Questions tagged [mathematicians]
For questions about those who do mathematics.
240
questions
4
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2answers
205 views
substantiating claimed Fourier quote about “an arbitrarily capricious graph”
There is a quote fairly widely attributed to Fourier, but I can't substantiate it. That is, I can't verify that he actually said or wrote it (in any language). Can anyone help me out? Here is the ...
3
votes
1answer
67 views
Where to get more biographical information about Fritz Peter?
Fritz Peter (1899–1949) is known mainly as one of the authors of the Peter-Weyl theorem. This theorem appears in a paper (Die Vollständigkeit der primitiven Darstellungen einer geschlossenen ...
2
votes
1answer
154 views
Where did Mac Lane say he saw Hitler and wished that he had a gun so he could have shot him?
In Saunders Mac Lane's autobiography he described how he visited, I think Königsberg, then the centre of mathematics in Germany. He also reported he that he saw Hitler somewhere and that he wished ...
6
votes
1answer
136 views
Did Cauchy ever deal with double or triple integrals?
Did Cauchy ever deal with double or triple integrals? Did he give rigorous proofs of multivariable integral calculus like what came to be called Stokes's theorem, the divergence theorem, etc.?
-1
votes
1answer
42 views
Who first distinguished number theory and numerology? [duplicate]
Who first distinguished number theory and numerology?
2
votes
1answer
126 views
First time the unique factorization theorem was called FTA
First of all, a comment, before this gets marked as a duplicate:
I have searched this website for the question I’m asking and I’m aware that this exact question has been asked before. However, Eric ...
0
votes
0answers
72 views
Why isn't François Proth's name used for Gilbreath's conjecture as he discovered & published a proof 80 years earlier?
According to Wikipedia's Gilbreath's conjecture page,
The statement is named after mathematician Norman L. Gilbreath who, in 1958, presented it to the mathematical community after observing the ...
3
votes
1answer
148 views
How did Hagoromo Fulltouch chalk gain so much popularity among mathematicians in the West?
I recently read Hagoromo, the 'Rolls Royce of chalk,' continues writing its legacy in South Korea article recently, and was fascinated by the huge amount of attention this specific chalk is getting. ...
3
votes
0answers
53 views
Asymptotically Periodic Potentials
Who came up with the idea of solving elliptic equations with periodic potentials and from there solving elliptic equations with asymptotically periodic potentials? I heard it was Pierre Louis Lions, ...
2
votes
0answers
74 views
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 ...
4
votes
0answers
70 views
Is there a biography of Robert Risch?
The Risch algorithm for computing symbolic integrals was developed by Robert Risch in the 1968-70 time frame.
Based on the German Wikipedia article, I know that Risch was awarded a Ph.D. by U.C. ...
0
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0answers
87 views
Is there any general difference between British, French and German mathematicians?
I am recently learning about teaching the history of mathematics. Gradually, impressions about mathematicians in different countries develops in my mind. I just want to ask, whether it is helpful to ...
4
votes
1answer
146 views
What was the problem that led to Calculus discovery
As far as I remember,
Calculus was invented/discover/founded by Newton.
But what he was trying to achieve that made him find the limit of of difference approaching zero.
how far did he get into ...
2
votes
3answers
219 views
Great scientists with chaotic private lives
In the arena of art, it is not uncommon to find great writers, composers or painters who suffer from chaotic personal lives (e.g., lifelong alcoholism, addiction to prostitutes, stormy marriages and ...
2
votes
0answers
120 views
What was Havil's source for the statement that G.H. Hardy would offer his Savillian chair to whoever could prove irrational?
In Havil's 2003 book Gamma he states that Hardy offered up his chair in Oxford to whoever could prove that the Euler-Mascheroni constant $\gamma$ is irrational.
I'm almost positive I had heard a ...
3
votes
4answers
172 views
Are there any sources of mathematicians talking about their research methods?
I recall reading this article that was written to explain how Descartes read philosophy effectively. I am wondering if such analogous tips have been made by past mathematicians?
3
votes
1answer
80 views
Who coined the term random variable?
Who is the first person defined the concept of a random variable?
17
votes
3answers
3k views
What does it mean by “d-ism of Leibniz” and “dotage of Newton” in simple English?
