UNIT 8 multiple variables), and solving quadratic equations with

HISTORY OF INDIAN MATHEMATICS two unknowns

-influential works on Algebra
-Brahmagupta’s Theorem on cyclic quadrilaterals
Mantras from the early Vedic period (before 1000 BCE) -Brahmagupta dedicated a substantial portion of his work to
invoke powers of ten from a hundred all the way up to a geometry and trigonometry and gave a formula, now known
trillion, and provide evidence of the use of arithmetic as Brahmagupta’s Formula, for the area of a cyclic
operations such as addition, subtraction, multiplication, quadrilateral
fractions, squares, cubes and roots. -as well as a celebrated theorem on the diagonals of a cyclic
quadrilateral, usually referred to as Brahmagupta’s Theorem.
“Sulba Sutras” (or “Sulva Sutras“) listed several simple
Pythagorean triples, as well as a statement of the simplified
Pythagorean theorem for the sides of a square and for a MADHAVA: THE FOUNDER OF THE KERALA SCHOOL
rectangle (indeed, it seems quite likely that Pythagoras -Madhava sometimes called the greatest mathematician-
learned his basic geometry from the “Sulba Sutras“). The astronomer of medieval India.
Sutras also contain geometric solutions of linear and -He came from the town of Sangamagrama in Kerala, near
quadratic equations in a single unknown. the southern tip of India, and founded the Kerala School of
Astronomy and Mathematics in the late 14th Century.
Five different types of infinities: -is referred to as the source for several infinite series
1. infinite in one direction, expansions (including the sine, cosine, tangent and
2. in two directions, arctangent functions and the value of π), representing the
3. in area, first steps from the traditional finite processes of algebra to
4. infinite everywhere considerations of the infinite
5. and perpetually infinite. -Madhava Series or the Infinite Series. Madhava went
Ancient Buddhist literature also demonstrates a prescient further and linked the idea of an infinite series with geometry
awareness of indeterminate and infinite numbers, with and trigonometry. Through his application of this series,
numbers deemed to be of three types: countable, Madhava obtained a value for π correct to an
uncountable and infinite. astonishing 13 decimal places.
-Madhava’s use of infinite series to approximate a range of
The earliest recorded usage of a circle character for the trigonometric functions effectively laid the foundations for the
number zero is usually attributed to a 9th Century later development of calculus and analysis
engraving in a temple in Gwalior in central India. It is -Madhava discovered the solutions of some transcendental
written as a circle with a dot on the middle, called as Bindu equations by a process of iteration and found
or Bindhu, symbolizing the void and the negation of the self. approximations for some transcendental numbers by
continued fractions. In astronomy, he discovered a
procedure to determine the positions of the Moon every 36
BRAHMAGUPTA: MATHEMATICIAN AND ASTRONOMER minutes, and methods to estimate the motions of the
-wrote some important works on both mathematics and planets.
astronomy.
-he was from the state of Rajasthan of northwest India (he is
often referred to as Bhillamalacarya, the teacher from UNIT 9
Bhillamala), and later became the head of the astronomical HISTORY OF ISLAMIC MATHEMATICS
observatory at Ujjain in central India.
-his most famous text, the “Brahmasphutasiddhanta”, was
brought by the 8th Century Abbasid caliph Al-Mansur to his The Qu’ran itself encouraged the accumulation of
newly founded centre of learning at Baghdad on the banks of knowledge, and a Golden Age of Islamic science and
the Tigris, providing an important link between Indian mathematics flourished throughout the medieval period from
mathematics and astronomy and the nascent upsurge in the 9th to 15th Centuries
science and mathematics in the Islamic world.
-Brahmagupta explained how to find the cube and cube-root
of an integer and gave rules facilitating the computation of MUHAMMAD AL-KHWARIZMI: DIRECTOR OF H.O.W
squares and square roots. -Persian mathematician, was an early Director of the House
-Brahmasphutasiddhanta – probably the earliest known text of Wisdom in the 9th Century, and one of the greatest of
to treat zero as a number in its own right, rather than as early Muslim mathematicians
simply a placeholder digit as was done by the Babylonians, -The word “algorithm” is derived from the Latinization of his
or as a symbol for a lack of quantity as was done by the name, and the word “algebra” is derived from the
Greeks and Romans. Latinization of “al-jabr“, part of the title of his most famous
-Brahmagupta realized that there could be such a thing as a book, in which he introduced the fundamental algebraic
negative number, which he referred to as “debt” as methods and techniques for solving equations
opposed to “property”. He expounded on the rules for -Perhaps Al-Khwarizmi’s most important contribution to
dealing with negative numbers (e.g. a negative times a mathematics was his strong advocacy of the Hindu
negative is a positive, a negative times a positive is a numerical system (1 – 9 and 0), which he recognized as
negative, etc). having the power and efficiency needed to revolutionize
-Brahmagupta went yet further by considering systems of Islamic (and, later, Western) mathematics, and which was
simultaneous equations (set of equations containing
soon adopted by the entire Islamic world, and later by -One of his major mathematical contributions was the
