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Showing posts from 2011

DOLAND E KNUTH

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He is born in 1938 .Knuth grew up in Milwaukee, where his father taught bookkeeping at a Lutheran high school and owned a small printing business.He was an excellent student, earning academic achievement awards.He applied his intelligence in unconventional ways, winning a contest when he was in the eighth grade by finding over 4500 words that could be formed from the letters in "Ziegler's Giant Bar".This won a television set for his school and a candy bar for everyone in his class. Knuth had a difficult time choosing physics over music as his major the Case Institute of Technology.He then switched from physics to mathematics,and in 1960 he received his bachelor of science degree, simultaneously receiving a muster of science degree by a special awards of the faculty who considered his worked outstanding.At Case,he manage the basked ball team and applied his Atalents by constructing a formula for the value of each player.This novel approach was covered by Newsweek and by W

SRINIVASA RAMANUJAN

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The famous mathematical prodigy Ramanujan was broan and raised in southern India near the city of Madras (now call Chennai).His father was clerk in a cloth shop.His mother contributed to the family income by singing at a local temple. Ramanujan studied at the local English language school,displaying his talent and interest for mathematics.At the age of 13 he mastered a textbook used by college students.When he was 15, a university student lent him a copy of Synopsis of pure mathematics.Ramanujan decided to work out the over 6000 results in this book, stated without proof or explanation, writing on sheets later collected tofrom notebooks.Enrolling in a fine arts curriculum,he neglected subjects other than mathematics and lost his scholarship.He failed to pass examinations at the university four times from 1904 to 1907 , doing well only in mathematics.During this time he filled his notebooks with original writings,sometimes rediscovering already published work and at other times makin

GODFREY HAROLD HARDY

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Hardy, born in Cranleigh, survey, England, was the older of tow children of Issac Hardy and Sophia Hall Hardy.His father was the geography and drawing master at the Cranleigh School and also gave singing lessons played soccer.His mother gave piano lesson and helped run a boardinghouse for young students. Hardy's parents were devoted to their children's education. Hardy demonstrated his numerical ability at the early age of tow when he began writing down numbers into the millions.He had a private mathematics tutor rather then attending regular classes at the Cranleigh School. He moved to Winchester College, a private high school,when he was 13 and was awarded a scholarship. He excelled in his studies and demonstrated a strong interest in mathematics. He entered Trinity College, Cambridge, in 1896 a scholarship and won several prizes during his time there, graduating in 1899.Hardy held the position of lecturer in mathematics at Trinity college at Cambridge University from 1906 to

CHARLES SANDERS PEIRCE

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Many consider Charles Peirce the most original and versatile intellect from the united state;he was born in Cambridge,Massachusetts.He made important contributions to an amazing number of disciplines,including mathematics,astronomy,chemistry,geodesy,metrology,engineering,psychology,philology,the history of science, and economics.He was also an inventor, a life student of medicine,a book reviewer, a dramatist and a actor, a story writer, a phenomenologist, a logician , and a mataphysicians.He is noted as the preeminent system building philosopher competent and productive in logic, mathematics, and a wide range of sciences.His father, Benjamin Peirce, was a professor of mathematics and natural philosophy at Harvard.Peirce attended Harvard(1855-1859) and received a Harvard master of arts degree(1862) and an advanced degree in chemistry from the Lawrence Scientific School(1863).His father in encouraged him to pursue a career in science,but instead he cose to study logic and scientific met

AUGUSTA ADA, COUNTESS OF LOVELACE

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Augusta Ada was the only child from the marriage of the poet Lord Byron, Annabella Millbank, who separated when Ada was 1 month old, because of Lord Byron's scandalous affair with his half sister.The lord byron had quite reputation being described by one of his lovers as "mad,bed and dangerous to know".Lady byron was noted for her intellect and had a passion mathematics;she was called by lord byron"the princess of parallelograms".Augusta was raised by her mother, who encouraged her intellectual talents specially in music and mathematics,to counter hot Lady Byron considered dangerous poetic tendencies.At this time,Women were not a allowed to attend universities and could not join learned societies.Never the less,Augusta Pursued her mathematical studies independently and with mathematician, including William Frend.She was also encouraged by another female mathematician,Mary Somerville,and in 1834 at a dinner party hosted by Mary Somerville,she learned about Charl

ARISTOTLE

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Aristotle was born in Stagirus(Stagira) in northern Greece.His father was the personal physician of the king of Macedonia.Because his father died when Aristotle was young,Aristotle could not follow the custom of following his father's profession.Aristotle become an orphan at young age when his mother also died.His guardian who raised him taught him poetry,rhetoric and greek.At the age of 17,his guardian sent him to Athens to future his education.Aristotle joined plato's Academy where for 20 years he attended plato's lectures,later presenting his won lectures on rhetoric,when plato died in 347 B.CE,Aristotle was not chosen to succeed him because his views differed too much from those of plato.Instead,Aristotle joined the court of King Hermeas where he remained for three years,and married the niece of the King. When the Persians defeated Hermeas,Aristotle moved to Mytilene and,at the invitation of King Philip of Macedonia,he tutored.Alexander,Philip's son,who later become