This book brings together 10 experiments which introduce historical perspectives into mathematics classrooms for 11 to 18-year-olds. The authors suggest that students should not only read ancient texts, but also should construct, draw and manipulate. The different chapters refer to ancient Greek, Indian, Chinese and Arabic mathematics as well as to contemporary mathematics. Students are introduced to well-known mathematicians-such as Gottfried Leibniz and Leonard Euler-as well as to less famous practitioners and engineers. Always, there is the attempt to associate the experiments with their scientific and cultural contexts. One of the main values of history is to show that the notions and concepts we teach were invented to solve problems. The different chapters of this collection all have, as their starting points, historic problems-mathematical or not. These are problems of exchanging and sharing, of dividing figures and volumes as well as engineers' problems, calculations, equations and congruence. The mathematical reasoning which accompanies these actions is illustrated by the use of drawings, folding, graphical constructions and the production of machines.

This book traces the life of Cholesky (1875-1918), and gives his family history. After an introduction to topography, an English translation of an unpublished paper by him where he explained his method for linear systems is given, studied and replaced in its historical context. His other works, including two books, are also described as well as his involvement in teaching at a superior school by correspondence. The story of this school and its founder, Leon Eyrolles, are addressed. Then, an important unpublished book of Cholesky on graphical calculation is analyzed in detail and compared to similar contemporary publications. The biography of Ernest Benoit, who wrote the first paper where Choleskys method is explained, is provided. Various documents, highlighting the life and the personality of Cholesky, end the book.

This book traces the life of Cholesky (1875-1918), and gives his family history. After an introduction to topography, an English translation of an unpublished paper by him where he explained his method for linear systems is given, studied and replaced in its historical context. His other works, including two books, are also described as well as his involvement in teaching at a superior school by correspondence. The story of this school and its founder, Leon Eyrolles, are addressed. Then, an important unpublished book of Cholesky on graphical calculation is analyzed in detail and compared to similar contemporary publications. The biography of Ernest Benoit, who wrote the first paper where Choleskys method is explained, is provided. Various documents, highlighting the life and the personality of Cholesky, end the book."