New answers tagged mathematics
2
votes
Why was the term "isomorphism" chosen in category theory?
Isomorphism is a concept and term that predates category theory. In fact Eilenberg and Mac Lane's motivation and point of discovery of category theory was very much the question of how to make precise ...
- 3,129
10
votes
Accepted
Why are Chebyshev polynomials denoted by the letters $T_n$ and $U_n$?
Goncharov, V. L. (2000). The theory of best approximation of
functions. Journal of Approximation Theory, 106(1), 2-57.
Gonchorov discussing historically approximation theory contains the following ...
- 3,129
12
votes
Did Archimedes really think of himself as a 'pure' mathematician first and foremost?
It is hard to know Archimedes's views given scarce and conflicting evidence that we have. Plutarch reports on Archimedes in the context of describing Plato's criticism of mechanical methods in ...
- 80k
6
votes
How did Galois classify Abelian integrals without using Riemann surfaces?
Galois' ideas on what came to be called Abelian integrals are known only in a sketch from a letter to Chevallier written on the evening before his death in a duel, May 29, 1832. The original text and ...
- 80k
7
votes
Origin of module theory
This is perhaps more of a long comment than an answer, and it is speculative.
The word "modulus" (without justification for the coinage) was introduced by Gauss in 1801 in his Disquisitiones ...
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10
votes
Accepted
Origin of module theory
Emmy Noether introduced the modern abstract concept, but the theory of $\mathbb{Z}$-modules, along with the term, is due to Dedekind in 1871, see Gray, A History of Abstract Algebra, 17.4 and ...
- 80k
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