Compiled by the students in Math 311, Spring 1988.
Archibald, R. C., "Bibliography of George Berkeley," Scripta Mathematica, 3(1934), 81-83. A very clear, interesting bibliography of Berkeley's published works and poems! A man of much knowledge: mathematics, psychology, philosophy, travel, education, economics, etc. Easy to read. [WT]
Brasch, Frederick E., "Newton's portraits and statues," Scripta Mathematica, 8(1941), 199-227. Provides a superb collection of photographs of portraits and statues of Newton; definitely worth the look. [JZ]
Brendan, T., "How Ptolemy constructed trigonometric tables," Mathematics Teacher, 58(1965), 141-149. Explains exactly how Ptolemy arrived at the first trigonometric table by providing the necessary proofs. This is an informative article, but not very interesting. [TD]
Crowe, Donald W., "The geometry of African Art II. A catalog of Benin patterns," Historia Mathematica, 2(1975), 253-371. Describes the geometric patterns of African art. It is quite interesting reading and displays lots of pictures to help the reader understand. [SD]
Dubbey, J. M., "Babbage, Peacock and modern algebra," Historica Mathematica, 4(1977), 295-302. Traces and explains the development of modern algebra. Credit is given to Babbage and Peacock for the discovery because they both had similar ideas and theories about algebra. This article was interesting. [TB]
Eves, Howard W., "The prime number," Mathematics Teacher, 51(1958), 201-203. Traces the development of prime numbers from Euclid to Vinogradoff (a Russian mathematician). Discusses the many different aspects of what each person found. It is interesting reading. [TB]
Feldmann, Richard W., "Benjamin Franklin and mathematics," Mathematics Teacher, 52(1959), 125-127. Discussion of Franklin's views on mathematics and the extent to which they should be studied and used. The examples of his recreational work on magic squares was entertaining. [JM]
Fletcher, Colin R., "Refugee mathematicians: A German crisis and a British response, 1933-1936," Historia Mathematica, 13(1986), 13-27. In 1933, Hitler dismissed over 1000 scholars, including 60 mathematicians, from university positions. The British academic community set up a relief organization, the Academic Assistance Council, which helped to obtain passports, jobs, etc. This was the beginning of the present Society for the Protection of Science and Learning. [CW]
Gandz, Solomon, "The origin of angle-geometry," Isis, 12(1929), 452-481. In depth article on the two branches of geometry: line-geometry which was developed in Egypt and Babylon and angle-geometry which was developed by the Greeks. Deals with the question of whether sides or angles form the characteristics in the classification of figures in geometry. Great, great article!! [VG]
Grabiner, Judith, "The origins of Cauchy's rigorous calculus," Mathematical Intelligencer, 4(1982), 204-206. A good biographical article on Cauchy and his work in the development of the calculus, especially in the area of the concept of limit, continuous functions, convergence of infinite series, derivative of functions, and integral of continuous functions. Good article. Easy to read. [NW]
Green, Judy and LaDuke, Jeanne, "Women in the American mathematical community: The pre-1940 Ph.D.'s," The Mathematical Intelligencer, vol. 9, no. 1, pp. 11-23. Extremely fascinating historical account of female beginnings in the 19th century and general characteristics of pre-1940 female Ph.D.s. Excellent overview. [WT]
Goodman, David, "Science and the clergy in the Spanish Enlightenment," History of Science, 21(1983), 111-135. This very interesting article discusses the Spanish clergy's (in the 18th century) bold plans of educating the masses in the exact sciences including mathematics, astronomy, geometry and experimental physics, in hopes of making more believers and bringing prosperity to the nation. However the Spanish Enlightenment had limited achievements and what successes were won were through efforts of an enlightened minority. [JS]
Greitzer, Samuel L., "Credit where credit is due," Mathematics Teacher, 60(1967), 155-156. A quick summary of many historical events that a teacher could talk about when introducing a new topic to a class. Besides the 32 historical tidbits, the article also gives the reader sources where more information can be found concerning each event. Good article for future high school teachers. [JH]
Hallerberg, Arthur, "The geometry of the fixed compass," Mathematics Teacher, 52(1959), 230-244. Highly recommended to any High School geometry teacher! Demonstrates the use of a fixed (one set opening) compass for construction problems. The compass is never too big or too small. [CW]
