1800s, and should be a useful addition to graduate programs mathematics education courses, history of mathematics, as well as the interdisciplinary fields of cross cultural studies, scholarship focusing on globalization and post / decolonialism, linguistics, educational administration and policy, technology education, teacher education, and gender studies.
This engaging text describes the development of singular perturbations, including its history, accumulating literature, and its current status. While the approach of the text is sophisticated, the literature is accessible to a broad audience. A particularly valuable bonus are the historical remarks. These remarks are found throughout the manuscript. They demonstrate the growth of mathematical thinking on this topic by engineers and mathematicians. The book focuses on detailing how the various methods are to be applied. These are illustrated by a number and variety of examples. Readers are expected to have a working knowledge of elementary ordinary differential equations, including some familiarity with power series techniques, and of some advanced calculus. Dr. O'Malley has written a number of books on singular perturbations. This book has developed from many of his works in the field of perturbation theory.
Sofia Kovalevskaya was a brilliant and determined young Russian woman of the 19th century who wanted to become a mathematician and who succeeded, in often difficult circumstances, in becoming arguably the first woman to have a professional university career in the way we understand it today. This memoir, written by a mathematician who specialises in symplectic geometry and integrable systems, is a personal exploration of the life, the writings and the mathematical achievements of a remarkable woman. It emphasises the originality of Kovalevskaya's work and assesses her legacy and reputation as a mathematician and scientist. Her ideas are explained in a way that is accessible to a general audience, with diagrams, marginal notes and commentary to help explain the mathematical concepts and provide context. This fascinating book, which also examines Kovalevskaya's love of literature, will be of interest to historians looking for a treatment of the mathematics, and those doing feminist or gender studies.
The Legacy of Freudenthal pays homage to Freudenthal and his work on mathematics, its history and education. Almost all authors were his scholars or co-workers. They testify to what they learned from him. Freudenthal himself contributes posthumously. His didactical phenomenology of the concept of force is both provocative and revealing in its originality, compared with what is usually found in physics instruction. Freudenthal is portrayed as a universal human being by Josette Adda. He made considerable contributions to mathematics itself, e.g. on homotopy theory and Lie groups in geometry. The exposition of Freudenthal's mathematical life and work is on Van Est's account. Henk Bos discusses his historical work. The essay review of the 8th edition of Hilbert's Grundlagen der Geometrie serves as a vehicle of thought. The main part of the book, however, concerns Freudenthal's work on mathematics education. Christine Keitel reviews his final book Revisiting Mathematics Education (1991). Fred Goffree describes Freudenthal's Working on Mathematics Education' both from an historical as well as a theoretical perspective. Adrian Treffers analyses Freudenthal's influence on the development of realistic mathematics education at primary level in the Netherlands, especially his influence on the Wiskobas-project of the former IOWO. Freudenthal once predicted the disappearance of mathematics as an individual subject in education sometime around the year 2000, because it would by then have merged with integrated thematic contexts. Jan de Lange anticipates this future development and shows that Freudenthal's prediction will not come true after all. Reflective interludes unveil how he might haveinfluenced those developments. Freudenthal contributed a wealth of ideas and conceptual tools to the development of mathematics education -- on contexts, didactical phenomenology, guided reinvention, mathematisation, the constitution of mental objects, the development of reflective thinking, levels in learning processes, the development of a mathematical attitude and so on -- but he did not design very much concrete material. Leen Streefland deals with the question of design from a theoretical point of view, while applying Freudenthal's ideas on changing perspective and shifting. For teachers, researchers, mathematics educators, mathematicians, educationalists, psychologists and policy makers.
