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History and philosophy of mathematics, biographies of mathematicians, mathematics education, recreational mathematics, communication of mathematics.
5
votes
Did the notion of "angle" originate with Thales?
The division of a circle into 360 degrees may well have originated from ancient Babylonian mathematics (1800 BC), as evidenced by a clay tablet from Shush. Here is a quote from David Wallis, History o …
9
votes
Mathematics contests before 1800
Here is an overview of Euler's entries to the the annual prize competition of the Paris Academy. He came first 12 out of 15 years in the period 1727-1772.
Ronald Calinger describes Euler's first atte …
5
votes
Accepted
Euclid vs Eratosthenes
C.K. Raju goes to some length to argue that Euclid did not exist at all, in Good-Bye Euclid!
He starts from the established fact that, while Euclid was first mentioned by the 5th century philosopher …
12
votes
Accepted
What was Gödel's Constitutional Problem?
The history of how Gödel studied the US constitution in preparation for the citizenship exam is well documented by Jeffrey Kegler, as pointed out in the comments. Perhaps more relevant for MO (as oppo …
4
votes
historical antecedents of mathematical talks
Well, if you are interested to learn how Euler lectured on math and physics to a lay audience, you might want to take a look at the Letters of Euler to a German Princess. This book collects the lectur …
14
votes
Accepted
Erich Stiemke biography
Erich Stiemke, born 12 April 1892, died in combat on 10 September 1915. His Ph.D thesis was published posthumously in 1925, with the following preface:
Erich Stiemke, born on April 12, 1892, fell …
4
votes
Lalouvère's activities as censor
[Community Wiki to follow up on Matt's comment]
Screenshot from De Backer's bibliography of Jesuit authors.(There is also an entry on Lalouvère.) Item B is a public lecture given by Labarthe when h …
10
votes
Accepted
How did Euler calculate $i^i$?
On the numerical value of $i^i$ and Historical notes on the relation $e^{-\pi/2}=i^i$ describe how these accurate computations can be performed with logarithmic tables.
Euler described how he arrived …
11
votes
At what times were people interested in prime numbers
In response to question (1), an authoritative source is Peter Rudman in "How Mathematics Happened: The First 50,000 Years". Some revelant quotes:
On the Ishango bone (20,000 BCE):
The concept of …
19
votes
Accepted
Who was Guillaume Maran?
For an authoritative answer, I contacted the professor of history at the University of Toulouse, Jacques Krynen, who has written a biography of Guillaume Maran. His response [*] to the puzzling inscri …
7
votes
Accepted
History of the classification of mathematical subjects
Here is one such historical overview:
Mathematics in library subject classification systems, by Craig Fraser (2016). (Springer link)
Insofar as library science is concerned, modern classification …
59
votes
Accepted
J. H. C Whitehead (and his pig)
The first record I found of this photograph is in Oxford Figures: Eight Centuries of the Mathematical Sciences. Professor Michael Atiyah shares some recollections of J.H.C. Whitehead and his pigs:
…
6
votes
Accepted
Origin of $L$ in $L^1$ and $L^2$ norms
On page 453 of his 1910 paper Untersuchungen über Systeme integrierbarer Funktionen Riesz writes (in a footnote)
*) H. Lebesgue Sur les intégrales singulières (1909) appeared after the completion of …
3
votes
Accepted
Fermat's Method of Removing Radicals
Fermat developed his method of clearing radicals to solve the problem of finding the maximum and minimum of a polynomial, as an application of differential calculus "avant la lettre". A 19th century s …
30
votes
Accepted
History of Mathematical Notation
For a quite extensive overview with many examples, you might want to check out The origins and development of mathematical notation.
I also enjoyed reading Stephen Wolfram's take on Mathematical Notat …