I am reading this article by Donald E. Knuth and get stuck by this sentence:
Our mathematical language continues to improve, just as “the d-ism of
Leibniz overtook the dotage of Newton” in past ...
2
votes
0answers
82 views
Who first “depressed” the cubic equation?
In his Ars Magna Cardano specifies procedures to "depress" a cubic - a means to convert an equation such as $x^3+6x^2=100$ to $y^3=84+12y$, eliminating the $x^2$ term.
Was he the one who discovered ...
2
votes
1answer
112 views
The convention for speakers to refer to themselves at the board with a single initial
I found an interesting question on Math SE asked by @KCd, but it is over four years old without a clear answer. Since it seems to be more on topic here than on Math SE, I thought to post it here in ...
3
votes
1answer
141 views
How did philosophers and scientists in the 18th century view mathematical explanation?
The 18th century saw a rise in the use of mathematical formalisms to account for natural phenomena. Works of Lagrange, Euler, d'Alembert, etc., were groundbreaking in the history of mechanics and ...
6
votes
1answer
84 views
The minimax theorem from 1928 to 1956
Minimax theorems are beautiful saddle-point results regarding conditions on a function $f$ under which $\max_x \min_y f(x,y) = \min_y \max_x f(x,y)$. In the common "normal form" game case, $x$ and $y$ ...
6
votes
1answer
200 views
What's that on Euler's head? Does the head covering shown in Emanuel Handmann 1753 painting signify scholarship?
This may be borderline off-topic but this is the only place that I can think of ask this particular question.
I've always seen images of Leonhard Euler with a "hat" or head covering that is ...
11
votes
2answers
215 views
History of various definitions of topology
I have been reading Point Set Topology for a while, and turns out that there are various possible ways to define a topology. Most popular one is using open set axioms. Another one is using closure ...
3
votes
1answer
161 views
How long would it have taken Cole to multiply the factors of $M_{67}$ on a blackboard?
The famous anecdote of the 1903 announcement of the factorization of $2^{67}-1$ by Frank Nelson Cole has recently been discussed, for example in light of the announcement of another "twitter-sized" ...
7
votes
1answer
204 views
Did Cambridge change their BSc policy for Ramanujan?
I found this quote at Quora:
In March 1916 Ramanujan graduated from Cambridge with a Bachelor of Science by Research (This degree was later renamed as Ph.D. from 1920) for his work on Highly ...
3
votes
0answers
151 views
Can we fairly assess Ada Lovelace's talent for mathematics?
Dorothy Stein, a biographer of Ada Lovelace, was pretty blunt in her assessment: Lovelace was a mediocre mathematician, for example see here.
I wonder if she's fair to her. The fact that Lovelace ...
1
vote
1answer
69 views
Was multivariable calculus particularly prominent in Italy?
From my classes I don't hear about a lot of italian mathematicians, but two of them, Fubini and Tonelli, are both related to multivariable calculus. Is there a reason for this? Just a coincidence? Or ...
0
votes
0answers
87 views
Is it the 'd' or 'D' operator?
Philip J. Davis' article on the history of the gamma function (PDF) mentions how Leibniz proposed the iterated differential operator (p. 851 in the upper right corner, or p. 3 of the PDF, about half-...
8
votes
1answer
115 views
Who first proved that only primes of the form $4k+1$ divide odd integers of the form $n^2+1$?
I am writing a paper and I would like to cite the person(s) who proved that only primes of the form $4k+1$ can evenly divide odd integers of the form $n^2+1$?
For example, if $n=8$, $n^2 + 1 = 65$ ...
3
votes
1answer
322 views
Why didn't John von Neumann win the Turing Award, Fields Medal or Nobel Prize?
From what I've read in Wikipedia, John von Neumann made a stupendous number of contributions to economics, computer science and mathematics. Why, then, didn't he receive a top award in any of these ...
4
votes
0answers
96 views
Courant (1943) and History of Finite Element Method
I am interested in the history of Finite Element Methods and Methods of Weighted Residuals (MWR), especially reduced quadrature and collocation methods. I have a paper coming out called “Orthogonal ...
7
votes
1answer
213 views
Did the author of Alice in Wonderland make any substantial original discoveries in mathematics?
Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, better known by his pen name of Lewis Carroll, was a mathematics lecturer at Oxford University and today is primarily famous for his fanciful stories laced with mathematical ...
70
votes
13answers
23k views
Examples of when the professional scientists or mathematicians were wrong, but the nonprofessionals were right?
What are the most glaring examples -- if any -- of when the professional scientists or mathematicians were wrong, but the nonprofessionals were right?
1
vote
0answers
81 views
Who came up with a formula expressing the sign function in terms of the absolute value?
I read here and here that Karl Weierstrass used "| |" to indicate absolute value in 1841. The same sources indicate that Leopold Kronecker wrote of the sign function in 1878. Here it is indicated that ...
0
votes
1answer
97 views
Who was the first person who emphasis the importance of proof?
I think it should be an ancient Greek mathematician who was interested in proving all triangle has inner angles summing to 180 degree? Was it Thales?
0
votes
2answers
242 views
Why do mathematicians call ~ 'twiddle'?
Every one of my lecturers have always called it this, as do I, despite the fact that I know its properly called 'tilde'. Does anyone have any clue where this convention comes from and why it might ...
0
votes
0answers
40 views
Modern Views on Pythagoras [duplicate]
I've done a lot of research on Pythagoras and the Pythagoreans and am currently in a state of uncertainty. I do believe Pythagoras existed, but I am unsure if he can be given credit to hardly anything ...
0
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0answers
58 views
Irrational numbers math in old Roman age [duplicate]
I know that Hippasus proved that $√2$ is irrational number.
My question is how were they doing the mathmatical operations like multiplication for rational numbers like 1.41421356237
I can do ...
5
votes
2answers
97 views
Does anybody know the history of how Peter Gustav Lejeune Dirichlet came up with the “nowhere continuous” Dirichlet function?
So I am writing a research paper on the properties of the Dirichlet function (the function with 1 if x is rational and 0 if x is irrational), and I wanted to include some historical background on how ...
0
votes
1answer
112 views
Cantor's fortune
Wiki says that his transfinite numbers met opposition:
Henri Poincaré referred to his ideas as a "grave disease" infecting
the discipline of mathematics,[8] and Leopold Kronecker's public
...
3
votes
0answers
68 views
A portrait of Bombelli
Is there any known portrait of Rafael Bombelli? I don't think so, but if you visit his MacTutor biography, you will see there this picture:
It is clear to me that this cannot possibly be a picture of ...
3
votes
1answer
76 views
Gregory's integration of $\sec\theta$
The integral of the secant function was first correctly conjectured by Henry Bond in the 1640s, and Isaac Newton was aware of his conjecture in 1665, although no proof was published until 1668. Of ...
5
votes
1answer
146 views
Did Nikolai Luzin plagiarize?
Luzin was accused of plagiarism and other misconduct by Kolmogorov and other students during the Luzin Affair of 1936. Were these allegations actually true?
-2
votes
2answers
205 views
How did the integer degrees angles counting being first adopted in geometry and mathematics? [duplicate]
The purpose of this question is trying to know originally how did counting in integer degrees angles from (one degree to $360$ degrees) being adopted basically in geometry, despite the impossibility ...
1
vote
0answers
67 views
Example of: Two researchers working on the same question but get opposite conclusions [closed]
I wish to know about whether such example exists, could someone please help and tell me some stories about this?
p.s: Also I wonder why such thing can happen. I wish the two main characters in the ...
3
votes
0answers
119 views
How many active mathematicians were there in Euler's time?
It seems that when you play around with the Math Genealogy Project, starting at some contemporary mathematician and going backwards through their advisor, advisor's advisor, etc., you tend to arrive ...
0
votes
1answer
76 views
Existence of Pythagoras Resources
I am aware that approximately two years ago a question was posted on the existence of Pythagoras. After two years, I want to gain more incite on the thought of those on this site.
I was drawn to the ...
4
votes
0answers
154 views
How old might Emmy Noether be in this picture?
I have not found bibliographic data to show what age Noether was in this picture:
And I cannot estimate well either by her clothes or her face.
Can anyone here help me?
In the past I have known ...
3
votes
4answers
550 views
Failures in math
I would like to have help in producing examples of mathematicians that, in some sense I'll explain below,turned their career into failure. I am mainly interested in examples from XIX and XXth century.
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