This book presents an overview of the ways in which women have been able to conduct mathematical research since the 18th century, despite their general exclusion from the sciences. Grouped into four thematic sections, the authors concentrate on well-known figures like Sophie Germain and Grace Chisholm Young, as well as those who have remained unnoticed by historians so far. Among them are Stanislawa Nidodym, the first female students at the universities in Prague at the turn of the 20th century, and the first female professors of mathematics in Denmark. Highlighting individual biographies, couples in science, the situation at specific European universities, and sociological factors influencing specific careers from the 18th century to the present, the authors trace female mathematicians' status as it evolved from singular and anomalous to virtually commonplace. The book also offers insights into the various obstacles women faced when trying to enter perhaps the "most male" discipline of all, and how some of them continue to shape young girls' self-perceptions and career choices today. Thus, it will benefit scholars and students in STEM disciplines, gender studies and the history of science; women in science, mathematics and at institutions, and those working in mathematics education.
The Theory of the Top was originally presented by Felix Klein as an 1895 lecture at Gottingen University that was broadened in scope and clarified as a result of collaboration with Arnold Sommerfeld. The Theory of the Top: Volume III. Perturbations: Astronomical and Geophysical Applications is the third installment in a series of four self-contained English translations that provide insights into kinetic theory and kinematics."
The editors of the present series had originally intended to publish an integrated work on the history of mathematics in the nineteenth century, passing systemati cally from one discipline to another in some natural order. Circumstances beyond their control, mainly difficulties in choosing authors, led to the abandonment of this plan by the time the second volume appeared. Instead of a unified mono graph we now present to the reader a series of books intended to encompass all the mathematics of the nineteenth century, but not in the order of the accepted classification of the component disciplines. In contrast to the first two books of The Mathematics of the Nineteenth Century, which were divided into chapters, this third volume consists of four parts, more in keeping with the nature of the publication. 1 We recall that the first book contained essays on the history of mathemati 2 cal logic, algebra, number theory, and probability, while the second covered the history of geometry and analytic function theory. In the present third volume the reader will find: 1. An essay on the development of Chebyshev's theory of approximation of functions, later called "constructive function theory" by S. N. Bernshtein. This highly original essay is due to the late N. I. Akhiezer (1901-1980), the author of fundamental discoveries in this area. Akhiezer's text will no doubt attract attention not only from historians of mathematics, but also from many specialists in constructive function theory."
The general principles by which the editors and authors of the present edition have been guided were explained in the preface to the first volume of Mathemat ics of the 19th Century, which contains chapters on the history of mathematical logic, algebra, number theory, and probability theory (Nauka, Moscow 1978; En glish translation by Birkhiiuser Verlag, Basel-Boston-Berlin 1992). Circumstances beyond the control of the editors necessitated certain changes in the sequence of historical exposition of individual disciplines. The second volume contains two chapters: history of geometry and history of analytic function theory (including elliptic and Abelian functions); the size of the two chapters naturally entailed di viding them into sections. The history of differential and integral calculus, as well as computational mathematics, which we had planned to include in the second volume, will form part of the third volume. We remind our readers that the appendix of each volume contains a list of the most important literature and an index of names. The names of journals are given in abbreviated form and the volume and year of publication are indicated; if the actual year of publication differs from the nominal year, the latter is given in parentheses. The book History of Mathematics from Ancient Times to the Early Nineteenth Century in Russian], which was published in the years 1970-1972, is cited in abbreviated form as HM (with volume and page number indicated). The first volume of the present series is cited as Bk. 1 (with page numbers)."
This book contains several contributions on the most outstanding events in the development of twentieth century mathematics, representing a wide variety of specialities in which Russian and Soviet mathematicians played a considerable role. The articles are written in an informal style, from mathematical philosophy to the description of the development of ideas, personal memories and give a unique account of personal meetings with famous representatives of twentieth century mathematics who exerted great influence in its development. This book will be of great interest to mathematicians, who will enjoy seeing their own specialities described with some historical perspective. Historians will read it with the same motive, and perhaps also to select topics for future investigation.