Hankins, Thomas L., "Triplets and triads: Sir William Rowen Hamilton on the metaphysics of mathematics," Isis, 68(1977), 175-193. A good paper on Hamilton's discovery of quaternions. Very interesting in the way his obsession with triplets led to his discovery. Brings to light some important aspects of metamathematics. [JM]
Jones, Phillip S., "Word origins," Mathematics Teacher, 47(1954), 195-196. I had hoped that this article would provide the origins of many mathematical terms, but it only suggested several. It did, however, give a list of references for those interested in the origins or words. [AB]
Jones, Phillip S., "The history of mathematics education," American Mathematical Monthly, 74(1967), 38-61. Great article which describes the history of mathematics in education. It begins with the Babylonians and then discusses the first mathematics teachers, formal education texts, journals and then concludes by describing mathematics education in the U.S. [KC]
Kenschaft, Patricia, "Black women in mathematics in the United States," American Mathematical Monthly, 88(1981), 592-604. Biographies of 19 Black women mathematicians. Told of their trials as Black women mathematics students. Very interesting and easy to read. [CF]
Lick, Dale W., "The remarkable Bernoulli family," Mathematics Teacher, 62(1069), 401-408. Provides biographical sketches on seven members of the Bernoulli family, broken down into sections for independent reading. A good place to start on the Bernoullis.
Patterson, Boyd C., "The artificial arithmetic in decimals of Robert Jager (London, 1651)," Isis, 31(1939), 25-31. An introduction to one of the first books about decimals written in English. The article includes sample problems and copies of the table of contents and the title page. Some language and sentence structure are difficult to understand. [AB]
Reid, Constance, "The road not taken – a footnote in the history of mathematics," The Mathematical Intelligencer, 1(1978), 21-23. Tells the story of how the great mathematician Felix Klein nearly became professor of mathematics at Johns Hopkins University. The university refused to meet his pay request, so he refused to leave Göttingen in Germany.
Rogers, G. A. J., "Descartes and the method of English science," Annals of Science, 29(1972), 237-255. Examples of Descartes' influence on English scientists, focusing on the beliefs and works of Robert Boyle. Tries to emphasize the good work of Descartes without overdoing it. [KE]
Sanford, Vera, "The problem of the lion in the well," Mathematics Teacher, 44(1951), 196 (?). Deals with the time needed to go a certain distance at a constant rate when progress is being slowed by a constant motion. It gives many examples of old problems which could be humorous in today's classroom. It relates the ideas and situations long ago to present-day situations. [AD]
Schepler, Herman, "The chronology of π," Mathematics Magazine, 23(1949), 165-169. A chronological list of the people who originated and used ¹ from 3000 B.C. to 598 A.D. This article also gives a short biographical sketch of each person. Interesting to read and very informative. [JS]
Simons, Lao G., "The place of the history and recreations of mathematics in teaching algebra and geometry," Mathematics Teacher, 16(1923), 94-101. Explains how the history of mathematics can be applied in the classroom. Shows specific examples and gives good ideas on how to make mathematics more exciting to students. A good article for those who plan to become secondary mathematics teachers. [TD]
Smith, David Eugene, "On the origin of certain typical problems," American Mathematical Monthly, 24(1917), 64-71. A very interesting account of the origin of four common mathematics problems which intrigued man hundreds of years ago. The problems surfaced because they dealt with aspects of everyday life at the time. Easy to read and understand. [PH]
Struik, D. J., "The origin of L'Hospital's rule," Mathematics Teacher, 56(1963), 257-260. This article provides a brief biographical sketch of the Marquis and tells of the cooperation and then controversy with Johann Bernoulli. There is some discussion on the subject of "Named" theorems, which are usually named for those who made them famous. Where do we draw the line for plagiarism? [CF & JZ]
Swetz, Frank, "The introduction of mathematics in higher education in China, 1865-1887," Historia Mathematica, 1(1947), 167-179. A description of the events in China that led to the introduction of mathematics into Chinese education; chiefly the translation of Euclid's Elements. Pictures and Chinese calligraphy provided. Very easy to read. Good for the student interested in Asian history. [RL]
Return to the minicourse home page.
If you have comments, send email to V. Frederick Rickey at
fred-rickey@usma.edu .
Posted 14 December 1996.