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DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20260411T100000
DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20260411T153000
DTSTAMP:20260620T113436
CREATED:20260310T035504Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260323T045802Z
UID:4031-1775901600-1775921400@colleges.claremont.edu
SUMMARY:The alchemy of mixing mathematics:  The second annual CCMS workshop in the history and philosophy of mathematics
DESCRIPTION:This one-day workshop assembles diverse perspectives from the history and philosophy of mathematics to examine ways in which mathematics interacts and expands across other fields of study. \nPlease RSVP here by Monday\, April 6th to attend the workshop and lunch. \n\nSchedule \n10:00 to 10:05 Welcome! \n10:05 to 11:05 Otávio Bueno (University of Miami & Tohoku University)\, “Why there are no styles of mathematical reasoning” \n11:10 to 12:10 E. L. Meszaros (Brown University)\, “Algorithmic translations and interpretations of late Babylonian mathematics” \n12:10 to 1:20 Lunch \n1:25 to 2:25 Jed Buchwald (CalTech)\, “The winding trail to Newton’s Principia” \n2:30 to 3:30 Mate Szabo (University of Southern California)\, “Turing’s machines and Max Newman’s symbolic machinery for mathematical physics” \n\nAbstracts \n\nOtávio Bueno (University of Miami & Tohoku University)\, “Why there are no styles of mathematical reasoning” \nThe notion of style of scientific reasoning has been used as an analytical tool for the characterization of significant features of scientific practice (in particular\, by Crombie [1994]\, Hacking [2002]\, and Granger [1988]). Styles of scientific reasoning are different from scientific theories in a given domain of inquiry: styles are broader than theories\, and they are not so dependent on features of the particular domain. In this work\, I have two main goals. I’ll first provide a characterization of the concept of style of reasoning that overcomes some difficulties that have been raised against this tool (by Bolduc [2014]). I’ll then argue that\, despite the broad conception of style I defend\, there is no suitable way of formulating a notion of style of mathematical reasoning. Mathematics\, I’ll argue\, is too malleable\, and attempts at characterizing a notion of style in geometry\, analysis\, algebra or set theory end up yielding just more mathematical theories particular to these domains. Mathematical practice is significantly different from scientific practice in this respect. \nE. L. Meszaros (Brown University)\, “Algorithmic translations and interpretations of late Babylonian mathematics” \nInitial investigations into Babylonian mathematics as “algorithms” began\, intuitively\, by interrogating the large corpus of Old Babylonian mathematical texts. Donald Knuth viewed these prose maths problems as examples of algorithms\, though many scholars of Babylonian cultures and languages disagreed with this characterization. However\, recent studies have demonstrated the value of looking for algorithms among other corpora\, particularly astronomical texts. While astronomical procedures demonstrated more algorithmic characteristics\, they also highlighted uniquely Babylonian tendencies. Whether these texts can be truly considered “algorithmic” becomes less important than whether the algorithmic lens as a tool of analysis can shed light on new aspects of the science and mathematics contained within the tablets. This talk examines the application of the term “algorithm” to less frequently considered Late Babylonian mathematics. While this corpus remains small\, the few examples that have been recovered show characteristic differences from their Old Babylonian counterparts\, making it valuable to reconsider the application of the term algorithm and the algorithmic lens of investigation. Beginning with an introduction to the corpus and what makes it different from earlier mathematical texts\, this talk then makes the case for viewing these later texts algorithmically. Comparisons to Babylonian algorithmic forms and cultures\, particularly arising from the astronomical sciences\, will be made and evaluated for use within the field. \nJed Buchwald (CalTech)\, “The winding trail to Newton’s Principia“ \n\nThroughout the years between his first engagement with mathematics under Isaac Barrow and the production of the manuscript that evolved into Book I of the Principia\, Newton was only sporadically engaged by issues of motion\, whether earthly or astronomical. His first concerted interest involved collisions\, which he modeled on the material circumstances of a springlike mechanism. In doing so\, and in a subsequent turn to circular motion\, the young Newton presumed without comment what would later be formalized as the Principia‘s three laws of motion. He was hardly the only one\, at least in England\, to make such presumptions. We will discuss this early work in order to unpack what transpired when\, in 1679\, Newton responded to a letter from Robert Hooke\, his former critic in optics. We’ll then consider what in consequence took place following the famous visit to Newton by Edmond Halley in 1684. If time allows\, we’ll conclude with a brief examination of the interesting reaction of the mathematician John Wallis to Newton’s manuscript account of fall under