During Edmund Husserl s lifetime, modern logic and mathematics rapidly developed toward their current outlook and Husserl s writings can be fruitfully compared and contrasted with both 19th century figures (Boole, Schroder, Weierstrass) as well as the 20th century characters (Heyting, Zermelo, Godel). Besides the more historical studies, the internal ones on Husserl alone and the external ones attempting to clarify his role in the more general context of the developing mathematics and logic, Husserl s phenomenology offers also a systematically rich but little researched area of investigation. This volume aims to establish the starting point for the development, evaluation and appraisal of the phenomenology of mathematics. It gathers the contributions of the main scholars of this emerging field into one publication for the first time. Combining both historical and systematic studies from various angles, the volume charts answers to the question "What kind of philosophy of mathematics is phenomenology?""
New Edition - New in Paperback - This is the second revised edition of the first volume of the outstanding collection of historical studies of mathematics in the nineteenth century compiled in three volumes by A. N. Kolmogorov and A. P. Yushkevich. This second edition was carefully revised by Abe Shenitzer, York University, Ontario, Canada. The historical period covered in this book extends from the early nineteenth century up to the end of the 1930s, as neither 1801 nor 1900 are, in themselves, turning points in the history of mathematics, although each date is notable fo a remarkable event: the first for the publication of Gauss' "Disquisitiones arithmeticae," the second for Hilbert's "Mathematical Problems." Beginning in the second quarter of the nineteenth century mathematics underwent a revolution as crucial and profound in its consequences for the general world outlook as the mathematical revolution in the beginning of the modern era. The main changes included a new statement of the problem of the existence of mathematical objects, particulary in the calculus, and soon thereafter the formation of non-standard structures in geometry, arithmetic and algebra. The primary objective of the work has been to treat the evolution of mathematics in the nineteenth century as a whole; the discussion is concentrated on the essential concepts, methods, and algorithms.
The chief purpose of the book is to present, in detail, a compilation of proofs of the Cantor-Bernstein Theorem (CBT) published through the years since the 1870's. Over thirty such proofs are surveyed. The book comprises five parts. In the first part the discussion covers the role of CBT and related notions in the writings of Cantor and Dedekind. New views are presented, especially regarding the general proof of CBT obtained by Cantor, his proof of the Comparability Theorem, the ruptures in the Cantor-Dedekind correspondence and the origin of Dedekind's proof of CBT. The second part covers the first CBT proofs published (1896-1901). The works of the following mathematicians is considered in detail: Schroder, Bernstein, Bore, Schoenflies and Zermelo. Here a subtheme of the book is launched; it concerns the research project following Bernstein's Division Theorem (BDT). In its third part the book covers proofs that emerged during the period when the logicist movement was developed (1902-1912). It covers the works of Russell and Whitehead, Jourdain, Harward, Poincare, J. Konig, D. Konig (his results in graph theory), Peano, Zermelo, Korselt. Also Hausdorff's paradox is discussed linking it to BDT. In the fourth part of the book are discussed the developments of CBT and BDT (including the inequality-BDT) in the hands of the mathematicians of the Polish School of Logic, including Sierpi ski, Banach, Tarski, Lindenbaum, Kuratowski, Sikorski, Knaster, the British Whittaker, and Reichbach. Finally, in the fifth part, the main discussion concentrates on the attempts to port CBT to intuitionist mathematics (with results by Brouwer, Myhill, van Dalen and Troelstra) and to Category Theory (by Trnkova and Koubek).The second purpose of the book is to develop a methodology for the comparison of proofs. The core idea of this methodology is that a proof can be described by two descriptors, called gestalt and metaphor. It is by comparison of their descriptors that the comparison of proofs is obtained. The process by which proof descriptors are extracted from a proof is named 'proof-processing', and it is conjectured that mathematicians perform proof-processing habitually, in the study of proofs.