Europe as well. formulation of the famous law of sines for plane
-Al-Khwarizmi’s other important contribution was triangles, a⁄(sin A) = b⁄(sin B) = c⁄(sin C)
algebra, a word derived from the title of a mathematical text
he published in about 830 called “Al-Kitab al-mukhtasar fi
hisab al-jabr wa’l-muqabala” (“The Compendious Book on Other medieval Muslim mathematicians worthy of note
Calculation by Completion and Balancing”). The book include:
provided an exhaustive account of solving polynomial = the 9th Century Arab Thabit ibn Qurra, who
equations up to the second degree, and introduced for the developed a general formula by which amicable numbers
first time the fundamental algebraic methods of: could be derived, re-discovered much later by both Fermat
1. “reduction” (rewriting an expression in a simpler form) and Descartes (amicable numbers are pairs of numbers
2. “completion” (moving a negative quantity from one side for which the sum of the divisors of one number equals
of the equation to the other side and changing its sign) and the other number, e.g. the proper divisors of 220 are 1, 2,
3. “balancing” (subtraction of the same quantity from both 4, 5, 10, 11, 20, 22, 44, 55 and 110, of which the sum is 284;
sides of an equation, and the cancellation of like terms on and the proper divisors of 284 are 1, 2, 4, 71, and 142, of
opposite sides). which the sum is 220);
-Al-Khwarizmi is usually credited with the development of = the 10th Century Arab mathematician Abul
lattice (or sieve) multiplication method of multiplying Hasan al-Uqlidisi, who wrote the earliest surviving text
large numbers, a method algorithmically equivalent to long showing the positional use of Arabic numerals, and
multiplication. His lattice method was later introduced into particularly the use of decimals instead of fractions (e.g.
Europe by Fibonacci. 7.375 instead of 73⁄8);
-He also produced a revised and completed version of = the 10th Century Arab geometer Ibrahim ibn
Ptolemy’s “Geography”, consisting of a list of 2,402 Sinan, who continued Archimedes‘ investigations of areas
coordinates of cities throughout the known world and volumes, as well as on tangents of a circle;
= the 11th Century Persian Ibn al-Haytham (also
known as Alhazen), who devised what is now known as
MUHAMMAD AL-KARAJI “Alhazen’s problem” (he was the first mathematician to
-The 10th Century Persian mathematician worked to extend derive the formula for the sum of the fourth powers, using a
algebra still further, freeing it from its geometrical heritage, method that is readily generalizable); and
and introduced the theory of algebraic calculus = the 13th Century Persian Kamal al-Din al-
-Al-Karaji was the first to use the method of proof by Farisi, who applied the theory of conic sections to solve
mathematical induction to prove his results, by proving that optical problems, as well as pursuing work in number theory
the first statement in an infinite sequence of statements is such as on amicable numbers, factorization and
true, and then proving that, if any one statement in the combinatorial methods;
sequence is true, then so is the next one. = the 13th Century Moroccan Ibn al-Banna al-
-Among other things, Al-Karaji used mathematical induction Marrakushi, whose works included topics such as
to prove the binomial theorem. computing square roots and the theory of continued
fractions, as well as the discovery of the first new pair of
amicable numbers since ancient times (17,296 and 18,416,
OMAR KHAYYAM (PERHAPS BETTER KNOWN AS A later re-discovered by Fermat) and the the first use of
POET AND THE WRITER OF THE “RUBAIYAT”, algebraic notation since Brahmagupta.
-generalized Indian methods for extracting square and cube
roots to include fourth, fifth and higher roots in the early 12th
Century. UNIT 10
-He carried out a systematic analysis of cubic problems, HISTORY OF MEDIEVAL EUROPEAN MATHEMATICS
revealing there were actually several different sorts of cubic
equations. Although he did in fact succeed in solving cubic
equations, and although he is usually credited with During the centuries in which the Chinese, Indian and
identifying the foundations of algebraic geometry, he was Islamic mathematicians had been in the ascendancy, Europe
held back from further advances by his inability to separate had fallen into the Dark Ages, in which science,
the algebra from the geometry, and a purely algebraic mathematics and almost all intellectual endeavor stagnated.
method for the solution of cubic equations had to wait
another 500 years and the Italian mathematicians del Ferro Robert of Chester translated Al-Khwarizmi‘s important book
and Tartaglia. on algebra into Latin in the 12th Century, and the complete
text of Euclid‘s “Elements” was translated in various versions
by Adelard of Bath, Herman of Carinthia and Gerard of
NASIR AL-DIN AL-TUSI: TRIGONOMETRY Cremona.
-Al-Tusi was a pioneer in the field of spherical trigonometry
-The 13th Century Persian astronomer, scientist and
mathematician Nasir Al-Din Al-Tusi was perhaps the first to LEONARDO FIBONACCI – ITALIAN MATHEMATICIAN
treat trigonometry as a separate mathematical (WROTE LIBER ABACI)
discipline, distinct from astronomy. -Europe’s first great medieval mathematician was the
-he gave the first extensive exposition of spherical Italian Leonardo of Pisa, better known by his nickname
trigonometry, including listing the six distinct cases of a Fibonacci.
right triangle in spherical trigonometry.
-Although best known for the so-called Fibonacci Sequence = Oresme was one of the first to use graphical
