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Randall Green
Guest
If you were tasked with writing about your favourite mathematician, who would you choose?
Gauss?
Godel?
?
Gauss?
Godel?
?
D
Duotone81
Guest
Isaac Newton. For both Principia Mathematica and Calculus.
Y
Yllw_Ninja
Guest
Math is the devil!
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Newton didn‘t discover calculus... it was Leibniz! Leibniz, I tells ya!! 
Fave mathematicians would be J.B.J. Fourier and Pierre Laplace... for the Fourier series and the Laplace transform..
but that‘s what you get for asking an electrical/communications engineer.. lol
Fave mathematicians would be J.B.J. Fourier and Pierre Laplace... for the Fourier series and the Laplace transform..
but that‘s what you get for asking an electrical/communications engineer.. lol
D
Duotone81
Guest
They both discovered Calculus but Newton did infact discover it a few years before but published his work after Leibniz.
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Aah that‘s true,
Newton Laid the foundations for differential and integral calculus.
I think one of his biggest contributions was to Optics, exploring white light (what fun), and of course the Principia which was THE work.
Funny story; On his kooky quest to discover the philosophers stone, and during his experimentation with alchemy, he actually went a little crazy and had a breakdown because of chemical poisoning.
Well regardless, he‘s a good one.
Newton Laid the foundations for differential and integral calculus.
I think one of his biggest contributions was to Optics, exploring white light (what fun), and of course the Principia which was THE work.
Funny story; On his kooky quest to discover the philosophers stone, and during his experimentation with alchemy, he actually went a little crazy and had a breakdown because of chemical poisoning.
Well regardless, he‘s a good one.
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Let‘s see: I failed advanced grade 11 math 5 times, failed advanced grade 12 math once, and passed OAC Finite with a whopping 67%.
So no, I can‘t think of a favorite mathematician, let alone name one, even though math is involved in nearly every aspect of our lives.
That‘s why I major in history.
Tyler
So no, I can‘t think of a favorite mathematician, let alone name one, even though math is involved in nearly every aspect of our lives.
That‘s why I major in history.
Tyler
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Well, I‘m partial to Babbage due to his difference engine and the speedometer (!)
Ditto for that whacky guy Pythagoras and his cult (everybody‘s heard of this Theorum and prime numbers ... we are not worthy ...).
When I was younger I liked DesCartes simply because of the X and Y axis, in addition to geometry.
Fibonacci‘s Sequence always sounded so cool.
And, of course, Pascal and his Triangle (it‘s no Bermuda, but it‘s good enough to have a computer language after him, eh?)
But, hey - who are we kidding? Even though the Countess of Lovelace gets honourable mention ...
Yah gotta love a guy who‘s famous for yelling "Eureka, I‘ve got it" and then running naked through the streets ... the guy who invented the screw, defined Pi and the lever?
Ladies and gentlemen, put your hands together for the lovely and talented ... Archimedes!!!
Ditto for that whacky guy Pythagoras and his cult (everybody‘s heard of this Theorum and prime numbers ... we are not worthy ...).
When I was younger I liked DesCartes simply because of the X and Y axis, in addition to geometry.
Fibonacci‘s Sequence always sounded so cool.
And, of course, Pascal and his Triangle (it‘s no Bermuda, but it‘s good enough to have a computer language after him, eh?)
But, hey - who are we kidding? Even though the Countess of Lovelace gets honourable mention ...
Yah gotta love a guy who‘s famous for yelling "Eureka, I‘ve got it" and then running naked through the streets ... the guy who invented the screw, defined Pi and the lever?
Ladies and gentlemen, put your hands together for the lovely and talented ... Archimedes!!!
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Tyler I‘m a Poli Sci. and IDS double major; It never hurts to touch on math even just a little to get a well rounded base.
Oo- Archimedes, though I don‘t know if the picture I conjure up of a wiley haired old mathematician prancing through the streets could be described as...lovely.
The Cartesian plane is a pretty significant contribution too, DesCartes was a major player in the philosophy world as well.
If we‘re getting into older ones, there‘s pythagoras, nick copernicus, aristotle.
It‘s rare you find people today who are as well rounded when it comes to knowledge as these guys were; they might have been mathematicians on the surface, but most of them wrote some pretty deep philisophic work at some point.
Oo- Archimedes, though I don‘t know if the picture I conjure up of a wiley haired old mathematician prancing through the streets could be described as...lovely.
The Cartesian plane is a pretty significant contribution too, DesCartes was a major player in the philosophy world as well.
If we‘re getting into older ones, there‘s pythagoras, nick copernicus, aristotle.
It‘s rare you find people today who are as well rounded when it comes to knowledge as these guys were; they might have been mathematicians on the surface, but most of them wrote some pretty deep philisophic work at some point.
