MA30910 - HISTORY OF MATHEMATICS

Module Identifier	MA30910
Module Title	HISTORY OF MATHEMATICS
Academic Year	2001/2002
Co-ordinator	Dr C Fletcher
Semester	Intended for use in future years (Taught over 2 semesters)
Next year offered	N/A
Next semester offered	N/A
Pre-Requisite	MA11010 or MA11110
Course delivery	Lecture	19 Hours
	Tutorial	3 Hours
Assessment	Presentation	10 minute talk	10%
	Essay	2,000 - 3,000 word essay	40%
	Exam	1.5 Hours	50%
	Resit assessment	Students who fail this module and wish to be reassessed, will be required to sit a 2 hour written examination. This will form the whole of the assessment.

Syllabus

The syllabus for this course changes year by year, sometimes at short notice, but it shall contain the following:
1. SOME ASPECTS OF GREEK MATHEMATICS: Usually based on Euclid's Elements and one of the works of Archimedes.
2. FRENCH MATHEMATICS OF THE 17TH CENTURY: In particular the work of Pierre de Fermat
3. BRITISH AND IRISH ALGEBRAISTS OF THE 19TH CENTURY: eg George Boole, Arthur Cayley, William Rowan Hamilton and James Joseph Sylvester.

Objectives

A student who successfully completes the course should:

be familiar with source and reference material in the UWA libraries;
have developed a critical facility with regard to this material;
understand the way certain parts of mathematics have progressed;
ba able to write a constructive essay on the history of mathematics;
have produced a substantial project essay on a designated topic;
have given a short talk to the class on this project essay.

General description

The study of the history of mathematics has an intrinsic appeal of its own, yet its chief raison d'etre is the illumination of mathematics itself. Mathematics is more than 3000 years old and the study of its history is an important component in the teaching of the subject. In this course the object will be to examine original material, because it is only in this way that one can enter into the spirit of past ages, to understand the triumphs and the stumbling blocks. The scope for this is necessarily limited both by time and by source material, but the exercise is valuable for all mathematicians, especially perhaps for those who contemplate taking up a teaching career.

Aims

To introduce students to a selection of original mathematical sources.

Reading Lists

Books
** Supplementary Text
G Boole. The laws of Thought. Dover
C Boyer. A History of Mathematics. Wiley
Euclid. Elements (translated by Heath in 3 volumes). Dover
H Eves. An Introduction to the History of Mathematics. Holt, Reinhart & Winston
J Fauvel & J J Gray. The History of Mathematics. Open University, Macmillan
P de Fermat. Correspondence. Gautier Villars
W R Hamilton. Collected Works Vol. 1 Algebra. Cambridge
T L Heath. A History of Greek Mathematics (2 volumes). Dover
B L van der Waerden. Science Awakening. Noordhoff