This book is an important text of the Kerala school of astronomy and mathematics, probably composed in the 16th century. In the Indian astronomical tradition, the karana texts are essentially computational manuals, and they often display a high level of ingenuity in coming up with simplified algorithms for computing planetary longitudes and other related quantities. Karanapaddhati, however, is not a karana text. Rather, it discusses the paddhati or the rationale for arriving at suitable algorithms that are needed while preparing a karana text for a given epoch. Thus the work is addressed not to the almanac maker but to the manual maker. Karanapaddhati presents the theoretical basis for the vakya system, where the true longitudes of the planet are calculated directly by making use of certain auxiliary notions such as the khanda, mandala and dhruva along with tabulated values of changes in the true longitude over certain regular intervals which are expressed in the form of vakyas or mnemonic phrases. The text also discusses the method of vallyupasamhara, which is essentially a technique of continued fraction expansion for obtaining optimal approximations to the rates of motion of planets and their anomalies, involving ratios of smaller numbers. It also presents a new fast convergent series for which is not mentioned in the earlier works of the Kerala school. As this is a unique text presenting the rationale behind the vakya system and the computational procedures used in the karana texts, it would serve as a useful companion for all those interested in the history of astronomy. The authors have provided a translation of the text followed by detailed notes which explain all the computational procedures, along with their rationale, by means of diagrams and equations.
People, problems, and proofs are the lifeblood of theoretical computer science. Behind the computing devices and applications that have transformed our lives are clever algorithms, and for every worthwhile algorithm there is a problem that it solves and a proof that it works. Before this proof there was an open problem: can one create an efficient algorithm to solve the computational problem? And, finally, behind these questions are the people who are excited about these fundamental issues in our computational world. In this book the authors draw on their outstanding research and teaching experience to showcase some key people and ideas in the domain of theoretical computer science, particularly in computational complexity and algorithms, and related mathematical topics. They show evidence of the considerable scholarship that supports this young field, and they balance an impressive breadth of topics with the depth necessary to reveal the power and the relevance of the work described. Beyond this, the authors discuss the sustained effort of their community, revealing much about the culture of their field. A career in theoretical computer science at the top level is a vocation: the work is hard, and in addition to the obvious requirements such as intellect and training, the vignettes in this book demonstrate the importance of human factors such as personality, instinct, creativity, ambition, tenacity, and luck. The authors' style is characterized by personal observations, enthusiasm, and humor, and this book will be a source of inspiration and guidance for graduate students and researchers engaged with or planning careers in theoretical computer science.
The significance of foundational debate in mathematics that took place in the 1920s seems to have been recognized only in circles of mathematicians and philosophers. A period in the history of mathematics when mathematics and philosophy, usually so far away from each other, seemed to meet. The foundational debate is presented with all its brilliant contributions and its shortcomings, its new ideas and its misunderstandings.
An incredible season for algebraic geometry flourished in Italy between 1860, when Luigi Cremona was assigned the chair of Geometria Superiore in Bologna, and 1959, when Francesco Severi published the last volume of the treatise on algebraic systems over a surface and an algebraic variety. This century-long season has had a prominent influence on the evolution of complex algebraic geometry - both at the national and international levels - and still inspires modern research in the area. "Algebraic geometry in Italy between tradition and future" is a collection of contributions aiming at presenting some of these powerful ideas and their connection to contemporary and, if possible, future developments, such as Cremonian transformations, birational classification of high-dimensional varieties starting from Gino Fano, the life and works of Guido Castelnuovo, Francesco Severi's mathematical library, etc. The presentation is enriched by the viewpoint of various researchers of the history of mathematics, who describe the cultural milieu and tell about the bios of some of the most famous mathematicians of those times.
The present essay stems from a history of polyhedra from 1750 to 1866 written several years ago (as part of a more general work, not published). So many contradictory statements regarding a Descartes manuscript and Euler, by various mathematicians and historians of mathematics, were encountered that it was decided to write a separate study of the relevant part of the Descartes manuscript on polyhedra. The contemplated short paper grew in size, as only a detailed treatment could be of any value. After it was completed it became evident that the entire manuscript should be treated and the work grew some more. The result presented here is, I hope, a complete, accurate, and fair treatment of the entire manuscript. While some views and conclusions are expressed, this is only done with the facts before the reader, who may draw his or her own conclusions. I would like to express my appreciation to Professors H. S. M. Coxeter, Branko Griinbaum, Morris Kline, and Dr. Heinz-Jiirgen Hess for reading the manuscript and for their encouragement and suggestions. I am especially indebted to Dr. Hess, of the Leibniz-Archiv, for his assistance in connection with the manuscript. I have been greatly helped in preparing the translation ofthe manuscript by the collaboration of a Latin scholar, Mr. Alfredo DeBarbieri. The aid of librarians is indispensable, and I am indebted to a number of them, in this country and abroad, for locating material and supplying copies.
