scholarly journals Foreword to BIOMATH 2017 Proceedings: Some comments on mathematical modelling and biomathematics.

2018 ◽  
Vol 1 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jacek Banasiak
Keyword(s):  
Indian Subcontinent ◽  
Ancient Greece ◽  
Human Mind ◽  
Quadratic Equation ◽  
Mathematical Methods ◽  
Modern Biology ◽  
Eugene Wigner ◽  
Ancient Civilizations ◽  
And Mathematics ◽  
External Stimuli

Both biology and mathematics have existed as well established branches of science for hundreds of years and both, maybe not in a well defined way, have been with the humankind for a couple of thousands of years.  Though nature  was studied by the ancient civilizations of Mesopotamia, Egypt, the Indian subcontinent and China, the origins of modern biology are typically traced back to the ancient Greece, where Aristotle (384-322 BC) contributed most extensively to its development. Similarly,  the  ancient Babylonians were able to solve quadratic equation over four millennia ago and we can see the development of mathematical methods in all ancient civilisations, notably in China and on the Indian subcontinent. However, possibly again the Greeks were the first who studied mathematics for its own sake, as a collection of abstract objects and relations between them.  Nevertheless, despite the fact that the development  of such a mathematics has not required any external stimuli, an amazing feature of the human mind is that a large number of abstract mathematical constructs has proved to be very well suited for describing natural phenomena.This prompted Eugene Wigner to write his famous article The Unreasonable Effectiveness of Mathematics in the Natural Sciences,  ...

Newton and the Origin of Civilization

2012 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jed Z. Buchwald ◽  
Mordechai Feingold
Keyword(s):  
Good Reason ◽  
History Of Mathematics ◽  
Primary Sources ◽  
Ancient History ◽  
Isaac Newton ◽  
History Of ◽  
Ancient Civilizations ◽  
And Mathematics ◽  
One Year ◽  
Radical Ideas

Isaac Newton’s Chronology of Ancient Kingdoms Amended, published in 1728, one year after the great man’s death, unleashed a storm of controversy. And for good reason. The book presents a drastically revised timeline for ancient civilizations, contracting Greek history by five hundred years and Egypt’s by a millennium. This book tells the story of how one of the most celebrated figures in the history of mathematics, optics, and mechanics came to apply his unique ways of thinking to problems of history, theology, and mythology, and of how his radical ideas produced an uproar that reverberated in Europe’s learned circles throughout the eighteenth century and beyond. The book reveals the manner in which Newton strove for nearly half a century to rectify universal history by reading ancient texts through the lens of astronomy, and to create a tight theoretical system for interpreting the evolution of civilization on the basis of population dynamics. It was during Newton’s earliest years at Cambridge that he developed the core of his singular method for generating and working with trustworthy knowledge, which he applied to his study of the past with the same rigor he brought to his work in physics and mathematics. Drawing extensively on Newton’s unpublished papers and a host of other primary sources, the book reconciles Isaac Newton the rational scientist with Newton the natural philosopher, alchemist, theologian, and chronologist of ancient history.

scholarly journals Endogenous change: on cooperation and water availability in two ancient societies

2014 ◽  
Vol 18 (5) ◽  
pp. 1745-1760 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. Pande ◽  
M. Ertsen
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Identity ◽  
Indian Subcontinent ◽  
Indus Basin ◽  
Water Access ◽  
Central State ◽  
Historical Reconstructions ◽  
Endogenous Change ◽  
Ancient Civilizations ◽  
The Stability ◽  
Water Scarce

Abstract. We propose and test the theory of endogenous change in societal institutions based on historical reconstructions of two ancient civilizations, the Indus and Hohokam, in two water-scarce basins, the Indus Basin in the Indian subcontinent and the lower Colorado Basin in the southwestern United States. In our reconstructions, institutions are approximated by the scale of "cooperation", be it in the form of the extent of trade, sophisticated irrigation networks, a central state or a loosely held state with a common cultural identity. We study changes in institutions brought about by changes in factors like rainfall, population density, and land-use-induced water resource availability, in a proximate manner. These factors either change naturally or are changed by humans; in either case we contend that the changes affect the stability of cooperative structures over time. We relate the quantitative dimensions of water access by ancient populations to the co-evolution of water access and the socioeconomic and sociopolitical organizations. In doing so, we do not claim that water manipulation was the single most significant factor in stimulating social development and complexity – this would be highly reductionist. Nonetheless, we provide a discussion with the aim to enhance our understanding of the complexity of coupled human–hydrological systems. We find that scarcity triggered more complex cooperative arrangements in both Indus and Hohokam societies.

scholarly journals NIKOLAY PROKOFYEVICH FEDORENKO: THE EXACT CALCULATION AND FORESIGHT

2017 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 105-110
Author(s):  
G. N. Yakovleva ◽  
B. F. Bogatikov ◽  
E. I. Khabarova
Keyword(s):  
Chemical Industry ◽  
National Economy ◽  
100Th Anniversary ◽  
Economic Research ◽  
Economic Science ◽  
Large Contribution ◽  
Mathematical Methods ◽  
Great Patriotic War ◽  
And Mathematics ◽  
Academy Of Sciences