resistance\, sent to Wallis for comment by Halley two years before the Principia. In so doing we will see that the fundamental key to the novelty of Newton’s work at that time consisted in the specific manner according to which he discretized motion change. \nMate Szabo (University of Southern California)\, “Turing’s machines and Max Newman’s symbolic machinery for mathematical physics” \nWhile Turing’s “On Computable Numbers…” from 1936 and its impact is well studied\, much less is known about Turing’s early influences. The aim of this talk is to show how Max Newman\, who taught Turing in Cambridge and was later his boss in Bletchley Park and at the University of Manchester\, influenced his early work. Indeed\, Turing’s interest in the “Entscheidungsproblem” stemmed from Newman’s lectures on the foundations of mathematics he attended in 1935. While Newman is known as a combinatorial topologist\, he was the first to teach a modern\, Hilbert style mathematical logic course in the UK. In addition\, he frequently engaged with the Cambridge philosophers during the 1920s and 1930s. His interest in scientific philosophies most likely stems from his visit to Vienna during the 1922/1923 academic year\, where he came in touch with members of the famous Vienna Circle. Indeed\, his unpublished dissertation\, The Foundations of Mathematics from the Standpoint of Physics (1923)\, shows strong influences of the Vienna Circle. Newman’s aim in the dissertation is to build up mathematical physics as a “symbolic machinery” for manipulating “a body of ‘logical axioms’ and a set of ‘physical assumptions’”. This leads to the parallel development of an ‘epistemic logic’ to deal with ‘beliefs’ and ‘judgements about sensations’ on the physical side\, and the description of logic as acts\, performances and processes of symbol manipulation. After a careful look at the dissertation I will bring out the surprisingly strong resemblances (as well as the important differences) between Newman’s treatment of mathematical activities and Turing’s analysis of the human “computor”.
URL:https://colleges.claremont.edu/ccms/event/the-alchemy-of-mixing-mathematics-the-second-annual-ccms-workshop-in-the-history-and-philosophy-of-mathematics/
LOCATION:Argue Auditorium\, Pomona College\, 610 N. College Ave.\, Claremont\, CA\, 91711\, United States
CATEGORIES:History and Philosophy of Mathematics Seminar
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END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20250215T090000
DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20250215T170000
DTSTAMP:20260620T113436
CREATED:20250117T153752Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250211T005046Z
UID:3632-1739610000-1739638800@colleges.claremont.edu
SUMMARY:"The alchemy of mixing mathematics" a one-day workshop in the history and philosophy of mathematics
DESCRIPTION:This one-day workshop assembles diverse perspectives from the history and philosophy of mathematics to examine ways in which mathematics is applied and impure. Topics will range from applications of mathematics in the natural and social sciences to impure proofs that transcend a single mathematical domain.  \nPlease RSVP here by Monday\, February 10th to attend the workshop and identify any dietary restrictions. \nLocation: Avery 201\, Pitzer College \n\nSchedule of talks\n9:35 Welcome and opening remarks \n9:40 E. A. Hunter (University of Chicago) on “Tradition at Play: Reassessing Archimedes’ Measurement of the Circle” \n10:30 Coffee/tea break \n10:50 Erich Reck (UC Riverside) on “Structuralist Understanding in Mathematical Practice” \n11:50 Lunch break \n1:00 Patrick Ryan (Chapman University) on “Impurity\, Simplicity\, and Explanatory Proof” \n2:00 Claudio Gómez-Gonzáles (Carleton College) on “Plants of slow growth: reducing coefficients and sustaining mathematics” \n3:00 Coffee/tea break \n3:20 Emrys King (Pomona College) on “The Mixing of Eugenics and Statistics in English-Language Pedagogy Across the 20th Century” \n3:50 Ainslee Archibald and Jane Panangaden (Pitzer College) on “A Close-Reading of ‘Sterilization for Human Betterment'” \n4:40 (snack) mix post-conference reception \n\nAbstracts\nE. A. Hunter (University of Chicago) on “Tradition at Play: Reassessing Archimedes’ Measurement of the Circle“ \nabstract: No other text in the Archimedean corpus has a richer history than Measurement of the Circle. Such richness comes at a price\, however\, as many scholars doubt the authenticity of the extant text\, citing its seemingly negligent argumentation and the triviality of the second proposition\, which also relies on the third’s approximation of pi. These qualities are at odds with our image of Archimedes\, leading modern editors to modify the text: E.J. Dijksterhuis relegates proposition two and Thomas Heath omits it entirely. This presentation challenges the assumption that the primary aim of ancient Greek mathematicians was axiomatic-deductive rigor. Instead\, it situates Measurement of the Circle within its broader literary and intellectual context—one with its own traditions and textual conventions. Through a close analysis of the rhetorical techniques and structural features of the propositions\, this presentation reevaluates the text’s authenticity and demonstrates how the propositions function within this framework. While the authenticity of any ancient work will always remain open to debate\, a key takeaway is the playfulness present in Archimedes’ mathematical writing. The presentation concludes by reflecting on the fragility of our connection to ancient Greek mathematics and the ways in which modern expectations shape the evaluation of historical sources. \nErich Reck (UC Riverside) on “Structuralist Understanding in Mathematical Practice” \nabstract: When it comes to structuralism in the philosophy of mathematics\, the focus is often on metaphysical issues\, sometimes supplemented by basic epistemological questions.  