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On the work of Sadi Carnot
This PDF file contains an English translation of Sadi Carnot's Refelections on the motive power of fire. It also contains commentary by Lord Kelvin. And some chapters about the work and life of Carnot, made by the editor R. H. Thruston.
Under the…
Omar Nagib
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What are Archimedes's contributions to the principle of the screw pump?
I read that the famous screw pumps were used before Archimedes (in the hanging gardens of Babylon for example), and that the Archimedean screw is named after him because he "developed a rigorous theory of the kinematics of the screw".
Can someone…
user2554
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"Number Theoretic" is wrong ? "Arithmetical" is right?
I don't recall the reference, but I read once in a work of Hardy's that "number-theoretic" should not be used when talking about number theory, however tempting it may be.
So what do we say? I read on Wikipedia that the word "arithmetical" is…
user2114
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Why did Greek Olympic games take place every fourth year?
I was wondering why Greeks chose to have Olympic games every four years. Now, since we usually every fourth year is a leap one, it makes sense; but the reform of the calendar which stated this is due to Julius Caesar, and besides (see here) Greeks…
mau
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What is the modern understanding of the chronology of Newton's mathematical work?
Some years ago, I read the Newton biography "Never at Rest" by Richard Westfall. However, I don't currently have access to a copy, so the following is from memory.
According to the biography, Newton has no formal mathematical background to speak of,…
Faheem Mitha
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Skorokhod's contribution to probability theory
I always thought of Skorokhod associated with the topology for convergence in the space of càdlàg (right continuous with left limits) functions in probability.
But it seems that he made several other contributions. He studied the reflected Brownian…
Conrado Costa
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What was the earliest documented zoonosis?
We know, of course, that zoonoses – diseases transmitted from animals to humans – have existed about as long as humans and animals have co-existed, but what was the earliest documented case of a zoonosis? In other words, who first attributed a human…
Harry Vervet
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What was the reason for the immense progress of mathematics in 18th century?
The 18th century had sought a huge, immense progress in mathematics. As late as 17th century people still wrote algebraic equations with words. But by the end of 18th century we had
Mathematical analysis and theory of differential equations
Complex…
Anixx
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How did Ising pronounce his name?
The surname of Ernst Ising, of Ising model fame, is often pronounced as EYE-zing by non-German speakers, but as EE-zing by German speakers. It is frequently claimed that EE-zing is the correct pronunciation, as Ising was German. However, he…
Ashley Montanaro
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Primary reference for a formula related to the Faa di Bruno formula
In discussing Lie derivatives in his book Advanced Combinatorics (Reidel, 1974, pg. 220), Comtet refers to a formula of Pourchet related to the celebrated Faa di Bruno formula. Other references to Pourchet's formula that I've found always refer back…
Tom Copeland
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When was the term "union" first used?
I found out that the symbol for union, ∪, was created in 1895 by Giuseppe Peano in his Formulario Mathematico but of course the use of the word "union" in mathematics was older. Do you have a source for the earliest occurrence?
mau
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History of the study of indeterminism in classical mechanics
The classic Norton's dome problem, space invaders and other examples, show that Classical Mechanics, held as the paragon of determinism for ages having inspired Laplace's statements on determinism, is not necessarily deterministic, as explained here…
Cicero
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History of the geometric series
I'm interested in understanding the history of the geometric series, especially how it was discovered and whether there exists continued fraction representations for the geometric series, just as there are continued fractions for many elementary…
math-enthusiast
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1 answer
Why was the V-2 not a solid rocket, and/or what is the scientific history of solid rockets?
Why was the V-2 rocket made with ethanol and liquid oxygen, which had a specific impulse of 215 seconds at sea level, when a solid rocket using APCP gets 237 seconds?
In addition, a solid rocket engine would have almost no moving parts, so it would…
DrZ214
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History of computing/computation in higher education
A Google search for the first academic computer science program a couple of years ago cited a half-dozen programs in France and England that were considered proto-computer science. Current searches yield no such answers. Can anyone suggest an avenue…
david west