The article is devoted to the 100th anniversary of the birth of Nikolay Prokofyevich Fedorenko, a graduate of M.V. Lomonosov MITHT, a participant of the Great Patriotic War, the head of MITHT department for chemical industry economy (1951-1962), since 1953 to 1958 - the deputy director of MITHT for studies. N.P. Fedorenko is Doctor of Economics, professor, academician of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR, member of the presidium of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR, academician-secretary of the Economy department of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR, one of the main founders and the first director of the Central Economics and Mathematics Institute of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR (1963-1985). N.P. Fedorenko was the most talented organizer of the economic science. He made a large contribution to the chemicalization of the national economy, to the application of modern mathematical methods and computing hardware for economic research, to the planning, management and studying of the theoretical and methodological bases of optimum performance of economy.

scholarly journals On the Indian tradition of mathematical names: A scientific analysis

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ashish Karn ◽  
Brett Rosiejka ◽  
Pankaj Badoni ◽  
Raman Kumar Singh
Keyword(s):  
Indian Subcontinent ◽  
Social Consciousness ◽  
Quantitative Evidence ◽  
Cultural Roots ◽  
Indian Tradition ◽  
Scientific Analysis ◽  
Chance Events ◽  
The Rich ◽  
And Mathematics ◽  
Shed Light

The current paper explores the tenuous interlink between names of individuals in a society and its collective social consciousness, particularly with reference to the pervasive occurrence of the ‘mathematical names’ in the current Hindu society in the Indian subcontinent and beyond. Initially, an attempt is made to put things into mathematical perspective by drawing a quick sketch of the mathematical achievements of the Indian mathematicians. Then, under the six broad categories of geometry, trigonometry, numeration, arithmetic, algebra and mathematics in the Vedic tradition, a concise layman description of these subdivisions are presented, underlining the names of the concepts and terms, sometimes by producing the textual references. Next, upon identification of such mathematical terms, these names are juxtaposed with the names current in the Indian Hindu setting. By employing an extensive dataset of university student names in India and the databases of Facebook and LinkedIn, we produce both qualitative and quantitative evidence of the presence of such names in the Indian subcontinent. Evidently, these names reflect impressions of the rich mathematical heritage left by the Hindu stalwart mathematicians. This hypothesis has also been examined by taking surveys of people bearing these mathematical names, as well as by documenting the ‘conscious procedures’ that go behind the naming of a Hindu Indian child. In trying to investigate if such a phenomenon is unique to the Indian tradition, a stark contrast with the ‘names in mathematics’ as prevalent in the European mathematical traditions is presented, as cultural roots of mathematics are explored. Further, we ascribe the presence of these names as the extant remains of the colossal impact of multifarious mathematical traditions existing in India. In fact, the present research also brings to the fore, certain unseen facets of the Indian Hindu society as regards the education of mathematics to women – through an indirect exploration of their names. We then show that the pervasive occurrence of these names are not merely the result of semantic chance events, but denote the richness of the Indian mathematical legacy. We also present cross-cultural comparisons to show the uniqueness of Indian mathematical and scientific traditions that led to the pervasiveness of ‘mathematical names’ in India. Finally, an attempt is made to clarify some subtle points on the associations between mathematics and religion in India and other cultures of the world. It is a sincere hope that the present study may shed light on the cultural roots of mathematics and may provide a different dimension in the study of mathematics and society, across other civilizations.

Knowledge in the Psychology of Thinking and Mathematics

2010 ◽  
pp. 1-33
Author(s):  
Xenia Naidenova
Keyword(s):  
Knowledge Construction ◽  
Human Mind ◽  
Human Existence ◽  
Human Reasoning ◽  
Logical Inference ◽  
Cognitive Mechanisms ◽  
Mental Processes ◽  
Past Time ◽  
History Of ◽  
And Mathematics

This chapter offers a view on the history of developing the concepts of knowledge and human reasoning both in mathematics and psychology. Mathematicians create the formal theories of correct thinking; psychologists study the cognitive mechanisms that underpin knowledge construction and thinking as the most important functions of human existence. They study how the human mind works. The progress in understanding human knowledge and thinking will be undoubtedly related to combining the efforts of scientists in these different disciplines. Believing that it is impossible to study independently the problems of knowledge and human reasoning we strive to cover in this chapter the central ideas of knowledge and logical inference that have been manifested in the works of outstanding thinkers and scientists of past time. These ideas reveal all the difficulties and obstacles on the way to comprehending the human mental processes.

