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Thomas Craig (mathematician)
Thomas Craig (1855–1900) was an American mathematician. He was a professor at Johns Hopkins University and a proponent of the methods of differential geometry. Biography Thomas Craig was born December 20, 1855, in Pittston, Pennsylvania. His father Alexander Craig immigrated from Scotland, and worked as an engineer in the mining industry. Thomas Craig first studied civil engineering at Lafayette College in Pennsylvania, where a teacher William J. Bruce was a mentor to him. Thomas took his C.E. degree in 1875. He taught high school in Newton, New Jersey while continuing to study mathematics. He entered into correspondence with Benjamin Peirce and Peter Guthrie Tait. Thomas Craig was one of the prime movers of Johns Hopkins University when it was launched by Daniel Coit Gilman in 1876. Craig and George Bruce Halsted were the first Hopkins Fellows in mathematics. James Joseph Sylvester had been invited to lead a graduate program in mathematics but would only be doing that. Crai ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Johns Hopkins University
Johns Hopkins University (Johns Hopkins, Hopkins, or JHU) is a private university, private research university in Baltimore, Maryland. Founded in 1876, Johns Hopkins is the oldest research university in the United States and in the western hemisphere. It consistently ranks among the most prestigious universities in the United States and the world. The university was named for its first benefactor, the American entrepreneur and Quaker philanthropist Johns Hopkins. Hopkins' $7 million bequest to establish the university was the largest Philanthropy, philanthropic gift in U.S. history up to that time. Daniel Coit Gilman, who was inaugurated as :Presidents of Johns Hopkins University, Johns Hopkins's first president on February 22, 1876, led the university to revolutionize higher education in the U.S. by integrating teaching and research. In 1900, Johns Hopkins became a founding member of the American Association of Universities. The university has led all Higher education in the U ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
James Joseph Sylvester
James Joseph Sylvester (3 September 1814 – 15 March 1897) was an English mathematician. He made fundamental contributions to matrix theory, invariant theory, number theory, partition theory, and combinatorics. He played a leadership role in American mathematics in the later half of the 19th century as a professor at the Johns Hopkins University and as founder of the ''American Journal of Mathematics''. At his death, he was a professor at Oxford University. Biography James Joseph was born in London on 3 September 1814, the son of Abraham Joseph, a Jewish merchant. James later adopted the surname Sylvester when his older brother did so upon emigration to the United States—a country which at that time required all immigrants to have a given name, a middle name, and a surname. At the age of 14, Sylvester was a student of Augustus de Morgan at the University of London. His family withdrew him from the University after he was accused of stabbing a fellow student with a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Definite Integral
In mathematics, an integral assigns numbers to functions in a way that describes displacement, area, volume, and other concepts that arise by combining infinitesimal data. The process of finding integrals is called integration. Along with differentiation, integration is a fundamental, essential operation of calculus,Integral calculus is a very well established mathematical discipline for which there are many sources. See and , for example. and serves as a tool to solve problems in mathematics and physics involving the area of an arbitrary shape, the length of a curve, and the volume of a solid, among others. The integrals enumerated here are those termed definite integrals, which can be interpreted as the signed area of the region in the plane that is bounded by the graph of a given function between two points in the real line. Conventionally, areas above the horizontal axis of the plane are positive while areas below are negative. Integrals also refer to the concept of an a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Calculus Of Variations
The calculus of variations (or Variational Calculus) is a field of mathematical analysis that uses variations, which are small changes in functions and functionals, to find maxima and minima of functionals: mappings from a set of functions to the real numbers. Functionals are often expressed as definite integrals involving functions and their derivatives. Functions that maximize or minimize functionals may be found using the Euler–Lagrange equation of the calculus of variations. A simple example of such a problem is to find the curve of shortest length connecting two points. If there are no constraints, the solution is a straight line between the points. However, if the curve is constrained to lie on a surface in space, then the solution is less obvious, and possibly many solutions may exist. Such solutions are known as ''geodesics''. A related problem is posed by Fermat's principle: light follows the path of shortest optical length connecting two points, which depends up ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Partial Differential Equation
In mathematics, a partial differential equation (PDE) is an equation which imposes relations between the various partial derivatives of a Multivariable calculus, multivariable function. The function is often thought of as an "unknown" to be solved for, similarly to how is thought of as an unknown number to be solved for in an algebraic equation like . However, it is usually impossible to write down explicit formulas for solutions of partial differential equations. There is, correspondingly, a vast amount of modern mathematical and scientific research on methods to Numerical methods for partial differential equations, numerically approximate solutions of certain partial differential equations using computers. Partial differential equations also occupy a large sector of pure mathematics, pure mathematical research, in which the usual questions are, broadly speaking, on the identification of general qualitative features of solutions of various partial differential equations, such a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Elasticity (physics)