of numbers, perhaps his most important contribution to analysis. An important (but largely unknown and underrated)
European mathematics was his role in spreading the use of mathematician and scholar of the 14th Century was the
the Hindu-Arabic numeral system throughout Europe early Frenchman Nicole Oresme. He used a system of
in the 13th Century, which soon made the Roman numeral rectangular coordinates centuries before his countryman
system obsolete, and opened the way for great advances in René Descartes popularized the idea, as well as perhaps the
European mathematics. first time-speed-distance graph. Also, leading from his
-In particular, in 1202, he wrote a hugely influential book research into musicology, he was the first to use fractional
called “Liber Abaci” (“Book of Calculation”), in which he exponents, and also worked on infinite series, being the first
promoted the use of the Hindu-Arabic numeral system, to prove that the harmonic series 1⁄1 +1⁄2 +1⁄3 +1⁄4 +1⁄5…
describing its many benefits for merchants and is a divergent infinite series (i.e. not tending to a limit, other
mathematicians alike over the clumsy system of Roman than infinity).
numerals then in use in Europe. = The German scholar Regiomontatus was
Fibonacci Sequence perhaps the most capable mathematician of the 15th
-Fibonacci is best known, though, for his introduction into Century, his main contribution to mathematics being in
Europe of a particular number sequence, which has since the area of trigonometry. He helped separate trigonometry
become known as Fibonacci Numbers or the Fibonacci from astronomy, and it was largely through his efforts that
Sequence. He discovered the sequence – the first recursive trigonometry came to be considered an independent branch
number sequence known in Europe – while considering a of mathematics. His book “De Triangulis“, in which he
practical problem in the “Liber Abaci” involving the growth described much of the basic trigonometric knowledge which
of a hypothetical population of rabbits based on is now taught in high school and college, was the first great
idealized assumptions. He noted that, after each monthly book on trigonometry to appear in print.
generation, the number of pairs of rabbits increased from 1 = Nicholas of Cusa (or Nicolaus Cusanus), a 15th
to 2 to 3 to 5 to 8 to 13, etc, and identified how the sequence Century German philosopher, mathematician and
progressed by adding the previous two terms (in astronomer, whose prescient ideas on the infinite and the
mathematical terms, F_n = F_(n -1) + F_(n-2)), a sequence infinitesimal directly influenced later mathematicians like
which could in theory extend indefinitely. Gottfried Leibniz and Georg Cantor. He also held some
The Golden Ratio φ distinctly non-standard intuitive ideas about the universe and
-a ratio of approximately 1 : 1.6180339887 (it is actually an the Earth’s position in it, and about the elliptical orbits of the
irrational number equal to ((1 + √5))⁄2 which has since been planets and relative motion, which foreshadowed the later
calculated to thousands of decimal places) is referred to as discoveries of Copernicus and Kepler.
the Golden Ratio, also known as the Golden Mean,
Golden Section, Divine Proportion, etc, and is usually
denoted by the Greek letter phi φ (or sometimes the capital UNIT 11
letter Phi Φ). MATHEMATICS IN THE 16TH CENTURY
-A rectangle with sides in the ratio of 1 : φ is known as a
Golden Rectangle, and many artists and architects have
proportioned their works approximately using the Golden ALBRECHT DURER
Ratio and Golden Rectangles, which are widely considered - Super Magic Square. It is a tribute to the respect in which
to be innately aesthetically pleasing. mathematics was held in Renaissance Europe that the
-An arc connecting opposite points of ever smaller nested famed German artist Albrecht Dürer included an order-4
Golden Rectangles forms a logarithmic spiral, known as a magic square in his engraving “Melencolia I“.
Golden Spiral.
-The Golden Ratio and Golden Spiral can also be found in a LUCA PACIOLI
surprising number of instances in Nature, from shells to - Italian friar
flowers to animal horns to human bodies to storm systems to - arithmetic and geometry
complete galaxies. - introduced symbols for addition and subtraction in his book
Lattice Multiplication “Summa”: bookkeeping and mathematical puzzles and basic
-He also described the lattice (or sieve) multiplication operations
method of multiplying large numbers, a method – - explored Golden Ratio in the “Divine Proportion”
originally pioneered by Islamic mathematicians like Al- concluding that the number was a message from God and a
Khwarizmi – algorithmically equivalent to long multiplication. source of secret knowledge about the inner beauty of things.
-Neither was “Liber Abaci” Fibonacci’s only book, although it
was his most important one. His “Liber Quadratorum”
(“The Book of Squares”), for example, is a book on SIMON STEVIN
algebra, published in 1225 in which appears a statement of - Flemish mathematician
what is now called Fibonacci’s identity – sometimes also - use of decimal fractions and decimal arithmetic
known as Brahmagupta’s identity after the much earlier - Stevin was ahead of his time in enjoining that all types of
Indian mathematician who also came to the same numbers, whether fractions, negatives, real numbers or
conclusions – that the product of two sums of two surds (such as √2) should be treated equally as numbers in
squares is itself a sum of two squares e.g. (1^2 + 4^2) their own right.
(2^2 + 7^2) = 26^2 + 15^2 = 30^2 + 1^2.

