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"Nuclear fusion is 30 years away" since when?
It's a well-known, running joke (or criticism) in the fusion community that
Fusion is always 30 years away.
refering to the considerable difficulties that harnessing nuclear fusion as an energy source has faced since the 1940's.
Who said that…
stafusa
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9
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What is the etymology of the mathematical terms "sheaf, stalk, germ"?
The peculiar agricultural terminology commonly used in algebraic geometry and category theory, "sheaf", "stalk", "germ", is quite well-known. A sheaf is pictured as something like a bundle of stalks, in which reside germs. Very roughly and…
Todd Trimble
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9
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Who was the first person to notice logarithms of negatives numbers and for what reason?
Who was the first person to notice logarithms of negatives numbers and why? When did they first arise naturally? I thought I saw somewhere that it had to do with integration but I can't find it anymore and it's really bothering me. What was this…
Pineapple Fish
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When and where did scientific publications become the norm in mathematics?
In other words, how old is the practice of submitting mathematical work for peer review to specialized magazines? When/where it started to become the norm?
My question is oriented toward the evolution of specialized publications in mathematics,…
Leandro Caniglia
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How did Eratosthenes know the distance between Aswan and Alexandria?
In his well-known measurement of the Earth, and according to Cleomedes, Eratosthenes estimated in 5000 stades the distance between Aswan and Alexandria. Modern accounts state that he calculated the distance from the time taken by caravans…
xxavier
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Apéry’s mysterious recurrence relation
A fairly detailed (14 page) account of Apéry’s original proof of the irrationality of $\zeta(3)$ is given in Julian Havil’s book The Irrationals which states that Apéry’s starting point is the mysterious recurrence relation $$n^3u_n +…
nwr
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9
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2 answers
Origin of $\ll$ notation
Vinogradov introduced the notation
$$f(x) \ll g(x)$$
to denote that for some $C>0$, we have $|f(x)|\leqslant C\,g(x)$ for all $x$ under consideration; usually for all $x$ larger than a fixed constant (equivalently $f(x) = O(g(x))$ is used).
I've…
Luke Collins
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9
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What is the reasoning behind using "moment" in the "moment of inertia"?
Linear inertia is called mass. Rotational inertia is called moment of inertia.
Moment of inertia is an odd choice for the term for this property. It doesn't seem to "fit" with the style or pattern of a simple term like mass, although it is the…
Steeven
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Women in mathematics
I'd like to read something about the history of women in mathematics. I'd love to have reading suggestions of books in English or Italian, of 3 kinds:
1) History of math books, academic style;
2) Popular mathematics books, for a broader audience;
3)…
Alberto Saracco
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9
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1 answer
Seven bridges of Königsberg - did people know that it was impossible?
I'm not sure if this is the most suitable site for the question. Please feel free to modify or move my post!
I have heard that people really walked a lot in Königsberg, trying to solve that seven bridges puzzle.
I'm just a bit curious: before the…
WhatsUp
8
votes
1 answer
What is Poincare's "Fourth Geometry"?
In Science and Hypothesis, Poincare cryptically describes a "Fourth Geometry." Can anyone clarify what he is talking about? Is there a standard name for this geometry?
The Fourth Geometry.—Among these explicit axioms there is one which
seems to…
Kevin K
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Who first defined polynomials as sequences?
Question 1. When did the modern definition of a polynomial (as a sequence of coefficients, with multiplication defined by $\left(ab\right)_n = \sum\limits_{k=0}^n a_k b_{n-k}$) emerge?
Let me clarify: People have been working with some notion of…
darij grinberg
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8
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2 answers
What is the status of the three crises in the history of mathematics?
I have seen a claim in some literature that there are three crises in the history of mathematics. The first is the discovery of $\sqrt2$ being irrational in Greek time which shook the belief that every point on a line can be measured by a rational…
Eugene Zhang
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Remarkable numerical calculations before electronic computers
I know the story that Cole found the factoring of the big number $2^{67}-1$.
Is there any other remarkable achievement of hand calculation?
wdlang
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Who was L. Aubry?
In his magnificent book Number Theory: An approach through history, from Hammurapi to Legendre, André Weil quotes the article Solution de quelques questions d'analyse indéterminée, by L. Aubry (Sphinx-Œdipe, 7e année (1912), pp. 81–84). Can someone…
José Carlos Santos
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