All Questions
4,423
questions
4
votes
1
answer
151
views
Did anyone apply for a patent based on sphere packing?
Some while ago we had a question about mathematicians patenting their work Examples of mathematicians who applied to patent their work I was about to answer when I realised I needed to find a ...
- 547
2
votes
1
answer
185
views
Did Fibonacci not grasp the idea of zero?
Indian mathematicians (e.g., Brahmagupta in the 6th century) developed the idea of 0 as more than a placeholder.
In 1202, Fibonacci wrote "These are the nine figures of the Indians: 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 ...
- 21
0
votes
0
answers
163
views
Why Serre need to develop the concept of "sheaf theory" in algebraic geometry? [duplicate]
I read Edward Frenkel's Love and Math. But reanding this book made me wonder about origin of the concept of the sheaf used in algebraic geometry. I think the conclusion that I came to in the process ...
- 135
4
votes
2
answers
251
views
How did Scott and Amundsen detect the South Pole?
How did Scott and Amundsen detect the direction to the South Pole during their expedition? How did they determine the exact South Pole on reaching there?
Comparison of the Amundsen and Scott ...
- 165
0
votes
0
answers
61
views
Group theory in non-European/subaltern cultures?
I'm doing undergraduate research on the history of abstract algebra (specifically permutation groups) and the notion of symmetric groups in indigenous artwork has come up several times. Is anyone ...
- 1
4
votes
0
answers
174
views
Who proposed terminating decimals as a major set and why are them important in France?
After looking at some school sources in French, it is common to provide the various number sets in the following order
$$\mathbb{N}\subset \mathbb{Z}\subset\mathbb{D}\subset\mathbb{Q}\subset\mathbb{R}\...
- 2,688
0
votes
0
answers
54
views
Did J. W. Gibbs “invent” Hilbert spaces before Hilbert formulated the notion of such spaces?
I was surprised to see a reply to a comment on his answer to a Quora question by a research mathematician claiming that Hilbert spaces were actually due to J. W. Gibbs rather than to D. Hilbert. The ...
0
votes
0
answers
65
views
Fatio de Dullier's Theory of Gravity -- Why ridiculed in 17th/18th century?
I read in Newton and the Counterfeiter about the young mathematician who was friends with Sir Isaac and competent enough to have detected an error in Principia.
He offered a theory of gravity, I ...
- 1,111
1
vote
0
answers
107
views
Historical Accounts of Confusion in Alphabetic Number Systems?
I’m delving into the intriguing world of alphabetic number systems (greek, for instance), where letters serve a dual purpose—forming words and representing numerical values.
I’m curious about the ...
0
votes
0
answers
47
views
Tesla tried to replicate Hertz's experiment?
Jan Rak, in his NAMI-tech SEM 2023 lecture (@12:53), claims:
However, at the time Nicola Tesla […] was trying to replicate the Hertz experiment, and he was unsuccessful. He discovered some other ...
- 5,229
1
vote
1
answer
97
views
$l^p$ space definition
Usually, when studying the applications and results of a theory, it becomes clear why it was interesting to define it in a certain way. However, I'm currently beginning my studies in functional ...
- 111
2
votes
1
answer
104
views
Why aren't Nobel nomination archives updated more often?
I am not sure if this question is on topic here but I will give it a try. According to the Nobel Nomination archive official website, nomination data cannot be "revealed until 50 years later"...
- 2,688
2
votes
0
answers
82
views
Onsager on phase transitions
Surely You're Joking Mr. Feynman has Feynman ascribing to Onsager the following quote (during the International Conference of Theoretical Physics in Kyoto, in 1953):
"We should tell Feynman ...
- 121
3
votes
1
answer
97
views
Finite fields as quotients
Although finite fields are usually introduced as field extensions of fields of prime order, they also arise as quotients of number rings; e.g., $GF(9)$ comes from taking the Gaussian integers mod 3 ...
- 401
6
votes
1
answer
109
views
First occurrence of hyperboloid paraboloid
The ancient greeks considered surfaces such as cones, but did they study the hyperbolic paraboloid? What is the first occurrence of such surface in history?
- 233
3
votes
1
answer
2k
views
What were the "weird" things people were doing in calculus at the time of Marx?
I was reading the preface of Marx's Mathematical Manuscripts. They explain the situation of calculus in the time of Marx, it seems that at the time analysis as we know today was still being forged by ...
- 201
1
vote
0
answers
77
views
Who came up with the Darwinian demon?