NICCOLO TARTAGLIA
- solving cubic equations
- Tartaglia’s Triangle (an earlier version of Pascal‘s location and the other the vertical location, which have come
Triangle) to be known as Cartesian coordinates
- Tartaglia meaning “the stammerer” - developed a “rule of signs” technique for determining the
number of positive or negative real roots of a polynomial;
“invented” (or at least popularized) the superscript notation
LODOVICO FERRARI for showing powers or exponents (e.g. 24 to show 2 x 2 x 2 x
- quartic equations 2); and re-discovered Thabit ibn Qurra’s general formula for
- Cardano’s student amicable numbers, as well as the amicable pair 9,363,584
and 9,437,056

GEROLAMO CARDANO
- first systematic treatment of probability PIERRE DE FERMAT
- “Liber de ludo aleae” laid foundation for probability - Frenchman
- “Ars Magna” published Tartaglia’s solution - modern number theory
- Two Square theorem shows that any prime number which,
when divided by 4, leaves a remainder of 1 (i.e. can be
RAFAEL BOMBELLI written in the form 4n + 1), can always be re-written as the
- imaginary numbers sum of two square numbers (see image at right for
examples).
Hypocycloids – the pointed plane curves generated by the - Little Theorem is often used in the testing of large prime
trace of a fixed point on a small circle that rolls within a larger numbers, and is the basis of the codes which protect our
circle, and the generating circles were later named Cardano credit cards in Internet transactions today. It says that if we
(or Cardanic) circles. have two numbers a and p, where p is a prime number and
Leonardo da Vinci – interconnectedness of art and science not a factor of a, then a multiplied by itself p-1 times and then
divided by p, will always leave a remainder of 1
- Fermat numbers which are of the form of one less than 2
UNIT 12 to the power of a power of 2,
MATHEMATICS IN THE 17TH CENTURY - Last Theorem states that no three positive
integers a, b and c can satisfy the equation an + bn = cn for
any integer value of n greater than two (i.e. squared). This
Age of Reason – in the wake of the Renaissance seemingly simple conjecture has proved to be one of the
Copernican Revolution – led by Nicolaus Copernicus in the world’s hardest mathematical problems to prove
16th century - It was an ongoing exchange of letters between Fermat
and Pascal that led to the development of the concept of
expected values and the field of probability theory. The
first published work on probability theory, however, and the
JOHN NAPIER first to outline the concept of mathematical expectation, was
- Logarithms: it is the most significant mathematical by the Dutchman Christiaan Huygens in 1657, although it
advancement / development. It is the exponent of number was largely based on the ideas in the letters of the two
expressed as power of 10 (inverse exponentation) Frenchmen.
- Napier’s Bone: multiplication tool using set of numbered - Fermat’s mathematical work was communicated mainly
rods in letters to friends, often with little or no proof of his
theorems. Although he himself claimed to have proved all his
arithmetic theorems, few records of his proofs have survived,
MARIN MERSENNE and many mathematicians have doubted some of his claims
- Mersenne Primes: prime numbers that are one less than a
power of 2, In modern times, the largest known prime
number has almost always been a Mersenne prime BLAISE PASCAL
- natural and applied sciences
- have a physical law named after him
RENE DESCARTES - Pascal’s Theorem which states that, if a hexagon is
- Father of Modern Philosophy inscribed in a circle, then the three intersection points of
- “Discours de la Methode” (Discourse on Method): opposite sides lie on a single line, called the Pascal line
landmark in history - Pascal’s Wager: pragmatic approach to believe in God
- “La Geometrie”: the first book to look like a modernized - Pascal’s Triangle: a convenient tabular presentation of
mathematics textbook of standard algebraic notation binomial co-efficients, where each number is the sum of
- His development of analytic geometry and Cartesian the two numbers directly above it
coordinates in the mid-17th Century soon allowed the orbits - Gambler’s Ruin (determining the chances of winning for
of the planets to be plotted on a graph, as well as laying the each of two men playing a particular dice game with very
foundations for the later development of calculus specific rules)
- he concluded that his real path in life was the pursuit of true - Problem of Points (determining how a game’s winnings
wisdom and science should be divided between two equally skilled players if the
- It was in “La Géométrie” that Descartes first proposed that game was ended prematurely)
each point in two dimensions can be described by two - His two most famous works, the “Lettres provinciales”
numbers on a plane, one giving the point’s horizontal and the “Pensées“, date from this period, the latter left
incomplete at his death in 1662. They remain Pascal’s best economics and science in general) by the development of
known legacy, and he is usually remembered today as one infinitesimal calculus, with its two main operations,
of the most important authors of the French Classical Period differentiation and integration.
and one of the greatest masters of French prose, much more - Leibniz’s development of a mechanical forerunner to the
than for his contributions to mathematics. computer and the use of matrices to solve linear equations