In physics and materials science, elasticity is the ability of a body to resist a distorting influence and to return to its original size and shape when that influence or force is removed. Solid objects will deform when adequate loads are applied to them; if the material is elastic, the object will return to its initial shape and size after removal. This is in contrast to ''plasticity'', in which the object fails to do so and instead remains in its deformed state. The physical reasons for elastic behavior can be quite different for different materials. In metals, the atomic lattice changes size and shape when forces are applied (energy is added to the system). When forces are removed, the lattice goes back to the original lower energy state. For rubbers and other polymers, elasticity is caused by the stretching of polymer chains when forces are applied. Hooke's law states that the force required to deform elastic objects should be directly proportional to the distance of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Elliptic Function
In the mathematical field of complex analysis, elliptic functions are a special kind of meromorphic functions, that satisfy two periodicity conditions. They are named elliptic functions because they come from elliptic integrals. Originally those integrals occurred at the calculation of the arc length of an ellipse. Important elliptic functions are Jacobi elliptic functions and the Weierstrass \wp-function. Further development of this theory led to hyperelliptic functions and modular forms. Definition A meromorphic function is called an elliptic function, if there are two \mathbb- linear independent complex numbers \omega_1,\omega_2\in\mathbb such that : f(z + \omega_1) = f(z) and f(z + \omega_2) = f(z), \quad \forall z\in\mathbb. So elliptic functions have two periods and are therefore also called ''doubly periodic''. Period lattice and fundamental domain Iff is an elliptic function with periods \omega_1,\omega_2 it also holds that : f(z+\gamma)=f(z) for every linear ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Differential Equation
In mathematics, a differential equation is an equation that relates one or more unknown functions and their derivatives. In applications, the functions generally represent physical quantities, the derivatives represent their rates of change, and the differential equation defines a relationship between the two. Such relations are common; therefore, differential equations play a prominent role in many disciplines including engineering, physics, economics, and biology. Mainly the study of differential equations consists of the study of their solutions (the set of functions that satisfy each equation), and of the properties of their solutions. Only the simplest differential equations are solvable by explicit formulas; however, many properties of solutions of a given differential equation may be determined without computing them exactly. Often when a closed-form expression for the solutions is not available, solutions may be approximated numerically using computers. The theory of d ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Theta Function
In mathematics, theta functions are special functions of several complex variables. They show up in many topics, including Abelian varieties, moduli spaces, quadratic forms, and solitons. As Grassmann algebras, they appear in quantum field theory. The most common form of theta function is that occurring in the theory of elliptic functions. With respect to one of the complex variables (conventionally called ), a theta function has a property expressing its behavior with respect to the addition of a period of the associated elliptic functions, making it a quasiperiodic function. In the abstract theory this quasiperiodicity comes from the cohomology class of a line bundle on a complex torus, a condition of descent. One interpretation of theta functions when dealing with the heat equation is that "a theta function is a special function that describes the evolution of temperature on a segment domain subject to certain boundary conditions". Throughout this article, (e^)^ should b ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Arthur Cayley
Arthur Cayley (; 16 August 1821 – 26 January 1895) was a prolific United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, British mathematician who worked mostly on algebra. He helped found the modern British school of pure mathematics. As a child, Cayley enjoyed solving complex maths problems for amusement. He entered Trinity College, Cambridge, where he excelled in Greek language, Greek, French language, French, German language, German, and Italian language, Italian, as well as mathematics. He worked as a lawyer for 14 years. He postulated the Cayley–Hamilton theorem—that every square matrix is a root of its own characteristic polynomial, and verified it for matrices of order 2 and 3. He was the first to define the concept of a group (mathematics), group in the modern way—as a set with a Binary function, binary operation satisfying certain laws. Formerly, when mathematicians spoke of "groups", they had meant permutation groups. Cayley tables and Cayley graphs as well as Cayle ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Benjamin Alvord (mathematician)
Benjamin Alvord (August 18, 1813 – October 16, 1884) was an American soldier, mathematician, and botanist. Early life and career Alvord was born in Rutland, Vermont, where he developed an interest in nature. He attended the United States Military Academy and displayed a talent in mathematics. He graduated in 1833.Marquis Who's Who, Inc. ''Who Was Who in American History, the Military''. Chicago: Marquis Who's Who, 1975. P. 9 He was assigned to the 4th U.S. Infantry and participated in the Seminole Wars. He returned to West Point as an assistant professor of mathematics until 1839, when he was again assigned to the 4th Infantry. He spent 21 years of his military career with that regiment. He was on frontier, garrison, and engineer duty until 1846, when he participated in the military occupation of the new state of Texas. Subsequently, he served during the Mexican–American War, being brevetted successively to captain and major for gallantry in a number of important battles, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Leo Königsberger
Leo Königsberger (15 October 1837 – 15 December 1921) was a German mathematician, and historian of science. He is best known for his three-volume biography of Hermann von Helmholtz, which remains the standard reference on the subject. In 2018, a biography about Helmholtz was written by science historian David Cahan. Biography Königsberger was born in Posen (now Poznań, Poland), the son of a successful merchant. He studied at the University of Berlin with Karl Weierstrass, where he taught mathematics and physics (1860–64). He taught at the University of Greifswald (assistant professor, 1864–66; professor, 1866–69), the University of Heidelberg (1869–75), the Technische Universität Dresden (1875-77), and the University of Vienna (1877–84) before returning to Heidelberg in 1884, where remained until his retirement in 1914. In 1904 he was a Plenary Speaker of the ICM in Heidelberg. In 1919 he published his autobiography, ''Mein Leben'' ('My Life'). The biography ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
