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History Alive!
Online Resources in a History of Math Course
Reva NarasimhanKean University, Union, NJ
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Background
• Kean University is a comprehensive, regional university in New Jersey
• Students in the course is required for math education majors
• The course is a writing emphasis course
• Instructor has background in mathematics, not trained as a historian of math
• For the instructor: History lectures from EdX or Coursera
Structure of Course
• Main Texts
• Internet resources supported and enhanced the material from the text
• Objective : Intertwining history and mathematics in context
• Math Through the Ages: A Gentle History for Teachers and Others by Berlinghoff and Gouvea
• The Mathematical Universe: An Alphabetical Journey Through the Great Proofs, Problems, and Personalities by William Dunham
Timeline and Historical Context
• Objective here is to give a visual anchor to the different time periods
• Internet Resource:
Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History
From the Metropolitan Museum of Art
• Comparative humanities: Idea of using art history as a lens to view math history
Videos
• BBC series The Story of Maths (Films on Demand from
Kean Library), hosted by Marcus du Sautoy, Oxford University
• Covered history of math over four episodes• The Language of the Universe• The Genius of the East• The Frontiers of Space• To Infinity and Beyond
• Clips can be viewed athttp://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00dxjls/clips
Videos
• Fermat’s Last Theorem, BBC documentary by Simon Singh• For undergrads in a primarily teaching
institution, it highlighted modern mathematical research
• The Math Life
Incorporating the videos
• Students assigned to watch them on their own
• Documentary was filmed on location and provided a perspective that cannot be replicated in a classroom lecture
• Reinforced the reading assignments – students would often refer to some scene in the video during class discussion
Manuscripts via digitized collections
• What did math notation look like in older manuscripts?
• What was the evolution of mathematical notation?
• These resources span multiple sites
• Liber Abaci by Leonardo of Pisa
• Whetstone of Witte by Robert Recorde
• History of Mathematical Notations by Florian Cajori via Google Books
Mathematics ofBrahmagupta and Bhaskara
Translation by Henry Colebrooke
From Archives.org
An English translation of Newton’s PrincipiaFrom University of California, Digital Libraries
Linking across time
• NY Times article on Andrew Wiles’s proof of Fermat’s Last Theorem
• NPR interview with Keith Devlin on Leonardo of Pisa
• Euler Bridges of Konigsberg and graphs in the Internet era of Social Networking
• Descartes and the connection between algebra and geometry linking to the use of dynamic geometry software
Resources
• The MacTutor History of Math archives
• Mathematical Treasures (MAA)
• Mathematics Illuminated – Learner.org
• Original sources
• Course web page for History of Math: http://bit.ly/math3891
