Questions tagged [heaviside]

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When were the foundations of vector calculus laid?

Upon some browsing I find from many online sources that vector calculus was created in the time of late 19th century by Gibbs and Heaviside, but Gauss, Green, Stokes, etc., who lived much before that, ...
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Textbooks used by Oliver Heaviside

Oliver Heaviside achieved a very high level in mathematics and physics by self-study, starting from a modest school-level math, and working alone in his room, without a tutor. Is it known what ...
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Origin of the Heaviside function?

I have tried to find the actual origin of the Heaviside unit step function and could not. I've searched and searched, read one complete biography of Oliver Heaviside, skimmed another, but nowhere can ...
147pm's user avatar
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A peculiar quote from Oliver Heaviside

The best result of mathematics is to be able to do without it. The above is a quote by Oliver Heaviside, an electrical engineer and mathematician. What does the quote really mean?
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What is Heaviside's version of Maxwell's equations?

I have read, in many places, statements like this: Heaviside was able to greatly simplify Maxwell's 20 equations in 20 variables, replacing them by four equations in two variables. Today we ...
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Why is the Heaviside step function named after Heaviside?

The Heaviside step function is usually defined as $$ \theta(x)=\left\{\begin{array}{ll}0&\text{if }x<0\\\tfrac12&\text{if }x=0\\1&\text{if }x>0.\\\end{array}\right. $$ It is ...
Emilio Pisanty's user avatar