The Almagest, by the Greek astronomer and mathematician Ptolemy, is
the most important surviving treatise on early mathematical
astronomy, offering historians valuable insight into the astronomy
and mathematics of the ancient world.
Sophus Lie (1842-1899) is without doubt one of Norway's greatest scientific talents. His mathematical works have made him famous around the world no less than Niels Henrik Abel. The terms Lie groups and Lie algebra are today part of the standard mathematical vocabulary. In his comprehensive biography the author Arild Stubhaug let us come close to both the person Sophus Lie and his time. We follow him through childhood at the vicarage in Nodfjordeid, his growing up in Moss, school and studying in Christiania, travelling in Europe and his contacts with the leading mathematicians of his time. The academic and scientific career brought Lie from Christiania to Leipzig as professor, before the attempt to call him back to Norway, when she stood on the threshhold to national sovereignty, was successful.
In this two-volume compilation of articles, leading researchers reevaluate the success of Hilbert's axiomatic method, which not only laid the foundations for our understanding of modern mathematics, but also found applications in physics, computer science and elsewhere. The title takes its name from David Hilbert's seminal talk Axiomatisches Denken, given at a meeting of the Swiss Mathematical Society in Zurich in 1917. This marked the beginning of Hilbert's return to his foundational studies, which ultimately resulted in the establishment of proof theory as a new branch in the emerging field of mathematical logic. Hilbert also used the opportunity to bring Paul Bernays back to Goettingen as his main collaborator in foundational studies in the years to come. The contributions are addressed to mathematical and philosophical logicians, but also to philosophers of science as well as physicists and computer scientists with an interest in foundations.
Karl Menger, one of the founders of dimension theory, belongs to the most original mathematicians and thinkers of the twentieth century. He was a member of the Vienna Circle and the founder of its mathematical equivalent, the Viennese Mathematical Colloquium. Both during his early years in Vienna, and after his emigration to the United States, Karl Menger made significant contributions to a wide variety of mathematical fields, and greatly influenced some of his colleagues. The Selecta Mathematica contain Menger's major mathematical papers, based on his own selection of his extensive writings. They deal with topics as diverse as topology, geometry, analysis and algebra, as well as writings on economics, sociology, logic, philosophy and mathematical results. The two volumes are a monument to the diversity and originality of Menger's ideas.
This volume contains the texts and translations of two Arabic treatises on magic squares, which are undoubtedly the most important testimonies on the early history of that science. It is divided into the three parts: the first and most extensive is on tenth-century construction methods, the second is the translations of the texts, and the third contains the original Arabic texts, which date back to the tenth century.
The fascinating correspondence between Paul Levy and Maurice Frechet spans an extremely active period in French mathematics during the twentieth century. The letters of these two Frenchmen show their vicissitudes of research and passionate enthusiasm for the emerging field of modern probability theory. The letters cover various topics of mathematical importance including academic careers and professional travels, issues concerning students and committees, and the difficulties both mathematicians met to be elected to the Paris Academy of Sciences. The technical questions that occupied Levy and Frechet on almost a daily basis are the primary focus of these letters, which are charged with elation, frustration and humour. Their mathematical victories and setbacks unfolded against the dramatic backdrop of the two World Wars and the occupation of France, during which Levy was obliged to go into hiding. The clear and persistent desire of these mathematicians to continue their work whatever the circumstance testifies to the enlightened spirit of their discipline which was persistent against all odds. The book contains a detailed and comprehensive introduction to the central topics of the correspondence. The original text of the letters is also annotated by numerous footnotes for helpful guidance. Paul Levy and Maurice Frechet will be useful to anybody interested in the history of mathematics in the twentieth century and, in particular, the birth of modern probab ility theory. |
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