- The French mathematician and engineer Girard - the Italian mathematician Bonaventura Cavalieri
Desargues is considered one of the founders of the field of developed a geometrical approach to calculus known as
projective geometry, later developed further by Jean Victor Cavalieri’s principle, or the “method of indivisibles”. The
Poncelet and Gaspard Monge. Projective geometry Englishman John Wallis, who systematized and extended
considers what happens to shapes when they are the methods of analysis of Descartes and Cavalieri, also
projected on to a non-parallel plane. made significant contributions towards the development of
calculus, as well as originating the idea of the number line,
introducing the symbol ∞ for infinity and the term “continued
ISAAC NEWTON fraction”, and extending the standard notation for powers to
- math and calculus include negative integers and rational numbers.
- one of the most influential men
- By “standing on the shoulders of giants”, the
Englishman Sir Isaac Newton was able to pin down the laws UNIT 13
of physics in an unprecedented way, and he effectively laid MATHEMATICS IN THE 19TH CENTURY
the groundwork for all of classical mechanics, almost single-
handedly. But his contribution to mathematics should never
be underestimated, and nowadays he is often considered, - Napoleon emphasized the practical usefulness of
along with Archimedes and Gauss, as one of the mathematics and his reforms and military ambitions gave
greatest mathematicians of all time. French mathematics a big boost, as exemplified by “the
- “Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica”: most three L’s”, Lagrange, Laplace and Legendre (see the section
influential book, usually called Principia. Generally on 18th Century Mathematics), Fourier and Galois.
recognized as the greatest scientific book ever written
- Newton’s contributions to a generalized binomial
theorem (which describes the algebraic expansion of JOSEPH FOURIER
powers of a binomial), the theory of finite differences and - infinite sums using trigonometry
the use of infinite power series - Fourier Series used to express periodic functions as sums
- the young Newton developed a new theory of light, of cosines and sines
discovered and quantified gravitation, and pioneered a
revolutionary new approach to mathematics: infinitesimal
calculus JEAN ROBERT ARGAND
- The Average Slope of a Curve - Argand Diagrams
- Method of Fluents: The “opposite” of differentiation is - represent complex numbers on geometric diagrams using
integration or integral calculus (or, in Newton’s trigonometry and vectors
terminology, the “method of fluents”), and together
differentiation and integration are the two main
operations of calculus. Newton’s Fundamental Theorem EVARISTE GALOIS
of Calculus states that differentiation and integration are - proved there is no general algebraic solution for polynomial
inverse operations, so that, if a function is first integrated and equations of degree greater than four
then differentiated (or vice versa), the original function is - Galois Theory
retrieved.

