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Where is the first reference to the "Z combinator", a call-by-value fix-point combinator?
I'd like to know the earliest reference to the Z-combinator. This could be either where the name was first coined, or even the first discussion of a need for an applicative-order Y combinator. I didn't find anything in Barendregt, which was my…
Jason Hemann
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How did Peano prove his existence theorem without Ascoli's theorem?
In modern proofs of the Peano Existence Theorem for ordinary differential equations, Ascoli's theorem is used. Ascoli's theorem came after Peano's proof. Did Peano prove a form of Ascoli's theorem in his proof or did he do something else?
LinearGuy
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Riemann's Contribution to Integration
What did Riemann do for the theory of integration?
I am asking because I hear his name a lot in relation to integration and it is often implied that he made large contributions, but I do not know what they are.
To clarify, Cauchy was the first to…
user109871
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Why is the problem of demarcation important in the history of science?
Historically, why has it been important to have a clear distinction between science and other forms of knowledge? The only thing I have come across so far is the debate between evolution and creation, with Popper's idea of scientific theories being…
1123581321
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Origin of the expression “Fundamental theorem of Algebra”
Who was the first person to use the expression “Fundamental theorem of Algebra”? It is well-known that Gauss called it “Fundamental theorem of algebraic equations”. Grattan-Guiness, in his The Rainbow of Mathematics: A History of the Mathematical…
José Carlos Santos
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What algebra problem did Serge Lang give to calculus students?
Joel Spolsky tells this story:
Serge Lang, a math professor at Yale, used to give his Calculus students a fairly simple algebra problem on the first day of classes, one which almost everyone could solve, but some of them solved it as quickly as…
J.G.
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How did Huygens derive the conservation law for of kinetic energy?
In the book 'Energy - The Subtle Concept' by Energy, the Subtle Concept by Jennifer Coopersmith the author says that Huygens was the first to use the term $mv^2$ in physics. He was considering elastic collisions of bodies in the horizontal plane.…
user194517
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How did scientists (or researchers ) discover prograde and retrograde burns?
Prograde burn and retrograde burn are quite basic maneuvers in orbital mechanics. But how did the scientists (or researchers) discover that (the mathematical interpretation)? Did they try any practical experiments or was it all a theoretical…
Adhesh Sagar
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Origin of arcminutes, arcseconds, "arcthirds," "arcfourths," etc
This section of a Wikipedia article says
[Modern time and angle notation] contrasts with the numbers used by Hellenistic and Renaissance astronomers, who used thirds, fourths, etc. for finer increments. Where we might write 10°25'59.392", they would…
holomenicus
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Did Michel Rolle say that the calculus is "a collection of ingenious fallacies"?
It is probable that this quote was popularized by the writings of Morris Kline, e.g. in Mathematics for Liberal Arts (1967):
[Michel Rolle] taught that the calculus was a collection of ingenious fallacies.
The earliest instance I can find of this…
user67
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Why do we call Chinese monoid "Chinese"? Why not "American"?
Why do we call Chinese monoid "Chinese"? Why not "American"?
You can find the definition of Chinese monoid from Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_monoid
Daisy
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Has anything survived of the work of alleged science journalist and medical doctor 'Adolph Klein', allegedly born 1829 in Merseburg?
The Jewish Encyclopedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jewish_Encyclopedia) contains a sizeable entry on one 'Adolph Klein', allegedly born on 1829-05-29 in ther German city of Halle (Saale).
Puzzlingly, hardly anything seems to have survived of…
Peter Heinig
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What brought about the need for real analysis and formal logic in recent years?
I can't seem to find a clear, definitive, non-circular answer on this. For centuries and centuries, we've been doing mathematics in one form or another, be it geometry and pictures, or inventing symbols to represent numbers and then manipulating…
user525966
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Did Eudoxus really set out to present irrationals as Dedekind cuts?
I've been intrigued by the similarities between what Eudoxus' Theory of Proportions and Dedekind cuts.
However, I wish to question this "perceived similarity" and would like to where the flaws are, in my understanding.
Pythagoreans discovered…
PhD
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How did the notion of "time" come in the world of physics?
I was trying to figure out how people came to know about time then I realized that people started keeping track of time to know about sunset and sunrise. But I can't figure out how did time came into the physics world. Other physical quantities can…
Soham
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