SSI 2 163

Essay #4

Due:  Tuesday. May 6 (last day of class)

For the last essay, you have a choice of several possibilities.  The only thing I require of your choice is that you pick something other than something you have already written on, and that you not pick something closely related to your term paper.

1. The discovery of non-Euclidean geometry, combined with the move towards rigor in mathematics resulted in some stresses in mathematics that continue today.  Consider the history of the parallel postulate and its resolution in the work of Lobachevsky and Bolyai and discuss what the reaction to these ideas were.  Why did Gauss not publish?  Why was this work such a shock to nineteenth century mathematics?  Who are these Boeotians he refers to?
2. We have talked about the development of trigonometry up to Ptolemy.  Trace it a bit further through India and into the Arabic world.

As always, essays should be written as an academic paper (citations, bibliography and the like) and should be about 3 - 5 pages or so.  You should use 2 - 3 sources, none of which can be web-only (that is, Wikipedia and MacTudor are excluded.  Papers exported to the web are just fine).

Any questions?  Please ask!

                                                        -Bob