CARL FRIEDRICH GAUSS

GOOTFRIEND WILHELM LEIBNIZ - Prince of Mathematics
- The True Father of Calculus - the “greatest mathematician since antiquity”
- He was, along with René Descartes and Baruch Spinoza, - Gauss was a child prodigy
one of the three great 17th Century rationalists, and his work - fundamental theorem of algebra
anticipated modern logic and analytic philosophy. Like - modular arithmetic
many great thinkers before and after him, Leibniz was a child - Gauss introduced what is now known as Gaussian
prodigy and a contributor in many different fields of distribution, the Gaussian function and the Gaussian
endeavour. error curve. He showed how probability could be
- He also introduced notions of self-similarity and the represented by a bell-shaped or “normal” curve, which peaks
principle of continuity which foreshadowed an area of around the mean or expected value and quickly falls off
mathematics which would come to be called topology. towards plus/minus infinity, which is basic to descriptions of
- revived ancient method statistically distributed data.
- invented practical calculating machine - least squares method
- Newton and, independently, the German philosopher and - Gauss also claimed to have investigated a kind of non-
mathematician Gottfried Leibniz, completely revolutionized Euclidean geometry using curved space but, unwilling to
mathematics (not to mention physics, engineering,
court controversy, he decided not to pursue or publish any of logical problems and mathematical functions. Boolean
these avant-garde ideas. algebra was the starting point of modern mathematical logic
- Gauss Theory: “mathematics is the queen of the sciences, and ultimately led to the development of computer science.
and the theory of numbers is the queen of mathematics”
- he published his book “Disquisitiones Arithmeticae”,
which is regarded today as one of the most influential IRISH MATHEMATICIAN: WILLIAM HAMILTON
mathematics books ever written, and which laid the - 1843 theory of quaternions
foundations for modern number theory.
- In recognition of his contributions to the theory of
electromagnetism, the international unit of magnetic
induction is known as the gauss
ENGLISHMAN: ARTHUR CAYLEY
- extended Hamilton’s quaternions and developed the
octonions. But Cayley was one of the most prolific
BOLYAI AND LOBACHEVSKY mathematicians in history, and was a pioneer of modern
- hyperbolic geometry group theory, matrix algebra, the theory of higher
- Bolyai explored what he called “imaginary geometry” (now singularities, and higher dimensional geometry (anticipating
known as hyperbolic geometry), the geometry of curved the later ideas of Klein), as well as the theory of invariants.
spaces on a saddle-shaped plane, where the angles of a
triangle did NOT add up to 180° and apparently parallel lines
were NOT actually parallel.
BOHEMIAN PRIEST BERNHARD BOLZANO
- contributed to Einstein’s Theory
- was one of the earliest mathematicians to begin instilling
rigour into mathematical analysis, as well as giving the first
BERNHARD RIEMANN purely analytic proof of both the fundamental theorem of
- another mathematical giant hailing from northern algebra and the intermediate value theorem, and early
Germany consideration of sets (collections of objects defined by a
- worked on a different kind of non-Euclidean geometry common property, such as “all the numbers greater than 7”
called elliptic geometry, as well as on a generalized theory or “all right triangles“, etc).
of all the different types of geometry.
- Riemann Zeta Function - When the German mathematician Karl Weierstrass
- Riemann Geometry discovered the theoretical existence of a continuous function
- Riemann Hypothesis: which remains unproven, suggests having no derivative (in other words, a continuous curve
that ALL the zeroes would be on the same straight line. possessing no tangent at any of its points), he saw the need
- He introduced a collection of numbers (known as a
for a rigorous “arithmetization” of calculus, from which all
tensor) at every point in space, which would describe how
much it was bent or curved. the basic concepts of analysis could be derived.

