The goal of this continuing working group is to conduct an intellectually stimulating and challenging seminar involving undergraduates, graduate students, and indeed anyone who is interested in the history of ideas, devoted to the study and discussion of classic mathematics and classic mathematical texts. We will try to understand the way people were doing mathematics in the past and the impact their works have had on modern mathematics.

This quarter we will continue to look at the mathematics and the mathematicians of the second half of the 17th century. Most likely we will save Newton for a later quarter, but there are many others to discuss: Barrow, Huygens, Leibniz, the Bernoullis, de l'Hopital, ....

The group will meet on Tuesdays from 3:30 till 5. The participants will rotate researching and giving lectures on some aspect of late 17th century mathematics and each participant will submit a short paper (10 pages) expanding on his/her talk. Both undergraduates and graduate students would have the opportunity to deepen their knowledge, to broaden their way of thinking, and to get experience in communicating important ideas to general audiences (in this case, to the other attending undergraduate students and graduate students). Postdocs and faculty will moderate the discussions.

Prerequisites: The real prerequisites are an intellectual curiosity about the history of mathematics, the ability to use the library to research a topic, and the willingness to persevere in reading mathematics written from an unfamiliar perspective. Undergraduates should have some background beyond calculus: honors courses are best, but Math 345 may be sufficient (more is always better!). Interested undergraduates should contact one of the organizers.

A related activity, loosely connected with this working group, is to produce readable modern English versions of various mathematical works: either papers that have not been translated into English, or older English works that would benefit from a modern treatment. If this sounds interesting, let us know, and tell us what language(s) you might be able to read.

To sign up for this working group, enroll for 3 credits in 693 (Bergelson), call number 12327-4

For more information please contact Vitaly Bergelson (vitaly@math.ohio-state.edu) or Warren Sinnott (sinnott@math.ohio-state.edu)