The history of Mathmatics

An extremely serious discussion on academic improvements.

Moderator: Hatter Police

The history of Mathmatics

Postby nil on Wed May 25, 2005 8:12 am

Inspiration, aesthetics and pure and applied mathematics

Mathematics arises wherever there are difficult problems that merit careful mental investigation. At first these were found in commerce, land measurement and later astronomy. Nowadays, mathematics derives much inspiration from the natural sciences and it is not uncommon for new mathematics to be pioneered by physicists, although it may need to be recast into more rigorous language. Some notable examples of this happening are Newton inventing calculus and Feynman inventing his Feynman path integral, but it also happens with results from string theory. The mathematics arising from this immediately has relevance for the subject which inspired it and can be applied to solve problems in that subject. Mathematics which can be so used is called applied mathematics as opposed to pure mathematics. In this way applied mathematics is an indispensable tool. With the increase in our mathematical knowledge, mathematics itself has become a source of inspiration. Mathematics is inspiring to mathematicians because it has some intrinsic aesthetics or inner beauty, which is hard to explain. Mathematicians value especially simplicity and generality and when these seemingly incompatable properties combine in a piece of mathematics, as in a unifying generalization for several subfields, or in a helpful tool for common calculations, often that piece of mathematics is called beautiful. Since the result of mathematics inspired by mathematics is often pure mathematics and thus has no applications outside of mathematics yet, the only value it has is in its aesthetics. Surprisingly often, it has happened that pure mathematics, which was considered only of interest to mathematics, has become applied mathematics because of some new insight, as if it anticipated later needs.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Math#Inspi ... athematics
...
nil
Hatmaster
Hatmaster
 
Posts: 1305
Joined: Tue Mar 29, 2005 6:34 am
Location: Canada

Postby trumpetprodigy on Wed May 25, 2005 10:11 pm

Isaak newton Invented calculus. He just needed something to prove his theories, and invented calculus. Now his theories are called laws.
Last edited by trumpetprodigy on Wed Jul 06, 2005 6:17 am, edited 1 time in total.
"Birthdays are healthy for you. Statistics show that people who have more of them, live longer."
To Victory, and Beyond!!!
User avatar
trumpetprodigy
Mad Hatter
Mad Hatter
 
Posts: 389
Joined: Tue Apr 26, 2005 9:45 pm
Location: Mentally or Physically?

Postby Math_nerd on Thu May 26, 2005 2:47 am

There is some fasinating stuff on that site. Thanks for Sharing!!!
Our heads are round - So that our thoughts may fly out in all directions.

Even the greatest of whales is helpless in the desert.
User avatar
Math_nerd
Slightly Inspired Hatter
Slightly Inspired Hatter
 
Posts: 1081
Joined: Sat Apr 23, 2005 3:38 am
Location: Location is relative. To what? Dunno.

Postby dettronenspy on Wed Dec 28, 2005 5:54 pm

I always thought I was one of the only people to create the concept of combining two of the most hated subjects in high school into one subject:

History of Mathematics. I think it would be really interesting, who came up with the Square Root and why? I think that would be amazing but then again, I'm a geek.
Freedom is the freedom to say that two plus two equals four. If that is granted, all else follows.
---
Winston Smith - 1984 by George Orwell
dettronenspy
Baby Hatter
Baby Hatter
 
Posts: 4
Joined: Wed Nov 30, 2005 11:40 am

Postby punk04 on Mon Jan 02, 2006 10:42 pm

dude i would never combine thouse two horrible subjects
User avatar
punk04
Mad Hatter
Mad Hatter
 
Posts: 369
Joined: Wed Jun 01, 2005 9:12 pm
Location: im evrywhere

Postby hamster on Thu Jan 12, 2006 3:54 pm

That's like a liver and molasses sandwich, served with a glass of brewer's yeast and buttermilk.
User avatar
hamster
Insane Hatter
Insane Hatter
 
Posts: 867
Joined: Mon Aug 08, 2005 7:24 pm
Location: Eastern US


Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 0 guests