But as I have argued elsewhere\, mathematical structuralism had its origins primarily in certain methodological developments\, from the late 19th century on\, that added up to “modern mathematics”.  This brings “methodological structuralism” into the center of attention.  As a next step\, I will now consider how these developments brought with them several distinctive levels or kinds of mathematical understanding.  For illustration I will go through a number of examples\, ranging from Dedekind through Hilbert\, Noether\, and Bourbaki to recent mathematics.  In doing so\, I will attempt to clarify the sense in which certain kinds of “understanding” are important goals in mathematical practice. \nPatrick Ryan (Chapman University) on “Impurity\, Simplicity\, and Explanatory Proof” \nabstract: In this talk\, I will argue for an association between impure proofs and explanatory proofs in contemporary mathematics. Broadly speaking\, a proof of a theorem ϕ is said to be impure if it draws on what is “extrinsic\,” “distant\,” or “foreign” to the content of ϕ. In a similarly broad fashion\, a proof π of ϕ is said to be explanatory if the proof shows why ϕ is true\, thereby distinguishing π from other proofs merely showing that ϕ is true. My earlier work has aimed to show how it is even possible for an impure proof to be explanatory. Here\, I aim to show how an impure proof can actually generate explanatory power. My contention is that this often occurs because the impure resources produce a particular kind of simplicity that I call “conceptual speed-up.” I justify my philosophical claims via an examination of two central number-theoretic results\, Szemerédi’s theorem and the Prime Number Theorem\, and various of their proofs. Finally\, I conclude by discussing what my analysis shows about the nature of explanation in mathematics. \nClaudio Gómez-Gonzáles (Carleton College) on “Plants of slow growth: reducing coefficients and sustaining mathematics” \nabstract: In this talk\, we offer a concrete\, visual\, and historical introduction to resolvent degree (RD)\, an invariant that aspires to quantify just how hard solving algebraic equations can be. This overview makes contact with the origins of topology\, miracles of classical algebraic geometry\, and Klein’s “hypergalois” program\, which dare us to push beyond the solvable/unsolvable dichotomy. Throughout the talk\, we will reflect on the past and future of resolvent problems\, institutional processes that shape mathematical consensus\, and what we do and do not know about RD. Ultimately\, we seek a deeper understanding of how mathematical institutions sustain themselves\, particularly in the context of accelerating environmental\, economic\, and geopolitical crises. \nEmrys King (Pomona College) on “The Mixing of Eugenics and Statistics in English-Language Pedagogy Across the 20th Century” \nabstract: Today\, we find ourselves surrounded by statistics and data. However\, the omnipresence of statistical methods is a new phenomenon. The first extension of the method of least squares as a means to characterize non-observational error was by Sir Francis Galton\, in studies of heredity in the pursuit of eugenics. The initial studies published by Galton were soon extended by Karl Pearson\, a professor of statistics and professed eugenicist. I argue that the eugenic beliefs of these men fueled their pioneering studies of linear regression and thus influenced the statistical tools themselves. This merits a further evaluation of the presence of eugenic ideology statistical pedagogy post-Galton. To begin tackling this evaluation\, I present a preliminary review of statistics textbooks from 1880-1970\, assessed for their citation and/or approval of eugenic ideology\, or lack thereof. \nAinslee Archibald and Jane Panangaden (Pitzer College) on “A Close-Reading of ‘Sterilization for Human Betterment'” \nabstract: The Human Betterment Foundation was a pro-eugenic sterilization think-tank and propaganda organization that operated in Pasadena between 1928 and 1942. At the end of 1929 its founder Ezra Gosney and employee Paul Popenoe published a short booklet entitled “Sterilization for Human Betterment: A Summary of results of 6000 Operations in California\, 1909-1929” in which they lay out their case for the necessity\, safety\, and desirability of eugenic sterilization. In this talk we explore differences between the published version of this booklet  and an earlier draft with handwritten edits which is located in the Gosney Papers collection of the Caltech archives. We pay special attention to the authors’ use of data and statistics in their arguments while using a variety of archival documents to track their sources and methods of analysis.
