This week’s That’s Maths column in The Irish Times (TM058, or search for “thatsmaths” at irishtimes.com) is about George Boole, the first Professor of Mathematics at Queen’s College Cork.
Posts Tagged 'History'
The Year of George Boole
Published December 4, 2014 Irish Times Leave a CommentTags: Algorithms, Computer Science, History, Logic
Algebra in the Golden Age
Published October 2, 2014 Irish Times Leave a CommentTags: Algebra, History
This week’s That’s Maths column in The Irish Times (TM054, or search for “thatsmaths” at irishtimes.com) is about the emergence of algebra in the Golden Age of Islam. The Chester Beatty Library in Dublin has several thousand Arabic manuscripts, many on mathematics and science.
Left: Soviet Union postage stamp (1983) commemorating al-Khwārizmī’s 1200th birthday. RIght: A page from al-Khwārizmī’s Al-Jebr.
Do you remember Venn?
Published August 14, 2014 Occasional Leave a CommentTags: History, Set Theory
Do you recall coming across those diagrams with overlapping circles that were popularised in the ‘sixties’, in conjunction with the “New Maths”. They were originally introduced around 1880 by John Venn, and now bear his name.
![RIght: John Venn (1834–1923) with signature. Left: Stained glass window at Gonville & Caius College showing Venn diagram [images Wikimedia Commons].](https://thatsmaths.files.wordpress.com/2014/08/venn-with-window.jpg)
Left: Stained glass window at Gonville & Caius College, Cambridge showing a Venn diagram. Right: John Venn (1834-1923) with signature [images Wikimedia Commons].
When did Hammurabi reign?
Published June 19, 2014 Irish Times Leave a CommentTags: Astronomy, History, Time measurement
The consequences of the Earth’s changing climate may be very grave. It is essential to understand past climate change so that we can anticipate future changes. This week, That’s Maths in The Irish Times ( TM047 ) is about the chronology of the Middle East. Surprisingly, this has important implications for our understanding of climate change.
Left: Image of Hammurabi in the US Congress.
Right: Part of an inscription of the Code of Hammurabi.
Euclid in Technicolor
Published February 20, 2014 Irish Times 1 CommentTags: Education, Geometry, History, Ireland
The article in this week’s That’s Maths column in the Irish Times ( TM039 ) is about Oliver Byrne’s amazing technicolor Elements of Euclid, recently re-published by Taschen.
Pythagorean triples
Published January 23, 2014 Occasional 2 CommentsTags: Algorithms, Geometry, History
The Pythagorean theorem states that the square of the hypotenuse of a right triangle is equal to the sum of the squares of the other two sides. It can be written as an equation,
a2 + b2 = c2,
where c is the length of the hypotenuse, and a and b are the lengths of the other two sides.
A Mathematical Dynasty
Published September 26, 2013 Occasional Leave a CommentTags: Analysis, Fluid Dynamics, History
The idea that genius runs in families is supported by many examples in the arts and sciences. One striking case is the family of Johann Sebastian Bach, the most brilliant star in a constellation of talented musicians and composers.
In a similar vein, several generations of the Bernoulli family excelled in science and medicine. More that ten members of this Swiss family, over four generations, had distinguished careers in mathematics.
Sonya Kovalevskaya
Published September 19, 2013 Irish Times Leave a CommentTags: Analysis, History, Mechanics
A brilliant Russian mathematician, Sonya Kovalevskaya, is the topic of the That’s Maths column this week (click Irish Times: TM029 and search for “thatsmaths”).
In the nineteenth century it was extremely difficult for a woman to achieve distinction in the academic sphere, and virtually impossible in the field of mathematics. But a few brilliant women managed to overcome all the obstacles and prejudice and reach the very top. The most notable of these was the remarkable Russian, Sonya Kovalevskya.
The Atmospheric Railway
Published August 15, 2013 Irish Times Leave a CommentTags: History, Mechanics
Atmospheric pressure acting on a surface the size of a large dinner-plate exerts a force sufficient to propel a ten ton train! The That’s Maths column ( TM027 ) in the Irish Times this week is about the atmospheric railway.
Continue reading ‘The Atmospheric Railway’
The remarkable BBP Formula
Published August 8, 2013 Occasional Leave a CommentTags: Archimedes, Computer Science, History, Number Theory, Pi
Information that is declared to be forever inaccessible is sometimes revealed within a short period. Until recently, it seemed impossible that we would ever know the value of the quintillionth decimal digit of pi. But a remarkable formula has been found that allows the computation of binary digits starting from an arbitrary position without the need to compute earlier digits. This is known as the BBP formula.
Continue reading ‘The remarkable BBP Formula’
Wrangling and the Tripos
Published June 27, 2013 Irish Times Leave a CommentTags: Education, History
The Mathematical Tripos examinations, and the Wranglers who achieve honours in them, are the topic of the That’s Maths column ( TM023 ) in the Irish Times this week.
Continue reading ‘Wrangling and the Tripos’
Ducks & Drakes & Kelvin Wakes
Published May 18, 2013 Irish Times Leave a CommentTags: Applied Maths, History, Wave Motion
The theme of this week’s That’s Maths column in the Irish Times ( TM021 ) is Kelvin Wakes, the beautiful wave patterns generated as a duck or swan swims through calm, deep water or in the wake of a ship or boat.
Continue reading ‘Ducks & Drakes & Kelvin Wakes’
In his scientific best-seller, A Brief History of Time, Stephen Hawking remarked that every equation he included would halve sales of the book, so he put only one in it, Einstein’s equation relating mass and energy, E=mc2.
There is no doubt that mathematical equations strike terror in the hearts of many readers. This is regrettable, as equations are really just concise expressions of precise statements. They are actually quite user-friendly and more to be loved than feared. Continue reading ‘More Equal than Others’
Archimedes uncovered
Published January 3, 2013 Irish Times Leave a CommentTags: Archimedes, History, Pi
The That’s Maths column in this week’s Irish Times ( TM012 ) describes the analysis of the ancient codex known as the Archimedes Palimpsest.
Archimedes of Syracuse
Archimedes (Ἀρχιμήδης, 287-212 BC) was a brilliant physicist, engineer and astronomer, and the greatest mathematician of antiquity. He is famed for founding hydrostatics, for formulating the law of the lever, for designing the helical pump that bears his name, for devising engines of war, and for much more. Continue reading ‘Archimedes uncovered’
The fifth proposition in Book I of Euclid’s Elements states that the two base angles of an isosceles triangle are equal (in the figure below, angles B and C).
For centuries, this result has been known as Pons Asinorum, or the Bridge of Asses, apparently a metaphor for a problem that separates bright sparks from dunces. Euclid proved the proposition by extending the sides AB and AC and drawing lines to form additional triangles. His proof is quite complicated. Continue reading ‘Pons Asinorum’
A Mersennery Quest
Published November 1, 2012 Irish Times Leave a CommentTags: History, Number Theory, Primes
The theme of That’s Maths (TM008) this week is prime numbers. Almost all the largest primes found in recent years are of a particular form M(n) = 2n−1. They are called Mersenne primes. The Great Internet Mersenne Prime Search (GIMPS) is aimed at finding ever more prime numbers of this form. Continue reading ‘A Mersennery Quest’