3. Historical views of infinity

2017 ◽  
pp. 32-53
Author(s):  
Ian Stewart
Keyword(s):  
Immanuel Kant ◽  
Physical Reality ◽  
Human Mind ◽  
Space Time ◽  
Time And Motion ◽  
Potential Infinity ◽  
Zeno's Paradoxes ◽  
And Mathematics

‘Historical views of infinity’ focuses on historical attitudes to infinity in philosophy, religion, and mathematics, including Zeno’s famous paradoxes. Infinity is not a thing, but a concept, related to the default workings of the human mind. Zeno’s paradoxes appear to be about physical reality, but they mainly address how we think about space, time, and motion. A central (but possibly dated) contribution was Aristotle’s distinction between actual and potential infinity. Theologians, from Origen to Aquinas, sharpened the debate, and philosophers such as Immanuel Kant took up the challenge. Mathematicians made radical advances, often against resistance from philosophers.

scholarly journals The Utterly Prosaic Connection between Physics and Mathematics

Philosophies ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 3 (4) ◽  
pp. 25
Author(s):  
Matt Visser
Keyword(s):  
Natural Sciences ◽  
Mathematical Entity ◽  
Eugene Wigner ◽  
Unreasonable Effectiveness ◽  
And Mathematics ◽  
The Universe

Eugene Wigner famously argued for the “unreasonable effectiveness of mathematics” as applied to describing physics and other natural sciences in his 1960 essay. That essay has now led to some 58 years of (sometimes anguished) philosophical soul searching—responses range from “So what? Why do you think we developed mathematics in the first place?”, through to extremely speculative ruminations on the existence of the universe (multiverse) as a purely mathematical entity—the Mathematical Universe Hypothesis. In the current essay I will steer an utterly prosaic middle course: Much of the mathematics we develop is informed by physics questions we are trying to solve; and those physics questions for which the most utilitarian mathematics has successfully been developed are typically those where the best physics progress has been made.

Developing a Multisemester Interwoven Dynamic Systems Project to Foster Learning and Retention of STEM Material

2004 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter Avitabile ◽  
Stephen Pennell ◽  
John White
Keyword(s):  
Dynamic Systems ◽  
Basic Material ◽  
Mathematical Methods ◽  
Introductory Courses ◽  
New Approach ◽  
Science Technology ◽  
Educational Career ◽  
And Mathematics ◽  
Relationship Of ◽  
The Relationship

Students generally do not understand how basic STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) material fits into all of their engineering courses. Basic material is presented in introductory courses but the relationship of the material to subsequent courses is unclear to the student since the practical relevance of the material is not necessarily presented. Students generally hit the “reset button” after each course not realizing the importance of basic STEM material. The capstone experience is supposed to “tie all the pieces together” but this occurs too late in the student’s educational career. A new multisemester interwoven dynamic systems project has been initiated to better integrate the material from differential equations, mathematical methods, laboratory measurements and dynamic systems across several semesters/courses so that the students can better understand the relationship of basic STEM material to an ongoing problem. This paper highlights the overall concept to be addressed by the new approach. The description of the project and modules under development are discussed.

scholarly journals On the Indian Tradition of Mathematical Names: A Scientific Analysis

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ashish Karn ◽  
Brett Rosiejka ◽  
Pankaj Badoni ◽  
Raman Kumar Singh
Keyword(s):  
Indian Subcontinent ◽  
Social Consciousness ◽  
Quantitative Evidence ◽  
Cultural Roots ◽  
Indian Tradition ◽  
Scientific Analysis ◽  
Chance Events ◽  
The Rich ◽  
And Mathematics ◽  
Shed Light

The current paper explores the tenuous interlink between names of individuals in a society and its collective social consciousness, particularly with reference to the pervasive occurrence of the ‘mathematical names’ in the current Hindu society in the Indian subcontinent and beyond. Initially, an attempt is made to put things into mathematical perspective by drawing a quick sketch of the mathematical achievements of the Indian mathematicians. Then, under the six broad categories of geometry, trigonometry, numeration, arithmetic, algebra and mathematics in the Vedic tradition, a concise layman description of these subdivisions are presented, underlining the names of the concepts and terms, sometimes by producing the textual references. Next, upon identification of such mathematical terms, these names are juxtaposed with the names current in the Indian Hindu setting. By employing an extensive dataset of university student names in India and the databases of Facebook and LinkedIn, we produce both qualitative and quantitative evidence of the presence of such names in the Indian subcontinent. Evidently, these names reflect impressions of the rich mathematical heritage left by the Hindu stalwart mathematicians. This hypothesis has also been examined by taking surveys of people bearing these mathematical names, as well as by documenting the ‘conscious procedures’ that go behind the naming of a Hindu Indian child. In trying to investigate if such a phenomenon is unique to the Indian tradition, a stark contrast with the ‘names in mathematics’ as prevalent in the European mathematical traditions is presented, as cultural roots of mathematics are explored. Further, we ascribe the presence of these names as the extant remains of the colossal impact of multifarious mathematical traditions existing in India. In fact, the present research also brings to the fore, certain unseen facets of the Indian Hindu society as regards the education of mathematics to women – through an indirect exploration of their names. We then show that the pervasive occurrence of these names are not merely the result of semantic chance events, but denote the richness of the Indian mathematical legacy. We also present cross-cultural comparisons to show the uniqueness of Indian mathematical and scientific traditions that led to the pervasiveness of ‘mathematical names’ in India. Finally, an attempt is made to clarify some subtle points on the associations between mathematics and religion in India and other cultures of the world. It is a sincere hope that the present study may shed light on the cultural roots of mathematics and may provide a different dimension in the study of mathematics and society, across other civilizations.

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