Module page
Storia della matematica
| academic year: | 2013/2014 |
| instructor: | Enrico Rogora |
| degree course: | Mathematics - DM 270/04 (triennale), II year |
| type of training activity: | caratterizzante |
| credits: | 9 (72 class hours) |
| scientific sector: | MAT/04 Matematiche complementari |
| teaching language: | italiano |
| period: | II sem (03/03/2014 - 13/06/2014) |
Lecture meeting time and location
Presence: highly recommended
Module subject:
Mathematics at the dawn of civilization: Mesopotamics, Aegyptians, Babilonians. An overview of the classical chinese mathematics and of the indian mathematics. Greek mathematics: Thales and Pythagoras; mathematics in the classical Greece; Euclids Elements; mathematics in the alexandrian period. From Middle Ages to Renaissance: mathematics in the Islamic world; mathematics in Christian Western Europe. Mathematics at the beginnings of modern science. The origins of infinitesimal calculus and mechanics. Mathematics in the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Century: geometry, analysis, probability calculus. Mathematics in the Twentieth Century. The axiomatic movement. The developments of applied mathematics and of mathematical modelling.
Suggested reading:
A. Millan Gasca, "All'inizio fu lo Scriba", Milano, Mimesis, 2004.
M. Kline, Storia del pensiero matematico, Torino, Einaudi, 1991.
A. Dahan-Dalmedico, J. Peiffer, Une histoire des mathématiques, Paris, Seuil, 1986.
Excepta of famous mathematicians are available on the website of the Department of Mathematics.
Type of course: standard
Knowledge and understanding:
Successful students will have a general knowledge of the fundamental events in the historical development of mathematics
Skills and attributes:
Successful students will have the basic knowledge and the methodological tools which are necessary in order to deepen the knowledge of the history of mathematics.
Personal study: the percentage of personal study required by this course is the 65% of the total.