6
votes
Origin of exact and closed differential expressions
From Bottazzini U., Gray J., Hidden Harmony-Geometric Fantasies. The rise of Complex Functions, Springer, 2013 (from which it seems that the terms 'exact' and 'complete' for differentials were used ...
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5
votes
Reference request: What were the problems of accepting zero, negative numbers, and complex numbers? And how were they solved?
The problem with accepting complex numbers, when your only experience with "numbers" is the real number line, is lacking a visualization of them. No ordinary (i.e., real) number can square ...
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5
votes
Accepted
Reference request: What were the problems of accepting zero, negative numbers, and complex numbers? And how were they solved?
What you write suggests that you still have difficulty with complex numbers. I would suggest that you overcome such difficulties before you proceed to the next step such as delving deeply into real ...
- 4,952
5
votes
Accepted
Did anyone apply for a patent based on sphere packing?
Thanks to a pointer from terry-s to search in https://worldwide.espacenet.com/ I have now found the patent.
Leslie Connock Jesty applied on 21 August 1968 for a patent: Application number 24073/68 at ...
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4
votes
Accepted
Was "potency set" used for power set?
The paper Rieger, L.
"On the consistency of the generalized continuum hypothesis."
Rozprawy Mat. 31 (1963) described in MR0146091, which can be downloaded from http://pldml.icm.edu.pl/pldml/...
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4
votes
Where does the term elasticity (of a function) come from?
The term elasticity in economics is almost surely linked to the concept of elasticity in physics.
While the introduction of the term elasticity in economics is attributed to Marshall, as far as I ...
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4
votes
Origin of exact and closed differential expressions
From Mathwords
Exact differential is found in 1824 in First Principles of the Differential and Integral Calculus, or the Doctrine of Fluxions, Intended as an Introduction to the Physico-Mathematical ...
- 10.1k
2
votes
Accepted
Seeking Comprehensive References on the History of Scientific Notation
First (mathematical) use of the term cited by the OED: F.L. Griffin, An experiment in correlating freshman mathematics, MAA Monthly (1915), p. 328. Griffin later published a book, Introduction to ...
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2
votes
Seeking Comprehensive References on the History of Scientific Notation
Vieta (Viète) is the original creator of algebraic notation. Fermat in particular benefited from Vieta's innovations and always adhered to his formalism. Descartes developed a system of notation ...
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2
votes
Examples of mathematicians who applied to patent their work
Sergeyev patented infinity.
N.B. Just to avoid any misunderstanding: my views concerning this are summarized here.
- 4,952
2
votes
Examples of mathematicians who applied to patent their work
Leslie Connock Jesty obtained a patent for a method of information transmission relying on hypersphere packing. There are further details about him in my question and answer Did anyone apply for a ...
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1
vote
Where does the term elasticity (of a function) come from?
The answer by user103496 gives the history. But they write
But it seems that Marshall somehow thought of "stretching" and so used
the word elasticity instead. His enormous influence is such ...
1
vote
Examples of mathematicians who applied to patent their work
Upon obtaining his PhD, Hugh Everett turned his back on physics and became a game theorist working for the Weapons Systems Evaluation Group at the Pentagon. While his thesis was being evaluated by ...
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