URL:https://colleges.claremont.edu/ccms/event/the-alchemy-of-mixing-mathematics/
CATEGORIES:History and Philosophy of Mathematics Seminar
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DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20241115T110000
DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20241115T110000
DTSTAMP:20260620T113436
CREATED:20241114T222501Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20241114T222501Z
UID:3615-1731668400-1731668400@colleges.claremont.edu
SUMMARY:Claremont History and Philosophy of Mathematics Seminar: Iris Clever (UChicago)
DESCRIPTION:Speaker: Iris Clever\, University of Chicago \nTitle: The Making of the Modern Statistical Identity: From Skull Science to Biometrics \nAbstract: In this presentation\, I uncover an overlooked genealogy of biometrics\, tracing it back to early 20th-century race science and the rise of statistical thinking about human identity. Before biometrics became a technology of controlling human identity\, it was a science aimed at understanding human diversity\, specifically racial diversity. I examine the emergence of craniometry in the 19th century and how its methodologies paved the way for a novel approach to racial anthropology driven by mathematical statistics in the early 20th century. Finally\, I explore the postwar development of computerized anthropology. \nFMI (or zoom link): jlorenat [at] pitzer.edu
URL:https://colleges.claremont.edu/ccms/event/claremont-history-and-philosophy-of-mathematics-seminar-iris-clever-uchicago/
LOCATION:Founders Room\, Pitzer College
CATEGORIES:History and Philosophy of Mathematics Seminar
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20231120T150000
DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20231120T160000
DTSTAMP:20260620T113436
CREATED:20230913T033352Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20230914T153254Z
UID:3217-1700492400-1700496000@colleges.claremont.edu
SUMMARY:History and Philosophy of Mathematics Seminar: Julia Tomasson (Columbia University)
DESCRIPTION:Inventing the ‘Islamic Golden Age’: Orientalism and the History of Mathematics \nAbstract: TBA
URL:https://colleges.claremont.edu/ccms/event/history-and-philosophy-of-mathematics-seminar-julia-tomasson-columbia-university/
LOCATION:On Zoom
CATEGORIES:History and Philosophy of Mathematics Seminar
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20231113T150000
DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20231113T160000
DTSTAMP:20260620T113436
CREATED:20230913T033213Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20231024T191657Z
UID:3216-1699887600-1699891200@colleges.claremont.edu
SUMMARY:History and Philosophy of Mathematics Seminar: Kris Palmieri (University of Chicago)
DESCRIPTION:True Grit: Writing the History of Women at Yerkes Observatory\, 1895–1950 \nAbstract: \nWomen at Yerkes Observatory earned advanced degrees\, conducted their own research\, collaborated on projects with peers of both sexes\, and authored publications in their own names in the first half of the Twentieth Century. Yet Alice Hall Farnsworth\, Mary Murray Hopkins\, Harriet McWilliams Parsons\, and Evelyn Worhnam Wickham – to name only a few – are unknown even amongst specialists. This is in large part because their lives and their labor are all but invisible in published sources and public records. Yet the voices of these women remain preserved in archives across the country – and this presents us with an unparalleled opportunity to reconstruct their lived experiences as women in science. \nThis paper explores the ways in which biography provides a uniquely productive lens for reconstructing the history of women at Yerkes. In so doing\, however\, it also explores the limits of biography for a research project that is anchored by its focus on a specific institutional space and asks how these limits might be overcome.
