Questions tagged [reference-request]
For questions that are requesting specific literature references
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Where to look for information on technological advances in lithium-ion batteries?
For my philosophy of science class, I'm looking for references that will provide a historical / science philosophical insight on the development and advances of lithium-ion batteries. For now, I ...
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How was curvature originally defined and calculated?
I am interested in the early history of curvature. Who defined it first and when, who came up with the name, how was it calculated before mathematicians used calculus to define $k=|α''(s)|$? Are there ...
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How did Saint Vincent prove the logarithmic property of areas under hyperbolas?
How did Saint Vincent prove that if $\frac{a}{b} = \frac{c}{d}$, then the area of a hyperbola $y = \frac{1}{x}$ from $a$ to $b$ equals the area from $c$ to $d$? What references (pdfs, links, books) ...
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History of the d'Ocagne's identity for Fibonacci numbers
The d'Ocagne's identity is normally stated as $(-1)^n F_{m-n} = F_m F_{n+1}-F_n F_{m+1}$.
Every book about the Fibonacci numbers has this formula in it, but I can't find any context about it. When ...
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Origin of the term "operator spectrum" and its relation to spectrum in physics
I believe i have been looking in the Internet once for the origin of the term "spectrum" in functional analysis and saw that the term was proposed by someone (by Hilbert?) with no relation to physics, ...
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Origin of Cauchy convergence test
Obviously Cauchy's convergence test is named after Augustin-Louis Cauchy. Is he the person who first proved this criterion or is it another misnamed theorem? If so: In which treatise?
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Where is the root test first proved
Concerning the Wikipedia article "root test", this convergence criterion for series was first proved by Augustin-Louis Cauchy. What is the name of the treatise where he proved the root test? Which ...
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Where can I learn more about lesser known mathematicians?
I'm reaching the point in my mathematical career that the names aren't so well known. Everybody knows that Euler was great and Gauss was even better, and it's not hard to learn that if Riemann died ...
user2942
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Classical source for theorem on three parallel lines cut by two transversals
I am trying to find a classical source for the following theorem about parallel lines and transversals:
If three parallel lines are cut by two transversals, then the segments
between the ...
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Primary reference for a formula related to the Faa di Bruno formula
In discussing Lie derivatives in his book Advanced Combinatorics (Reidel, 1974, pg. 220), Comtet refers to a formula of Pourchet related to the celebrated Faa di Bruno formula. Other references to ...
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The history and motivation of eigenvectors
I want to understand more about the history of eigenvectors. Was the discovery of eigenvectors inspired from an application to achieve a result in a historical context, was there a phenomenon which ...
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Did Gauss say "there have been but three epoch-making mathematicians, Archimedes, Newton and Eisenstein"?
In Wikipedia I found this claim by E.T. Bell in his Men of Mathematics. However in the next paragraph it says that "it is doubtful that Gauss put Eisenstein in the same league as Newton", which makes ...
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Looking for a Book Which Discusses the Rigor in Newton's Principia Mathematica
About an year ago, I had seen an article somewhere on the internet which discussed Newton's Principia Mathematica and the rigor (or lack thereof) of the arguments presented.
I have forgotten who the ...
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Are Brillouin's papers translated into English?
I mean the Brillouin in the WKB method. I want to read his original paper. But it is in French. Is it translated into English? It should be.
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How did Young perform his double slit experiment?
Thomas Young is famous for his double slit experiment, but I can't seem to find his experimental setup (such as how is prepared the light before it went through the apparatus. Does anyone know his ...
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Reflections in the 18th century
It is well known that the theory of reflections was considerably developed during the 19th century with the development of group theory (e.g. Klein) and the theory of transformations. However, I'm ...
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First usage of binomial distribution
As stated in the article binomial distribution by britannica.com the binomial distribution was used by Jakob Bernoulli when he said that "the probability of $k$ ... outcomes in $n$ repetitions is ...
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English translation of Omar Khayyám's mathematical work
Is there any current English translation of the mathematical works of Omar Khayyám?
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Books on Group Theory between 1885-1900
While reading the book of Burnside, the history gave interest to me to see further the old books on group theory.
It will be a great pleasure if one can suggest some books on group theory published ...
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Is there a biography of Ramanujan for mathematicians?
Like many mathematicians, I have long been fascinated by Ramanujan's work and also by what little I know of his life. I would like to learn more, but have found the standard book on this subject (...
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Why do we call a linear mapping "linear mapping"?
According to P. M. Cohn's Classic Algebra, for historical reasons we call a linear mapping "linear mapping". What are the historical reasons that led to the adoption of the term "linear ...
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Source for Hilbert's famous quote "Mathematics in Göttingen? There really is none anymore"
Reportedly this was uttered at a banquet in which Hilbert was seated next to the new Minister of Education, Bernhard Rust, in response to Rust inquiring as to the state of mathematics in Göttingen now ...
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Reference Request: Books on the (general) History of Physics
Ideally, I would prefer not a book on a specific topic (like QM) but a general survey, analogous to A History of Mathematics by Carl Boyer. If such a work does not exist, can someone suggest works (...
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Reading material suggestion for history of Newton's laws of motion
I intend to review the different concepts related to laws of motion floating around the publication of Principia and hopefully would like to comment on these (It's an essay project).
I've gathered ...