- Felix Klein also pursued more developments in non-

CHARLES BABBAGE Euclidean geometry, include the Klein bottle, a one-sided
- His large “difference engine” of 1823 was able to calculate closed surface that cannot be embedded in three-
logarithms and trigonometric functions, and was the true dimensional Euclidean space, only in four or more
forerunner of the modern electronic computer. Although dimensions. It can be best visualized as a cylinder looped
never actually built in his lifetime, a machine was built almost back through itself to join with its other end from the
200 years later to his specifications and worked perfectly. “inside”. Klein’s 1872 Erlangen Program, which classified
- He also designed a much more sophisticated machine he geometries by their underlying symmetry groups (or their
called the “analytic engine“, complete with punched cards, groups of transformations), was a hugely influential synthesis
printer and computational abilities commensurate with of much of the mathematics of the day, and his work was
modern computers.
very important in the later development of group theory and
function theory.
GEORGE PEACOCK
- is usually credited with the invention of symbolic algebra, - The Norwegian mathematician Marius Sophus Lie also
and the extension of the scope of algebra beyond the applied algebra to the study of geometry. He largely created
ordinary systems of numbers. This was an important the theory of continuous symmetry, and applied it to the
stepping stone toward future developments in abstract geometric theory of differential equations by means of
algebra. continuous groups of transformations known as Lie groups.

- Niccolò Paganini, discovered the second smallest pair

GEORGE BOOLE of amicable numbers (1,184 and 1210), which had been
- devised a linguistic algebra (now called Boolean algebra completely overlooked by some of the greatest
or Boolean logic), in which the only operators were AND, mathematicians in history (including Euler, who had
OR and NOT, and which could be applied to the solution of
identified over 60 such numbers in the 18th Century, some composite numbers, the partition function and its
of them huge). asymptotics and mock theta functions.
- Hardy called their collaboration “the one romantic
- Georg Cantor established the first foundations of set incident in my life“
theory, which enabled the rigorous treatment of the notion of
infinity, and which has since become the common language
of nearly all mathematics. Aleph Null or Aleph Nought: he BERTRAND RUSSELL & ALFRED NORTH WHITEHEAD –
also showed that they were “non-denumerable” or Principia Mathematica 1+1=2
“uncountable” (i.e. contained more elements than could - their monumental work, the “Principia Mathematica” (360
ever be counted), as opposed to the set of rational numbers pages to prove definitively that 1 + 1 = 2.) 1903
which he had shown were technically (even if not practically) - Russell’s Paradox
“denumerable” or “countable”. Cantor coined the new word - three further axioms that seemed to not be true as mere
“transfinite” in an attempt to distinguish these various levels matters of logic, namely the
of infinite numbers from an absolute infinity 1. “axiom of infinity” (which guarantees the existence of at
least one infinite set, namely the set of all natural numbers),
- Hermann Minkowski, a great friend of David Hilbert and 2. the “axiom of choice” (which ensures that, given any
teacher of the young Albert Einstein, developed a branch of collection of “bins”, each containing at least one object, it is
number theory called the “geometry of numbers” late in the possible to make a selection of exactly one object from each
19th Century as a geometrical method in multi-dimensional bin, even if there are infinitely many bins, and that there is no
space for solving number theory problems, involving “rule” for which object to pick from each)
complex concepts such as convex sets, lattice points and 3. and Russell’s own “axiom of reducibility” (which states
vector space. that any propositional truth function can be expressed by a
formally equivalent predicative truth function).
- Henri Poincaré (chaos theory) came to prominence in the
latter part of the 19th Century with at least a partial solution
to the “three body problem, he also greatly extended the DAVID HILBERT’S CONTRIBUTIONS TO LOGICAL
theory of mathematical topology, leaving behind a knotty THEORY
problem known as the Poincaré conjecture which remined - David Hilbert was a great leader and spokesperson for
unsolved until 2002. Poincaré was also an engineer and a the discipline of mathematics in the early 20th Century.
polymath, and perhaps the last of the great - Hilbert space (an infinite dimensional Euclidean space),
mathematicians to adhere to an older conception of Hilbert curves, the Hilbert classification and the Hilbert
mathematics, which championed a faith in human inequality, as well as several theorems, and he gradually
intuition over rigour and formalism. He is sometimes established himself as the most famous mathematician of his
referred to as the “Last Univeralist” as he was perhaps the time.
last mathematician able to shine in almost all of the various - Hilbert’s Algorithm
aspects of what had become by now a huge, encyclopedic - But perhaps his greatest legacy is his work on equations,
and incredibly complex subject. often referred to as his finiteness theorem
- Hilbert Space is a generalization of the notion of
Euclidean space which extends the methods of vector
algebra and calculus to spaces with any finite (or even
UNIT 14 infinite) number of dimensions.
MATHEMATICS IN THE 20th CENTURY

