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History of Math
| Speaker: |
Miguel Patricio Dias, M.Sc. and Drs. Yves van Gennip
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| Date: |
Wednesday January 25, 2006 |
| Title: |
Archimedes (Part 1)
and The limits of Simon Stevin (Part 2) |
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Abstract
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Archimedes (Part 1)
Archimedes (287 BC–212 BC) was a Greek mathematician, physicist,
engineer, astronomer and philosopher. He became a popular figure as a
result of his involvement in the defense of Syracuse against the Roman
siege in the First and Second Punic Wars. Also known for having
discovered the principles of density and buoyancy (the Archimedes
Principle) and developing an irrigation device known as Archimedes'
screw, among many other achievements, he is considered by some math
historians to be one of history's greatest mathematicians. In this
seminar, we will particularly focus on how numerical integration
methods can be traced back to Archimedes, who employed an early form of
integration.
The limits of Simon Stevin (Part
2)
Simon Stevin (1548 - 1620) was a Dutch mathematician who applied his
knowledge to a wide range of subjects. In this talk we will briefly
give an overview of the diversity of subjects Stevin was involved in,
before delving into his work on hydrostatics, which is a direct
continuation of Archimedes' work 1800 years earlier. In particular our
focus will be on his computations of water pressure on the side of a
box, since the procedure he uses there will be recognised by today's
mathematicians as an early form of a limit argument.
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