URL:https://colleges.claremont.edu/ccms/event/history-and-philosophy-of-mathematics-seminar-kris-palmieri/
LOCATION:Fletcher 110\, Pitzer College\, 1050 N Mills Ave\, Claremont\, CA\, 91711\, United States
CATEGORIES:History and Philosophy of Mathematics Seminar
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20230918T150000
DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20230918T160000
DTSTAMP:20260620T113436
CREATED:20230913T032814Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20230914T153118Z
UID:3212-1695049200-1695052800@colleges.claremont.edu
SUMMARY:History and Philosophy of Mathematics Seminar: Amir Alexander (UCLA)
DESCRIPTION:“The Sceptical Mathematician: How John Wallis Saved Mathematics for the Royal Society.” \n  \nAbstract: \nThe members of the “Invisible College” and the early Royal Society championed an experimental approach to the study of nature as the proper path to the advancement of knowledge and the preservation of civic peace. Mathematics\, while admired\, was also viewed with suspicion\, as potentially dogmatic and coercive. John Wallis\, the leading mathematician in the group\, set out to reconcile his field with the ideals of the early Royal Society by developing a radical new approach. Whereas traditional mathematics prided itself on irrefutable deductive proofs\, Wallis’ approach relied on material intuition\, inductive reasoning\, and truth-claims founded on consensus\, not coercion. It was a new mathematics modeled on the Society’s experimental philosophy.
URL:https://colleges.claremont.edu/ccms/event/history-and-philosophy-of-mathematics-seminar-amir-alexander-ucla/
LOCATION:Fletcher 110\, Pitzer College\, 1050 N Mills Ave\, Claremont\, CA\, 91711\, United States
CATEGORIES:History and Philosophy of Mathematics Seminar
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20230913T161500
DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20230913T173000
DTSTAMP:20260620T113436
CREATED:20230829T200424Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20230829T200724Z
UID:3160-1694621700-1694626200@colleges.claremont.edu
SUMMARY:Diving into Math with Emmy Noether
DESCRIPTION:Title: Diving into Math with Emmy Noether \nStarring: Anita Zieher; Director: Sandra Schueddekopf \nAbstract: A theatre performance by Portraittheater Vienna in co-operation with Freie Universität Berlin about the life of one of history’s most influential mathematicians. Based on historical documents and events\, the script was written by Sandra Schüddekopf and Anita Zieher in cooperation with the historians Mechthild Koreuber and David E. Rowe. Please join us on the Pitzer campus for this very special event with a reception to follow. \n(see link to poster) \n\n\n\n\n 
URL:https://colleges.claremont.edu/ccms/event/diving-into-math-with-emmy-noether/
LOCATION:Benson Auditorium\, 1050 N Mills Ave.\, Claremont\, CA\, 91711\, United States
CATEGORIES:Colloquium,Special Event
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20230320T150000
DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20230320T160000
DTSTAMP:20260620T113436
CREATED:20230320T175619Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20230320T175619Z
UID:3105-1679324400-1679328000@colleges.claremont.edu
SUMMARY:Deniz Sarikaya on Narratives of Mathematical Practice (and why they matter!)
DESCRIPTION:Deniz Sarikaya joining us from the Technical University of Denmark and speaking on “Narratives of Mathematical Practice (and why they matter!)” (abstract below).\n \nThe speaker will join via zoom\, but there will be a live audience on the second floor of Pitzer College’s Gold Student Center in the Multipurpose room (in the building marked 3 here: https://www.pitzer.edu/about/maps-directions/quick-reference-map/).\n\nabstract:\nThere are different narratives on mathematics as part of our world\, some of which are more appropriate than others. Such narratives might be of the form ‘Mathematics is useful’\, ‘Mathematics is beautiful’\, or ‘Mathematicians aim at theorem-credit’. These narratives play a crucial role in mathematics education and in society as they are influencing people’s willingness to engage with the subject or the way they interpret mathematical results in relation to real-world questions; the latter yielding important normative considerations.\nIn this talk\, we want to analyze different narratives of mathematics and suggest that mathematizing as a virtuous practice in its own right is a better narrative of mathematics than\, for example\, extrinsic narratives which focus on the results of mathematical activity and the application of mathematics in non-mathematical contexts. By ‘better’ we mean that the mathematizing-narrative describes mathematical practice more adequately and that it allows for a shift in mathematics education that yields beneficial outcomes for our society. This is heavily drawing on Freudenthal’s Realistic Mathematical Education.\n \nThe talk is based on joint work with Deborah Kant (University of Hamburg)
URL:https://colleges.claremont.edu/ccms/event/deniz-sarikaya-on-narratives-of-mathematical-practice-and-why-they-matter/
LOCATION:Claremont\, CA\, 91711\, United States
CATEGORIES:History and Philosophy of Mathematics Seminar
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20221121T150000
DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20221121T160000
DTSTAMP:20260620T113436
CREATED:20221116T222616Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20221116T222616Z
UID:2996-1669042800-1669046400@colleges.claremont.edu
SUMMARY:Confronting the Legacy of the Human Betterment Foundation at Caltech 
DESCRIPTION:The Human Betterment Foundation was a pro-eugenics think-tank operating in the 1930s and early 1940s out of Pasadena\, California. Its aim was to influence public and medical opinion in favor of sterilization of “socially undesirable elements”: disabled\, poor\, and racialized people. Many board members had ties to Caltech\, most notably Caltech’s then-president Robert Millikan. Upon the HBF’s disincorporation following its founder E.S. Gosney’s death in 1942\, the HBF’s financial assets were given to Caltech and its records were placed in the Caltech archives.\n\nPlease join us for a brief presentation by Jane Panangaden and collective discussion on the recent activism by Caltech students aimed at bringing the HBF’s activities to light and pushing the Caltech administration to make changes on campus. These changes include both symbolic recognition in the form of renaming buildings which previously honored HBF board members\, to material changes such as improvements to students’ health insurance plans and financial support for racially minoritized scholars. 