KURT GÖDEL: THE ECCENTRIC GENIUS

GODFREY HAROLD: RAMANUJAN’S MENTOR - “Herr Varum”, Mr Why, for his insatiable curiosity
- The eccentric British mathematician G.H. Hardy is known - Incompleteness Theorem: there will be some statements
for his achievements in number theory and mathematical about numbers which are true but which can NEVER be
analysis. But he is perhaps even better known for his proved.
adoption and mentoring of the self-taught Indian - Gödel Metric led to a personal crisis for Gödel.
mathematical genius, Srinivasa Ramanujan. - Gödel’s legacy is ambivalent.
- Srinivasa Ramanujan devised a formula that calculated
the number of primes up to a hundred million with
generally no error. He claimed that most of his ideas came ALAN TURING: CRACKING THE ‘ENIGMA’ CODE
to him in dreams. - Turing Machine: machine would be capable of
- Taxicab Numbers: 1729 was actually a very interesting performing any conceivable mathematical computation if
number mathematically, being the smallest number it were representable as an algorithm. Thus providing a
representable in two different ways as a sum of two cubes. negative proof to the so-called Entscheidungsproblem or
- Ramanujan conjectured or proved over 3,000 theorems, “decision problem”
identities and equations, including properties of highly
- worked on the development of early computers such as
ACE (Automatic Computing Engine) and the Manchester
Mark 1
- Turing test: an attempt to define a standard for a machine
to be called “intelligent“.
ANDRE WEIL
- Founding Member of the Mathematical Bourbaki Group
- Weil was an early leader of the Bourbaki group who
published many influential textbooks on modern
mathematics
- Weil Conjectures effectively proved the Riemann
hypothesis for curves over finite fields, by counting the
number of points on algebraic varieties over finite fields
- Tamagawa Numbers

PAUL COHEN: SET THEORY & THE CONTINUUM

HYPOTHESIS
- mathematical analysis and differential equations to
mathematical logic and number theory.
- Forcing Technique. Thus, there could be two different,
internally consistent, mathematics: one where the continuum
hypothesis was true (and there was no such set of
numbers), and one where the hypothesis was false (and a
set of numbers did exist). The proof seemed to be correct,
but Cohen’s methods, particularly his new technique of
“forcing”, were so new that no-one was really quite sure
until Gödel finally gave his stamp of approval in 1963.

JULIA ROBINSON AND YURI MATIYASEVICH

- Computability Theory & Computational Complexity
Theory
- Julia Robinson was one of the very few women to have
made a serious impact on and she became the first women
to be elected as president of the American Mathematical
Society.
- Matiyasevich-Stechkin visual sieve for prime numbers.
Developed an interesting “visual sieve” for prime numbers,
which effectively “crosses out” all the composite numbers,
leaving only the primes. He has a theorem on recursively
enumerable sets named after him, as well as a polynomial
related to the colourings of triangulation of spheres.

- Emmy Noether was considered by many (including Albert

Einstein) to be the most important woman in the history of
mathematics
- John von Neumann is considered one of the foremost
mathematicians in modern history, another mathematical
child prodigy who went on to make major contributions to a
vast range of fields.
- Claude Shannon, has become known as the father of
information theory