Algebra Tutors  Calculus Tutors  Geometry Tutors  Statistics Tutors  Trigonometry Tutors  Algebrator

Posts Tagged ‘People’

Charles Babbage: Famous mathematicians #2

Charles Babbage - Father of Computer

Charles Babbage - Father of Computer

Charles Babbage, born 26-Dec-1791 in Teignmouth, England, is considered to be one of the greatest mathematicians of all time & is called Father of the Computer for his contribution in the field of mathematics & computing, the most remarkable being ‘originating of the modern programmable computer’. Charles Babbage graduated from the Cambridge University and during his youth was selected to be a Fellow of the Royal Society at the age of 24. Babbage became the Lucasian Professor of Mathematics at the Cambridge University in the year 1827 and held the post for almost 12 years but never taught for most of his time was spent in research.

Babbage was a mathematician, philosopher, inventor & mechanical engineer and his uncompleted mechanisms are on display in the London Science Museum. In 1830 he published “Reflections on the Decline of Science in England”, a controversial work that resulted in the formation of the British Association for the Advancement of Science after 1 year. In 1834 Babbage published his most influential work “On the Economy of Machinery and Manufactures”, in which he proposed an early form of operational research. The same year he invented the principle of the analytical engine, the forerunner of the modern electronic computer.

(more…)

Math quotes #2

If equations are trains threading the landscape of numbers, then no train stops at pi.
by Richard Preston

Even stranger things have happened; and perhaps the strangest of all is the marvel that mathematics should be possible to a race akin to the apes.
by Eric T. Bell, The Development of Mathematics

So if a man’s wit be wandering, let him study the mathematics; for in demonstrations, if his wit be called away never so little, he must begin again.
by Francis Bacon, “Of Studies”

The essence of mathematics is not to make simple things complicated, but to make complicated things simple.
by S. Gudder

The human mind has never invented a labor-saving machine equal to algebra.
Author Unknown

The mathematics are distinguished by a particular privilege, that is, in the course of ages, they may always advance and can never recede.
by Edward Gibbon, Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire

(more…)

Ralph Abernathy: Famous mathematicians #1

Ralph Abernathy

Ralph Abernathy

In this series of articles we will take on the famous people from all spheres of life who learned math or were instrumental in making mathematics a popular subject. Today we start with Ralph David Abernathy who not only successfully led many social activist movements but also learned & educated the masses.

Apart from being a civil rights activist in the USA and a close associate of Martin Luther King Jr, Ralph David Abernathy is also remembered as a mathematician. Born on 11-Mar-1926 in Linden, Ralph completed his Bachelor of Science degree in Mathematics in 1950. His inclination & works helped him become a Professor of Mathematics & later the Dean of the Department of Mathematics in the Alabama State University. During his tenure as the Dean of the Department of Mathematics he also hosted a radio talk show and became the first black man in Montgomery to be on radio.

(more…)

Math quotes #1

Pure mathematics is, in its way, the poetry of logical ideas.
by Albert Einstein

Mathematics are well and good but nature keeps dragging us around by the nose.
by Albert Einstein

Black holes result from God dividing the universe by zero.
Author unknown

Mathematics – the unshaken Foundation of Sciences, and the plentiful Fountain of Advantage to human affairs.
by Isaac Barrow

I never did very well in math – I could never seem to persuade the teacher that I hadn’t meant my answers literally.
by Calvin Trillin

I don’t agree with mathematics; the sum total of zeros is a frightening figure.
by Stanislaw J. Lec, More Unkempt Thoughts

(more…)