URL:https://colleges.claremont.edu/ccms/event/confronting-the-legacy-of-the-human-betterment-foundation-at-caltech/
LOCATION:Fletcher 110\, Pitzer College\, 1050 N Mills Ave\, Claremont\, CA\, 91711\, United States
CATEGORIES:History and Philosophy of Mathematics Seminar
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20221024T150000
DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20221024T160000
DTSTAMP:20260620T113436
CREATED:20221014T173109Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20221014T173109Z
UID:2961-1666623600-1666627200@colleges.claremont.edu
SUMMARY:H.S.M. Coxeter’s Theory of Accessibility: A Narrative in the Language of Synthetic Projective Geometry (Elena Marchisotto\, Cal State Northridge)
DESCRIPTION:The relation of accessible points in a projective incidence plane defined by Coxeter in the 1960s is the focus of my narrative. It reveals historical pathways bookending the 19th and 20th centuries that bring G.K.C. von Staudt\, Mario Pieri\, Marvin Greenberg and others into the conversation. The published references to Coxeter’s theory\, including his own\, are few. Were it not for his letter to me in the 1980s\, the myriad of interesting mathematical and historical connections emanating from it might have remained in the shadows. My narrative will address how accessible points behave in different types of projective planes partitioned in terms interior/exterior points of conics. Its language pays homage to the invention of geometry\, and shows what can be gained from the power of synthetic methods. \nReferences: \nPambuccian\, V. and Schacht\, C.: The case for the irreducibility of geometry to algebra. Philos. Math. (III) 30\, 1–31 (2022). https://academic.oup.com/philmat/article-abstract/30/1/1/6371269?redirectedFrom=fulltext \nMarchisotto\, E.A. C.: H.S.M. Coxeter’s Theory of Accessibility: From Mario Pieri to Marvin Greenberg. Results in Mathematics 77(5)\, 1-61 (July 2022). DOI: 10.1007/s00025-022-01690-9
URL:https://colleges.claremont.edu/ccms/event/h-s-m-coxeters-theory-of-accessibility-a-narrative-in-the-language-of-synthetic-projective-geometry-elena-marchisotto-cal-state-northridge/
LOCATION:Fletcher 110\, Pitzer College\, 1050 N Mills Ave\, Claremont\, CA\, 91711\, United States
CATEGORIES:History and Philosophy of Mathematics Seminar
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20220919T150000
DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20220919T160000
DTSTAMP:20260620T113436
CREATED:20220912T230200Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20220919T154540Z
UID:2918-1663599600-1663603200@colleges.claremont.edu
SUMMARY:History and Philosophy of Mathematics Seminar (organizational meeting and reading discussion)
DESCRIPTION:The first meeting of this semester’s seminar in the history and philosophy of mathematics will take place on Monday\, September 19th from 3 to 4 PM in Avery 202 on the Pitzer Campus (and on zoom). We will spend the time sharing ideas for future meetings and discussing the chapter on “Algebraic Logic” (chapter 9) in Lukas Verburgt’s new book on John Venn: A Life in Logic (a historical book on a philosophical mathematician). Here is the link to the library copy (https://ccl.on.worldcat.org/oclc/1294295070). \n 
URL:https://colleges.claremont.edu/ccms/event/history-and-philosophy-of-mathematics-seminar-organizational-meeting-and-reading-discussion/
LOCATION:Fletcher 110\, Pitzer College\, 1050 N Mills Ave\, Claremont\, CA\, 91711\, United States
CATEGORIES:History and Philosophy of Mathematics Seminar
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