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Where can I find the translated manuscript of Abel?
I am looking for the translated manuscript of Abel where he proved the unsolvability of the quintic. Can anyone give me a pointer? I tried Google, but nothing came up.
Kushal Bhuyan
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Who first drew the Weierstrass function?
As we know, it was Weierstrass who gave the first (published) example, in 1872, of a function which is continuous but everywhere non-differentiable. However, in his paper "Über continuirliche Functionen eines reellen Arguments, die für keinen Werth…
David
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Examples of good research mathematicians that did poorly in exams
Are there any examples of mathematicians have produced good research, having done poorly in mathematics exams?
Yes
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What are some major examples of rushed scientific publications based on flawed data?
In 2014 BICEP2 made a very controversial press release. It was rushed, given before any papers where published, because they feared they would be scooped by another similar experiment. In the end it turned out that their analysis of their data was…
Jekowl
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7
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Why do Maxwell's equations bear his name?
Maxwell's equations in their modern differential form are:
$\nabla \cdot \mathbf{E} = \dfrac {\rho} {\varepsilon_0}$ (Gauss's law for electricity)
$\nabla \cdot \mathbf{B} = 0$ (Gauss's law for magnetism)
$\nabla \times \mathbf{E} =…
Omar Nagib
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History of the component-free approach to tensors
I'm trying to learn tensor calculus on my own, and I thought it would help if I could get some historical perspective, like who developed the component-free approach to tensors, and around what time it was developed.
set5
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Was Einstein the first person to think of the equivalence of a ball drop in an accelerated elevator and a ball drop on Earth?
Consider the following figure taken from Wikipedia.
Was Einstein the first person to think of the equivalence of a ball drop in an elevator with acceleration of $g$ and a ball drop on Earth?
To be honest, I was also thinking of it before I learned…
Display Name
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Nobel Prize work derived from Manhattan Project research?
There are quite a few Nobel Prize winners (e.g. Physics) who worked on the Manhattan project in the development of the atomic bomb. But, did any Nobel Prize result from direct research performed on the Manhattan Project? For example, although…
K7PEH
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Did Archimedes know about Callipus?
Various sources, such as Cicero's Republic state that Archimedes had made a machine consisting of glass spheres that represented the Eudoxian system of the world.
Considering that Callipus died over a decade before Archimedes was born, would…
Michal Paszkiewicz
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Why is Minkowski's question mark function denoted by a question mark?
There are some real odd names for functions in mathematics, but Minkowski's question mark function, denoted by $?(x)$, may be the oddest one I have ever seen.
In Zur Geometrie der Zahlen, Minkowski doesn't discuss his choice of notation (at least,…
HDE 226868
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What are the most famous examples of theory rebranding?
This question was sparked by the observation that the rebranding of the field called "neural networks" into "deep learning" is quite impressive. I wonder whether there have been similar renamings in the past.
Franck Dernoncourt
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Is there a biography of Ramanujan for mathematicians?
Like many mathematicians, I have long been fascinated by Ramanujan's work and also by what little I know of his life. I would like to learn more, but have found the standard book on this subject (Kanigel's The Man Who Knew Infinity), while…
user2568
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Why is Einstein's mass-energy relation usually written as $E=mc^2$, and not $\Delta E=\Delta m c^2$?
Why is Einstein's mass-energy relation usually written as $E=mc^2$, and not $\Delta E=\Delta m c^2$?
When you calculate the energy $\Delta E$ released during nuclear fission, you take the difference $\Delta m$ between the mass of the particles…
wythagoras
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Why did Aristotle make mistakes in his laws of motion?
I was studying Aristotle's laws of motion and comparing them to Newton's. He states that heavier bodies fall faster than lighter ones. I really can't understand how he could have committed such a mistake. It seems obvious that two stones with…
jack
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The origin of the name "connection" in differential geometry
Everyone will encounter the notion of connection in differential geometry. But who gave this name of connection( or affine connection)? Why is this derivative operator called connection? What object does it connect? I'm just confused about the…
Golbez
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