I know of Maxwell's, Descartes' and Laplace's demons but I recently found out that there is Darwinian one. I do not think that this demon appears in the works of Charles Darwin. Do you know who may ...
- 2,688
2
votes
0
answers
135
views
Error-correcting codes based on Galois fields
I seem to recall reading that some French mathematician (perhaps a member of Bourbaki?) came up with the idea of basing error-correcting codes on Galois fields quite early in the development of ...
- 401
5
votes
0
answers
84
views
History of Algebraic Geometry: Morphisms and Birational Geometry
Good people, I'm trying to get my head around the history of algebraic geometry, and while Dieudonné's tome is a very good source (very often the only source), it can from time to time be very ...
- 353
2
votes
1
answer
291
views
Why was the Greek letter psi (Ψ) chosen to represent the wave function?
When I was reading, the question just popped into my head after noticing that the Greek letter ψ looks kind of like a wave itself. Stylized, they look even more wavy:
$$\Huge \Psi\;\Huge\psi$$
This ...
- 189
1
vote
0
answers
93
views
Attributed quote to Nikola Tesla
In many serious engineering and scientific publications including IEEE publications, we see a quote attributed to Nikola Tesla which goes like this
If you want to find the secrets of the universe, ...
- 3,959
5
votes
2
answers
2k
views
Source of a Poincaré quote: "Logic sometimes makes monsters..."
There's a quote by Poincare on the "new functions", such as continuous functions without derivatives, that were appearing during the second half of the 19th century. The fullest version I've ...
- 153
2
votes
0
answers
115
views
Peano's question about how to define a definition
In Wikipedia’s Peano entry I find the following quote:
[In] the First International Conference of Philosophy [Peano]
presented a paper which posed the question of correctly formed
definitions in ...
- 257
2
votes
0
answers
164
views
The origin of $∂^2=0$ and $d^2=0$
I know that formula $∂^2=0$ and $d^2=0$ very important in the homology and cohomology theory. And I understand that this formula was generated from the process of finding a solution to the partial ...
- 135
13
votes
2
answers
4k
views
Who coined the term "signal-to-noise ratio" and when did statisticians start using the term "noise" to describe randomness?
I'm writing about the history of the concept of noise and am having trouble tracking down references from when the term "noise" started being associated with statistical noise such as ...
- 637
2
votes
2
answers
145
views
Etymology of "discrete" in mathematics
People sometimes make a distinction between continuous mathematics and discrete mathematics.
Continuous mathematics study objects that abstract the notion of a continuum and typical examples are the ...
- 249
1
vote
2
answers
202
views
Why energy rate did not replace power = Force times velocity?
After reading the history of horse power (and power), the physical definitions for them and after testing the theory in rally races, I'm curious what were the reasons for selecting this word (power) ...
- 113
1
vote
1
answer
152
views
What is Metric tensor's origin?
I was usually interested in metric tensor, So I have hard searched it, But most of what I was looking for was about the 'theory of relativity'. Even so, I can find information about mathematical ...
- 135
0
votes
0
answers
185
views
John von Neumann's thinking process
I'm interested in John von Neumann these days. So I searched this file. And I read books The Man from the Future and John Von Neumann: The Scientific Genius Who Pioneered the Modern Computer, Game ...
- 135
2
votes
1
answer
89
views
How sensitive was the frog galvanoscope?
Frog galvanoscope is an instrument for detecting small voltages, made of a frog's leg.
Wikipedia notes:
The instrument is capable of detecting extremely small voltages, and could far surpass other ...
- 243
1
vote
1
answer
224
views
Who introduced the terminology “nondecreasing” for weakly increasing (i.e. x≤y ⇒ f(x)≤f(y)), and when/why?
Arguably one of the most hated parts of English mathematical terminology is the word “nondecreasing”, referring to a function such that $x\leq y \;\Rightarrow\; f(x)\leq f(y)$ (what other conventions ...
- 357
1
vote
1
answer
145
views
Can I find the number e in the tables of Napier?
As Napier calculated the logarithms of numbers in the base $\left(1-\frac{1}{10^7}\right)^{10^7}$, I expected to find the number $e$ in the tables of his Mirifici Logarithmorum Canonis Descriptio. ...
- 111
1
vote
1
answer
154
views
What does the 'W.H.' stand for in 'J.H.W.H. Conway' in Knuth's book Surreal Numbers?
In his book Surreal Numbers Donald Knuth refers to John Horton Conway as J.H.W.H. Conway. The J is for John and the H for Horton, but what about the W and the H? I have searched for Conway's middle ...