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Biography of L. Euler
Could you recommend a historically rigorous biography of L. Euler (if possible with discussions and examples of the mathematics he was doing)?
Edit: I'd rather prefer a book (not necessarily about ...
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Scientific discoveries that were made "late"
I'd like to ask a similar question from Math.SE for the natural sciences (physics, chemistry, biology and allied disciplines).
What are examples of scientific results that were discovered ...
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What resources are available for lives of recent mathematicians besides E.T. Bell's Men of Mathematics?
I am about halfway through reading E.T. Bell's Men of Mathematics, and I absolutely love it. I'm a mathematician, and I enjoy learning about the lives behind the names that I know and use so often. (I ...
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History of Coagulation of Milk by Short Waves
In 1968 NASA, through the assistance of the Israel Program for Scientific Translation, translated from Russian the 1964 book "The Earth in the Universe", with chapters written by top Soviet scientists....
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Non-standard model of arithmetic and Gödel's theorem
I've read Skolem's paper on his non-standard models of the arithmetic ("Über die Nicht-charakterisierbarkeit der Zahlenreihe mittels endlich oder abzählbar unendlich vieler Aussagen mit ...
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Mathematical interpretation of Aristotelian mechanics
I am looking for books which include a mathematical interpretation of Aristotle's hypotheses about mechanics. I heard that there are a few books which interpret his mechanical ideas mathematically, ...
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What edition of CRC mathematical Tables was the last to contain logarithmic tables?
I recently tried to ask about when the last book was published that contained logarithmic tables. From what I understand, the question was unclear because it is unclear what published means.
So, let ...
John Doe
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A book on Emmy Noether's life
I am looking for a good book on Noether's life. Not only a biography, but a book that also explains her life's work to a general, somewhat mathematically mature audience. If such a book is not ...
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Is there a translation of Gauss' work on Gaussian integers?
Gauss introduced the Gaussian integers in an 1832 Latin work named Theoria residuorum biquadraticorum. I believe there is a German translation available. Is there an English, or possibly French ...
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Who was the first pointing out the $U(1)$-gauge theories common structure?
It is well-known that in each $U(1)$-gauge theory one can define, in analogy with electromagnetism, a 1-form connection and an associated 2-form of curvature on an appropriate (principal) bundle, ...
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First use of Bernoulli's inequality and its name
The Wikipedia article “Bernoulli's inequality” says, that this inequality is called after the mathematician Jacob Bernoulli. Was he the first one using the inequality? Why is this inequality named ...
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Any book on the timeline of progress of mathematical concepts and applications?
I was wondering if there is any book that chronicles the progress of Math over the centuries and also mentions about how/when applications of various theories were discovered/invented.
I have been ...
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Are Leibnizian infinitesimals thought to be logical fictions by Leibniz scholars?
Japanese scholar Hide Ishiguro published a book in 1990 entitled "Leibniz's philosophy of logic and language" (second edition). Of particular interest, as far as the history of mathematics ...
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Reference needed about history of classical mechanics
Who discovered/ defined momentum and impulse?
Please, I want suggestions about materials/ books on the development of Classical mechanics? Something like a history of experiments.
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Are there any canonical books on history of science?
I was looking for some fundamental books on history of science. I picked Thomas Kuhn book "The Structure of Scientific Revolutions" but it's not exactly about history of science - it's more on ...
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Request for good resources on 'history of infinity' topics
I'm writing/starting with my bachelor thesis, the subject is about "infinity": what it is, why do we accept it, etc., but most of all my goal is to give an overview of the history of the ...
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Was the phlogiston theory ahead of its time?
I've always "known" that the phlogiston theory was naive and unsupported by the facts, which is why it was toppled pretty much instantaneously by Lavoisier's discovery of the role of oxygen. However, ...
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Does anyone know about Ramanujan's method of solving the quartic?
I have read (probably) in Kanigel's book The Man Who Knew Infinity that S. Ramanujan devised his own method of solving the Quartic Equation after he learnt to solve the Cubic Equation. Does anyone ...
user459
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Why does the "Principle Of Permanence" have two different definitions?
This question is a sub-question of previous question on MSE. I feel that on this website I have better chances of knowing more things.
For quite some time now, I have been searching about the "...
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History of a result from Bézout
BÉZOUT'S THEOREM:
Let $F$ and $G$ be projective plane curves of degree $m$ and $n$ respectively. Assume $F$ and $G$ have no common component. Then
$\displaystyle\sum_{P}I(P,F\cap G)=mn$
$I(P,F\cap G)...
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Books on the history of linear algebra
I'm quite desperate to understand the historical motivation and origin of all of the "geometrical" concepts of linear algebra, namely:
The concept of thinking of elements of $\mathbb R^n$ or some ...
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Timeline of measurements of the electron's charge
Where can I find a paper or reference that describes the timeline of measurements of the magnitude of the electron's electric charge.
For context, Millikan's oil drop experiment in 1908 determined the ...
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Early history of the phase concept in the physical sciences
One of the first distinctions encountered in science education is that substances can assume different states of matter: for example, water can be found as a liquid, as a solid (ice), or as a gas (...
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Why did Rene Descartes go to Sweden?
The year before he died, mathematician Rene Descartes accepted an invitation to tutor the brilliant 19-year old Queen Christina of Sweden (some thirty years younger). He apparently died from the ...
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