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Disclaimer: I am such a nerd...
About the calculus thing... well, I had to break out my ol‘ calculus text (I never thought I would say that anywhere), but, to quote...
"The main ideas behind differential calculus are due to the French mathematician Pierre Fermat, and developed by John Wallis, Isaac Barrow, Isaac Newton, and Gottfried Leibniz"
So, although they all worked on the problem independently, they all had a hand in developing diffential calculus...
let‘s give em all a big hand!
Che... absolutely... you never here about the kind of "rennaisance men" that these great thinkers were... I wonder why that is?
About the calculus thing... well, I had to break out my ol‘ calculus text (I never thought I would say that anywhere), but, to quote...
"The main ideas behind differential calculus are due to the French mathematician Pierre Fermat, and developed by John Wallis, Isaac Barrow, Isaac Newton, and Gottfried Leibniz"
So, although they all worked on the problem independently, they all had a hand in developing diffential calculus...
let‘s give em all a big hand!
Che... absolutely... you never here about the kind of "rennaisance men" that these great thinkers were... I wonder why that is?
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I think it might have alot to do with the way universities work now, they actively seek to funnel people into distinct fields. Whereas at the universities these guys went to didn‘t focus on specific fields so much as they tended to deliver a wider range of topics (ie:theology, politics, history, natural sciences, law, etc.)
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In the universities defence, now that 60% of the 90% of people who graduate from highschool (warning those numbers are arbitrary but make the point nonetheless) go on to university, it would be near impossible to give out that kind of education to that many people.
The classical university was alot smaller, and instructor to student ratio was a non-issue. Also I believe learning wasn‘t crammed into a 4 year degree, they took a much more "lifelong" approach to knowledge and less of a "get the degree, get the job" style.
The classical university was alot smaller, and instructor to student ratio was a non-issue. Also I believe learning wasn‘t crammed into a 4 year degree, they took a much more "lifelong" approach to knowledge and less of a "get the degree, get the job" style.
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Call me an incurable romantic but ... all of those guys (in their time/era) lived in the "Wild, Wild West", or the frontier of science compared to where we find ourselves today.
Not as much had been discovered back then ... thus, it was like the "Gold Rush" and "Star Trek" all rolled into one - so much "uncharted" knowledge, just begging to be discovered ... "boldly going where no man had gone before" ... their discoveries somehow seem more exciting now (as opposed to ... Swiffers?)
And, as for "older ones" ... it‘s kinda like "The Original Six" and the NHL - the oldies are always sentimental favourites, and no disrespect to Johnny-come-lately‘s like Hubble but ... I‘d still vote for Archimedes in the "Old League", and Newton "post expansion".
P.S. (my apologies to Copernicus and Fermat - as soon as you mentioned them I felt bad for not including them ... so many mathematicians, so little time to post ... and, oh - I started out as a math major at U of T, but don‘t ask me to find my textbooks tonight ... I‘m still unpacking from Kabul)
Not as much had been discovered back then ... thus, it was like the "Gold Rush" and "Star Trek" all rolled into one - so much "uncharted" knowledge, just begging to be discovered ... "boldly going where no man had gone before" ... their discoveries somehow seem more exciting now (as opposed to ... Swiffers?)
And, as for "older ones" ... it‘s kinda like "The Original Six" and the NHL - the oldies are always sentimental favourites, and no disrespect to Johnny-come-lately‘s like Hubble but ... I‘d still vote for Archimedes in the "Old League", and Newton "post expansion".
P.S. (my apologies to Copernicus and Fermat - as soon as you mentioned them I felt bad for not including them ... so many mathematicians, so little time to post ... and, oh - I started out as a math major at U of T, but don‘t ask me to find my textbooks tonight ... I‘m still unpacking from Kabul)
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I totally agree with you bossi... they were the "old skool" thinkers... I mean, that was abck in the day when creating symphonies by the time you were 10, or having an extremely thoroughnknowledge of algebra and advanced math by the time you are 7 wasn‘t uncommon...
I don‘t know why you never here of these kinds of prodigies anymore.
You also make a point about so much having been discovered... but there is still an infinite amount out there, begging to be discovered... it just needs to be built off of the stuff currently discovered. Take the Higgs Boson, for instance.. this elusive, theoretical entity may have been seen.. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/3546973.stm
There is still plenty out there... and who knows what kind of impact it may eventually lead to...
I don‘t know why you never here of these kinds of prodigies anymore.
You also make a point about so much having been discovered... but there is still an infinite amount out there, begging to be discovered... it just needs to be built off of the stuff currently discovered. Take the Higgs Boson, for instance.. this elusive, theoretical entity may have been seen.. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/3546973.stm
There is still plenty out there... and who knows what kind of impact it may eventually lead to...
