Escher's contribution to math divulgation?
153551
Another interesting concept that is illustrated by some of Escher's prints is self-similarity at different scales - i.e. fractals.\n\nFor example:\nhttp://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e49/UKild/escher_smaller_and_smaller.jpg\n\nI have offered an answer to your question, now would you please explain to me what "math divulgation" means to you?
90576
That is a very good observation. Through computers they are looking to "overide" the language barrier with the common language of math. You just may be on to something.
525104
Fermat, I think.  He wrote he had found a proof for this, but put a note in the margin that there wasn't enough room there for the proof.  And no-one could find the proof anywhere else in his notes and he died.  A fellow named Andrew Wiles worked for a long time to find the proof, and after some ill-fated public announcements I think the proof was finally completed.\n\nI hope this helps.
960004
I http://www.ua.edu/sacs2/cv/esellis.pdf\ngoogled and only this and now I am really curious because there was nothing else! Sounds like something I would want to know about..I'll keep looking
489641
The history of maths or on a famous mathematician.
246672
Well the group theory actually came from Benjamin Franklin...many didn't know this.  And it's funny because it came from the process of cooling down the "Liberty Bell".  They were theorizing about formulas for the ideal cooling scenario for the Liberty Bell but against Ben's better judgement they opted for faster cooling process and packed the Liberty Bell with ice.  It cracked.  Ben's formula was correct and thus formed "Abstract Algebra".
286179
I did check. It was John Napier. This used to be a very important name before calculators. To simplify multipling large numbers it was useful to first change the numbers to their logs add them together and then change back to decimals. \nRemember the law of logs/exponents that multiplying 10^2 * 10^3 = 10^5 ? Adding the exponents is the multipling the numbers. Slide rules work the same way.\nIn order for this to work he invented the scientific notation which splits a number into an exponent and mantissa.
373360
If only including Humans ( excluding God ),\nI would say,\n\n" Gauss, Karl Friedrich (1777-1855) "\n\nor better known as "Gauss".\n\nWhy? Because, among we mathematicans, he's the only one who got the title from his peers "prince of mathematics". \n\nI guess the opinion of the mathematicans counts the most in answering this question.\n\nGauss contributions were enormous.\n\nRegards
350854
64 proofs\nexplanation\nProof #1\nThis is probably the most famous of all proofs of the Pythagorean proposition. It's the first of Euclid's two proofs (I.47). The underlying configuration became known under a variety of names, the Bride's Chair likely being the most popular.\n\n    \n\nThe proof has been illustrated by an award winning Java applet written by Jim Morey. I include it on a separate page with Jim's kind permission.\n\nFirst of all, ABF = AEC by SAS. This is because, AE = AB, AF = AC, and\n\n  BAF = BAC + CAF = CAB + BAE = CAE.\n \n\nABF has base AF and the altitude from B equal to AC. Its area therefore equals half that of square on the side AC. On the other hand, AEC has AE and the altitude from C equal to AM, where M is the point of intersection of AB with the line CL parallel to AE. Thus the area of AEC equals half that of the rectangle AELM. Which says that the area AC2 of the square on side AC equals the area of the rectangle AELM.\n\nSimilarly, the are BC2 of the square on side BC equals that of rectangle BMLD. Finally, the two rectangles AELM and BMLD make up the square on the hypotenuse AB.\n\nThe configuration at hand admits numerous variations. B. F. Yanney and J. A. Calderhead (Am Math Monthly, v.4, n 6/7, (1987), 168-170 published several proofs based on the following diagrams\n\n   \n\n\n\nProof #2\n    \n\nWe start with two squares with sides a and b, respectively, placed side by side. The total area of the two squares is a2+b2.\n\n    \n\nThe construction did not start with a triangle but now we draw two of them, both with sides a and b and hypotenuse c. Note that the segment common to the two squares has been removed. At this point we therefore have two triangles and a strange looking shape.\n\n    \n\nAs a last step, we rotate the triangles 90o, each around its top vertex. The right one is rotated clockwise whereas the left triangle is rotated counterclockwise. Obviously the resulting shape is a square with the side c and area c2.\n\n(A variant of this proof is found in an extant manuscript by Thâbit ibn Qurra located in the library of Aya Sofya Musium in Turkey, registered under the number 4832. [R. Shloming, Thâbit ibn Qurra and the Pythagorean Theorem, Mathematics Teacher 63 (Oct., 1970), 519-528]. ibn Qurra's diagram is similar to that in proof #27. The proof itself starts with noting the presence of four equal right triangles surrounding a strangenly looking shape as in the current proof #2. These four triangles correspond in pairs to the starting and ending positions of the rotated triangles in the current proof. This same configuration could be observed in a proof by tesselation.)\n\n\n\nProof #3\n    \n\nNow we start with four copies of the same triangle. Three of these have been rotated 90o, 180o, and 270o, respectively. Each has area ab/2. Let's put them together without additional rotations so that they form a square with side c.\n\n    \n\nThe square has a square hole with the side (a-b). Summing up its area (a-b)2 and 2ab, the area of the four triangles (4·ab/2), we get\n\n  c2 = (a-b)2+2ab \n  = a2-2ab+b2+2ab \n  = a2+b2 \n \n\n\n\nProof #4\n    \n\nThe fourth approach starts with the same four triangles, except that, this time, they combine to form a square with the side (a+b) and a hole with the side c. We can compute the area of the big square in two ways. Thus\n\n  (a + b)2 = 4·ab/2 + c2  \n\nsimplifying which we get the needed identity.\n\n\n\nProof #5\n\nThis proof, discovered by President J.A. Garfield in 1876 [Pappas], is a variation on the previous one. But this time we draw no squares at all. The key now is the formula for the area of a trapezoid - half sum of the bases times the altitude - (a+b)/2·(a+b). Looking at the picture another way, this also can be computed as the sum of areas of the three triangles - ab/2 + ab/2 + c·c/2. As before, simplifications yield a2+b2=c2.\n\nTwo copies of the same trapezoid can be combined in two ways by attac
1026331
Interesting, though I would like to see it taken further (as to proofs, etc.).  If you liked that book, try reading "The Woman with the Alabaster Jar."  Sorry, I can't remember the name of the woman who wrote it.
171335
How about "Math -  Does it really add up?"
279710
I did a search here's where I found the answer\nhttp://www.jcu.edu/math/isep/Quincunx/Quincunx.html
584069
http://www.mathcymru.org/english/thatsoddans.html
65450
A few minutes of research and a basic understanding of probability should convince you that "messages" of any kind can be found in any sufficiently long piece of text using any kind of systematic text sampling technique.\n   By any kind of message, I mean just that. For any given statement, a statement that exactly contradicts the first statement is likely to be found along, as always, with a mind-boggling mountain of pure, random gibberish.\n\nAlthough it's best to determine these things for oneself, if an appeal to authority is convincing then here is a link to Caltech's mathematics department where 55 mathematicians have signed a document called, "Mathematicians' Statement on the Bible Codes"
190806
You would think Pythagoras, but actually not originally.\nHe studied many years at the library of Alexandria (Ancient Egypt), whereupon he came upon this theorem (now named after him) first recorded by an ancient Egyptian mathematician known as (I think) Tet.\nSince it was not permitted to take things from the library, or even copy them he memorized it, then later taught it to his disciples as his own.
364344
emmmmmm\n\nd. its not a fuction of x in terms of y explicitly. It needs to be rearranged
816536
I think it was Rene Descartes who said "I think so therefore I am."  Whatta guy, not only a philosopher, but he developed the Cartesian coordinate system--y'know, used for graphing equations and functions using the x- and y-axes.