- 135
1
vote
1
answer
95
views
When did mathematicians realize that theory of algebraically closed fields admits quantifier elimination?
A nice property of algebraically closed fields is that the theory that describes them ($ACF$) admits quantifier elimination: any statement can be shown equivalent (in the theory) to another statement ...
- 249
0
votes
0
answers
54
views
Translation of Cabeo's Philosophia magnetica
Is there a translation of Niccolò Cabeo's work Philosophia magnetica into English (or other modern language)? The original text in Latin is available for example here but I can't find any translation (...
- 1
3
votes
0
answers
135
views
History of right hand rule
I am curious to know when the right-hand-rule for vector product was established and used consistently in mathematics.
I read here
Who gave right hand thumb rule for circular loop of current ...
- 131
1
vote
1
answer
102
views
Did Newton's leap to understanding gravity involve cannonball thought experiments on a smooth Earth?
Could it be Newton had some ideas with respect to the cannonball thought experiments prior to the famous apple story?
The thought experiment goes like you shoot an ordinary cannonball tangential to ...
- 153
0
votes
0
answers
200
views
Motivation of Puiseux's Riemann surface and Galois group theory
If you look at Felix Klein's "Development of mathematics in the 19th century", it says that Puiseux developed the Riemann surface theory to show the connection between the two Galois groups.
...
- 135
3
votes
1
answer
141
views
Do gravitational waves hold the record of longest delay between prediction and confirmation under the same theory?
This question is similar to What was the longest delay between prediction and confirmation of a theory? but I want to frame it in a different way. I am looking for long delays between prediction and ...
- 2,688
0
votes
0
answers
73
views
Who made the first (recorded) axiomatic model of nature?
Neil Degrasse Tyson has claimed that, via his Principia, Isaac Newton was the first person (on record) to make a "modern" theory of physics, in the sense that Newton made an axiomatic ...
- 237
1
vote
1
answer
119
views
List of textbooks on Abstract Algebra in the order of time
I am knowing Abstract Algebra things; I am searching aims of Abstract Algebra and origins of parts of Abstract Algebra. I thought original initial textbooks have explicit links to aims and origins of ...
- 675
3
votes
0
answers
130
views
Is there a comprehensive list of Ancient Greek mathematical writings?
Much of the Ancient Greek's mathematical philosophy texts have survived from antiquity and passed to modern times. Also, texts previously thought to be lost are being occasionally rediscovered (...
- 141
0
votes
1
answer
222
views
Question about Felix Klein's "Development of Mathematics in the 19th Century" [closed]
The original version of these photos is Felix Klein's "Development of Mathematics in the 19th Century"
In second photo
In this book, it says class-field and decompose 2 into $(1+i)$ and $(1-...
- 135
0
votes
0
answers
117
views
Who invented bit permutations like shuffle, butterfly and bit-reversal?
This question is about a class of periodic permutations,that are produced by applying finite permutations to the binary digits of all integers.
In lack of a better name, they shall be called bit ...
- 101
-1
votes
1
answer
139
views
Technical papers or monographs without a single mathematical equation
Recently, I stumbled upon a historically important monograph on a technical subject, which explained complex physical phenomena without a single mathematical equation. I forgot the name of the author, ...
- 1
0
votes
1
answer
108
views
Who first introduced the term "necessary condition" in mathematical language?
I recently delved into a discussion about a statement attributed to the renowned mathematician and philosopher, Benjamin Peirce. In this statement, he refers to mathematics as "the science that ...
9
votes
1
answer
1k
views
Where did the popular idea of spacetime come from?
[This question is about popular conceptions and therefore goes into strange directions, don't get too shocked]
The notion of spacetime can be traced back to roughly the 18th century where some people ...
- 763
2
votes
0
answers
76
views
Was there any discourse between Dirac and Einstein that was recorded in print or noted?
I read in Wiki they were together at the Solvay Conderence. There is also a note from 1926 letter to Paul Ehrenfest, Albert Einstein wrote of a Dirac paper, "I am toiling over Dirac. This ...
- 1,223
1
vote
1
answer
190
views
Who was the scientist who first showed that helium has a bound state, and was he a nazi?
I remember from my quantum course that the first person (I believe in 1927) to show that helium has a bound state, using the variational principle, was a nazi. It was remarked by my professors that he ...
- 119
4
votes
1
answer
122
views
Who first referred to the number of nonzero entries of a vector as its $\ell_0$ norm?
It is common in the compressed sensing literature to refer to the number of nonzero entries of a vector as its $\ell_0$ "norm." The scare quotes are there because strictly speaking, the $\...
- 1,256